Buried Cities and Bible Countries

by George St. Clair

In the days of Ahaz, the grandson of Uzziah, Jerusalem was threatened by the allied forces of Rezin, king of Syria and Pekah, king of Israel. Ahaz and his people were greatly perturbed, and needed a message of advice and encouragement The word of the Lord came to Isaiah, in the Temple, saying, “Go forth now and meet Ahaz, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, in the highway of the Fuller’s Field” (Isaiah vii. 3). The upper pool here spoken of is believed to be the Virgin’s Fountain, where we find one end of a conduit which connects it with the lower pool at Siloam. But if this is what is meant, why is the spot not described shortly and plainly as En-Rogel, by which name it was already known? (1 Kings i. 9). Surely it is not the pool itself which is meant but the end of a conduit, or channel, or passage belonging to it—the end of a passage, yet not a termination in any pool. That is to say, it refers to the top of the shaft and stairway on the Ophel Hill, which had been lost so long until re-discovered by Warren. This entrance was of course known to Isaiah, and known to the king, being close by the king’s gardens. Ahaz would reach it by going out through the Gate between two walls, and was probably accustomed to walk there frequently. The place spoken of is not really stated to be “in the highway of the Fuller’s Field:” in the Hebrew text the word in is not found, and the passage might be rendered—“The end of the channel of the upper pool, the staircase of the Fuller’s Field.” This is an exact description of the top of the shaft on the Ophel Hill.

Here, then, we have another interesting note of locality: it appears that the Fuller’s Field was on Ophel, and Warren’s shaft was in it. We cannot but recall the statement of Josephus that St James was martyred by being thrown over the outer wall of the Temple enclosure, and that “a fuller took the club with which he pressed the clothes, and brought it down on the head of the Just one.” It is reasonable to infer that fullers were at work not far from the spot where St James fell. On the slope of the Ophel Hill Sir Charles Warren discovered a cavern which was apparently used by the fullers, for it contained vats or troughs cut in the rock. In the earth above the cave is a drain, which is of course more modern; and yet here were found glass and pottery, supposed to be early Christian.

In the days of Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, the stairway shaft in the Fuller’s Field is spoken of again, and in a way that quite confirms our previous conclusions. Sennacherib, while besieging Lachish, sent his Tartan and his Rabshakeh with a strong force against Jerusalem, as an easy prey. The Assyrian officers pitched their camp at the north-west of the city, on the high ground, which was ever after known as the “Camp of the Assyrians.” But, seeing the strength of the city, they made no assault upon it; they sought a conference with Hezekiah to induce him to surrender. Learning where his palace was, that is, David’s house, on the slope of Ophel, they came and “stood at the passage of the upper pool, which is at the staircase of the Fuller’s Field” (2 Kings xviii. 17). There they called to the king, and when Hezekiah, consulting his dignity, deputed his Prime Minister, his Secretary, and his Recorder to represent him, these officers spoke from the top of the wall. The circumstances may seem to require that the wall should extend a little more southward than the wall found by Warren, but they seem to be good evidence that the Ophel shaft was outside the wall, and that the king’s house was within shouting distance of the shaft, or at any rate that the Assyrian generals thought so.

Jerusalem was not taken at this time; but in expectation of a siege, Hezekiah had made great defensive preparations. For one thing he gathered many labourers and choked up all the fountains outside the city and stopped the flow of the brook (2 Chron. xxxii. 3). He stopped the upper spring of the waters of Gihon and brought them straight down on the west side of the City of David (2 Chron. xxxii. 30). He gathered together the waters of the lower pool; he made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool; he made a pool and a conduit and brought water into the city (Isaiah xxii. 9, 11; 2 Kings xx. 20). It is probable that most of these statements relate to the same piece of work, and that work the making of Siloam Pool and the tunnel to bring water to it from the Virgin’s Fountain. There had been an “old pool” of Siloam, which is clearly traceable south-east of the present one, and this was the “lower pool of Gihon;” while the Virgin’s Fount was the “upper pool” or the “upper spring of the waters of Gihon.” The water had previously flowed from the one to the other, by an open channel down the Tyropœon Valley—a channel which has been struck at some points—and this was “the brook that flowed through the midst of the land.” The lower pool and the waters of Siloah were referred to by Isaiah in the previous reign (that is, he speaks of the waters of Siloah that go softly, viii. 6, and he implies a lower pool by speaking of the upper pool). It is reasonably argued by Dr Chaplin[35] that Siloah and Gihon were identical, and that the terms applied not only to the spring or pool but to the canal that joined them. We may assent to this if we keep in mind that the open canal existed before the rock-cut tunnel. The only difficulty we have is in thinking of the new Siloam as a reservoir between the two walls, and in understanding the use of making the tunnel if Siloam was to be outside the city. Some writers, therefore, suppose that the first wall of the city actually bent round Siloam on the southward side.

