After the Temple and the Holy of Holies was purified by the sprinkling of the bull’s and goat’s blood, the Mishna explains how the remainder of the blood is disposed. “These remainders of blood from the outer altar and those remainders of blood from the inner altar are mixed in the canal beneath the altar and flow out with the water used to rinse the area to the Kidron River. This water was sold to gardeners for use as fertilizer. The gardeners paid for this water and thereby redeemed it from its sanctity. Failure to do so would render them guilty of misuse (מעילה) of consecrated property.”(Sefaria.org translation) Usually when somebody misuses consecrated property, he has to pay restitution for the misused consecrated property and has to bring a korban asham, a guilt offering. This application is really not pertinent to our case because the leftover blood is no longer needed, is discarded, and is found outside the Temple precincts. Even though one does not need to bring a korban asham, this water blood mixture was sold because of the prohibition to enjoy it without paying for it.
Benjamin Mazar describes Jerusalem’s topology. “The hill of Zion is bounded by two steep valleys: the Kidron to the east, and the Vale of Hinnom (Ge-Hinnom) to the south. The valleys converge near the lower spring of ‘En-Rogel, making a V-shaped and to the hill. Another Valley, the Tyropoeon, separates the eastern part of the Hill of ancient Jerusalem from its Western Hill which was the site of the upper city in the period of the Second Commonwealth.”[1] During the period of the Bible the Kidron Valley was deep and more impressive than it is today because of all the refuge and garbage that was dumped there.
King Asa cut down the Ashera his mother had established and burned it in the Kidron Valley. (I Kings 15: 13; Second Chronicles 15:16) King Hezekiah removed all the unclean things from the Temple (Second Chronicles 29:17) and he also threw out there the altars and the incense stands (Second Chronicles 30:14) King Josiah removed from the Temple all pagan ritual objects that earlier kings of Judea had built and burn them in the Kidron Valley and then carried the soot to Bethel (second Kings 23:4)
The Gihon spring, the only source of freshwater for Jerusalem, lies on the south-eastern slope of the Ophel, the city of David, and flows down the Kidron Valley. “The Gihon is a typical karst spring, and its waters gush intermittently (this may be the origin of the Hebrew name giha ‘a gushing forth’). Each gush lasts about 40 minutes, with a break of about 6 to 8 hours between, according to the season. Too early water projects in Jerusalem- ‘Warren’s shaft’[2] and Hezekiah’s Tunnel…Warren’s Shaft is a tunnel entered from above the spring, about halfway up the slope and what must have been a region of public buildings within the ancient city walls…. Water was drawn from the horizontal channel up the vertical shaft by means of buckets, and thence carried up the steps tunnel.”[3]
To bring the water supply into the city was a move to assure the inhabitants water to drink during a siege. King Hezekiah had two teams working from either end with the idea they should meet in the middle and join the two halves allowing the water to flow into the city. (Second Kings 20:20) In 1880 the Siloam Tunnel inscription commemorating the completion of the tunneling project was found on the tunnels wall. It reads: “… The tunneling (was finished). And this was the matter of the tunneling: While [the hewers wielded] the axe, each man toward his fellow, and while there were still three cubits to be he[w]n, there was hear]d a man’s voice call/ing to his fellow, for there was a crack (?) In the rock on the right and [on the lef]t. And at the end of the/ tunneling the hewers hacked each man towards his fellow, axe upon axe. And there flowed/the waters from the spring towards the reservoir for two hundre[d and] a thousand cubits. And one hu[nd]red cubits was the height of the rock above the head(s) of the hewers.” [4]
I don’t know the current situation
in Jerusalem whether or not tours are conducted through Hezekiah’s Tunnel. I’ve
done it several times and it’s a lot of fun if you never have done it. Check it
out the next time you’re in Israel.
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