A new excavation project in Jerusalem has uncovered steps more than 2,000 years old in the location where the New Testament says Jesus healed a blind man.
In recent weeks, archeologists have discovered eight steps descending into the Pool of Siloam. The more than 2,000-year-old steps date back to the time Jesus was on earth.
The Director of International Affairs of the City of David Foundation Ze’ev Orenstein told Fox News Digital that “ongoing excavations within the City of David — the historic site of Biblical Jerusalem — particularly of the Pool of Siloam and the Pilgrimage Road, serve as one of the greatest affirmations of that heritage and the millennia-old bond Jews and Christians have with Jerusalem.”
“Not simply as a matter of faith, but as a matter of fact,” he told Fox News.
AMAZING! Archaeologists in Jerusalem discovered 2000-year-old steps where Jesus walked and healed a blind man at the Pool of Siloam. pic.twitter.com/AbqVBDSV3G
— Hananya Naftali (@HananyaNaftali) September 10, 2023
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The Pool of Siloam
The Pool of Siloam was built during the reign of King Hezekiah (2 Kgs. 20:20) and is the place where Jesus performed the miracle of healing the blind man.
The New Testament says that Jesus anointed the eyes of a blind man with mud and asked him to come and wash in the waters of the pool of Siloam.
So they said to him, “[So] how were your eyes opened?” He replied, “The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went there and washed and was able to see.” (Jn. 9: 10-11)
In 2004, the Hagihon water company came across signs of the Siloam Pool while performing infrastructure projects. This discovery led to subsequent investigations, uncovering an important part of this historical place.
The Israel Antiquities Authority, the Israel National Parks Authority, and the City of David Foundation announced in early 2023 that this biblical site will soon be open to the public.
The Importance of the City of David
“The half-mile running through the City of David, from the Pool of Siloam in the south, continuing along the Pilgrimage Road, up to the footsteps of the Western Wall, Southern Steps and Temple Mount, represents the most significant half-mile on the planet,” Orenstein explained.
“There is no half-mile anywhere on Earth which means more to more people — not to millions, but to billions — than the half-mile that is the City of David,” he concluded.
