In the days of Ahaz, the grandson of Uzziah, Jerusalem was threatened
by the allied forces of Rezin, king of Syria and Pekah, king of Israel.
Ahaz and his people were greatly perturbed, and needed a message of
advice and encouragement The word of the Lord came to Isaiah, in the
Temple, saying, “Go forth now and meet Ahaz, at the end of the conduit
of the upper pool, in the highway of the Fuller’s Field” (Isaiah vii.
3). The upper pool here spoken of is believed to be the Virgin’s
Fountain, where we find one end of a conduit which connects it with the
lower pool at Siloam. But if this is what is meant, why is the spot
not described shortly and plainly as En-Rogel, by which name it was
already known? (1 Kings i. 9). Surely it is not the pool itself which
is meant but the end of a conduit, or channel, or passage belonging to
it--the end of a passage, yet not a termination in any pool. That is
to say, it refers to the top of the shaft and stairway on the Ophel
Hill, which had been lost so long until re-discovered by Warren. This
entrance was of course known to Isaiah, and known to the king, being
close by the king’s gardens. Ahaz would reach it by going out through
the Gate between two walls, and was probably accustomed to walk there
frequently. The place spoken of is not really stated to be “_in_ the
highway of the Fuller’s Field:” in the Hebrew text the word _in_ is not
found, and the passage might be rendered--“The end of the channel of
the upper pool, the staircase of the Fuller’s Field.” This is an exact
description of the top of the shaft on the Ophel Hill.
Here, then, we have another interesting note of locality: it appears
that the Fuller’s Field was on Ophel, and Warren’s shaft was in it. We
cannot but recall the statement of Josephus that St James was martyred
by being thrown over the outer wall of the Temple enclosure, and that
“a fuller took the club with which he pressed the clothes, and brought
it down on the head of the Just one.” It is reasonable to infer that
fullers were at work not far from the spot where St James fell. On the
slope of the Ophel Hill Sir Charles Warren discovered a cavern which
was apparently used by the fullers, for it contained vats or troughs
cut in the rock. In the earth above the cave is a drain, which is of
course more modern; and yet here were found glass and pottery, supposed
to be early Christian.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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