Teks -- John 5:2 (NET)

5:2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool called Bethzatha in Aramaic, which has five covered walkways.

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per frasa)

Robertson: Joh 5:2 - There is

There is ( estin ).

Bengel argues that this proves a date before the destruction of Jerusalem, but it is probably only John’ s vivid memory.

Robertson: Joh 5:2 - By the sheep gate

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.

Robertson: Joh 5:2 - A pool

A pool ( kolumbēthra ).

A diving or swimming pool (from kolumbaō , to swim, Act 27:43), old word, only here in N.T.

Robertson: Joh 5:2 - Which is called

Which is called ( hē epilegomenē ).

"The surnamed"(present passive participle, only N.T. example except Act 15:40 first aorist middle participle epilexamenos ).

Robertson: Joh 5:2 - In Hebrew

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.

Robertson: Joh 5:2 - Bethesda

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 .

Robertson: Joh 5:2 - Having five porches

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.

Vincent: Joh 5:2 - Sheep-market

Sheep-market ( τῇ προβατικῇ )

The word is an adjective pertaining to sheep , which requires to be completed with another word, not with ἀγορᾷ , market , but with πύλῆ , gate . This gate was near the temple on the east of the city. See Neh 3:1, Neh 3:32; Neh 12:39. Some editors join the adjective with the following κολυμβήθρα , pool , making the latter word κολυμβήθρᾳ (the dative case), and reading the sheep-pool . Wyc., a standing water of beasts .

Vincent: Joh 5:2 - Pool

Pool ( κολυμβήθρα )

In the New Testament only in this chapter and Joh 9:7, Joh 9:11. Properly, a pool for swimming , from κολυμβάω , to dive . In Ecc 2:6 (Sept.) it is used of a reservoir in a garden. The Hebrew word is from the verb to kneel down , and means, therefore, a kneeling-place for cattle or men when drinking. In ecclesiastical language, the baptismal font , and the baptistery itself.

Vincent: Joh 5:2 - Called

Called ( ἐπιλεγομένη )

Strictly, surnamed , the name having perhaps supplanted some earlier name.

Vincent: Joh 5:2 - Bethesda

Bethesda ( βηθεσδὰ )

Commonly interpreted House of Mercy; others House of the Portico . The readings also vary. Tischendorf and Westcott and Hort give βηθζαθά , Bethzatha , House of the Olive . The site cannot be identified with any certainty. Dr. Robinson thinks it may be the Fountain of the Virgin, the upper fountain of Siloam. See Thomson's " Land and Book," " Southern Palestine and Jerusalem," pp. 458-461.

Vincent: Joh 5:2 - Porches

Porches ( στοὰς )

Cloisters, covered porticoes.

Wesley: Joh 5:2 - There is in Jerusalem

Hence it appears, that St. John wrote his Gospel before Jerusalem was destroyed: it is supposed about thirty years after the ascension.

Wesley: Joh 5:2 - Having five porticos

Built for the use of the sick. Probably the basin had five sides! Bethesda signifies the house of mercy.

JFB: Joh 5:2-3 - sheep market

The supplement should be (as in Margin) "sheep [gate]," mentioned in Neh 3:1, Neh 3:32.

JFB: Joh 5:2-3 - Bethesda

That is, "house (place) of mercy," from the cures wrought there.

JFB: Joh 5:2-3 - five porches

For shelter to the patients.

Clarke: Joh 5:2 - There Is

There Is - This is thought by some to be a proof that John wrote his Gospel before the destruction of Jerusalem; and that the pool and its porticoes were still remaining. Though there can be little doubt that Jerusalem was destroyed many years before John wrote, yet this does not necessarily imply that the pool and its porticoes must have been destroyed too. It, or something in its place, is shown to travelers to the present day. See Maundrell’ s Jour. p. 108. But instead of εϚι, Is, both the Syriac, all the Arabic, Persic, Armenian, and Nonnus, read ην, Was; which is to me some proof that it did not exist when these versions were made, and that the pool which is shown now is not the original

Clarke: Joh 5:2 - By the sheep market

By the sheep market - Rather, gate: see Neh 3:1, Neh 3:32; Neh 12:39. This was in all probability the gate through which the sheep were brought which were offered in sacrifice in the temple

