The Pool of Siloam

The four Gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John paint for us a beautiful portrait of Jesus Christ and His ministry, which God, His Father, gave to Him for the salvation of mankind.

When this same John wrote the last book of the Bible, the Revelation, he says in chapter 13 vs. 8 that Christ, the Lamb of God, was slain from the foundation of the world. Only the mind of God contained this information, and only the Spirit of God could reveal it to the apostle John.

The same Spirit of God revealed Jesus as the Lamb of God to John the Baptist. Consequently, when Jesus approached him to be baptised John said, “See the lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world.” Jesus was literally God’s Passover lamb, slain to take away our sin.

The word of God from Genesis to Revelation leaves us no doubt that every word, sentence, paragraph, and experience was leading to man’s salvation.

The apostle Paul confirms these thoughts in Romans 15:4 where he says, “All these things were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.” It was these scriptures written long ago that put into the mind of Christ such a beautiful and all comprehensive view of His Father’s eternal purpose, allowing Him in His ministry to leave for you and me such intimate clues of His Father’s eternal mind and purposes.

One of the most beautiful and enlightening experiences is the one found in John’s Gospel, Chapter 9. Here Jesus meets a man who was blind from birth. Spitting on the ground He makes clay from the dust, with which He anoints the man’s eyes. He then tells the man to wash in the pool of Siloam. Why the pool of Siloam?

The word Siloam is the Greek form of the Hebrew word Shiloh, a word we find in Genesis 49:10, one of the greatest prophetical testimonies ever given, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.” God is blessing the 12 tribes of Israel in vs. 8-12. He is blessing the tribe of Judah in vs. 10. God promises that from Judah, Shiloh will come who will be his ruler and King. We see that prophetically Shiloh or Siloam is none other than Jesus, the Son of God. So, He was saying to the blind man, “Find Him who is represented by the pool of Siloam and by following Him you will see more than just what you see by physical sight.” That is exactly what this man did in John 9:28-38.

We find then, in the colourful history of Israel (God’s nation from which Christ came) major events, which allowed Almighty God to include other prophetic evidence of who Christ, the Word, really was. Many of these events are recorded for us by the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 7:8-9. In chapter 7, the scene is set for us. Rezin, the king of Aram (Syria) and Pekah the king of the 10 tribes of Israel, form a confederacy to war against Judah and Jerusalem. The Lord warns them through Isaiah, His prophet, that they will not succeed for He, the Almighty, will fight for Judah. Rezin, Pekah and their armies might feel stronger and greater than Judah, but He, the Creator, will intervene for Judah. The 10 tribes surround Jerusalem, ignoring God’s warning, and come to grief. Another scene where God intervenes is found in Isaiah 36 & 37, where 185,000 men of Sennacherib’s army surrounded the Holy City. Hezekiah, king of Jerusalem, sends the message he received from Sennacherib, the Assyrian king, to Isaiah. The prophet tells Hezekiah, “Do not be afraid of what you have heard“ (2 Kings 19:6). In Isaiah 37:14-15: Hezekiah went into the house of the Lord, and spreads the message before the Lord and prays to Him. The Lord answers him, “There will not be one arrow shot into this city tomorrow.” In verse 36 we read that night the angel of the Lord came to Jerusalem and in the morning, 185,000 men lay dead outside Jerusalem’s walls.

Unfortunately history records that from this time Judah and Benjamin turn away from their God and because of this He allowed the next empire, Babylon, to conquer and capture Jerusalem breaking down its walls. Many prominent men and women were taken captive to Babylon, including Nehemiah and Daniel, both prophets of God.

Some years later, Babylon was conquered by the Medes and Persians, whose kings, Cyrus and Darius, are shepherds or servants of God. (See Isaiah 44:28.) It was they who liberated the Jews, sending them back to Israel to rebuild the Holy City of Jerusalem. One of those in charge of rebuilding was Nehemiah, the prophet, and it was this man who first mentions the pool of Siloam in Nehemiah 3:15 by name. Here Nehemiah tells us that one gained entrance to Siloam by the steps from Mount Zion, the city of David, and he mentions the king’s garden, which was watered by the pool of Siloam. Here is a wonderful picture, but it is only when we read the accounts of the books of Kings and Chronicles that we get the full picture.

Just outside the walls of Jerusalem there was a village called Gihon, which again had a pool that never ran dry. Even in the most arid times of Middle East summers, this water supply was constant. In the past, invading armies would capture the village and cut off the water supply to Jerusalem.

When Nehemiah rebuilt the walls of the Holy City, he extended them to include this village, thus giving Jerusalem a never-ending water supply. Then a further feature was added; a culvert was cut through solid rock, 1700 feet long to connect Gihon to Siloam. Why? What is the meaning of this?

The name “Gihon” means great gushing water, never ending, never running dry; representing Almighty God, Eternal, Incorruptible and Immortal. God, through these men, made the culvert and the waters. Thus, Siloam or Shiloh aptly picture Christ, (who Scripture tells us is the living water) who, in turn, waters the King’s garden – His Bride, His Church.

Almighty God had His Word written down for His Son by the prophets long before Christ came to earth. They picture the culvert by which the waters come to Siloam, all provided for Christ by a God and Father of Love. The King’s garden represents those who have given or dedicated their lives to God, symbolized by water baptism. Thus they are, as the apostle Paul says, baptised into Christ and His death, which takes away their sin.

This is why Jesus told the man born blind to wash in the Pool of Siloam, the waters of Christ, so that with Him, Christ, after His death and resurrection, he could partake through Him, the Siloam of God, thus receiving the prize of Incorruptibility, the Eternal Divine nature from the Eternal Spring of Gihon. So we say, “Hallelujah, Praise God.” AMEN

Bill Appleton

“I heard the voice of Jesus say,

‘Behold, I freely give

The living water, thirsty one,

Stoop down, and drink and live!’

I came to Jesus and I drank

Of that life-giving stream;

My thirst was quenched,

My soul revived, and

Now I live in Him.”

Horatio Bonar – 1846