Free Bible - Siloam Inscription (Biblical Archaeology)

Siloam Inscription

Does this inscription reveal God's protection of Jerusalem and a miracle?

The Siloam Inscription is a description in ancient Hebrew of the cutting and completion of the Siloam Tunnel built by king Hezekiah (727-698 BC). King Hezekiah desiring to protect Jerusalem from the Assyrians had a tunnel cut through solid rock to bring water from the Spring of Gihon within the cities walls, after which the Spring was sealed off.

The carving was found in the tunnel itself in 1880 by a boy accidently. It records how two groups of workers started from opposite ends, digging through the solid rock underground and meeting in the middle. The Hebrew inscription talks about how one group miraculously heard sounds of pick-axes so they would know which way to go through the windy tunnel. The tunnel now channels water to the Pool of Siloam and can be seen in Jerusalem.

The Siloam Inscription is important in the study of Biblical Archaeology.

2 Kings 20:20 "And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made a pool, and a conduit, and brought water into the city, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?"

2 Chronicles 32:2-4 "And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come, and that he was purposed to fight against Jerusalem, He took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which [were] without the city: and they did help him. So there was gathered much people together, who stopped all the fountains, and the brook that ran through the midst of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come, and find much water?"

John 9:5-7 "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (Meaning Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing."

The 6-Line Inscription Reads:

... the tunnel ... and this is the story of the tunnel while ...
the axes were against each other and while three cubits were left to cut? ... the voice of a man ...
called to his counterpart, (for) there was ZADA in the rock, on the right ... and on the day of the
tunnel (being finished) the stonecutters struck each man towards his counterpart, ax against ax and flowed
water from the source to the pool for 1200 cubits. and 100?
cubits was the height over the head of the stonecutters ...

Interesting Note: The inscription reveals 1200 cubits for approximately 1760 feet which confirms the Biblical measurement for a cubit to equal 18 inches as Josephus mentions in the construction of Herod's Temple.