February 15, Site #5

THE POOL OF SILOAM
Siloam means “sender.” The Pool of Siloam is on the southwest corner of the City of David. David conquered the Jebusites by entering the city through water shafts that led from the pool inside the city gates (II Samuel 5:8; I Chronicles 11:6). After Hezekiah’s tunnel was dug, this diverting water from the Gihon Spring to the Pool of Siloam, the spring water of the pool was considered pure. It was used in the Temple ceremonies, such as the conclusion of the Feast of Tabernacles (John 7:37-39). Jesus told a blind man he healed to wash in the Pool of Siloam (John 9:7). Jesus also mentioned thirteen people who were killed when a tower near this pool fell on them (Luke 13:1-4).

John 9:1-12, 24-25 (the healing of a blind man)
As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.” They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”

So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.” He answered, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”

GOLDEN GATE
It is the name of the blocked-up double gate in the center of the eastern wall of the Temple Mount. The southern of the two gates is called the Gate of Mercy, and the northern one, the Gate of Repentance. Behind them on the Temple Mount is an elaborate gatehouse surrounded by two domes and supported by decorated columns. The rooms in the gatehouse are now closed, but until the fifteenth century they were used as Muslim prayer rooms. This gate was built in the late Byzantine era. Prior to it the Beautiful Gate stood in its place (Acts 3:2). Because it is the gate opposite the Mount of Olives, it was the gate Jesus entered on Palm Sunday (Mark 11:11; John 12:13). The Golden Gate was blocked after Saladin conquered Jerusalem in 1187. This gate is holy to the Jews as well, because of the tradition that the Messiah will come to the Mount of Olives and enter Jerusalem through it. The Muslims established a cemetery on the slope outside the gate to prevent the entry of the Jewish Messiah.

Mark 11:1-11 (Palm Sunday)
When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.’” They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it, some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them to take it. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

Acts 3:1-10 (a healing at the Beautiful Gate)
One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, at three o”clock in the afternoon. And a man lame from birth was being carried in. People would lay him daily at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful Gate so that he could ask for alms from those entering the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked them for alms. Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. Jumping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. All the people saw him walking and praising God, and they recognized him as the one who used to sit and ask for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.