OLBGrk;
We read in Scripture of the sheep gate in Jerusalem, Nehemiah 3:1. There was also a market for sheep and other cattle, Deuteronomy 14:26. Some therefore add market, others add gate, to the word in the Greek signifying sheep. Near to this gate or market there was a pool, kolumbhyra: some translate it, a fish pool; others, (more properly), a place to wash or to swim in (the word derives from a verb that signifies, to swim). They say there were two such pools within the compass of the mount on which the temple stood; the one eastward, called the upper pool, 2 Kings 18:17; the other westward, near to the sheep gate. The one was called Bethesda; the other, the pool of Siloah, by the king's garden, Nehemiah 3:15, mentioned also by our evangelist, 1 Thessalonians 9:7. They say the waters of these pools were supplied from a fountain called Siloam, which was not always full of water, but the water bubbled up in it at certain times with a great noise, coming (as was thought) through hollow places of the earth, and quarries of hard stones. These waters of Shiloah are mentioned, Isaiah 8:6, and said to go softly; from which place these waters are concluded a type of the kingdom of David and of Christ. This being admitted, it is not to be wondered that they had that healing virtue given unto them (as some judge) just about the coming of Christ; for it should appear by 1 Thessalonians 9:7, that the pool of Siloam, as well as that of Bethesda, had so; for in former times it is thought to have been of use chiefly to wash garments in, and sacrifices when they were slain. Some will have them to have derived their healing virtue from thence; but that is vain, their healing virtue was doubtless derived from the Lord that healeth us. This pool in the Hebrew was called Bethesda, which some interpret, The house of pouring out, because, as some fancy, the blood of the sacrifices was there poured out; (but that is a great mistake, for that was to be poured out at the altar); or because rain water (as some think) was poured into it; or (which is more probable) because waters were poured into it out of the conduit mentioned 2 Kings 20:20. But others interpret it, The house of grace, mercy, &c., because of God's great goodness showed the people, in giving this healing virtue to these waters. The five porches belonging to this pool seem to have been five apartments for impotent men to walk in, or rest themselves in, when they came to wash themselves in the pool.