What happened at the Pool of Siloam?

A man, born blind, had just been cured in a very remarkable way by the Lord, and had consequently been made the witness of His power. The eyes, which had been hitherto sealed, now spoke volumes! They became a silent yet mighty proof of the more than human power of the despised Jesus of Nazareth. The water of Siloam's pool removed at once the clay and the blindness. Marvellous water! But "Siloam" is by interpretation "sent." This water was the first thing seen; then perhaps the sky, then the city of Jerusalem; and then he hurried home to show himself to his parents.

The neighbours flock together. They ask him how his eyes had been opened. He replies, in all simplicity, "A man called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and received sight." All plain enough; but the mention of the name of Jesus destroyed the miracle. An explanation had to be received, therefore, from the Pharisees, the resolvers of the religious difficulties of that day. These speedily discovered that the cure, which itself was indubitable, had been effected on the sabbath, and they were accordingly furnished with a charge of sin against the blessed Healer. But where was the sin? Did it consist in "doing good on the sabbath-day"? "Doing good" cannot be committing sin. Again, as in the former case, the stigma attached to Jesus. However, the affair had become public; for, next, "the Jews did not believe that he had been blind." The parents were therefore called to identify their son; but even they refused to confess how the cure had been wrought. Thus again the difficulty connected itself with the Healer.

A man, born blind, had just been cured in a very remarkable way by the Lord, and had consequently been made the witness of His power. The eyes, which had been hitherto sealed, now spoke volumes! They became a silent yet mighty proof of the more than human power of the despised Jesus of Nazareth. The water of Siloam’s pool removed at once the clay and the blindness. Marvellous water! But “Siloam” is by interpretation “sent.” This water was the first thing seen; then perhaps the sky, then the city of Jerusalem; and then he hurried home to show himself to his parents.

The neighbours flock together. They ask him how his eyes had been opened. He replies, in all simplicity, “A man called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and received sight.” All plain enough; but the mention of the name of Jesus destroyed the miracle. An explanation had to be received, therefore, from the Pharisees, the resolvers of the religious difficulties of that day. These speedily discovered that the cure, which itself was indubitable, had been effected on the sabbath, and they were accordingly furnished with a charge of sin against the blessed Healer. But where was the sin? Did it consist in “doing good on the sabbath-day”? “Doing good” cannot be committing sin. Again, as in the former case, the stigma attached to Jesus. However, the affair had become public; for, next, “the Jews did not believe that he had been blind.” The parents were therefore called to identify their son; but even they refused to confess how the cure had been wrought. Thus again the difficulty connected itself with the Healer.

Verses 4-7. "I must work the works of him that has sent me, while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. Having said these things, he spat on the ground and made mud of the spittle, and put the mud, as ointment, on his eyes. And he said to him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, which is interpreted, Sent." This is the great subject of this chapter, Christ, in the power of God, communicating sight to the blind.

It was indeed a desperate case, "And as he passed on, he saw a man blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind? Jesus answered, Neither did this man sin nor his parents, but that the works of God should be manifested in him. I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day: night cometh when none can work. When I am in the world, I am light of the world. Having said these things, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle, and smeared the clay on his eyes, and said to him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam (which is interpreted, Sent). He went off therefore, and washed, and came seeing. The neighbours therefore, and those that used to see him before that he was a beggar said, Is not this he that used to sit and beg? Some said, It is he, and others said, No, but he is like him. He said, I am [he]. They said therefore to him, How then were thine eyes opened? He answered and said, A man called Jesus made clay, and smeared mine eyes, and said to me, Go to Siloam and wash; and having gone off and washed, I received sight. And they said to him, Where is he? He saith, I know not" (vers. 1-12).

"Having said these things, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and spread the clay over His eyes,176 and said to him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, which is interpreted Sent. He went away therefore, and washed, and came seeing" (verses 6, 7). This was no unmeaning act on Christ's part, no mere test of obedience on the man's. It was a sign of the truth which the chapter reveals, or, at least, in harmony with it. For He Who was there manifesting the works of God was Himself a man, and had deigned to take the body prepared for Him; most holy, beyond all doubt, as became the Son of God Who knew no sin, about to be made sin for us on the cross, but none the less really of the woman, of blood and flesh, as the children partake. But Incarnation, precious as is the grace of the Lord in it, of itself is quite insufficient for man's need; yea, it seems rather to add at first to the difficulty, as did the clay on the man's eyes. The Spirit must work by the word, as well as the Son sent into the world, Jesus Christ come in flesh. Without the effectual work of the Holy Spirit in man he cannot see. Compare John 3. So it is here: the man must go to the pool of Siloam, and wash there. Attention is the more fixed on this by the appended interpretation or meaning of the word.177 It signifies the soul's recognition that Jesus was the sent One of God, sent to do His will and finish His work, the Son yet servant withal, to accomplish the great salvation of God. The heart is thus purified by faith. Now the man has eyes and can see, not when the clay was laid on, but when he washed in the pool of Siloam. Christ must be here, and a man too, in contact with men in all their darkness; but only when the Holy Ghost applies the word to the conscience do they, owning Him to be the Sent of God, receive sight. Not Incarnation only, but the efficacious work of the Spirit, is needed that man may see according to God. "According to His own mercy He saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour, that, being justified by His grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life." (Titus 3:5-7.)

