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- The Pool of Siloam or Shiloah Pool
The Pool of Siloam or Shiloah Pool
The Pool of Siloam (Shiloah) was a pool on the southern slope of the City of David and the closest pool to the Temple and hence it is mentioned many times in both the Old and New Testament of the Bible. The pool was fed by the waters of the Gihon Spring.
We are still on our first full day of Jerusalem. In the morning, we started our trip from Mount of Olives and covered all the major churches and holy sites and we walked all the way down to Garden of Gethsemane. From there, we crossed the Kidron Valley and reached City of David, where we had our lunch and continued our tour.
We walked from City of David and entered the Pool of Siloam. The walk was bit easy this part as it was downhill. We were told by our guide, that after Pool of Siloam, we will be heading up to the Temple steps. At this point, temple seemed quite far. So we were bit thrilled to find how we will get to the temple steps. It gets very interesting as you read along our journey.
The original Pool of Siloam was about 53 feet long, 18 feet wide, and 19 feet deep and was made of part hewn rock and part masonry.
Way to Pool of Siloam from City of David
Giving the history of “Pool of Siloam”
Pool of Siloam reference in the Bible
1. Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind in Pool of Siloam
Pool of Siloam is where Jesus healed the blind man in John 9.
John 9: 1-12
As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been born blind. His followers asked him, “Teacher, whose sin caused this man to be born blind—his own sin or his parents’ sin?”
Jesus answered, “It is not this man’s sin or his parents’ sin that made him blind. This man was born blind so that God’s power could be shown in him. While it is daytime, we must continue doing the work of the One who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
After Jesus said this, he spit on the ground and made some mud with it and put the mud on the man’s eyes. Then he told the man, “Go and wash in the Pool of Siloam.” (Siloam means Sent.) So the man went, washed, and came back seeing.
The neighbors and some people who had earlier seen this man begging said, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?”
Some said, “He is the one,” but others said, “No, he only looks like him.”
The man himself said, “I am the man.”
They asked, “How did you get your sight?”
He answered, “The man named Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. Then he told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”
They asked him, “Where is this man?”
“I don’t know,” he answered.
This hollow place was “Pool of Siloam” once, where Jesus healed the born blind man
2. King Hezekiah built the Pool of Shilom
The Pool of Siloam was built by King Hezekiah in the 8th century BC in order to provide water to Jerusalem, even in the event that the city were besieged. The pool was fed by tunnel Hezekiah cut through almost 2,000 feet of solid rock from the Gihon Spring.
2 Kings 20:20: Everything else Hezekiah did—all his victories, his work on the pool, his work on the tunnel to bring water into the city—is written in the book of the history of the kings of Judah
3. Nehemiah repaired the Pool of Siloam
Jerusalem and the Pool of Siloam were destroyed by the Babylonians about 600 BC. Seventy years later, Nehemiah rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, and part of the job was to repair the Pool of Siloam
Nehemiah 3:15: He also repaired the wall of the Pool of Siloam next to the King’s Garden all the way to the steps that went down from the older part of the city.
Significance of Pool of Siloam in the Old Testament
But it is during the time of Christ that the Pool of Siloam finds its true significance. Because the pool was near the temple, its water was used for a special ceremony during the Feast of Tabernacles.
Every morning during that joyful feast, a priest would take a golden vessel to the Pool of Siloam, fill it with water from the pool, and bring it back to the altar amid the shouts of the people. Then, as the crowd chanted the Hallel (Psalms 113—118), that priest poured out the water on the west side of the altar, and another priest poured a drink offering of wine on the east side of the altar. This ritual was probably to illustrate Isaiah 12:3, “You will receive your salvation with joy as you would draw water from a well”.
