Hezekiah's Tunnel and the Ketef Hinnom Scrolls
- Jason Pluebell
- Jan 1
- 8 min read
Within the topic of Archaeology, we have covered a fair bit of discoveries in the ground that confirm the Bible's historical record. We have gone over the site of one of Abraham's altars to Yahweh in Genesis 13 and 18 in Mamre.1 We also looked at 20 individual discoveries that support the validity of the record of the Exodus from Egypt,2 which included the walls of what is left of ancient Jericho. They were found lying in such a way that implies they fell outward and not inward towards the city, exactly what the Bible records. As well as the evidence from the Pharaohs of the early New Kingdom Period. It is discoveries such as these that suggest the Bible is offering eye-witness testimony of the events within it, as whenever it says "such and such happened here," and we go there, we find what the Bible records to be true. The simplest explanation is that these records are from eye-witnesses of the actual events, recorded by their people.
Archaeology is the study of the human past via excavating their remains to make sense of the history, culture, geography, economy, and political status of past humans. Discoveries in this field are found through destructive, but productive, excavation and recordkeeping of any finds. Archaeologists look for objects, such as pottery shards (potsherds), metal tools, ceramic or linen toys or writings, soil type, etc. When someone finds an object that looks intentionally created by an intelligent causal agent (another person), like a pot, it is called an artifact. This field of study is extremely important for a Christians education and defense of the faith. Archaeology shows us that the historical record of the Bible does stand reliable, and provides context for a better understanding of the world of the Bible. Today, we will look at two pieces of Archaeological evidence, and perhaps one of the most important artifacts ever discovered regarding the Bible.
Hezekiah's Tunnel
In 1867, Charles Warren was exploring Jerusalem. While doing so, he stumbled across a tunnel that allowed fresh water to flow into the city at the Pool of Siloam. This tunnel was dug out of the rock underneath the city during wartime in the 8th century B.C. (700s B.C.). Israel was threatened by the Assyrian King Sennacherib after King Hezekiah refused to pay Israel's tribute as his vassal. King Hezekiah of Judah knew that if they camped outside the city, the people would be unable to leave the city walls to gather water from the Gihon Spring. So he ordered the construction of a tunnel that would draw water from the spring into the city. It is about 554 meters long and starts at the Gihon Spring and travels into the walls to the Pool of Siloam within the city.
Inside the tunnel, an inscription was found about 20 feet from the Pool of Siloam on the walls. The inscription was cut out and is today kept in the Istanbul Archaeology Museum in Istanbul, Turkey. The inscription was written in Paleo-Hebrew characters and can be seen below.3
The inscription speaks about the process of finishing the digging of the tunnel:
“While the tunnel was being dug, the workers were wielding the pick, each toward the other, and while there were still three cubits to dig, the voice of one calling to his neighbor was heard, for there was a crack in the rock on the right and on the left.”
This is exactly how the Bible tells us the tunnel was dug. This inscription connects the story of King Hezekiah with a real-life artifact and provides support for the biblical record as accurate.4
Biblical Significance
"As for the other events of Hezekiah’s reign, all his achievements and how he made the pool and the tunnel by which he brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? Hezekiah rested with his ancestors. And Manasseh his son succeeded him as king." (2 Kings 20:20)
"It was Hezekiah who blocked the upper outlet of the Gihon spring and channeled the water down to the west side of the City of David. He succeeded in everything he undertook. But when envoys were sent by the rulers of Babylon to ask him about the miraculous sign that had occurred in the land, God left him to test him and to know everything that was in his heart." (2 Chronicles 32:30-31)
Scripture tells us that it was King Hezekiah who built this tunnel. He feared Sennacherib would camp outside the walls and secure the Gihon Spring from the Israelites, preventing them from gathering water. So he ordered his men to dig a tunnel to redirect the water of the spring from outside the walls to inside the walls, terminating at the Pool of Siloam, where he left an inscription describing the final moments of the project. The Bible once again shows itself ot have an accurate historical record.
Ketef Hinnom Scrolls
This next artifact is perhaps one of the most important ever found. This piece of evidence originates from a site called Ketef Hinnom, located southwest of Jerusalem, just across the Ben Hinnom Valley. Ketef Hinnom was used as a burial ground in the 7th century B.C., with several tombs consistent with the style of that period. It was excavated in 1979 by Dr. Gabriel Barkai with a team of Archaeologists and volunteers. Tomb #25 at Ketef was an incomplete tomb; the walls and roof were damaged, with only the floor remaining. There was a chamber underneath the floor where families would put past family members' bones after decomposition, called the repository chamber.