"Siloam" (sent). There is an immense deal of instruction in this. The whole virtue of the cure lay in this, that the blind man took the Lord's word. If he had not gone, would he have been healed? No. Why? The same God who had power to cure had a right to dictate how it was to be done, and he obeyed the word. It was not the clay that cured his eyes — a strange thing to cure a man's eyes by filling them with dust. The working of faith is a very simple thing; it obeys the word of God because it is His word, and owns God in the immutability of His truth.

A man born blind and now seeing! It is no wonder that at first he was occupied about what was done to him. The people help him on; they come and question him. He owns it: "A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight." (v. 11) They could not let the matter rest. There was something in those who were blind of heart that made them unable to leave alone a man dealt with by the Saviour. Then came the great offence — "it was the sabbath-day" — Christ's expressing His idea of God's rest by removing sin and this blindness, a result of sin.

The picture is complete in the Lord's telling him to wash in the pool of Siloam, which we are told means “sent” (v. 7). This indicates an outstanding truth of John's writings, that is, that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world (1 John. 4:14). In other words, the man is virtually told to wash in John 3:16, if we use the spiritual application. He obeys and immediately sees.

John 9:6-7. Having made clear the true character of the moment, and His own position and work in the world, the Lord proceeds to open the eyes of the blind man. This He accomplishes in a way that sets forth the glory of His Person. The spittle speaks of the efficacy which comes from Himself; the clay tells in a figure of the humanity which He has taken. Anointing the man's eyes with the clay and spittle would naturally destroy sight. So the humanity the Lord had assumed was used by fallen man to deny His Deity as the Son of God. They stumbled at the lowly grace of His Manhood. This difficulty was overcome by faith discerning that this lowly Man was the Sent One of the Father. The moment this truth is connected with His Person all is clear. For this reason the man is told, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent)". Believing in the Lord's words, he went his way and washed, "and came seeing". Actually, the man received his natural sight, but in a way that reveals the work of the Lord as the Son sent by the Father to give spiritual sight. When as needy sinners we see by faith that this blessed lowly Man is a Divine Person sent by the Father to save and bless a guilty sinner, all becomes clear. The eyes are opened, and we see the grace that has come to us to meet our need (Galatians 4:4).

He forthwith proceeded to heal him, adopting on this occasion methods altogether unique. He spat on the ground, made clay of the spittle, put it as ointment upon his eyes, and then bade him wash in the pool of Siloam, "which is by interpretation, 'Sent."' Healing resulted immediately. But what is there for us in this extraordinary record. The clay symbolises our Lord's lowly humanity; the water is an emblem of the Holy Spirit (John 7:37-39). Thus when a man apprehends by the Spirit's aid the momentous fact that the mighty God became human for his salvation, and that He who walked here abased was indeed the 'Sent' One of the Father, his spiritual blindness is dispelled for ever. He forthwith begins to see, and everything becomes viewed in its true light. The Gospel is designed to open men's eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God (Acts 26:18). The Gospel is not a mere system of doctrines, nor is it simply a moral code; it is God's testimony to men concerning His beloved Son — God and man in one person, once the suffering Surety, but now glorified in the highest heaven.

The healed man was soon challenged by his neighbours as to his recovered sight. He could only reply that "a man called Jesus" had thus blessed him. The religious leaders then took up the matter and soon manifested their bitter animus against the gracious Healer. Proofs of His power were not wanting, but they were in no humour to acknowledge His divine mission, let the proofs be ever so many. The parents parried their enquiries, dreading excommunication, the usual resort of prejudiced ecclesiastics when Scripture and reason alike fail them. In their examination of the man himself, the Pharisees affected to honour Moses, and even God also, but both at the expense of the Lord Jesus, Whose dishonour was their undeviating aim. The man's simplicity irritated them. His expression of surprise that so great a wonder should be wrought in the land, and the professed exponents of God's truth unable to decide from whence the power came; and his guileless reasoning that his Healer must at least be a worshipper of God and a doer of His will galled them beyond endurance. Accordingly they cast him out, saying in their offended pride: "Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us?''

The occasion of the man born blind gives another fitting illustration. The Lord prepares a clay, but the application does not seem to have any effect. Only when the man goes to the Pool of Siloam and washes he comes seeing.