


The rebuilding and repair of the wall was a miracle. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire." 3 And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. Nehemiah 1:1–3: Now it happened in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Susa the citadel, 2 that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. Under his leadership and with a small Jewish population, the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt to dimensions similar to Solomon’s day. However, God sovereignly moved in the heart of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, to allow Nehemiah to rebuild the walls. When the Babylonians conquered and destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BC, they also destroyed the walls and burned the gates with fire. Today, this water tunnel is known as Hezekiah’s Tunnel. It took the water from the Gihon Spring under the mountain to the Pool of Siloam below the city. It was chiseled from both ends to the middle at the same time. The curving tunnel is 583 yards (533 m.) long and has a fall of 12 inches (30 cm.) between its two ends. Hezekiah also built a water tunnel in order to keep the water from the Gihon Spring inside the city walls so the Assyrians couldn’t cut off the water supply (2 Chron. It was called “Hezekiah’s Broad Wall” by archaeologists because of its width. It was a massive undertaking and measured around 2.5 miles (4 km.) in length.Ī portion of the wall was discovered in the 1970s by Israeli archaeologist Nahman Avigad and dated to the reign of King Hezekiah (716–687 BC). Hezekiah’s new wall measured about 22 feet wide (7 m.) by 25 feet high (8 m.).


He also made weapons and shields in abundance. King Hezekiah fortified the existing walls of the city and built a new wall in a rapid manner to protect those living outside the city walls.Ģ Chronicles 32:5: He set to work resolutely and built up all the wall that was broken down and raised towers upon it, and outside it he built another wall, and he strengthened the Millo in the city of David. This meant building new defenses.ĭuring the time of Hezekiah, Jerusalem’s urban population had grown far outside the old walls of the city and were unprotected.
#One direction history wall how to#
As Hezekiah began to prepare for what he knew would be a terrible siege by a merciless Assyrian war machine, he had to figure out how to protect his people. God allowed most of Judah to be conquered but protected Jerusalem because of Hezekiah’s obedience to Him. According to an Assyrian stele found in the ruins of the royal palace of Nineveh, Sennacherib conquered 46 cities in Judea prior to attempting to conquer Jerusalem. In 701 BC, the Assyrians, headed by Sennacherib invaded Judah, the Southern Kingdom of Israel, because of their disobedience to God. Hezekiah’s Broad Wall Expansion of the Western Hill 10 And David became greater and greater, for the Lord, the God of hosts, was with him. And David built the city all around from the Millo inward. 8 And David said on that day, “Whoever would strike the Jebusites, let him get up the water shaft to attack ‘the lame and the blind,’ who are hated by David's soul.” Therefore, it is said, “The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.” 9 And David lived in the stronghold and called it the city of David. Later, he built stronger and additional walls to fortify the city, and it would become known as the City of David.Ģ Samuel 5:6–10: And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, “You will not come in here, but the blind and the lame will ward you off”-thinking, “David cannot come in here.” 7 Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David. God was with David and allowed him to capture Jerusalem from the Jebusites. David Conquered the Jebusite City and Enlarged the City Walls
