The Wells of Yeshua
Daniel JusticeShare
Photo: Todd Bolen/BiblePlaces.com
The healing at the pool of Siloam in John Chapter 9 is a wonderful insight into the way the ministry of Jesus was received, both by the common people as well as the religious elite in Jerusalem. There are other deeply profound lessons to be learned in the story and the location itself.
As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed 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." Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud and said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. [John 9:1-7]
The man was blind from birth, even in the text, the gravity of this miracle is stated plainly by the healed man himself. After repeating his story for the 3rd time the Pharisees were still desperately grasping for any reason to explain this miracle without acknowledging that Jesus was the Messiah. The man says;
"...Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” (verse 32-33)
The man had been blind just hours ago, and even he could see that Jesus MUST be from God. This perfectly exemplifies Jesus' message to the man when He caught up to him leaving the synagogue.
Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind." Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, "Are we also blind?" Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, 'We see,' your guilt remains. [John 9:39-41]
The Pharisees were spiritually blind. Jesus rebukes their arrogant pride. They had ignored the miracle that they had just themselves confirmed. This personal experience shouldn't have been their only clue that Jesus was the promised one. The Old Testament prophecies as well as their own temple traditions should have been more than sufficient to show them what this miracle portends and who Jesus truly was. Let's look at the great scroll of the prophet Isaiah;
Isaiah 29:18 "In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see."
Isaiah 35:5 "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped."
Isaiah 42:6-7 "I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness."
Just in the great scroll of Isaiah they had heard the words of God Himself tell them how they would know the Messiah would come and the healing of the blind was a major theme. How could they not see? How could they be blind to what they had been learning about and waiting for their entire lives? There's more though. The pool of Siloam or "Sent" itself.
In earlier Chapters time after time Jesus reiterates to the people and the Pharisees that He is the one who God has sent. The pool is called "Sent" and the reason for this is so on the nose, it makes the Pharisees lack of belief... well... unbelievable.
During the feast of Tabernacles (Booths or Sukkot) this particular pool played a significant role. The feast was 7 days long, and on each morning, as preparations began for the daily burnt offering, a priest led a festive procession, accompanied by; music, flutes and singing, crowds of pilgrims in town for the Festival. Following the priest down from the Temple Mount through the Water Gate to the Pool of Siloam. He fills a golden pitcher (holding roughly 1.5 liters) with "living" (moving) water from the pool's spring fed source.
The procession returns up to the Temple Mount triumphantly amid shofar blasts and chants of Isaiah 12:3.
"With joy you shall draw water from the wells of salvation."
Salvation in Hebrew is Yeshua. The "wells of Yeshua." They are chanting His name!
They take the water and pour it into a special silver basin with holes in the bottom placed on the southwest corner of the altar where it drains down onto the base. Simultaneously, another priest poured wine from another pitcher into a companion basin. The two liquids, wine and water, mingling as they flow down. A shadow the cross to come; blood and water, played out for hundreds of years before it in the Temple festivals.
There were so many signs and prophecies that the Pharisees were truly without excuse. They had become blind just as Jesus told them they had.
The formerly blind man had no such doubts.
Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" He answered, "And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?" Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you." He said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him. [John 9:35-38]
I can't relate to being blind since birth in the way that this man was. But we were all spiritually blind as sinners until Jesus Christ healed us. He told us to wash the sin out of our eyes with the living waters of the wells of salvation also. We believers have all experienced being blind and receiving our sight. Who would ask, after gaining their sight being born blind, to be blinded again? To return to the dark? No one. Similarly, we should, as the man healed in John 9 did, cast all doubt aside. We have seen enough. We can cling to this experience in our times of doubt, we can cast those doubts aside as one who can now see.
I hope this article has deepened your understanding of God's word and brought you closer in relationship with Jesus Christ. I love you!