Silo'ah Siloam. Silo'am

A pool on the south of Jerusalem near the west slope of the Kidron valley. It is mentioned in the Old Testament as being 'by the king's garden' when the walls of Jerusalem were being rebuilt by Nehemiah (Ne 3:15). In Isa 8:6, under the name of SHILOAH, it is used symbolically: the people refused its waters that went softly, preferring Syria and the king of Israel: the strong waters of Assyria should sweep them away. In the New Testament the man born blind, after being anointed with clay, was sent to wash at Siloam, which signifies 'sent.' Christ being the Sent One, we are figuratively taught that light comes when Christ in humiliation is known as the Sent One of God. Joh 9:7,11.

The pool still exists under the name of the Birket Silwan. It is supplied with water from a fountain higher up the hill, called the Virgin's Fountain. Several travellers have passed through the passage that connects the two, in some parts walking erect, and sometimes stooping, sometimes kneeling, and sometimes crawling on all fours. A short inscription was found at the pool, but which merely said that the passage was begun at both ends simultaneously, and met in the middle. The letters are ancient, which has led to the supposition that the passage was made in the days of Hezekiah, who made alterations in the watercourses. 2Ch 32:3-4. The flow of the water is intermitting, as if regulated by an underground siphon. In the winter the water rises three or four times a day, but in the summer only once in several days. The superfluous water flows in a channel cut in the rock to the gardens below. The pool is about 53 feet long, 18 feet wide, and 19 feet deep.

SILOAH, the same as Siloam, Ne 3:15; Lu 13:4; a fountain under the walls of Jerusalem, toward the east, between the city and the brook Kidron, perhaps the same with Enrogel. Near this was a tower, Lu 13:4.