What Happened at the Pool of Siloam?
By Pinchas Shir
In John 7:2, we learn that Jesus was in Jerusalem during Sukkot (סֻכּוֹת), the Feast of Tabernacles, which was celebrated for an entire week. “Now, on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, if anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'” (John 7:37-38 NASB). What a seemingly odd teaching! Yet in the context of the Sukkot celebration, Yeshua’s words were spoken very clearly; they would have made perfect sense to everyone gathered.
For many Jews, a prophetic promise in Zechariah 14 linked the festival of Sukkot to both water imagery and messianic expectation. Speaking of a coming day of the Lord, the prophet declares, “On that day living waters (מַיִם־חַיִּים; mayim-hayim) will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it will be in summer as well as in winter” (Zech 14:8). Then, says Zechariah, “any who are left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of armies, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths (חַג הַסֻּכּוֹת; hag ha’sukkot, Hebrew: The Festival of the Sukkot)” (14:16; cf. 14:17-19). In the Mishnah, the rabbis tell us that an elaborate water ceremony called Simchat Beit Hashoevah (שִׂמְחַת בֵּית הַשֹּׁואֵבָה; lit. “Joy of the Water-Drawing House”) took place when the temple was standing. The rabbinic text describes how, on the last day of the Sukkot, the priests drew water from the Pool of Siloam and brought it to the temple, where it was poured out as a festival libation on the altar (see m. Sukkah 5). This act was accompanied by great rejoicing and singing. All this was done in anticipation that God would send the necessary rain for the next harvest cycle. It's not a big stretch to imagine that Rabbi Yeshua's call could have happened right there near Siloam, maybe even around the time of the ritual described in the Mishnah.
And now consider the place itself. To readers of the Bible, Siloam (Σιλωάμ) is a familiar water source in ancient Jerusalem. It was there that Jesus healed the man born blind (John 9). What many readers do not know is that, in Hebrew, the pool is called Shiloach (שִׁלֹחַ), meaning “sent” or “sent one.” Jesus saw himself as a שָׁלִיחַ (shaliach), a son “sent” to represent the Father, saying to his disciples, “We must carry out the works of Him who sent me” (Jn 9:4). So, in John 9, the Sent One, Jesus, sends the blind man to the waters of the pool called “Sent One” so that the man can begin to see the world around him and testify of the presence of the Messiah.
Many expected that the promised Anointed One would be like Moses and lead the nation of Israel to a better place. God promised of the coming prophet like Moses, “I will put My words in his mouth” (וְנָתַתִּי דְבָרַי בְּפִיו) “and he will speak to them everything that I command him" (וְדִבֶּר אֲלֵיהֶם אֵת כָּל־אֲשֶׁר אֲצַוֶּנּוּ)” (Deuteronomy 18:18-19). In John 7, Jesus describes himself as an agent (shaliach;שָׁלִיחַ), someone who has been sent: “My teaching is not my own, but His who sent me. If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know about the teaching, whether it is of God, or I am speaking from myself. The one who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the One who sent him, he is true, and there is no unrighteousness in him.” (John 7:16-18 NASB). Suddenly, the name of the pool of Siloam, the celebration rituals, and promises about the living water all come together as Yeshua identifies himself as the one his fellow Jews have been waiting for. In context, Jesus’s teaching is no longer cryptic. The Messiah calls on his listeners to come to him and drink because his entire mission is to affirm all the promises of God and bring the joy of eternal life to his people.
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