The Pool of Bethesda

In the 19th century, an archaeologist named Conrad Schick found a large tank in Jerusalem, about thirty metres north-west of St. Anne's Church. He believed it was the Pool of Bethesda.

Scripture: Now in Jerusalem by the sheep gate, there is a pool, which is called in Hebrew, “Bethesda”, having five porches.

John's Gospel sets this pool in Jerusalem, near the Sheep Gate. It describes five covered colonnades, which are roofed walkways lined with columns. Older English Bibles call them porches.

Until the 19th century, there was no clear archaeological evidence for such a pool. Commentators suggested other places, including the Fountain of the Virgin. Later work linked the twin underground pools to a different, later pool.

There was an early clue. By the fifth century, a Byzantine church stood here, called the Church of the Probatike, meaning the church at the pool of the sheep. It was also called the Church of the Lame Man.

Excavation in 1964 uncovered Byzantine and Crusader churches, and Hadrian's temple of Asclepius and Serapis. It also found small healing pools, the second of two large pools, and the dam between them.

The story begins long before the Gospels. In the eighth century BC, a dam across the Beth Zeta Valley made a reservoir for rain water. Around 200 BC, a second pool was added to the south.

Scholar Jerome Murphy-O'Connor says that in the first century BC, natural caves east of the pools became small baths with a religious and medical purpose. One was sacred to Fortuna, the Roman goddess of fortune.

The Gospel describes crowds of sick people waiting there. That could correspond with the site's possible use in the first century as a healing sanctuary. The Byzantine church was built in the very heart of Hadrian's temple.

Scholars still debate details. Some ask whether a pool was a mikveh, a Jewish ritual bathing pool. Manuscripts also give the name differently, such as Bethzatha. The evidence is indirect.

Today the site lies in Jerusalem's Muslim Quarter, near the Lions' Gate, also called St. Stephen's Gate, beside the Church of St. Anne.

The site seems plausibly to fit the Gospel's description, and no more can be claimed than that. May the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today. Follow Bible Evidence for more.