gihon Summary and Overview

a stream. (1.) One of the four rivers of Eden (Gen. 2:13). It has been identified with the Nile. Others regard it as the Oxus, or the Araxes, or the Ganges. But as, according to the sacred narrative, all these rivers of Eden took their origin from the head-waters of the Euphrates and the Trigris, it is probable that the Gihon is the ancient Araxes, which, under the modern name of the Arras, discharges itself into the Caspian Sea. It was the Asiatic and not the African "Cush" which the Gihon compassed (Gen. 10:7-10). (See EDEN T0001127.) (2.) The only natural spring of water in or near Jerusalem is the "Fountain of the Virgin" (q.v.), which rises outside the city walls on the west bank of the Kidron valley. On the occasion of the approach of the Assyrian army under Sennacherib, Hezekiah, in order to prevent the besiegers from finding water, "stopped the upper water course of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David" (2 Chr. 32:30; 33:14). This "fountain" or spring is therefore to be regarded as the "upper water course of Gihon." From this "fountain" a tunnel cut through the ridge which forms the south part of the temple hill conveys the water to the Pool of Siloam, which lies on the opposite side of this ridge at the head of the Tyropoeon ("cheesemakers'") valley, or valley of the son of Hinnom, now filled up by rubbish. The length of this tunnel is about 1,750 feet. In 1880 an inscription was accidentally discovered on the wall of the tunnel about nineteen feet from where it opens into the Pool of Siloam. This inscription was executed in all probability by Hezekiah's workmen. It briefly narrates the history of the excavation. It may, however, be possible that this tunnel was executed in the time of Solomon. If the "waters of Shiloah that go softly" (Isa. 8:6) refers to the gentle stream that still flows through the tunnel into the Pool of Siloam, then this excavation must have existed before the time of Hezekiah. In the upper part of the Tyropoeoan valley there are two pools still existing, the first, called Birket el-Mamilla, to the west of the Jaffa gate; the second, to the south of the first, called Birket es-Sultan. It is the opinion of some that the former was the "upper" and the latter the "lower" Pool of Gihon (2 Kings 18:17; Isa. 7:3; 36:2; 22:9). (See CONDUIT T0000877; SILOAM T0003433.)

(a stream). 1. The second river of Paradise. #Ge 2:13| [EDEN] 2. A place near Jerusalem, memorable as the scene of the anointing and proclamation of Solomon as king. #1Ki 1:33,38,45|

GI'HON (fountain, or stream). 1. The name of the second river of Eden, Gen 2:13. Some identify it with the Nile. See Eden. 2. A place near Jerusalem where Solomon was proclaimed king, 1 Kgs 1:33-45. Hezekiah stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon, and Manasseh built a wall on the west side of Gihon in the valley. 2 Chr 32:30; 2 Chr 33:14. Upper Gihon has been identified by some with Birket Mamilla, 150 rods west of the wall of Jerusalem, which is a pool 300 feet long, 200 wide, and 20 deep. Lower Gihon is supposed to have been the same as Birket es-Sultan, south-west of the Jaffa gate, a pool 600 feet long, 250 broad, and 40 deep. Warren, however, proposes the Pool of the Bath or Hezekiah as the Lower Gihon, the valley being that from the Jaffa gate to the temple-site, now filled up, while Grove and Conder favor the pool Siloam as the site of Gihon. See Jerusalem.

1. Genesis 2:13. (See EDEN.) The Septuagint, Jeremiah 2:18, identify it with the Nile; but the writer of Genesis, so well acquainted with Egypt, would never have connected the Nile with the Euphrates. The Cush which the Gihon "compassed" was the Asiatic not the African Cush (Genesis 10:7-10); The Septuagint being Alexandrian Jews, to glorify their adopted country, made the Nile one of the rivers of paradise. 2. A fountain near Jerusalem, where Solomon was anointed king (1 Kings 1:33; 1 Kings 1:38; 1 Kings 1:45). The "down" in going and "up" in returning show it was below the city. Manasseh built a wall outside the city of David from the W. of Gihon in the valley (nachal), "wady", or "torrent", the word employed for the valley of Kedron or Jehoshaphat E. of Jerusalem; ge being employed for the valley of Hinnom S.W. of Jerusalem) to the entrance of the fish gate." Hezekiah stopped its upper source, at some distance off, at a higher level (2 Chronicles 32:30), and "brought it straight down to the W. side of the city of David" (2 Chronicles 33:14). The Targum of Jonathan, Arable and Syriac, has Siloam for Gihon in 1 Kings 1. A wall from W. of Gihon to the fish gate (near the Jaffa gate, Jerome) would be the course of a wall enclosing the city of David (2 Chronicles 33:14). An aqueduct discovered lately (1872) runs from near the Damascus gate, on the Bezetha hill, to the souterrain at the convent of the Sisters of Zion. It probably brought the water from the pool N. of the tombs of the kings (probably the "upper pool," 2 Kings 18:17; Isaiah 7:3; Isaiah 36:2, and "upper watercourse of Gihon" stopped by Hezekiah) to the pool of Bethesda. Siloam was the lower Gihon. It is suggested that the city of David was on the eastern hill, so Hezekiah by bringing it W. of the city of David brought it within the city, and so out of the enemy's reach. Psalm 48:2 confirms the view that mount Zion was to the N. of Moriah, the temple hill: "the joy of the whole earth is mount Zion, on the sides of the N. the city of the great Kine."