Pool of Siloam

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Partial view, around 1865
In 2004 the siloah pond of the second temple period was discovered.
The Pool of Siloam in Jerusalem. Holyland model of the city of Jerusalem , in the Israel Museum since 2006

The Pool of Siloam also Shiloah : called (Hebrew transmitter duct), is a pond in Jerusalem , of the east foot of the mountain in which the water Zion located Gihon was passed and which ensured the water supply of Jerusalem. Today the ancient tunnel system and the pond are part of an archaeological park.

Gihon spring

The Gihon spring (also: Gichon spring) is the only year-round spring in Jerusalem. It is an intermittent spring that is underground in a grotto at the foot of the eastern slope of the City of David in the Kidron Valley at approx. 630 m above sea level. NN rises. The neighboring ridge reaches 690 m above sea level. NN. He is also called Ophel . The Ophel is one of the seven hills that were outside the city walls of Jerusalem in Jesus' time. These seven hills are: Gareb, also known as the Mount of Olives , the Goath (Mount of Trouble), Akra (Mount of Evil Council), Bezetha ( Golgotha ), Morija , Ophel, and Mount Zion .

The Bible reports that the water supply was a weak point in the city's defense. For example, David's troop penetrated the fortress through the Jebusiter tunnel ( 2 Sam 5.8  EU ). In anticipation of the siege in 701 BC By the Assyrians, King Hezekiah , the 13th King of Judah, had both the city walls reinforced in a great hurry for fear of the Assyrians and their King Sennacherib ( 2 Chr 32.5  EU ; Isa 22.10  EU ) and also create a 500 m long canal, the so-called Hezekiah tunnel ( 2 Chr 32.30  EU ; 2 Kings 20.20  EU ; Isa 22.9–11  EU ). He diverted the Gihon spring in front of the city into the Siloah pond within the walls in order to ensure the water supply of Jerusalem in the event of a siege. The construction of this tunnel was a technical masterpiece. The water from the Gihon Spring flows through a tunnel to the Siloam Pool, which is at the southern end of the City of David. At the same time, it was a matter of closing the sources for the Assyrians in order to make the siege more difficult for them ( 2 Chr 32,4  EU ).

Pool of Siloam

After the construction of the Hezekiah tunnel, the pond of Siloam replaced the Gihon spring, which was forgotten until it was rediscovered in the 16th century after an earthquake. The pond then likely became Jerusalem's main source of water. The biblical kings had an orchard planted nearby, as reported in Neh 3,15  EU .

In 1911, during renovation work, the exit of the Hezekiah tunnel was exposed and provided with a round arch that visitors can still walk through today. The water flowed into a basin about 15 meters long and more than five meters wide, to which one descends via a staircase. Up until this point in time, science assumed that this basin formed the late remains of the biblical Siloam Pool. This pond is also called Ain Silwan .

In June 2004, the two Israeli archaeologists Ronny Reich , a leading global expert on Jerusalem, and his colleague Eli Shukron dug in the area of ​​the Gihon Spring. Shukron observed urban construction workers who were laying a new sewer pipe near the previously known Byzantine Siloah pond . Finally he discovered two ancient steps in the rubble. Ronny Reich suspected that these must be the steps to the Siloam pond from the time of the second temple period. Then the excavations began.

It is unclear whether the pond of Siloam was originally an open pond or an underground cistern, the ceiling of which later collapsed before the birth of Christ. It is therefore unknown what the pond looked like in Jesus' time.

Religious meaning

The water of the Gihon spring has a special meaning for Jews, because it is here that Solomon was anointed king over all Israel ( 1 Kings 1.38–39  EU ).

Then Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet and aBenaja the son of Jehoiada, and the Cretans and Pleter, went down and put Solomon on King David's mule and led him to Gihon. Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the tent, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpets, and all the people shouted, Long live King Solomon! "

During Sukkot in the time of the second temple there was a procession of water scooping that Jesus also knew. Joh 7,37-38  EU reports:

On the last day of the festival, the great day, Jesus stood and shouted: If you are thirsty, come to me, and let those who believe in me drink it. As the Scriptures say, rivers of living water will flow from within. "

With these words , Jesus of Nazareth announced to Christians that he was the Messiah .

John also reports on a miracle of Jesus, the healing of a man born blind , who is directly connected to the pool of Siloam ( Jn 9.7  EU ):

And Jesus passed by and saw a man who was born blind. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered: Neither this man sinned nor his parents, but the works of God should be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; the night comes when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. When he had said this, he spat on the earth, made a paste of it, and put the paste on the blind man's eyes. And he said to him, Go to the pool of Siloam and wash yourself. So he went and washed and came back seeing. "

The Byzantine Empress Aelia Eudocia built a church in memory of this miracle in the 5th century, which was destroyed in 614 by the Persian King Chosrau II .

The Gihon spring is also called "Mary's spring" by the Christians and "the spring of the mother of the degrees" by the Muslims. All three religions consider the water of the spring to be medicinal.

reception

The name Siloam can be found in many Christian social institutions, such as B. in the Siloah Clinic as part of the Hanover Region Clinic or in the Siloah Hospital in Pforzheim .

See also

Web links

Photos
Commons : Pool of Siloam  - album with pictures, videos and audio files
items
additional

literature

W. Harold Mare: Siloam, pool of . In: Anchor Bible Dictionary . Volume 6, Yale University Press, New Haven 1992, ISBN 0-385-26190-X , pages 24-26.

Remarks

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  2. Solomon Is Anointed King - THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS

Coordinates: 31 ° 46 ′ 13 ″  N , 35 ° 14 ′ 6 ″  E