Image Details

Richard T. Nowitz

“Gushing spring” aptly translates the name of Jerusalem’s famous Gihon Spring. Located on the eastern flank of the eastern ridge known as the City of David, the spring flows in spurts into a bedrock chamber from beneath the stairs and provides a dependable source of water even in the driest months. Viewed, like all springs, as a direct gift of Israel’s God (Isaiah 41:17–18), the Gihon Spring was where the prophet Nathan anointed King Solomon (1 Kings 1:32–40). The stairway, probably medieval in origin, leads up to the present level of the Kidron valley.