Clarke: Joh 5:2 - A pool

A pool - Bp. Pearce thinks the word κολυμβηθρα should be translated bath, and that this place was built for the purpose of bathing and swimming in. He observes that κολυμβᾳν signifies to swim, in Act 27:43. In proof of this, he cites three of the old Itala, which have natatoria , a bathing or swimming place

Clarke: Joh 5:2 - Bethesda

Bethesda - This word is variously written in the MSS. and versions: Bezatha - Bethzatha - Betzetha - Belzetha - Belzatha - Berzeta; and many have Bethsaida. But the former reading is the genuine one. Bethesda, or according to the Hebrew ביתחסדה Bethchasdah , signifies literally, the house of mercy. It got this name probably from the cures which God mercifully performed there. It is likely the porticoes were built for the more convenient reception of the poor and distressed, who came hither to be healed. It does not appear that any person was obliged to pay man for what the mercy of God freely gave. Wicked as the Jewish people were, they never thought of levying a tax on the poor and afflicted, for the cures they received in these healing waters. How is it that a well-regulated state, such as that of Great Britain, can ever permit individuals or corporations to enrich themselves at the expense of God’ s mercy, manifested in the sanative waters of Bristol, Bath, Buxton, etc.? Should not the accommodations be raised at the expense of the public, that the poor might enjoy without cost, which they are incapable of defraying, the great blessing which the God of nature has bestowed on such waters? In most of those places there is a profession that the poor may drink and bathe gratis; but it is little better than a pretense, and the regulations relative to this point render the whole nearly inefficient. However, some good is done.

Calvin: Joh 5:2 - There was in Jerusalem, at the sheep-market, a pool

2.There was in Jerusalem, at the sheep-market, a pool The circumstance of the place is added, from which we learn that the miracle was not concealed or known to a few persons only; for the five porches show that the place was celebrated for the great number of persons who resorted to it, and this was also implied in its vicinity to the temple. Besides, the Evangelist expressly says that many diseased persons lay there With respect to the meaning of the name, the learned justly reject the fanciful opinion of Jerome, who, instead of Bethesda, makes it Betheder, and interprets it to mean the house of the flock; for here mention is made of a pool, which was near the sheep-market Those who read it Bethesda, as meaning a place of fishing, have no reason on their side. There is greater probability in the opinion of those who explain it to be a place of pouring out; for the Hebrew word ( אשך ) ( Eshed) signifies flowing out; but the Evangelist, as was then the ordinary way of speaking, pronounced it Esda For I think that the water was conveyed into it by conduits, that the priests might draw out of it; unless perhaps the place received its name from the circumstance that the water was poured into it by means of tubes. It was called the sheep-market, in my opinion, because the beasts which were to be offered in sacrifice were taken there.

TSK: Joh 5:2 - market // pool // Bethesda

market : or, gate, Neh 3:1, Neh 12:39

pool : Isa 22:9, Isa 22:11

Bethesda : The supposed remains of the pool of Bethesda are situated on the east of Jerusalem, contiguous on one side to St. Stephen’ s gate, and on the other to the area of the temple. Maundrell states that, ""it is 120 paces long, and forty broad, and at least eight deep, but void of water. At its west end it discovers some old arches, now damned up. These some will have to be porches, in which sat that multitude of lame, halt, and blind. But it is not likely, for instead of five, there are but three.""

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per Ayat)

Poole: Joh 5:2 - a pool // the upper pool // Bethesda // the pool of Siloah, by the king’ s garden

We read in Scripture of the sheep gate in Jerusalem, Neh 3:1 . There was also a market for sheep and other cattle, Deu 14:26 . Some therefore add market, others add gate, to the word in the Greek signifying sheep. Near to this gate or market there was

a poolkolumbhyra : some translate it, a fish pool; others, (more properly), a place to wash or to swim in (the word derives from a verb that signifies, to swim). They say there were two such pools within the compass of the mount on which the temple stood; the one eastward, called

the upper pool 2Ki 18:17 ; the other westward, near to the sheep gate. The one was called

