The Pool of Siloam, Found Again

Autumn, 2004. Workers digging for a sewer in Jerusalem find a pool that the Gospel of John names.

Scripture: and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So he went away, washed, and came back seeing.

In John chapter nine, Jesus sends a man born blind to a pool. Afterwards, his neighbours argue over whether he is really the same man.

Centuries earlier, threatened by Assyria's king Sennacherib, Hezekiah, who reigned 715 to 687 BCE, sealed the old outlet of the Gihon Spring and built a new tunnel. The pool it fed left besieging armies without the spring's water.

The pool was rebuilt no earlier than the reign of Alexander Jannaeus, 103 to 76 BCE. Scholars aren't sure it stood where Hezekiah's did.

It was a freshwater reservoir and a gathering place for pilgrims. Some scholars suggest it was a mikvah, a Jewish ritual bath, though that is a suggestion, not a certainty.

The pool was destroyed and covered after the First Jewish–Roman War, in 70 CE. The latest coin found on the nearby patio stones is dated four years to the day of the Great Revolt, which means 69 CE. Winter rains then silted it up, in places four metres deep.

Ir David Foundation workers were digging for a sewer, at the request of archaeologist Eli Shukron and Ori Orbach of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. Shukron and Ronny Reich uncovered stone steps.

Today it is the lowest place in historic Jerusalem, about 625 metres above sea level, with a 115-metre climb to the Temple Mount.

The find confirms that a major pool existed here and was in use in Jesus's time, matching the setting. It cannot show the healing itself. The pools lie southeast of the Old City walls.

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