conduit Summary and Overview

a water-course or channel (Job 38:25). The "conduit of the upper pool" (Isa. 7:3) was formed by Hezekiah for the purpose of conveying the waters from the upper pool in the valley of Gihon to the west side of the city of David (2 Kings 18:17; 20:20; 2 Chr. 32:30). In carrying out this work he stopped "the waters of the fountains which were without the city" i.e., "the upper water-course of Gihon", and conveyed it down from the west through a canal into the city, so that in case of a siege the inhabitants of the city might have a supply of water, which would thus be withdrawn from the enemy. (See SILOAM T0003433.) There are also the remains of a conduit which conducted water from the so-called "Pools of Solomon," beyond Bethlehem, into the city. Water is still conveyed into the city from the fountains which supplied these pools by a channel which crosses the valley of Hinnom.

meaning an aqueduct or trench through which water was carried. Tradition, both oral and as represented by Talmudical writers, ascribes to Solomon the formation of the original aqueduct by which water was brought to Jerusalem.

CON'DUIT (te'alah in Hebrew). 2 Kgs 18:17; 2 Kgs 20:20; Isa 7:3; Isa 36:2. Used to signify something for conveying water, as a "water-course," Job 38:25, or a "trench." It probably included an aqueduct, such as must have been used to convey the water from the Pool of Solomon to Jerusalem. Pilate built a new aqueduct or repaired that of Solomon, which still remains.

Hezekiah stopped the "upper watercourse of Gihon," and brought it down straight to the W. of the city of David (2 Chronicles 32:30). Robinson identifies Gihon with the pool Birket-es-Mamilla at the head of the valley of Hinnom S.W. of Jerusalem. He thinks the lately discovered subterranean conduit in the city to be a branch from Hezekiah's watercourse. Williams places Gihon N. of Jerusalem, near the tombs of the kings, and thinks that the watercourse flowed S. to the temple, and thence into the pool of Siloam, the lower pool. The proximity of "the upper pool" to "the fuller's field" (2 Kings 18:17) favors this; as "the fuller's monument" was N.E. of the city (Josephus). The pools of Solomon beyond Bethlehem for irrigating his garden (Ecclesiastes 2:6) were probably connected with the supply of water for Jerusalem, which Talmudic tradition assigns to him. Pontius Pilate applied the sacred treasure of the corban to an aqueduct of 200 or 300 stadia, which is about the measure of the existing one. Probably he repaired Solomon's original watercourse. The water is still conveyed from the fountains which supply the pools two miles S. of Bethlehem. It crosses the Hinnom valley on a nine-arched bridge above the pool Birket-es-Sultan, and at last is conducted to the Haram; repaired by Sultan Mahomet Ibn Kalaun of Egypt about A.D. 1300.