IN PALESTINb: IN RELATION TO THE BIBLE. 



245 



contrary to all we see in the land, that the first settlers could 

 have established themselves on the western hill far away from 

 the water supply. In spite of the suitability of the site, it is a 

 diRiculty to many that an area which now appears so small — 

 it is to-day scarcely inhabited — could have been the locality ot 

 Zion. Here the recent excavations help us. Professor G. A. 

 Smith has pointed out a wall surrounding the top of this hill 

 " Ophel " would be from 3,800 to 3.900 feet long, whereas the 

 length of the great outer defence of Gezer, now almost entirely 

 recovered, is, according to the measurements of Mr. Alacalister, 

 hut 4,500 feet. In other words, Zion might have been entirely 

 restricted to this one hilltop and yet be nearly as large as the 

 great fortress city of Gezer, which, as has been said, was 

 considerably more important. 



The main passages in the Old Testament which have a bearing 

 on the position of Zion are those referring to the famous Siloam. 

 tunnel. This is the rudely constructed and winding rock-cut 

 channel, 1,700 feet long, which conducts the \\ ater of the Virgin's 

 Fount (Gihon) through the hill " Ophel " to the Pool of Siloam 

 in the TyroptTan Valley. The famous " Siloam Inscription," 

 describing how this work was completed, was found at its western 

 end in 1880, but unfortunately it was undated. There can, 

 however, be little doubt about the identity of this work with that 

 described in ii Ch. xxxii, 30, where it states the Hezekiah closed 

 the issue of the waters of the Upper Gihon and " brought them 

 straight down (or underneath) to the west of the City of David." 

 From this it is clear that the tunnel passed underneath the 

 City of David and came out on its west side. What clearer 

 evidence could be given regarding the position of Zion ? 



There are other incidental references which strengthen this 

 position. In il Chron. xxxii, 14, we read that Manasseh built a 

 wall on the west side of " Gihon in the valley" of the Kidron, 

 i.e., immediately above the fountain, and encompassed about 

 " Ophel." Even stronger is the statement in Neh. iii, 15-16, 

 when we read of the " stairs which go down from the City of 

 David " in close connection with Siloam. 



Zion appears to have been the old name for the same rocky 

 height* which was afterwards called the City of David. " David 

 took the stronghold of Zion ; the same is the City of David." 

 But while what had been called Zion was now renamed " City 



According to Prof. G. E. Smith {Expositor, Jan., 1905), the most 

 probable meaning of Zion is a protuberance, shoulder or summit of a 

 ridge. 



