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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comRobertson Word Pictures - John 5:2 - 5:2
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
There is (estin). Bengel argues that this proves a date before the destruction of Jerusalem, but it is probably only John’s vivid memory.
By the sheep gate (epi tēi probatikēi). Supply pulēi (gate) which occurs with the adjective probatikē (pertaining to sheep, probata) in Neh 3:1, Neh 3:22.
A pool (kolumbēthra). A diving or swimming pool (from kolumbaō, to swim, Act 27:43), old word, only here in N.T.
Which is called (hē epilegomenē). “The surnamed” (present passive participle, only N.T. example except Act 15:40 first aorist middle participle epilexamenos).
In Hebrew (Ebraisti). “In Aramaic” strictly as in Joh 19:13, Joh 19:17, Joh 19:20; Joh 20:16; Rev 9:11; Rev 16:16.
Bethesda (Bethesda, or House of Mercy. So A C Syr cu). Aleph D L 33 have Bethzatha or House of the Olive, while B W Vulg. Memph. have Bethsaida.
Having five porches (pente stoas echousa). Stoa was a covered colonnade where people can gather from which Stoic comes (Act 17:18). See Joh 10:23; Act 3:11. Schick in 1888 found twin pools north of the temple near the fortress of Antonia one of which has five porches. It is not, however, certain that this pool existed before a.d. 70 when the temple was destroyed (Sanday, Sacred Sites of the Gospels, p. 55). Some have identified it with the Pool of Siloam (Joh 9:7), though John distinguishes them. There is also the Virgin’s Well, called the Gusher, because it periodically bubbles over from a natural spring, a kind of natural siphon. This is south of the temple in the Valley of Kedron and quite possibly the real site.