Two Boys Make History: the Digging of the Siloam Tunnel in Preparation for the Assyrian Siege

In the film: The story of the quarrying of the Siloam Tunnel (Hezekiah’s Tunnel). As part of Hezekiah’s preparations for the Assyrian siege on Jerusalem, the Siloam Tunnel (Hezekiah’s Tunnel) was quarried. The tunnel channeled water from the Gihon Spring to the Siloam Pool on the southern side of the City of David. The pool was surrounded by a broad wall, thus it could hold water for a large number of people in a protected and accessible place.

In the picture above: In 1880, two boys discovered the Siloam inscription at the southern end of the tunnel. The inscription, written in early Hebrew script, tells how the tunnel was dug by two groups of diggers working from different directions, who met on the way. To this day, scholars cannot agree on how the diggers managed to navigate through the depths of the rock to meet.