Jesus spit on the ground, creating some mud with his saliva; he then applied the mud to the eyelids of a beggar who had been blind since birth and told him to bathe in the Pool of Siloam. When the blind man did so, he could see (John 9:1–11). A few years ago, the Pool of Siloam where this miracle occurred was discovered in a Jerusalem excavation.^a

Located at the southern end of the City of David (the oldest part of Jerusalem), near the outlet of Hezekiah’s Tunnel, the Pool of Siloam is now a must-see on any trip to the Holy City.

Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron, who are excavating the site on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, have suggested that the Siloam Pool may have been a large public mikveh, or Jewish ritual bath. Not so, says Yoel Elitzur of The Hebrew University in a forthcoming article¹: The Pool of Siloam, he says, was probably a public swimming pool!

Footnote Articles

Jerusalem 3,000: Jerusalem Down Under: Tunneling Along Herod’s Temple Mount Wall, by Dan Bahat
BAR 21:06, November/December 1995.

How Herod Moved Gigantic Blocks to Construct the Temple Mount, by Murray Stein
BAR 07:03, May/June 1981.

Discovering Hebron, by Jeffrey R. Chadwick
BAR 31:05, September/October 2005.

New Light on the Nabataeans, by Philip C. Hammond
BAR 07:02, March/April 1981.

The Book of Hours, by Roger S. Wieck
Bible Review 04:03, June 1988.

The Siloam Pool: Where Jesus Cured the Blind Man, by Hershel Shanks
BAR 31:05, September/October 2005.

The Song of Deborah—Why Some Tribes Answered the Call and Others Did Not, by Lawrence E. Stager
BAR 15:01, January/February 1989.