The Conduit of the Upper Pool

Isaiah 7:3 – Then the LORD said to Isaiah, “Go out, you and your son Shear-Jashub, to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Washerman’s Field.”

Isaiah 36:2 – Then the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah with a large army. And he stood by the conduit of the Upper Pool on the road to the Washerman’s Field.

In the Book of Isaiah, the “conduit of the Upper Pool” is mentioned multiple times. This place was likely the source of the Gihon Spring, and the “Washerman’s Field” may have been the nearby area used for washing clothes. Because it was near the water source, it was a busy area where people frequently passed by, and news spread quickly. During King Ahaz’s reign, Isaiah came here to advise him to trust in God rather than rely on Assyria (Isaiah 7:3). Thirty years later, the king of Assyria, Sennacherib, sent the Rabshakeh to the same place to pressure King Hezekiah to surrender and not rely on God (Isaiah 37:10), so that the people would taste what it means to not “truly trust in the LORD.”

Although these two events were separated by more than thirty years, they are strikingly similar:

1.Both faced the threat of powerful enemies (Isaiah 7:1; Isaiah 36:2).

2.Both were afraid (Isaiah 7:2; Isaiah 37:1).

3.Both considered forming alliances with foreign nations to solve the crisis (2 Kings 16:7; Isaiah 30:1-2; Isaiah 39:2).

4.Both heard the prophecy of the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 7:3; Isaiah 37:5).

5.The key scene in both events took place at “the conduit of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Washerman’s Field” (Isaiah 7:3; Isaiah 36:2).

6.In both cases, God told them not to be afraid (Isaiah 7:4; Isaiah 37:6).

7.God promised deliverance (Isaiah 7:7; Isaiah 37:7).

8.God gave them a sign (Isaiah 7:13-25; Isaiah 38:5-8).

9.God announced that the people would be harmed by the very things they chose to rely on (Isaiah 7:17; Isaiah 39:6).

10.God assured that “the zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this” (Isaiah 9:7; Isaiah 37:32).

In this process, the difference between the father and son, Ahaz and Hezekiah, is clear:

1.Isaiah had to go to Ahaz first (Isaiah 7:12), but Hezekiah took the initiative to seek Isaiah (Isaiah 37:3).

2.Ahaz pretended to be strong and spiritual (Isaiah 7:12), whereas Hezekiah acknowledged his weakness and failure (Isaiah 37:1, 3, 14).

3.Ahaz refused to trust in God and was disciplined (Isaiah 7:18-25), but Hezekiah learned to trust in God and was delivered (Isaiah 37:36).

Ahaz “reigned for sixteen years,” which may include the three years he co-reigned with his father Jotham. Jotham himself received no negative evaluation, yet he raised a son, Ahaz, who had no positive evaluation.Not only did Ahaz fail to follow the good examples of his grandfather Uzziah and his father Jotham—who “did what was right in the eyes of the LORD”—but he went completely astray. He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, made idols for Baal, and even, for the first time in Judah’s history, burned his own children as sacrifices.

After Pekah became king of Israel, he allied with Rezin, king of Aram, to resist Assyria. Judah, however, refused to join the anti-Assyrian alliance. As a result, Aram and Israel joined forces to attack Judah, intending to depose Ahaz and set up the son of Tabeel as king (Isaiah 7:6). This was God’s discipline on Ahaz and the people of Judah for abandoning Him.

Originally, Hezekiah followed his father Ahaz’s policy of paying tribute to Assyria (2 Kings 16:7-8). Later, however, he stopped paying tribute and rebelled against Assyria, which led to the Assyrian invasion. Hezekiah tried everything possible to resolve the crisis, but the problem refused to go away and instead pushed him to the brink of despair.
In 701 BC, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, captured all the fortified cities of Judah, and 185,000 Assyrian troops besieged Jerusalem. God used these difficult circumstances to strip Hezekiah of all his wealth and strategies, bringing him to complete despair of self-reliance and urging him to walk the path of faith that sincerely trusts in the LORD.

Source: Authorized translation from “Comprehensive Interpretation of the Bible.”