Gi´hon; Heb., “a bursting forth”
1 The second of the four rivers flowing “out of Eden to water the garden,” “the one that flows around the whole land of Cush” (Gen 2:10; Gen 2:13). 2 A pulsating spring in Jerusalem, south of the Temple area on the west side of the Kidron Valley. Because of the steepness of the slope, the spring was outside the town walls at the summit, and although water was normally obtained by carrying jars down to it, in times of siege the jars could apparently be lowered down a vertical shaft. One such shaft (now called “Warren’s Shaft”) was probably the one used by David to enter and capture Jerusalem (2Sam 5:8). Gihon was for a time Jerusalem’s only immediate source of water, but later in the monarchy the supply of water from Gihon seems to have been supplemented by water brought from a greater distance along a conduit, perhaps to the “upper pool,” where Isaiah met and rebuked King Ahaz (Isa 7:3). Hezekiah, who succeeded Ahaz, sought to ensure the security of the city’s water supply by digging a tunnel, 1,750 feet long, leading from Gihon to the Pool of Solomon, then possibly an underground cistern. The tunnel was carved from both ends simultaneously and follows a curiously winding course.
