EVIAN ('precious, something extremely amazing')

“Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and all his might, and how he made the pool and the conduit and brought water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?” (2 Kings 20:20-21). One of the mighty acts recorded of Hezekiah upon his death was the tunnel he commissioned dug through solid rock in order to bring water into the city. In Hezekiah’s day, the Assyrian army was preparing to besiege Jerusalem and force it to remain behind its protective walls. The invading army would then able to wait until either her food ran out or she ran out of water. Hezekiah prevented this from happening by bringing water into the city via an underground tunnel which connected the city to the nearby Gihon spring.

Hezekiah’s Tunnel is about one third of a mile in length and slopes approximately 12 inches from one end to the other. Two teams of workers started at each end of what was to be the finished tunnel, digging through solid rock until they finally met in the middle. It is still not clear today how exactly it was that these teams of workers successfully met in the middle. But it is clear when walking through the tunnel that a few directional mistakes were made. Water in the Bible and in the land of the Scripture is incredibly important and Hezekiah’s feat is understandably significant.

This tunnel took precious time to construct and it was completed at quite a cost. Thirst is something that will drive humans to do tremendous feats to slake that thirst! It is incredible what a price people will pay for water! Water is precious. Water is extremely amazing. But what will you do for ‘living water’? How far will you go to quench your spiritual thirst? Jesus told the Samaritan woman that ‘the water he would give would become in her a well of water springing up to eternal life.’ (John 4:14) And she did not even have to dig….just believe.