of
the aqueduct.

As time pressed, the work was begun simultaneously at each end; the
workmen had made a wide detour underground, probably in order to avoid
the caves in which the kings of Judah had been laid to rest ever since
the time of David,* and they were beginning to despair of ever uniting
the two sections of the tunnel, when they suddenly heard one another
through the wall of rock which divided them. A few blows with the
pick-axe opened a passage between them, and an inscription on the wall
adjoining the entrance on the east side, the earliest Hebrew inscription
we possess, set forth the vicissitudes of the work for the benefit of
future generations. It was scarcely completed when Kezin, who had
joined forces with Pekah at Samaria, came up and laid regular siege to
Jerusalem.**

* This is the highly ingenious hypothesis put forward and
defended with much learning by Clermont-Ganneau, in order to
account for the large curve described by the tunnel.

** 2 Kings xvi. 5; cf. 2 Chron. xxviii. 5-8. It was on this
occasion that Isaiah delivered the prophecies which, after
subsequent revision, furnished the bulk of chaps, vi. 1--x. 4.

The allies did not propose to content themselves with exacting tribute
from the young king; they meant to dethrone him, and to set up in
his room a son of Tabeel, whom they had brought with them; they were
nevertheless obliged to retire without effecting a breach in his
defences and leave the final assault till the following campaign. Rezin,
however, had done as much injury as he could to Judah; he had laid waste
both mountain and plain, had taken Elath by storm and restored it to the
Edomites,* and had given a free hand to the Philistines (735).**

* 2 Kings xvi. 6, where the Massoretic text states that the
Syrians retained the town, while the Septuagint maintain
that he restored it to the Edomites.

** Chron. xxviii. 18, where a list is given of the towns
wrested from Judah by the Philistines. The delight felt by
the Philistines at the sight of Judah's abasement seems to
be referred to in the short prophecy of Isaiah (xiv. 29-32),
wrongly ascribed to the year of Ahaz's death.

[Illustration: 241.jpg HEBREW INSCRIPTION ON THE SILOAM AQUEDUCT]

A direct reproduction from a plaster cast now in Paris. The
inscription discovered by Schick, in 1880, has since been
mutilated, and only the fra