The Pool of Bethesda

A significant number of scholars consider the Gospel of John a second century document and hence not written during the lifetime of John the apostle. However, archaeological excavations and research concur in detail with the landscapes and structures described in the book of John. This is especially relevant because some of these buildings were destroyed in Jerusalem in 70 AD by the Romans. It is quite unlikely that a second century author could have had the knowledge necessary for such an accurately detailed description.

An illustration is John’s description of the pool of Bethesda: “Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades” (John 5:2).

Excavations between 1914 and 1918 have laid bare a double pool surrounded by four porticoes, with a fifth on a rock gangway between the two pools. The pool was approximately 16 meters (53 feet) deep, making it necessary for a crippled person not only to be assisted to the water, but also supported in it. It is not doubted that this is the very site described by John.[1]