John 9:1-121And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. 2And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? 3Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. 4I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. 5As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. 6When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, 7And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing. 8The neighbors therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged? 9Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he. 10Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened? 11He answered and said, 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. 12Then said they unto him, Where is he? He said, I know not. (John 9:1‑12)
As Lord Jesus was passing along a street of Jerusalem He saw a blind man vvho sat and begged, and the Lord have him a wonderful gift—his sight.
For some blind, Jesus had touched their eves and said for them to see, but for this man He first spit on the earth beside them, then took some of the moist clay in His hand and pressed it upon the man’s eyes, and told him to go, wash in the pool of Siloam.
That pool of water may have been close by, for the blind man to get to; anyway, he obeyed and washed the clay from his eyes and he could see. What a change for him, for he had been born blind, so had never seen any person or a tree, or even light!
The neighbors and others who knew the blind man, were so surprised he could see, they were not sure he was the same person: some said, “It is he,” others said, “It is like him,” But the man was certain, he said, “I am he.” And he told them that Jesus had put the clay on his eyes and told him to wash in the pool of Siloam, and he received sight. Jesus had passed on but the man did not know where.
It might seem it would not matter in what water his eyes were washed, but there was a reason for that certain, pool. It was an important one of the city near what was once the king’s palace and garden, and very old, for its wall was repaired hundreds of years before in the time of Nehemiah (Neh. 3:1515But the gate of the fountain repaired Shallun the son of Col-hozeh, the ruler of part of Mizpah; he built it, and covered it, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof, and the wall of the pool of Siloah by the king's garden, and unto the stairs that go down from the city of David. (Nehemiah 3:15)). It is written that the name Soloam meant, “Sent” (v. 7), so those waters which came from the hills above, taught of Jesus, the One sent from Heaven to give the “water of life.”
Perhaps from this we can understand why Jesus put the clay on the man’s eyes, and sent him to wash in that pool. First He had spit on the clay, which was a sgn of the humanity of Christ, in humiliation and lowliness and yet the son of God whth power. All the earth and man were created by God, but because of man’s sin, he is unfit for God. The blind man was in darkness, and to cover his eyes with clay seemed to teach that was the result of a nature of sin in which he had been born, and must be cleared away by the power of One Sent by God.
Jesus, the One sent from God had taken an earthly body, but without to bear the wrath of God. How wonderful it was that the pool of Silaom was named long before the Lord Jesus came, to teach of Him.
It is said that pool is still in use by people of Jerusalem, and would remind us how lasting is the Gift of God, His Son. By our nature we are like that blind man who could not see Jesus; but he heard His voice we too may hear His voice in God’s word; he obeyed to do the way Jesus said to receive his sight; we too believe Him to be the only One to save us from wrath and darkness.
ML 09/29/1946