Page 58 - Life of Christ w videos

While opposition from the religious leaders increased, so did Jesus’ popularity among the masses of
people pressing at this time. As His death drew near, Jesus remained popular as a great healer and
teacher. “When they bring you before the synagogues, rulers and authorities do not worry about how
you will defend yourself or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you
should say”. (Luke 12:11)

In Luke 13 Jesus talked about the tower in Siloam which was presumably located near the pool of
Siloam. The Gihon spring was a major water source for the city of Jerusalem from the time of David and
Solomon. In fact, it was through this spring that David was able to enter Jerusalem and defeat the
Jebusites and take control of the city. Water was channeled from the western side of the Kidron Valley
outside Jerusalem and collected in reservoirs or pools.

In the 8 century B.C. , King Hezekiah was attacked by the
th
Assyrians, and in preparation for the siege of the city, he
constructed a tunnel to bring water from the Gihon spring
to a pool within the city walls (2 Kings 20:20). Two teams
of workers carved the tunnel out of solid rock, each from
opposite directions. It was an amazing feat.

Most scholars think that Hezekiah’s tunnel emptied into
what is known today as the Pool of Siloam. It was called
the “upper pool” in Hezekiah’s time. The Jewish historian
Josephus (37 AD -100 AD.) described Siloam as a fountain
and located it near the exit of the tunnel that Hezekiah
constructed. In Jesus’ time, Siloam was a well-known area
containing a tower as well as a pool, where Jesus sent a
blind man to wash (John 9:7, 11). It was near the tower
that Jesus referenced those who died without repentance
(Luke 13:1-9). Jesus warned His disciples that unless a
person bears good fruit in his life, his life is as worthless as
a fig tree that never bears figs.

Again, on the Sabbath as Jesus healed a woman who could
not straighten up for 18 years, the Jewish leaders became

The pool of Siloam at exit of Hezekiah’s Tunnel indignant. Rather than rejoice in her healing, they rejected
the event as an act of disobedience to the Law, because it
occurred on the Sabbath. Jesus called them hypocrites which humiliated them, but the people who
watched this miracle delighted in what He was doing. While Jesus never violated the Law of Moses, He
did transgress some of the traditions of the Jewish elders – their own man-made additions to God’s law.

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