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The Pool of Siloam was the only permanent
water source for the city of Jerusalem in the first century AD. It was fed
by the waters of the Gihon Spring diverted through Hezekiah's Tunnel,
built in the 8th century BC. Jesus told the blind man to go wash at the
Pool of Siloam, and after doing it he received his sight. This was
significant since the Hebrew word Siloam means "sent" and Jesus was the
Messiah "sent" from heaven. The english equivalent is the word
"apostle."
Archaeological remains of the Pool of Siloam in the time
of Christ are scarce. We know about Herod's Jerusalem through the writings
of Josephus, Strabo, Dio Cassius, Jewish Literature, archaeology and the
Bible.
The Roman Legions of Titus destroyed Jerusalem in 70
AD. They spared only Herod's powerful tower fortress as a symbol of the
strength of the Romans who were able to overpower it.
"When he had thus spoken, he spat on the
ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the
blind man with the clay, And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of
Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and
washed, and came seeing."
- John
9:6-7
"But the gate of the fountain repaired Shallun the
son of Colhozeh, the ruler of part of Mizpah; he built it, and covered it,
and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof, and
the wall of the pool of Siloah by the king's garden, and unto the stairs
that go down from the city of David."
- Nehemiah
3:15
"Forasmuch as this people refuseth the
waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's
son"
- Isaiah
8:6
"In the last day, that great day of the
feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto
me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of
his belly shall flow rivers of living water."
- John
7:37-38
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