Soon pilgrims and tourists from the Holy Land will be able to visit the Pool of Siloam, the place where Jesus Christ healed a blind man
Newsroom (January 5, 2023, 11:20 AM, Gaudium Press) The city of Jerusalem will open to visitors a site where Jesus Christ healed a blind man: the Pool of Siloam.
The announcement of the opening of the historic site for Christians was made by the Israel Antiquities Authority, the Israel National Parks Authorities and the City of David Foundation last December 31.
The mayor of Jerusalem, Moshe Lion, stated that “The Pool of Siloam in the City of David National Park in Jerusalem is a site of historical, national and international importance. After many years of waiting, we will soon begin to uncover this important site and make it accessible to the millions of visitors and tourists who visit Jerusalem every year.”
Israel’s antiquities authority said that visitors will first be able to follow the research taking place at the archaeological site, and then visit the pool itself in the coming months.
The authority responsible for the reservoir released an explanatory video based on historical research on what the Pool of Siloam must have looked like at the time of the Second Temple (516 B.C. to 70 A.D.).
The Pool of Siloam in the Bible
The Pool of Siloam is a water reservoir located in the ancient city of Jerusalem, in the ancient City of David. According to scholars the reservoir was built around the 8th century B.C. and was renovated at the time of the Second Temple.
The Pool of Siloam is mentioned several times in the biblical account, “He made, moreover, the walls, from the pool of Siloam, beside the king’s garden, to the stairs that go down from the City of David.” (Neh 3:15).
Or also in Isaiah 8:6: “For this people rejected the still waters of Siloam, and lost their dominion before Rason and the son of Romelias.”
However, especially for Christians, the Pool of Siloam is related to the healing of the blind man, a miracle worked by our Lord Jesus and reported by the Evangelist: “Then he said to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.’ The blind man went, washed, and came back seeing” (Jn 9:7). (FM)
Compiled by Zephania Gangl
