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Pool of Bethesda
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the various places named after the Pool of Bethesda, see Bethesda.
Bethesda was originally the name of a pool in Jerusalem, on the path of the Beth Zeta Valley. It is associated with healing.
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The pool was first dug out during the 8th Century BC and was called the Upper Pool - 'בריכה העליונה'.
A second pool, known as the Washers' Pool, was dug during the third century BC by Simon the High Priest. These pools were used to wash the sheep prior to their sacrifice in the Temple. This use of the pools gave the water of the pools a halo of sanctity, and many invalids came to the pools to be healed.
The Upper Pool is mentioned in the Book of Kings II, chapter 18 verse 17 (repeated also in the Book of Isaiah, chapter 36, verse 2):
- "And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rab-saris and Rab-shakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah with a great army unto Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they were come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the fullers' field."
and in the Book of Isaiah, chapter 7, verse 3:
- "Then said the LORD unto Isaiah: 'Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou, and Shear-jashub thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, in the highway of the fullers' field"
The pools are mentioned in the New Testament. In John 5, Jesus was reported healing a man at the pool.
Its name is said to derive from the Aramaic language beth hesda, meaning "house of grace" -בית חסדא - Alternative renderings of its name include Bethzatha and Bethsaida.
According to the Easton's Bible Dictionary, Bethesda means house of mercy, a reservoir (Gr. kolumbethra, "a swimming bath") with five porches, close to the sheep-gate or market (Nehemiah 3:1; John 5:2).
Eusebius the historian (A.D. 330) calls it "the sheep-pool". It is also called "Bethsaida" (not to be confused with Bethsaida, a town in Galilee) and "Beth-zatha" (John 5:2, RSV marg.). Under these "porches" or colonnades were usually a large number of infirm people waiting for the "troubling of the water".
Prior to archeological digs, it was identified with the modern so-called Fountain of the Virgin, in the Kidron Valley, and not far from the Pool of Siloam and also with the Birket Israel, a pool near the mouth of the valley which runs into the Kidron south of St. Stephen's Gate.
In digs conducted in the 19th Century, Schick discovered a large tank situated about 100 feet north-west of St. Anne's Church, which is he contends was the Pool of Bethesda. But most archaeologists identify it with the twin pools called the Souterrains, under the convent of the Sisters of Zion, situated in what must have been the rock-hewn ditch between Bezetha and the fortress of Antonia.