Bethesda the other,

the pool of Siloah, by the king’ s garden Neh 3:15 , mentioned also by our evangelist, Joh 9:7 . They say the waters of these pools were supplied from a fountain called Siloam, which was not always full of water, but the water bubbled up in it at certain times with a great noise, coming (as was thought) through hollow places of the earth, and quarries of hard stones. These waters of Shiloah are mentioned, Isa 8:6 , and said to go softly; from which place these waters are concluded a type of the kingdom of David and of Christ. This being admitted, it is not to be wondered that they had that healing virtue given unto them (as some judge) just about the coming of Christ; for it should appear by Joh 9:7 , that the pool of Siloam, as well as that of Bethesda, had so; for in former times it is thought to have been of use chiefly to wash garments in, and sacrifices when they were slain. Some will have them to have derived their healing virtue from thence; but that is vain, their healing virtue was doubtless derived from the Lord that healeth us. This pool in the Hebrew was called Bethesda, which some interpret, The house of pouring out, because, as some fancy, the blood of the sacrifices was there poured out; (but that is a great mistake, for that was to be poured out at the altar); or because rain water (as some think) was poured into it; or (which is more probable) because waters were poured into it out of the conduit mentioned 2Ki 20:20 . But others interpret it, The house of grace, mercy, &c., because of God’ s great goodness showed the people, in giving this healing virtue to these waters. The

five porches belonging to this pool seem to have been five apartments for impotent men to walk in, or rest themselves in, when they came to wash themselves in the pool.

Lightfoot: Joh 5:2 - In the Hebrew tongue. // Having five porches

Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.   

[In the Hebrew tongue.] That is, in the language beyond Euphrates, or the Chaldean.   

Aruch; that is, the language of those beyond the flood.   

If the Holy Books be written in the Egyptian, or Medes', or Hebrew language. Gloss, In the Hebrew, that is, the language of those beyond Euphrates.   

The Hebrew writing is that of those beyond the river.   

So that by in the Hebrew tongue they mean the Chaldee language, which, from their return out of Babylon, had been their mother-tongue; and they call it "the language of those beyond Euphrates" (although used also in common with the Syrians on this side Euphrates), that, with respect to the Jews, they might distinguish it from the ancient holy tongue; q.d. "not the tongue they used before they went into captivity, but that which they brought along with them from beyond Euphrates."   

The Jews to whom this was the mother-tongue were called Hebrews; and from thence are distinguished from the Hellenists; which every one knows. Whence St. Paul should call himself a Hebrew, 2Co 11:22; when he was born in Tarsus of Cilicia, might deserve our consideration.   

[Having five porches.] It mightily obtains amongst some, that in Bethesda the sacrifices were washed before they offered them: but here I am a little at a stand. For,   

I. It is very difficult proving that the sacrifices were washed at all either here or in any place else, before they were offered. The Holy Scriptures are wholly silent as to any such thing; nor, as far as I have yet found, do the traditional writings speak of it. It is confessed, the entrails were washed after the beast had been slain; and for this service there was set apart in the very Temple the washing-room. But for their bodies, their skins, or backs, whether they were washed before they were slain, is justly questionable.   

II. Amongst all the blemishes and defects whereby the beast was rendered unfit for sacrifice, we do not read that this was ever reckoned, "that they had not been washed." Do we believe that Abraham washed the ram caught in thicket, Genesis_22, before he sacrificed it? It is said, indeed, " that he took it and wiped it. But this was after he had taken off the skin. He took it, and taking off the skin; he said, 'Behold this, O Lord, as if the skin of thy servant Isaac was taken off before thee.' He wiped it [Gloss, he wiped it with a sponge], and said, 'Behold this, as if Isaac was wiped.' He burnt it, and said," etc.   

And let that be well considered in Siphra; folio 18. 1, where a dispute is had upon those words, Lev 6:27; "If the blood of the sacrifice for sin be sprinkled upon a garment, etc. When the discourse is of a garment, I would understand it of nothing but a garment. Whence is to be added, the skin when it is pulled off. The text saith, 'Upon whatsoever the blood shall be sprinkled, ye shall wash.' Perhaps, therefore, one may add the skin before it is pulled off. The text saith, a garment; as a garment that is capable of uncleanness, so whatsoever is capable of uncleanness. Except the skin before it be pulled off. They are the words of R. Judah." Mark, the skin as yet cleaving to the beast's back, and not flayed off, is not capable of uncleanness.   

