King Hezekiah Prepares to Battle the Sennacherib

King Hezekiah was well aware of Sennacherib’s invasion of Judea and began significant preparations in Jerusalem to withstand an Assyrian onslaught.

The Bible provides a detailed account:

2 Chronicles 32:2-4‍

When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come, intent on making war against Jerusalem, he consulted with his officers and warriors about stopping the flow of the springs outside the city….   A large force was assembled to stop up all the springs and the wadi that flowed through the land, for otherwise, they thought, the king of Assyria would come and find water in abundance.

Water played a central role in the conquest of a city in ancient times. Not only did the approaching army try to cut off the inhabitants from their water source, but they also needed it for their own armies. Hezekiah prepared the city for the siege by shutting off the water supply outside the city, diverting water from the Gihon spring through an underground tunnel to a pool within the city’s confines.