The pool of Siloam was part of the Temple complex for bathing after a birth
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Hezekiah's Tunnel A tunnel was built from the spring to the Pool of Siloam -
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The Gihon Spring is located even today at the base of what was called the "Ophel" (a swelling of the earth in the form of a small mountain dome) once situated just to the north and abutting to "Mount Zion" (the City of David). The Ophel Mound was close to the City of David. David soon began to fill in the area between the two summits with dirt and stones (calling it the Millo or "fill in") to make a single high level area on which to build his city and after his death the Temple.6 David’s son Solomon completed the "fill in" between the two summits and called that earthen and rock bridge the Millo.7 Solomon then built the Temple on the Ophel Mound directly above the Gihon Spring. This Ophel region became known as a northern extension of "Zion." This made the Temple so close to the City of David (where the citadel or akra was located) that Aristeas said a person could look northward from the top of the City of David and could easily witness all priestly activities within the Temple precincts.8 |
| The area of the Dome of the Rock, however, is 1000 feet north of the original City of David and is much too far away for anyone to look down into the courts of the Temple as Aristeas dogmatically stated one could. Also, there has never been a natural water spring within the Haram esh-Sharif. That fact alone disqualifies the area around the Dome of the Rock from being the site of the former Temples. | |
Various Scriptures |
| The traditional site of Herod's Temple but probably the actual site of the Roman Fortress Antonia and not that of the Second Temple. The venue of the Second Temple was likely over the Gihon Spring south of the Haram esh-Sharif. Visit the archaeological park on the south wall, the platform including the Dome of the Rock, and take the tour along the central to north end of the Western Wall |
| The main reasons for King David's choice of Jerusalem as his capital, despite its inferior natural features, are noted in the introductory screen to the First Temple Period. Another reason was the location there of the Gihon Spring. |
| . Gihon Spring is near the Israelite wall, the only natural spring in Jerusalem. As this spring is outside the city walls the residents cut channels in the stone to retain the water. The most interesting of all is the project called "the Tunnel", a cave 533 meters long, supposedly quarried by King Hezekiah. The water eventually reaches the Siloam Pool. |
| Temple was built on the Gihon Spring — not a Rock as in Dome of the Rock. This was the spot where King David crowned his son Solomon King of Israel (I Kings 1:33). In many verses of the psalms of David, he refers to the fact that the House of God had a Spring within. |
Hezekiah's Tunnel
In order to protect Jerusalem's water supply from invading Assyrians, King Hezekiah cut a tunnel into the solid rock to channel the water of the Gihon Spring located outside the walled city into the pool of Siloan (Silwan in Arabic and Silo'am in Hebrew), which was within the walls of the city. The outlet was then closed and hidden from the eyes of the invaders. Jerusalem was saved because the Assyrian army had to give up because of thirst and pestilence.
The tunnel is roughly shaped into an "S" and measures about 600 yards. The workmen began at each end and accomplished a remarkable engineering feat to meet in the middle within 4 feet of each other. The Gihon fountain, which is also called the fountain of the , is one of Jerusalem's earliest sources of water. The Jebusites used its water by means of a gallery leading to a shaft. This was the shat through which David's commandos broke into the city and took it from the Jebusites
Gihon Spring
The Temple was built on the Gihon Spring — not a Rock as in Dome of the Rock. This was the spot where King David crowned his son Solomon King of Israel (I Kings 1:33). In many verses of the psalms of David, he refers to the fact that the House of God had a Spring within.
