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.
In the days of Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, the stairway shaft in the Fuller's Field is spoken of again, and in a way that quite confirms our previous conclusions. Sennacherib, while besieging Lachish, sent his Tartan and his Rabshakeh with a strong force against Jerusalem, as an easy
