God, Science and the Bible: Jerusalem 's Pool of Siloam yields more secrets
Discoveries underneath previous discovered pools return to the time of Nehemiah.
In John 9:7 Jesus told a blind man to "wash in the pool of Siloam" to be healed. The March-April 2005 Good News described archaeologists' discovery of this very pool ("Archaeologists discover biblical Pool of Siloam," p. 16). Subsequent excavations in the area have begun to yield more secrets, possibly including the discovery of another, much older pool mentioned in the Bible.
At one end of the steps descending to the Pool of Siloam archaeologists dug a shaft to learn what lay beneath it. According to reports from the Israel Antiquities Authority, there they found remains of a much earlier pool tentatively identified as the one mentioned in Nehemiah 3:15.
Describing the repairs to the city wall initiated by Nehemiah in the fifth century B.C., this passage states: "Shallun . . . repaired the wall of the Pool of Shelah by the King's Garden, as far as the stairs that go down from the City of David ."
The newly discovered pool fits this geographic description very well. The area of "the King's Garden," also mentioned in connection with King Zedekiah's attempted escape from the Babylonians recorded in Jeremiah 39:4-5 and 2 Kings 25:4-5, is thought to be the unexcavated orchard and garden, owned by the Greek Orthodox Church, part of which currently overlays most of the Pool of Siloam.
At the other end of the Pool of Siloam excavators have uncovered what they believe is a colonnaded plaza that joined the pool to a previously discovered first-century street that led up the Tyropoean Valley to the magnificent temple complex constructed by Herod the Great. If so, they will be bringing to light more of the first-century streets on which Jesus and the disciples walked.
Archaeologists also uncovered a portion of an aqueduct, covered with stone slabs, which passed through yet another small pool exposed in the upper steps of the Pool of Siloam.
In the immediate area is the southern end of Hezekiah's Tunnel, a 581-yard passageway carved by workmen under the command of Judah 's King Hezekiah in the eighth century B.C. to provide a secure water source for Jerusalem in the face of an Assyrian invasion. This ancient engineering feat is described in 2 Chronicles 32:30, which records that "Hezekiah also stopped the water outlet of Upper Gihon [spring], and brought the water by tunnel to the west side of the City of David ."
Also in the area are drainage channels, leading from the nearby Gihon Spring, which are thought to date from the time of King Solomon in the 10th century B.C.
Excavations are continuing in the area under the direction of Eli Shukron of the Israel Antiquities Authority and Professor Ronny Reich of the University of Haifa.
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Mario Seiglie
Mr. Seiglie was born in Havana, Cuba, and came to the United States when he was a child. He found out about the Church when he was 17 from a Church member in high school. He went to Ambassador College in Big Sandy, Texas, and in Pasadena, California, graduating with degrees in theology and Spanish. He serves as the pastor of the Garden Grove, CA UCG congregation and serves in the Spanish speaking areas of South America. He also writes for the Beyond Today magazine and currently serves on the UCG Council of Elders. He and his wife, Caty, have four grown daughters, and grandchildren.
Scott Ashley
Scott Ashley was managing editor of Beyond Today magazine, United Church of God booklets and its printed Bible Study Course until his retirement in 2023. He also pastored three congregations in Colorado for 10 years from 2011-2021. He and his wife, Connie, live near Denver, Colorado.
Mr. Ashley attended Ambassador College in Big Sandy, Texas, graduating in 1976 with a theology major and minors in journalism and speech. It was there that he first became interested in publishing, an industry in which he worked for 50 years.
During his career, he has worked for several publishing companies in various capacities. He was employed by the United Church of God from 1995-2023, overseeing the planning, writing, editing, reviewing and production of Beyond Today magazine, several dozen booklets/study guides and a Bible study course covering major biblical teachings. His special interests are the Bible, archaeology, biblical culture, history and the Middle East.
Tom Robinson
Tom is an elder in the United Church of God who works from his home near St. Louis, Missouri as managing editor and senior writer for Beyond Today magazine, church study guides and the UCG Bible Commentary. He is a visiting instructor at Ambassador Bible College. And he serves as chairman of the church's Prophecy Advisory Committee and a member of the Fundamental Beliefs Amendment Committee.
Tom began attending God's Church at the age of 16 in 1985 and was baptized a year later. He attended Ambassador College in both Texas and California and served for a year as a history teacher at the college's overseas project in Sri Lanka. He graduated from the Texas campus in 1992 with a Bachelor of Arts in theology along with minors in English and mass communications. Since 1994, he has been employed as an editor and writer for church publications and has served in local congregations through regular preaching of sermons.
Tom was ordained to the ministry in 2012 and attends the Columbia-Fulton, Missouri congregation with his wife Donna and their two teen children.
