The Miracle Pools Of Jerusalem

The English word "pool" originated from an Anglo-Saxon word of the same spelling that referred to a small low-lying area filled with water, sometimes also referring to a marsh.

"Pool" is used to translate two original words of the Holy Scriptures that each define one of the two modern-day primary uses for pools. The Hebrew word of the Old Testament, pronounced ber-ay-kaw, means a reservoir, a reserve of water. The Greek word of the New Testament (see also Translation Of Translations), pronounced kol-oom-bay-thraw, literally means a diving place i.e. a swimming place.

Pools were known from early Bible History, including among such famous events as the Exodus and King Hezekiah's water tunnel into Jerusalem.

"^7:19 And the LORD [see 'Before Abraham Was, I AM'] spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone." (Exodus 7:19 KJV)

"^2:13 And Joab the son of Zeruiah, and the servants of David [see also The Restoration Of David's Fallen Tabernacle], went out, and met together by the pool of Gibeon: and they sat down, the one on the one side of the pool, and the other on the other side of the pool." (2 Samuel 2:13 KJV)

"^20:20 And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah [see Hezekiah Of Judah], and all his might, and how he made a pool, and a conduit, and brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? [see Kings of Israel and Judah]" (2 Kings 20:20 KJV)

"^2:5 I [i.e. King Solomon; see Israelite Monarchy - The United Kingdom] made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits: ^2:6 I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees" (Ecclesiastes 2:6 KJV)

Pools are also described in Prophecy of the time when the Kingdom of God will come to earth (see What Will Heaven Be Like? and When And Where Your Eternal Life Will Begin).

"^41:18 I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. ^41:19 I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together: ^41:20 That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it [see Moriah: Separating The Wheat From The Chaff and Looking Up To The Messiah: How And When?]." (Isaiah 41:18-20 KJV)

"For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water"

Two of the most famous pools in Jerusalem were those known as Bethesda and Siloam. The pool of Bethesda was located near the sheep gate (see also The Strait Gate) and market ("there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda" John 5:2 KJV), hence the reason that some call it "the sheep pool." The pool of Siloam was located in the Tyropoeon valley, just southeast of "Zion" (see Anti-Zion Is Anti-Christ; also Iran's Greatest Leader Was Pro-Zionist).

Jesus Christ miraculously healed many people in many places. On one occasion, He (not the pool, or an "angel") healed a man at Bethesda who was unable to walk. The religious "authorities" (see Religious Parties) criticized the Messiah for healing on the Sabbath (see the Fact Finder question below). They also hypocritically didn't criticize those who carried the crippled man on a stretcher to the pool on the Sabbath, or those who lifted other people into the pool on the Sabbath, but they criticized the man, after he was miraculously healed by the Son of God, for his carrying of the no-longer-needed stretcher that minutes before had carried him.

"^5:2 Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. ^5:3 In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. ^5:4 For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. ^5:5 And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. ^5:6 When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?

^5:7 The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.

^5:8 Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. ^5:9 And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.

^5:10 The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed.

^5:11 He answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk.

^5:12 Then asked they him, What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk?

^5:13 And he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place.

^5:14 Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. ^5:15 The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole.

^5:16 And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day." (John 5:2-16 KJV)

On another occasion, also on the Sabbath, when The Prophet Of Galilee miraculously healed a blind man and "said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam," the spiritually blind religious "authorities" (see also Is Your Church A Cult?) again criticized both the Healer and the healed.

"^9:1 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. ^9:2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?

^9:3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. ^9:4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. 9:5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

^9:6 When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, ^9:7 And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.

^9:8 The neighbours therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged? ^9:9 Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he.

^9:10 Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened?

^9:11 He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight.

^9:12 Then said they unto him, Where is he?

He said, I know not.

^9:13 They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind. ^9:14 And it was the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes. ^9:15 Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see.

^9:16 Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them." (John 9:1-16 KJV)

Fact Finder: What else did Jesus Christ do on His one and only true Sabbath Day?
See What Did Jesus Do On The Sabbath? and Do You Observe Christ's Sabbath Or Babylon's Sun Day?

This Day In History, October 3

1656: Miles Standish died. The English colonist at Plymouth was made famous by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem The Courtship of Miles Standish.

1691: The Treaty of Limerick was signed, ending the Irish Rebellion against British rule.

1739: Russia signed a treaty with the Turks (i.e. the Ottoman Empire; listen to our Sermon The Ottoman Empire), ending a three-year conflict between the two countries.

1838: Black Hawk died at age 71. He was the "Indian" (an erroneous term applied to the native people of North and South America by European explorers who thought that they had landed in India) leader of the Sauk and Fox tribes in Illinois; the Black Hawk War of 1832 is named after him.

1866: Italy and Austria signed the Treaty of Vienna, ending the Seven Weeks War.

1906: At the Berlin Radio Conference in Germany, SOS was established as the international distress signal, replacing the call sign CDQ.

1914: At the start of the First World War, the first brigades of Canadian volunteers sailed from Gaspe, Quebec. The more than 31,000 men, 144 artillery guns and 7,000 horses, escorted by 10 British battleships, arrived in Britain 11 days later. They formed the First Canadian Division, the largest fully-equipped military convoy to cross the Atlantic up to that date.

1929: Yugoslavia became the official name of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.

1940: In response to Germany's first-ever use of "paratroopers" (i.e. parachute troopers) in war (i.e. Germany's invasion of Denmark with their Fallschirmjager, in English parachute infantry - but contemptuously known to the people that they invaded as the green devils), the U.S. Army began to establish "airborne" troops.

1932: Iraq became an independent nation upon the ending of the British UN mandate there (a military coup in the 1960s brought in the regime that later was ruled by Saddam Hussein - who at first was an obedient puppet of the CIA, as was the neighboring Shah of Iran). After the fall of the Ottoman Empire at the end of the First World War (listen to our Sermon The European World Wars), Britain administered the vast area of the Middle East from Egypt to Iraq that had been under Ottoman control for centuries. Thereafter, while under British military protection, those Arab nations became free and independent (listen to our Sermons The Ottoman Empire), as well as did the land of Israel (listen to our Sermon The Balfour Declaration).

1941: During the Second World War, Adolf Hitler declared that "Russia is defeated and will never rise again" (see also Presidential Quotes On War, Terrorism, Religion). The German march toward Moscow was subsequently thwarted by the Russian winter.

1952: Britain detonated its first atomic bomb. The test was done at the Monte Bello Islands off the northwest coast of Australia.

1963: A military coup in Honduras overthrew President Ramon Villeda Morales.

1981: A hunger strike at the Maze prison in Belfast ended after 7 months and 10 deaths.

1990: The official political re-unification of East and West Germany after 45 years of Cold War Division (see Ein Volk! Ein Reich! Ein Euro!).