Fountain of Siloam
See also: Siloam (hamlet).
Fountain feeding a basin (or pool). The birth blind will wash there. It was located near the Siloam tower accidentally destroyed as reported by the Gospel.
Description
The fountain of Siloam
The fountain of Siloam is a convenient meeting point:"Jesus has joined the ten apostles and the main disciples at the foot of the Mount of Olives, near the fountain of Siloam. When they see Jesus coming, walking with vigorous strides between Peter and John, they go towards Him and they meet just near the fountain."[1]It is at this place that Jesus sends a blind man, so that he may recover his sight.[2]
"And now go, as quickly as you can, to the Pool of Siloam, and do not stop to speak to anybody."[3]Through this "distant" healing, Jesus foils a trap set by Judas on a Sabbath day to draw the Master's anger from the Pharisees.
The destroyed tower of Siloam
During the Feast of Tabernacles of the second year, Jesus again exhorts his listeners to conversion and recalls:"Also the eighteen people on whom the tower of Siloam fell and killed them, were not the most guilty in Jerusalem."[4]The text by Maria Valtorta says nothing more about this tower and the accident than what is reported by Saint Luke.[5] Nothing is indicated about the exact location of this tower. However, its designation (tower of Siloam) suggests that it was located southeast of the Ophel neighborhood.
Key facts
Place of healing of Sidonia (Sidoine), the birth blind.[6]
Its name
Fountain of Siloam, Siloam, Silwân. The name "Siloam" comes from the Hebrew "Shiloah" (שִׁלֹוחַ), which means "sent" or "conducted," as confirmed by the Gospel which plays on the wordplay: Sent (by God) and sent through a conduit.[2] The pool (or basin) of Siloam was fed by a canal capturing the waters of the Gihon spring.
Where is it mentioned in the work?
GRM 281. GRM 510.
Learn more about this place
This basin, built around the 7th century BC, south of the Ophel hill, was intended to supply water to Jerusalem. At the time of Christ, it was an important basin measuring 60 m x 50 m. It was destroyed during the capture of Jerusalem."The Romans drove the brigands out of the lower city and burned everything up to the fountain of Siloam".[7]
Explore
- 31° 46’ 13’’ N / 35° 14’ 06’’ E /
- +640m
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Notes and references
Article partially based on the Geographical Dictionary of the Gospel by Jean-François Lavère.
- ↑ GRM 495.1.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 John 9:1-7.
- ↑ GRM 510.3.
- ↑ GRM 281.15.
- ↑ Luke 13:2-5
- ↑ GRM 510.1.
- ↑ Flavius Josephus, The War of the Jews, Book 6, § 2.