The Gihon Spring

You would expect Jerusalem to be a dry city. With no river and very little rainfall how has it survived as a vital urban center for more than three millennia?

Since ancient times, Jerusalem has relied on two natural springs: En-Rogel in the Kidron Valley on the south side of the city, and the more important one, the Gihon spring on the east side of the hill of Jerusalem. The Gihon is a karst spring fed by groundwater that accumulates in a subterranean cave; whenever the space fills to the brim, it empties through cracks in the rock and is siphoned to the surface. But that surface is still well below the level of the city.

Jerusalem’s strategic advantage is its elevation – and getting the water up from the Gihon spring into the city has always been a challenge for Jerusalem both in peacetime and war.

Early Bronze Age inhabitants of the city, before David captured Jerusalem, had widened a natural fissure in the rock into a shaft down to the spring. That structure is now called Warren’s Shaft after Charles Warren, the British archaeologist who discovered it in 1867. The shaft is 2 meters wide and extends upward 40 feet from the water surface of the pool. The top of the shaft opens to a horizontal tunnel that curves westward into the rock and gradually upward for 40 meters and then connects with a stepped tunnel up to the surface. Water carriers could descend from the city down to the top of the shaft and bring water up from the pool by buckets. Other cities such as Megiddo had similar tunnels that were used for the same purpose.

Archaeology in 1961 confirmed that the ancient Jebusite inhabitants had enclosed the spring and its pool by building their city wall 20 meters beyond the spring. One popular theory, referencing 2 Samuel 5:6-9, says that David used this ancient water shaft to capture the city. However, there is evidence that the shaft was so heavily guarded by the Jebusites that, more likely, David captured the spring itself and forced the surrender of the city.
In the next couple of posts we'll explore some interesting features of the story of this spring, but for today, I'll just ask what springs irrigate your life? What are the sources of vitality that keep you alive? What threats make them vulnerable, and what can you to do protect them?

Gihon Spring - Holy Land Photos
Warren's Shaft - BiblePlaces(dot)com