Biblical Pool Uncovered in Jerusalem

L.A.. Times ^ | August 9, 2005 | Thomas H. Maugh II

[monkeyshine]

Workers repairing a sewage pipe in the Old City of Jerusalem have discovered the biblical Pool of Siloam, a freshwater reservoir that was a major gathering place [a mikvah, where Jews do a ritual cleansing] for ancient Jews making religious pilgrimages to the city and the reputed site where Jesus cured a man blind from birth, according to the Gospel of John.

"Scholars have said that there wasn't a Pool of Siloam and that John was using a religious conceit" to illustrate a point, said New Testament scholar James H. Charlesworth of the Princeton Theological Seminary. "Now we have found the Pool of Siloam … exactly where John said it was."

[monkeyshine]

Great new archeological find in Jerusalem.

Proving the "Scholars" wrong once again.

[mlc9852]

Pretty cool but not surprising.

[Mr. Keys]

Another Islamic holy site?

[gobucks]

I wish a discussion about the reaction of this blind man's parent's to his cure would generate as much discussion as the pool itself ....

For within their reaction lies the ultimate seed of understanding why so many kids are abandoned, spiritually abandoned, by their parents...

[Dark Skies]

Another Islamic holy site?

Precisely.

How long will it be before some imam announces that Mohammed bathed here before riding his white horse into the sky?

[SoCalRight]

The last dispatch from liberal scholars will be: "It turns out Hell wasn't a figure of speech."

[Brilliant]

Another interesting point.... Biblical Scholars say that John did not write his gospel until at least the 2d Century AD, well after the destruction of Jerusalem, and that it was not written by the Desciple John, but by someone who assumed his name.

If so, then how did this individual find out about the pool, I wonder?

[q_an_a]

this is good news and will continue to prove teh claim of Isreal to this land. It will prove to young people that the Bible is not a book written by religous myth makers, but it IS the WORD of GOD.

[katieanna]

My thought is the parents reacted as they did for fear of the roman government. What say you?

[HEY4QDEMS]

Great new archeological find in Jerusalem.

Proving the "Scholars" wrong once again.

Scholars seem to always revel in questioning the verasity of the Bible.

It's been said before but it's worth repeating;
"Never put a question mark where God has put a period"

[monkeyshine]

For your ping list

[massgopguy]

Where bathing took place? What's next? Islamic WORK sites?

[Bluegrass Conservative]

In a related story, archaeologists also uncovered a pair of ancient "water wings", thought to be those of St. Thomas . . . as he doubted his own ability to swim in the pool. :-)

[AzSteven]

Biblical Scholars say that John did not write his gospel until at least the 2d Century AD, well after the destruction of Jerusalem, and that it was not written by the Desciple John, but by someone who assumed his name. If so, then how did this individual find out about the pool, I wonder?

If that part of the gospel was actually written in the 2nd Century, I would assume that the knowledge of the pool itself was still there 200 years later - it didnt become forgotten until later.

The oral tradition was pretty strong back then - its quite possible that the Gospel of John was handed down in an oral tradition and not formally recorded until some generations had passed. Locals of the 2nd Century would probably have a very good idea of how Jerusalem was laid out in the time of Christ, but some centuries later, after the various barbarian and Islamic invasions, the Crusades and however many temporary evacuations and resettlements of Jerusalem, local knowledge probably lost a lot of old geographic reference points.

[Mr. Keys]

It will happen.

[Mr. Keys]

They'll get around the bathing part. Camel wash maybe?

[gobucks]

This is John, Chap 9 as I recall. And their fear had nothing to do with the Roman Gov't, but Pharisseical courts. It had to do w/ fear of being ejected from the synogogue if they acknowledged that their son was indeed cured by Jesus.

Instead of reacting like 'normal' parents, joyful for a sighted son, the reacted like parents today really do react all the time: the care about what others think more than they care about what is right. This is why so many parents cheat regarding school projects their kids should be doing alone, for example.

So, when they were being interrogated, they told the religious authorities that yes indeed, He was their son ... but that he was old enough to speak for himself about 'who' cured him. But rationally, does this make sense if you know your cured was blind from birth? Only if you know the power of the fear of being on the outside looking in.

It was this echo of 'normal' 2000 years ago, that is so in tune w/ 'normal' today, as parents tear at each other, and continue to abort kids, and continue to watch TV, and struggle to get that cul de sac palace ....

It was reading this echo of 'normal' that massively increased the credibility of the New Testament for me.

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

..................

[Happy2BMe]

Archeology proves the Bible again - Pool of Siloam

[SJackson]

Another Islamic holy site?

From an earlier thread.

Early 1900s The photograph at right was taken in the early 1900s and shows the Pool of Siloam before later Muslim construction above it. An early description of the pool reads, "There is nothing picturesque about it, certainly. The crumbling walls, and fallen columns in and around it, give it an air of neglect." It is a parallelogram about fifty-three feet long and eighteen feet wide. . . . Dr. Thomson says he has seen this pool nearly full, but that now the water merely passes through it. "The intermittent flow is supposed to be due to a natural syphon, but the natives' explanation is that a dragon lives below and swallows the water when he is awake, but that when he sleeps it wells up freely. "--Major Conder. Sources: Text: Earthly Footsteps of the Man of Galilee, p. 227. Photo: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-DIG-matpc-04245