I. I would therefore judge rather, that men; and not beasts; were washed in the pool of Bethesda. I mean the unclean, that by washing they might be purified. For whoever considers the numbers of the unclean that did every day stand in need of being washed, and whoever would a little turn over the Talmudic treatises about purifications, and the gatherings of waters for those purposes, might easily persuade himself that both Bethesda, and all the other pools in Jerusalem, did serve rather for the washing of men, and not of beasts.   

I would further judge, that the Syriac interpreter, when he renders that passage, "There was at Jerusalem a certain place of baptistery;" that he intended rather the washing unclean person than beasts.   

II. "There was not any like to Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, under the second Temple. He one day struck his foot against a dead tortoise, and went down to Siloam, where, breaking all the little particles of hail, he washed himself......This was on the shortest day in winter, the tenth of the month Tebeth."   

I do not concern myself for the truth of this story; but must take notice what he hints that telleth it; viz. that in such a case men were wont to wash themselves in Siloam, not the fountain, but the pool.   

"Simeon Sicuensis dug wells, cisterns, and caves in Jerusalem. Rabban Jochanan Ben Zacchai saith to him, 'If a woman should come to thee, and ask thee about her menstrua, thou sayest to her, Dip thyself in this well; for the waters thereof will purify.' "   

III. Those five porches, therefore, seem to be the several entrances by which the unclean went down into the waters to be washed; and in which, before washing, they might lay up their clothes, and after it put them on again, being there always protected from the rain. And perhaps they had their different entrances and descents according to the different sorts of uncleanness, that all those that were one and the same way defiled should have one and the same entrance and descent into the pool. That this was the first design and use of these porches I do not at all doubt, though afterward there was another use for them brought in. And as to the washing of the unclean in this pool, let me also superadd this one remark: That when they allowed (and that of necessity, because of the multitudes of unclean persons) the lesser gatherings of waters, viz. forty seahs of water in a place fitted on purpose both for breadth and depth, if there was no greater plenty of water, then we must not suppose that they would by any means neglect the ponds and pools.

Haydock: Joh 5:2 - Now there is at Jerusalem a pond

Now there is at Jerusalem a pond, called Probatica. [1] Some translate, the sheep-pond. It is true the Greek word signifies something belonging to sheep. But because the ancient Latin interpreter thought fit to retain the Greek, probatica, and also because of the different expositions, I have not changed the word. Some think it was so called, as being near the gate called the sheep-gate: others, as being near the sheep-market: others, because the sheep that were brought to be sacrificed, were washed in it; or, at least, that the blood and entrails of sheep and beast sacrificed, were thrown into it, or washed there. In the ordinary Greek copies we read thus: there is at, or near, the Probatica, a pond or fish-pond. In Hebrew it was called Bethsaida, a house for fishing: and in most Greek copies, Bethchesda, a house of mercy, (perhaps because of the cures done there) having five porches, covered and arched, for the convenience of the infirm that lay there, waiting for the motion of the water. (Witham) ---

The word Greek: probaton, signifies a sheep. This pond is therefore called Probatica, because there the priests washed the sacrifices. (St. Augustine) ---

In imitation of this sick man, if we wish to return God thanks for his favours, or to enjoy the pleasure of his company, we must fly the crowd of vain and wicked thoughts that continually tempt us; we must avoid the company of the wicked, and fly to the sanctuary, that we may render our hearts worthy temples of that God who vouchsafes to visit us. (Alcuin)

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Probatica piscina: some Greek copies, Greek: probatike kolumbetra. But in the common copies, Greek: epi te probatike kolumbetra, i.e. prope piscinam, &c. Greek: Kolumbetra signifies lavacrum. See Legh's Crit. Sacra.

Gill: Joh 5:2 - Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market // A pool // which is called in the Hebrew tongue, Bethesda // Having five porches

Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market,.... The word "market" is not in the text, and of such a market, no account is given in the Scripture, nor in the Jewish writings; and besides, in our Lord's time, sheep and oxen were sold in the temple; rather therefore this signifies, the sheep gate, of which mention is made, in Neh 3:1, through which the sheep were brought into the city, to the temple.

A pool. The Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions read, "there is at Jerusalem a sheep pool"; and so it is interpreted in the Arabic version, and Jerom calls it the "cattle pool" ^f. The Targumist on Jer 31:39 speaks of a pool called בריכה עגלה, "the calf", or "heifer pool", as Dr. Lightfoot renders it; though the translations of it, both in the London Polyglott, and in the king of Spain's Bible, interpret it "the round pool". This pool of Bethesda, is thought by some, to be the same which the Jews call the great pool in Jerusalem; they say ^g,

"between Hebron and Jerusalem, is the fountain Etham, from whence the waters come by way of pipes, unto the great pool, which is in Jerusalem.''