Hezekiah, besides these hydraulic works, built up all the wall that was broken down, and raised it up to the towers; and the other wall without (which it is just possible was south of Siloam Pool, only, even in that case, there is a great dam across the fissure to the north of it); and being so solicitous about this part of the city, he “strengthened Millo, the city of David” (2 Chron. xxxii. 5).

In the days of King Josiah we have mention of the prophetess Huldah, and it is stated that she lived in Jerusalem, in the Mishneh (or Second Quarter). The word means second in order or in dignity, and in the case of brothers the younger. It appears to designate that part of the city which lay in the Asmonean Valley, a part inferior to Zion in dignity, and younger as an inhabited district, because originally a suburb outside the walls which encircled the hills.

The Capture of Jerusalem and Flight of Zedekiah.—Not to multiply incidents, let us come now to the last king of Judah—Zedekiah. In his day Nebuchadnezzar came up against the city, and pitched his camp, as all had done before him, against the northern quarter. The event to be expected in such a case is described in Zeph. i. 10. There is first a noise from the Fish Gate at the head of the Asmonean Valley. Of consequence there is next a howling from the Second Quarter of Jerusalem, for the forcing of the Fish Gate has brought the invaders into the northern “suburb.” Next, the alarm having spread, there is a crashing from the hills on either side. Howl ye inhabitants of Macktesh—the “Hollow,” the southern Suburb, where dwelt the men of Tyre which brought in fish and all manner of ware (Neh. xiii. 15), and after whom the Valley was probably named—howl ye, for all the merchant people are undone, all they that were laden with silver are cut off.

Nebuchadnezzar’s generals effected an entrance at the middle gate of the north wall; and Zedekiah, as soon as he knew of it, fled away by night with his bodyguard. Whether living in Solomon’s house or David’s, his way would be down the Stairs of the City of David into the bed of the Tyropœon; and then we are distinctly told that he fled by the way of the Gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden (2 Kings xxv. 4; Jer. xxxix. 4; lii. 7). His plan was to take the route which David had taken when he fled from Absalom. Josephus says “that he fled out of the city through the fortified ditch” (Antiq. x. 8, 2)—a statement which quite supports our idea that the deep hollow “Suburb” was defended by a transverse wall or dam.

Jeremiah’s Prophecy.—In order to encourage the people during the captivity, Jeremiah predicts that Jerusalem shall be again inhabited and its borders extended. The measuring line is to go forth over against it upon the hill Gareb (probably the later Bezetha, north-west of the Temple) and shall compass about to Goath (this seems to be a sweep round the north-western, western, and south-western parts of the city); and the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes (i.e., Topheth, the broad junction of the present Hinnom and Tyropœon Valleys), and all the fields (eastward) unto the Brook Kedron (and then northward), unto the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east shall be holy unto the Lord (Jer. xxxi. 28). This reference again confirms the position we have assigned to the Horse Gate.

Zechariah also describes Jerusalem in its length and breadth. It is to be lifted up and inhabited from Benjamin’s Gate (the east gate of the temple in Ezekiel’s plan, Ezek. xlviii. 32), unto the place of the first gate (the first gate of the city, a gate near the north-east corner—as the Hebrew language reads from right to left, so goes the numbering here), unto the Corner Gate. This is from east to west; the north and south extremes named by Zechariah are the Tower of Hananel (same position as Antonia) and the king’s wine-presses (which we may guess to be southward of the king’s garden).