John 9:7

John 9:7 (NASB) Jesus said unto him, “go wash in the Pool of Siloam,” (which is translated, Sent)

In parentheses the author of this passage seems to be telling us about a hidden meaning correlated to the pool being called "send" or "sent." The idea of Jesus being the one “sent of God” is obviously seen here. But the root of the meaning of “sent” has no direct correlation to Christ, it comes from the water flowing down from the stream right up to the outer wall of Jerusalem, the stream “sent” waters flowing to the city.

But there is a hidden message, one not quite as obvious, unless you study the Jewish culture and traditions of that time.

According to the SDA Bible commentary this event In John 9 took place right around the Feast of Tabernacles. According to the New John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible: at the end of the Feast of Tabernacles, as part of the end of their celebration, the Jewish people would go out from the city, beyond the wall, down to the pool of Siloam, near the Temple, there they would gather water, bring the water into the Temple and pour it over the altar.

The Feast of Tabernacles had a twofold symbolism. It was a festival of thanksgiving at the end of harvest time and also for seven days the people would live in tents. This was so that they could remember how their forefathers dwelt in tents in the wilderness for forty years. Jesus knew the Feast of Tabernacles was fresh in the people’s minds. Possibly they had just recently hauled buckets of water from the pool to the altar. The people could associate with going to the pool and gathering water on the last day of the Feast. The pool because of its close proximity to the temple was a source of water for cleansing purposes in the temple. Although the Feast of Tabernacles was the final holiday of the Jewish year, it began five days after Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement (the symbolic end and total removal of the existence of sin.)

The Feast of Tabernacles was a time of joyous celebration, the highlight of the year. The event completed the year of rituals for the sanctuary services. It was a dramatic change from Yom Kippur, the most solemn time of the year. At the end of the Feast of Tabernacles symbolically the wandering in the wilderness is over, the time of harvest is come (the second coming of Christ to redeem the earth.) By pouring water over the alter, the people were starting fresh for the new year of rituals to begin. The next Jewish festival to come was the Passover. In the next Passover, the time of fulfillment was to take place, Christ was to die.

So Jesus sent the man formerly born blind to the pool of Siloam where the last event of the Jewish calendar had probably just taken place, where the waters seemed to represent a cleansing and a fresh start. But also pointed forward to the start of the new year of sanctuary services, in which Christ Himself was to be the fulfillment as the true Lamb of God who was to die as the Passover Lamb.

In sending the blind man to the pool of Siloam Jesus was calling out to the Jews at that time, and down the ages through all time to the entire world- “I want to open your eyes! See that the time of fulfillment is now beginning. The true Lamb has arrived and the true sacrifice will take place at the very next Passover, I will be ready for the slaughter. Will you open your eyes and see what is about to happen or will you be blind to what I am going to do for you?”

Compare this story with a time in your life that God showed you something important that He wanted you to see? What kind of thing has God worked out in your life that seemed to be telling you something? Explain what happened and what you think God was telling you?