And R. Benjamin ^h speaks of a pool, which is to be seen to this day, where the ancients slew their sacrifices, and all the Jews write their names on the wall: and some think it was so called, because the sheep that were offered in sacrifice, were there washed; which must be either before, or after they were slain; not before, for it was not required that what was to be slain for sacrifice should be washed first; and afterwards, only the entrails of a beast were washed; and for this there was a particular place in the temple, called לשכת המדיחין "the washing room"; where, they say ⁱ, they washed the inwards of the holy sacrifices. This pool here, therefore, seems rather, as Dr. Lightfoot observes, to have been a bath for unclean persons; and having this miraculous virtue hereafter spoken of, diseased persons only, at certain times, had recourse to it. The Syriac and Persic versions call it, "a place of a baptistery"; and both leave out the clause, "by the sheep market", or "gate": it is not easy to say where and what it was:

which is called in the Hebrew tongue, Bethesda; which signifies, according to the Syriac, Arabic, and Persic versions, "an house of mercy", or "grace", or "goodness"; because many miserable objects here received mercy, and a cure. Hegesippus ^k speaks of a Bethesda, which Cestius the Roman general entered into, and burnt; and which, according to him, seems to be without Jerusalem, and so not the place here spoken of; and besides, this is called a pool, though the buildings about it doubtless went by the same name. The Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions read Bethsaida, very wrongly; and it is called by Tertullian ^l the pool of Bethsaida. The Hebrew tongue here mentioned is כתב של עבר הנהר, "the language of those beyond the river" ^m, i.e. the river Euphrates; which is the Chaldee language, as distinct from the Assyrian language, which is called the holy and blessed language; the former is what the Cuthites, or Samaritans used; the latter, that in which the book of the law was written ⁿ.

Having five porches; or cloistered walks, which were very convenient for the diseased, which lay here for a cure, so Nonnus: Athanasius ^o speaks of the pool itself, as in being, though the buildings round about lay in ruins in his time; and ^p Daviler observes, there are still remaining five arches of the "portico", and part of the basin. Now this place may be an emblem of the means of grace, the ministry of the word, and ordinances: the house of God, where the Gospel is preached, may be called a Bethesda, an house of mercy; since here the free, sovereign, rich, and abundant grace and mercy of God, through Christ, is proclaimed, as the ground and foundation of a sinner's hope; the mercy of God, as it is displayed in the covenant of grace, in the mission of Christ, and redemption by him, in regeneration, and in the forgiveness of sin, and indeed, in the whole of salvation, from first to last, is here held forth for the relief of distressed minds: and this Bethesda being a pool, some of the ancients have thought, it was an emblem of, and prefigured the ordinance of baptism; and that the miraculous virtue in it, was put into it, to give honour and credit to that ordinance, shortly to be administered: but as that is not the means of regeneration and conversion, or of a cure or cleansing, but pre-requires them; rather it might be a symbol of the fountain of Christ's blood, opened for polluted sinners to wash in, and which cleanses from all sin, and cures all diseases; and this is opened in the house of mercy, and by the ministry of the word: or rather, best of all, the Gospel itself, and the ministration of it, mass be signified; which is sometimes compared to waters, and a fountain of them; see Isa 4:1 Joe 3:18; and whereas this pool was in Jerusalem, and that so often designs the church of Christ under the Gospel dispensation, it may fitly represent the ministry of the word there: and it being near the sheep-market, or gate, or a sheep-pool, may not be without its significancy; and may lead us to observe, that near where Christ's sheep are, which the Father has given him, and he has died for, and must bring in, he fixes his word and ordinances, in order to gather them in: and inasmuch as there were five porches, or cloistered walks, leading unto, or adjoining to this place, it has been thought by some of the ancients, that the law, as lying in the five books of Moses, may be intended by them; for under the law, and under a work of it, men are, before they come into the light and liberty, and comfort of the Gospel; and as the people which lay in these porches, received no cure there, so there are no relief, peace, joy, life, and salvation, by the law of works.