Picture that shows how busy the street that is connected between Pool of Siloam to the First temple…Imagine it must have been the most busy street in the entire Jerusalem
Aerial view from Pool of Siloam to the Temple. Long but a busy market place all along the way. Most importantly the way Jesus took while going to the temple
Walking in the tunnel from Pool of Siloam to the Jerusalem Temple
From the Pool of Siloam, our tour guide took us through a very narrow tunnel toward the southern wall of First Temple built by King Solomon. The tunnel was quite wet on the sides and the floor was uneven, but still it was a good walk. We are so proud of our 6 year old, who did a fantastic job on leading us all, as our guide Tova made him walk ahead of us. In some of the places, we needed to bend down as the ceiling level was bit low.
During Jesus time, this was the way to get to the temple gate. So, that motivated us. We were all by ourselves until few high school children from local school joined us with their teacher. They were very friendly.
Current day same route: Narrow tunnel that connects between Pool of Siloam and the Temple
It took almost 45 minute walk inside the tunnel between Pool of Siloam and Temple Wall
Prayers and petitions people still post through the other side of the Western Wall can be seen from this side on the walkway between Pool of Siloam and Temple Wall
Millions of people a year visit the Western Wall, one of Judaism’s holiest sites, and leave a written prayer on pieces of paper wedged into the cracks of the ancient stones.
It is very common for Christian pilgrims traveling through the Old City of Jerusalem to stop by the Western Wall and leave a note
Many lean forward and touch their foreheads to the stones. With eyes closed, they whisper their wishes and kiss the wall when they have finished praying.
At the end of our walk for more than 45 minutes, we were so happy to see the sun on the other side, which faced the southern side of the temple.
Checking the Temple Map to see which side of Temple we are at
This is the side of Temple Wall we saw when we came out of the tunnel
Resting after a long walk
Some of the rocks here, dates back to the times when the temple was built
School group which followed us is also relaxing while their teacher explains the history
Some of the rocks from the first temple which was destroyed
Layout of the First Temple built by King Solomon
Finally, resting at the steps of the Temple
After a very tiring uphill walk, we were resting at the Southern entrance steps that leads to the Temple, while admiring the Mount of Olives.
Sitting on the Southwest side of temple steps admiring the view of Mount of Olives
We saw few people praying at this end of the temple steps
While sitting on the Southwest steps of Temple, our guide Tova explaining the destruction of the temple various times and rebuilding the temple
We then walked from Temple steps towards the Jewish Quarter. We exchanged US dollars to Israeli Shekels in the entrance of the Jewish Quarter. And this where we said bye to our tour guide, Tova on our first full day in Israel. Even though, we rented our car the day before, we didn’t use the car the whole day, as it wasn’t easy for parking the car at the Mount of Olives, as suggested by our tour guide.
Pastry shop in Jewish Quarter
Upon entering the Jewish Quarter, kids enjoyed a cold drink and we went to this very yummy Israeli pastry shop (also at the entrance of the Jewish Quarter) and got some pastries to taste . Have to say, almost all of the pastries were super yum.
Pastry shop at the entrance of the Jewish Quarter
Delicious Israeli pastries
Yummy Israeli pastries
Loved them all
Each one was different and uniquely tasty
Yum yum
The best of all of the lot
Walking back to our Airbnb via Muslim Quarter
We walked back to our Airbnb in Christian Quarter from Jewish Quarter via Muslim Quarter. It is less than 15 minutes walk. Shops and restaurants were open and it added a beautiful flavor to the Old City of Jerusalem. We came back to our Airbnb at around 6:00 pm. Total steps that I walked that entire day was more than 15,000 steps!!! As you can imagine, we were tired, also because of the jet lag and carrying that heavy camera backpack!
Nite night to our tired legs!
Apple watch reading total number of steps we walked that day
Entire Holy Land Trip Index
Trip to Israel as family was amazing. Getting to see the Holy Land which we have read and heard about since our childhood Bible story days is truly special indeed. We have put forth 50 detailed post on our DIY trip to Israel & Jordan. Check out our entire 10 Day Trip Index of Holy Land. We would love to hear your feedback.