The Siloam Pool is most famously remembered as the place where Jesus healed a man born blind on a Sabbath day: "His neighbours and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, 'Isn't this the same man who used to sit and beg?' Some claimed that he was. Others said, 'No, he only looks like him.' But he himself insisted, 'I am the man.' 'How then were your eyes opened?' they demanded" And when he told them that Jesus had healed him, they brought him before the Pharisees, when a heated debate ensued over Jesus' healing on the Sabbath day that, eventually, brought Jesus himself directly into confrontation with the Pharisees (Jn 9:1-41). It is also mentioned, though only incidentally, when Jesus referred to the deaths of eighteen persons when "the tower in Siloam fell on them" (Lk 13:4). The Pool of Siloam was, however, already known to Nehemiah; he reported a certain Shallun as responsible for repairing "the wall of the Pool of Siloam" and locates it "by the King's Garden, as far as the steps going down from the City of David" (Neh 3:15). Scholars also believe that Siloam was the pool to which Hezekiah channeled the water from the Gihon "to the west side of the City of David" in the face of the Assyrian threat (2 Chron 32:3-4 & 30).
Nehemiah's reference places the pool at the foot of the ridge on which the City of David was located, near where the valley divides into the Kidron, the Tyropoeon, and the Hinnom.
See Where ☰
Traditionally, the pool was associated with what is now known as the Birket al-Hamra, a mosque at the bottom of the Tyropoeon, or Central, Valley.
The pool at Birket al-Hamra
An accident in 2000 led to the discovery of a major pool structure further down the valley, that archaeologists believe was where the New Testament pool was located. The site is also very close to recent excavations revealing a street leading up towards the City of David, consistent with Nehemiah's reference to "the steps going down from the City of David."
The Pool of Siloam newly discovered in 2000.
An ancient street under excavation near the newly uncovered Pool of Siloam.
CONCORDANCE (NIV)
The 'Pool of Siloam' occurs 4x in the NIV:
Neh 3:15 — The Fountain Gate was repaired by Shallun son of Col-Hozeh, ruler of the district of Mizpah. He rebuilt it, roofing it over and putting its doors and bolts and bars in place. He also repaired the wall of the Pool of Siloam, by the King's Garden, as far as the steps going down from the City of David.
Lk 13:4 — Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?
Jn 9:7 — "Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of Siloam" (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
Jn 9:11 — ["How then were your eyes opened?" they demanded.] He replied, "The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see."
NB. You may also wish to read about Hezekiah's Tunnel.
©ALBERITH
190416lch