Digging Up the Bible: The Siloam Inscription

DIGGING UP THE BIBLE
Important Archeological Finds that help Us Understand Scripture
pdf
Linda Manuel—1996
 

Siloam Inscription
(8^th century BC)

In 1880, boys playing in the Pool of Siloam at Jerusalem discovered several lines of paleo-Hebrew on the wall of Hezekiah's famous tunnel.

 

 

During the Ottoman rule of Palestine, the Turks removed that section of the wall, then known as the Siloam Inscription, and sent it to the Istanbul Archeological Museum, where it currently resides.

 

 

This text could be called a "building inscription" because it reports the completion of a construction project. Other reports of this genre mention the monarch who commissioned the project and extol the deity to whom the king devoted it, such as Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the temple: "I have indeed built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell forever." (1 Kgs 8:13). The Siloam project is part of a biblical summary of King Hezekiah's accomplishments: "[He] made the pool and the tunnel by which he brought water into the city" (2 Kgs 20:20).

 

The tunnel supervisor describes the construction as two crews working from opposite directions came together:

This was the account of the breakthrough: While the laborers were still working with their picks, each toward the other, because there was a crack in the rock to the south and to the north. At the moment of the breakthrough, the laborers struck each toward the other, pick to pick. Then the water flowed from the spring to the pool for 1200 cubits. And the height of the rock above the heads of the laborers was 100 cubits.

The author writes entirely in the third person, the only human reference being the laborers. The success of the project and its scale (the measurements) fascinated him. He was rightfully proud when he and those working with him completed this exceptional technical feat (an evaluation that remains to this day). There is no trace here of the public piety or political propaganda one might expect from the monarch who sponsored the undertaking.

 

The unusual nature of this text is also evident in two other features. First, the inscription was twenty feet inside the tunnel where few people would see it, suggesting that the engraver did not intend it for public display. Second, the inscription is anonymous. Most likely the head engineer ordered this inscription or, perhaps, carved it himself. He had the most at stake in the crews' meeting and would probably have been proudest of this achievement. His keeping the inscription from public view and omitting his name evinced tempered enthusiasm in recording these events for posterity. The Siloam Tunnel marks a significant engineering accomplishment and demonstrates how God's people applied their faith to prepare for the future (e.g., a return of the invading army):

Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. (2 Kings 18:5)

Significance for Biblical Studies: The Siloam Inscription records an amazing engineering feat and shows the impressive degree of computational skill necessary to bring two tunneling teams together. It also shows the humility of one who deserved credit but did not demand it, one who deferred gratification and well-earned notoriety for hundreds of years: "Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; someone else, and not your own lips" (Prov 27:2).

 

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