Discovered—Monumental Inscriptions of King Hezekiah

Newly deciphered royal inscriptions from Jerusalem powerfully confirm the Bible’s testimony about Hezekiah, king of Judah.^1,2 

Prior to these recent discoveries, abundant archaeological evidence already supported many details in the biblical narratives about Hezekiah.³ But the new inscriptions specifically discuss a number of Hezekiah’s deeds—including military actions, religious reforms, and construction projects—that closely parallel biblical statements and confirm their accuracy.

But, in 2007, a broken, hand-sized piece of a large limestone monument was excavated in the Gihon Spring area by archaeologists Eli Shukron and Ronny Reich. It was found amongst a cache of pottery dating to the 8^th century BC, and contained just a couple of broken words, written in Old Hebrew script.⁴ In 2009, several scholars proposed that the two words ought to be reconstructed as ‘Hezekiah’ and ‘pool’.^5,6 This was significant since the Bible says one of Hezekiah’s great deeds was to reroute the water from the Gihon Spring on the east side of Jerusalem to the west side, through a conduit and into a pool (2 Kings:20:20And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made a pool, and a conduit, and brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
See All...; 2 Chronicles:32:2And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come, and that he was purposed to fight against Jerusalem,
See All...–4, 30). The Siloam Tunnel, dug from the Gihon Spring underneath Jerusalem through 533 m (1720 ft) of bedrock to the western Pool of Siloam, perfectly matches the biblical description of Hezekiah’s ‘conduit’.

Still, the proposal that the monument’s inscription referred to Hezekiah remained somewhat tentative and obscure. But in 2022, Shukron and epigrapher Gershon Galil came to the same conclusion by analyzing the text again with the aid of high-tech photographic techniques.¹ They further recognized that a similar fragment found in 1978 by Yigal Shiloh belonged to the same monument. The inscription on Shiloh’s segment includes the word “seventeenth”, which was confirmed by additional inscriptions (discussed next) to be the year of Hezekiah’s reign in which he built the tunnel and the pool. Thus, this monument supports the existence of King Hezekiah in the 8^th century and his construction of a noteworthy pool in his seventeenth year. Counting from the start of his co-regency, this would likely be around 709 BC.

Even more exciting, though, are the five royal inscriptions newly discovered by Shukron and Galil on the tunnel walls themselves.² In an older part of the tunnel system near the Gihon Spring, where a Canaanite pool was once located, a rectangular area of the wall (48 cm × 38 cm) (19 × 15 inches) was intentionally levelled flat. It is positioned right next to the entrance of a passageway that leads to Hezekiah’s Tunnel proper. This ‘frame’ was discovered by Louis-Hugues Vincent in 1909 and was recognized as a surface intended to contain an inscription. However, no such inscription was observed there.

The western end of the tunnel contained the famous ‘Siloam Inscription’, which was discovered in 1880, and describes how the tunnel was originally carved. So, scholars supposed that this eastern frame was meant to be its counterpart, yet was left unfinished. This remained the consensus for over 100 years.

Taking a closer look, however, Shukron and Galil were able to detect a highly eroded but still mostly legible ancient Hebrew text, 64 words long. It was a ‘summary inscription’ detailing several of Hezekiah’s achievements. After further search, they found numerous other tunnel plaques with additional royal inscriptions. They also re-analyzed the area where the original Siloam Inscription had been found. They examined both the segment that was cut out, now displayed at the Istanbul Archaeology Museum, and the area surrounding it, still in the tunnel itself. In both places, they discovered additional lines of text. This more than doubled the recognized size of the Siloam Inscription, from 200 letters to 428. Also, unlike the previously seen text, the newly deciphered lines clearly contained the name Hezekiah.

[An] English translation of the Canaanite pool plaque has been released. It dovetails beautifully with the Bible’s claims about Hezekiah. Compare these quotations from the plaque with the Bible verses that follow.

“Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, made the pool and the conduit. In the seventeenth year, … the king brought the water into the city by a tunnel, the king led the water into the pool.”

“… he made the pool and the conduit and brought water into the city …” (2 Kings:20:20And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made a pool, and a conduit, and brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
See All...).

“He smote the Philistines from Ekron to Gaza …”

“He struck down the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city” (2 Kings:18:8He smote the Philistines, even unto Gaza, and the borders thereof, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.
See All...).

“He broke the images and broke in [pieces] the Nehu[sh]tan and he removed the high [places and] cut down the Asherah.”

“He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan).” (2 Kings:18:4He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.
See All...).

“Hezek[ia]h, the king, accumulated in all his treasure houses and in the house of Yahweh a lot of silver and gold, perfumes and good ointment.”

“And Hezekiah welcomed them, and he showed them all his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his armory, all that was found in his storehouses.” (2 Kings:20:13And Hezekiah hearkened unto them, and shewed them all the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not.
See All...).

[TBC: For the complete article and footnotes, see: https://creation.com/hezekiah-inscriptions]