| Temple Position As described by the land position One of the major problems with his placing the Temple in the position mentioned in the book is that his Southern Wall does not and cannot go from valley to valley. Thus he cannot mention the above quotes in his book which is one of the strongest pieces of evidence why the original Temple of Solomon and the subsequent Temple of Herod could NOT have been on the Temple Mount. Even the solution provided by Arvidson does not satisfy the above quotes and hence we have had to do our own map. This therefore is the position of Solomon's Temple, his Palace and associated buildings together with his inner courts which were later enlarged by Herod. For reference, we have added the position of where Herod's one furlong square walls would eventually be built and where the Haram Al-Sharif would eventually be built. The latter we contend was the fortress Antonia and not "The Temple Mount". For the last 100 years or so Benzinger's sketch of Solomon's Temple Complex (in his Baedecker's guide book to Palestine and Syria 1906) is the one most often used to describe how Solomon positioned his palace and associated buildings. However we see no reason why the walls of the outer court were "stepped" and therefore we have positioned them in their more logical position. After all Josephus was clear that Herod EXTENDED the walls of Solomon's Temple not repositioned them. We have included the Benzinger sketch and our revision. In fact Josephus was clear in that Herod doubled them. |
1. (401) Accordingly, in the fifteenth year of his reign, Herod rebuilt the temple, and encompassed a piece of land about it with a wall; which land was
Eyewitness accounts inform us that there was within the precincts of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem an inexhaustible spring of water (this was stated by Aristeas in the third century B.C.E. and re-confirmed by Tacitus in the late first century C.E. ). The documentary references to this and other historical sources mentioned in this article with abundant commentary by me are found in my book "The Temples that Jerusalem Forgot." Yes, the only spring of water that issued from the ground within a five-mile radius of Jerusalem both in ancient and modern times is the Gihon Spring. It is located on the west side of the Kedron Valley underneath the former Ophel mound on the southeast ridge.
At this spring is where David pitched his special Tabernacle [a temporary Temple or "House of God"] to house the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark remained in "David’s House" at the Gihon Spring for 38 years until Solomon transported the Ark directly up the slope of the Ophel to place it in Solomon’s newly-built Temple of stone on the top of the Ophel mound. This means that the Temples were located on one site at Jerusalem – including the temporary Temple for housing the Ark called "David’s House" — and this was over and around that Gihon Spring. This area is about a third of a mile south of the Dome of the Rock region within the Haram esh-Sharif. The truth is, not one of the Temples was built in the area of the Haram esh-Sharif (see my book that thoroughly proves this fact).
Recently taken photographs in Hezekiah's tunnel in the City of David in Jerusalem prove that under the steps leading to the tunnel through which the water from the Gihon Spring runs to the City of David there are more underground spaces which were not previously known. The researchers believe that these spaces were used as a Mikvah for the special purification of the High priest in the Second Temple era.
Hezekiah's tunnel was dug around 2,700 years ago. This monumental project, undertaken by one of the most righteous kings of Israel, diverted the water from the Gihon Spring, which is outside the walls of the walls of the Biblical city, to the Pool of Siloam, which is inside the City of David, so that in times when the enemy besieged Jerusalem water would be available.
"This same closed the upper outlet of the waters of Gihon and directed them down to the west side of the city of David." (2 Chronicles 32:30 RSV). The water from the Gihon was diverted into the Gai wadi by means of a tunnel 1,740 feet (530 meters) long In a land as dry as the Land of Israel, the main consideration in determining the location of a city or village, is its proximity to the nearest water source. The only permanent water source of ancient Jerusalem was the Gihon Spring. Its name is derived from the fact that it doesn't flow steadily, but rather in random eruptions with lapses in between them (Giha in Hebrew means eruption). |
The Discovery of the Temple by Sultan Suleiman
Suleiman the Magnificent (1494 —1566). In the days of the king Sultan Suleiman nobody knew the location of the Temple, so he ordered a search of Jerusalem to find it. One day, a man in charge of the search who had already given up hope, saw a woman coming and on her head was a basket full of garbage and filth. "What is on your head?" he asked. "Garbage" she said. "Where are you taking it." "To such-and-such a place" "Where are you from?" "From Bethlehem" "And between Bethlehem and this place are there no garbage dumps?" "We have a tradition that anyone who brings garbage and dumps it here is performing a meritorious work" "This must be it" said the man and ordered many men to clear out the garbage from that spot, garbage which, because of the great time that had passed, had turned the earth at the bottom. And so he uncovered the holy place. He went and told the king who rejoiced greatly and ordered them to clean and sweep (the place) and wash the Wall with rose-water" (The Western Wall by Meir Ben Dov, p. 110.) |
