John 5:2

John 5:2. Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep-pool the pool which is surnamed in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porticos. The use of the present tense, there is, may seem to indicate that the pool still remained after the destruction of Jerusalem; unless indeed we adopt the opinion that, as John in all probability committed to writing very early his recollections of his Lord's discourses and works, an incidental mark of his practice is left us in this verse. The translation of the words that follow is much disputed. The Greek word for ‘pool' may be written in two ways. That which is usually adopted gives the meaning, ‘there is by the sheep....a pool, that which is surnamed,' etc.; and the question is how the ellipsis is to be filled up. There is no authority for supplying ‘market,' as is done in the Authorised Version; and that method of supplying the blank is now generally abandoned. The idea of most writers on the Gospel is that the ‘sheep-gate' (Nehemiah 3:1; Nehemiah 3:32; Nehemiah 12:39) is intended, but we have found no example of a similar omission of the word ‘gate.' We are thus led to examine the other mode of writing the Greek word ‘pool,' from which results the translation, ‘there is by the sheep-pool the pool that is surnamed;' and to this rendering of the sentence there appears to be no valid objection It may, indeed, seem strange that the situation of the pool called Bethesda should be defined by its proximity to another pool about which no information is preserved; but it must be remembered that in questions relating to the topography of Jerusalem arguments from the silence of historians are not worth much. Early Christian writers also (Eusebius and Jerome) do actually speak of a sheep-pool in Jerusalem in connection with this passage. Ammonius tells us that the pool was so called from the habit of gathering together there the sheep that were to be sacrificed for the feast: similarly Theodore of Mopsuestia. And it is very interesting to notice that an early traveller in the Holy Land (about the first half of the fourth century) speaks of ‘ twin pools in Jerusalem, having five porticos.' We conclude therefore that John defines the position of the pool with which the following narrative is connected by its nearness to another pool, probably of larger size, and at that time well known as the ‘sheep-pool.' It is remarkable that of the other pool the proper name is not mentioned, but only a Hebrew or Syro-Chaldaic second name or surname. What this name is and what it signifies can hardly be determined with certainty, as several forms of the name are given in Greek manuscripts and other authorities. If we assume that Bethesda is the true form, the most probable explanation is ‘House of grace.' It is easy to see that such a name might naturally arise, and might indeed become the common appellation amongst those who associated a beneficent healing power with the waters of the pool; and it is also easy to understand how it was the second name that lingered in John's thought, a name which to him bore a high significance, recalling the ‘grace' which came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17), and of which a wonderful manifestation was made at this very spot. The pool called Bethesda had five porticos; probably it was five-sided, and surrounded by an arched verandah or colonnade, closed in on the outward side. The hot springs of Tiberias are so surrounded at this day, and it is at least possible that the style of architecture may be traditional.