ERIC METAXAS , CHRISTIAN POST
CONTRIBUTOR
February, 2016|
For years, some scholars have doubted the historical accuracy of the
fourth Gospel. But a dip in the pool of Siloam will cure
that.
The Gospel of John Chapter 9 tells the story of Jesus' healing of a man
born blind. After telling his disciples that the man's blindness had nothing to
do with either the man's sins or those of his parents, Jesus applied mud to the
man's eyes and told him to wash it off at the Pool of
Siloam.
Since at least the fifth century, Christians had identified a spot in
Jerusalem as the Pool of Siloam and the site of the miracle. But it was not
until a decade ago that archaeologists found what they are certain is the
ancient pool of Siloam.
Like so many such finds, it was almost by accident. During construction
work to repair a water pipe near the Temple Mount, Israeli archaeologists Ronny
Reich and Eli Shukron found "two ancient stone steps."
According to Biblical Archaeology Review, "Further excavation revealed
that they were part of a monumental pool from the Second Temple period, the
period in which Jesus lived." The pool was trapezoidal in shape and 225 feet
long.
The Gospel of John isn't the only book of the Bible being
archaeologically verified in the immediate area. As the Review tells readers,
"the origins of the Siloam Pool reach back even further in history — at least
seven centuries before the time of Jesus."
The pool was part of the preparations that King Hezekiah — the subject of
a recent BreakPoint — made in anticipation of a siege by King Sennacherib of
Assyria.
Hezekiah who blocked the upper outlet of the Gihon spring and channeled the water down to the west side of the City of David."
While the existence of such a tunnel has been known since the late
19th century, many scholars were hesitant to associate it with the one mentioned
in 2 Chronicles. Reich's and Shukron's extensive excavation of the area has led
them to conclude that the account in 2 Chronicles attributing it to Hezekiah is
in fact correct.
According to an inscription in one of the tunnels, called the "Siloam
inscription," two teams dug in opposite directions — one from the north and the
other from the south — and met in the middle. The result was a reliable source
of water that enabled Judah to withstand the Assyrian siege.
The story about the discovery of the Pool of Siloam also highlights the
growing scholarly appreciation for the historical qualities of the fourth
Gospel. Traditionally, more liberal scholars not only discounted the historicity
of the Gospel of John, they blamed it, a least in part, for the rise of
anti-Semitism. They pointed to the repeated use of the phrase "the
Jews."
But as Pope Benedict XVI wrote in "Jesus of Nazareth," the Gospel of John
"rests on extraordinarily precise knowledge of times and places, and so can only
have been produced by someone who had an excellent firsthand knowledge of
Palestine at the time of Jesus."
What's more, it's become clear "that the Gospel thinks and argues
entirely in terms of the Old Testament and that its whole way of arguing is
deeply rooted in the Judaism of Jesus' time."
The point is that it's become increasingly clear that the default
scholarly position of disbelieving the Bible because it is the Bible is
untenable.
Of course, Christians should already know that. But it's still gratifying
to see that other people are able to see it as well. Even if they have to go to
the Pool of Siloam to do it.
.jpeg)