Anybody over the age of 18 can volunteer to work on a dig, and school students can as well, but the majority are college students looking for free credits. Among the volunteers at Barkai's dig was a school archaeology club. One of the members, Nathan, was described by Dr. Barkai as annoying, so he tasked Nathan with cleaning Tomb #25 to get him out of his hair. Not even half an hour later, Nathan got Dr. Barkai's attention with two ceramic pottery vessels that dated to the First Temple Period (1000 B.C. - 586 B.C.). When Dr. Barkai's team looked at the repository chamber of tomb #25, they found bones from over 90 individuals, along with two of the oldest mentions of Scripture.5
The ceiling of the original chamber must have fallen sometime in the past, which sealed off the contents of the chamber that hid the pottery and bones for thousands of years until Dr. Barkai decided to have Nathan clean it out. During which he would poke a hole into the false floor and reveal the treasures beneath. After this, the team began to excavate tomb #25, where they found two small metal objects on the back side of the bottom layer.6
What Did They Find?
The two metal objects they found were two pure silver scrolls with Paleo-Hebrew script incised (scratched) into them. Paleo-Hebrew is the script that was slowly morphed into the Aramaic-Hebrew alphabet we see in modern Hebrew today, or Ancient Hebrew.
The larger scroll (KH1 and KH2 seen on the right) took three years to unroll and measured about three inches long. They were made from pure silver, and were called amulets, or objects a person would carry to ward off evil spirits and bad luck. They were often incised or embedded with a prayer or blessing, and this is the case with the Ketef Hinnom Scrolls. Both of the scrolls are now housed in the Israel Meusem in Jerusalem. The two pictures to the right are the two scrolls, the left being KH1, and the right being KH2.
When the Paleo-Hebrew script was translated, the very first word deciphered was the Tettragramaton, the name of the LORD, Yahweh. The Tettragramaton uses the four Hebrew letters Yod, Heh, Vav/Wow, Heh that make up the transliteration into English Ya-He-We-He, or Yahweh. The name appeared several times on both scrolls, which had the priestly benediction from Numbers 6:25-26:
“The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
These two scrolls are older than the Dead Sea Scrolls. These are two discoveries of the name YHWH within Jerusalem during the First Temple Period. The KH scrolls date to the 7th century B.C., which contradicts the claims of some scholars who say the benediction was written post-exile (538 B.C. - A.D. 70). Below will be some of the scans of KH1 and KH2, along with a translation of what they say.7
KH1
The scrolls are a bit damaged from being unrolled, and some portions are missing or difficult to identify. Despite this, it is blatantly obvious that these scrolls have the benediction from Numbers 6.
"…] YHW … […] the grea[t … who keeps] the covenant and [G]raciousness towards those who love [him] and (alt: [hi]m;) those who keep [his commandments … …]. the Eternal? […]. [the?] blessing more than any [sna]re and more than Evil. For redemption is in him. For YHWH is our restorer [and] rock. May YHWH bles[s] you and [may he] keep you. [May] YHWH make [his face] shine …"
KH2
"-h/hu. May be blessed h/sh- -[e] by YHW[H,] the warrior/helper and the rebuker of [E]vil: May bless you, YHWH, keep you. Make shine, YH- -[W]H, His face [upon] you and g- -rant you p- -[ea]ce. [Bottom line(s) broken.]"
Translating Hebrew
We must keep in mind that translating languages like Hebrew into English does not produce a word-for-word translation, as English is a much more descriptive and specific language than Hebrew. So there can be several English words that all describe the meaning of one Hebrew word, or English only has one single word for an idea, while Hebrew has several. Oftentimes, translators will decide what English word is best for the text based on the context of its usage. This is not a major issue, as ancient translations are concerned with meaning and message, over exact wording. For example:
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Proverbs 9:10)
The word fear in English has a single definition: that of an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief of danger or a threat. Hebrew has two words that can translate to the English word fear: Yirat and Pachad. Pachad is the fear of unpleasant emotions or being afraid of danger; Yirat is a feeling of awe or immense respect. Proverbs 9:10 uses the Hebrew word Yirat for the "fear of the LORD," which suggests a great respect and awe for God's sovereignty and holiness. This does not at all come across as saying that to be afraid of God is how you worship Him; instead, it is saying that a humble respect for God's authority and sovereignty marks the start of one's knowing of God's wisdom. Another important detail about the translation of Hebrew is grammar, as Hebrew does not have a strict grammatical order for verbs and nouns like English does.
Biblical Significance & Conclusion
These discoveries offer evidence that the Bible is not a Bronze Age mythology, but contains eyewitness records of actual events in the nation of Israel's history. It shows us that the general meaning has been preserved, as the Paleo-Hebrew does not read much differently from the modern Hebrew Bible. Moreover, it tells us that the Bible has not been corrupted or changed over time, as the core linguistic message is present and identical to artifacts and manuscripts. The Ketef Hinnom Scrolls disprove secular claims that the Torah did not exist in the pre-exile period. It testifies to the reliability of the age of the Torah, along with the eyewitness testimony of historical events it mentions. This, paired with other artifacts and discoveries (such as the ones in this series of articles), makes a cumulative case for the reliability of the Bible and ultimately is a total testimony to the resurrection of the Savior of mankind, Jesus Christ.
(4) The ESV Archaeology Study Bible, Crossway ESV Bible, 2017, Pg XXI
(5) The ESV Archaeology Study Bible, Crossway ESV Bible, 2017, Pg XXII
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