The famed location of the Pool of Siloam, site of many significant Biblical events, was excavated by Israeli archaeologists and authorities are promising it will be opened to the general public for the first time in almost 2,000 years.
The discovery marks yet another Biblical location to be corroborated by modern-day efforts and affirms more legacies from the world’s most popular and important book.
Fox News wrote that the pool was the site of a famous healing at the hands of Jesus while also serving as the place in which pilgrims would cleanse themselves before entering one of the site’s holiest temples.
“The Pool of Siloam’s excavation is highly significant to Christians around the world,” American Pastor John Hagee, the founder and chairman of Christians United for Israel, told Fox News Digital. “It was at this site that Jesus healed the blind man (John:9), and it is at this site that, 2,000 years ago, Jewish pilgrims cleansed themselves prior to entering the Second Temple.
“The Pool of Siloam and the Pilgrimage Road, both located within the City of David, are among the most inspiring archeological affirmations of the Bible.
“Christians are deeply blessed by the City of David’s work and Israel’s enduring commitment to ensuring religious freedom to all who visit and live in the Holy Land, especially Jerusalem — the undivided capital of Israel.”
The Director of the City of David Foundation also said to Fox News Digital that the discovery of the site was powerful in that it both affirmed Jerusalem’s “Biblical heritage” but also allows for the faithful to participate once more in one of the most sacred rituals in the area.
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“One of most significant sites affirming Jerusalem’s Biblical heritage — not simply as a matter of faith, but as a matter of fact — with significance to billions around the world, will be made fully accessible for the first time in 2,000 years,” Ze’ev Orenstein said.
Orenstein stressed that the discovery, in addition to affirming Biblical histories and allowing modern-day adherents of Christian and Jewish faiths to recreate what believers participated in over two-thousand years ago, was that it also helped to reject what he termed were “ongoing efforts” by various groups to undermine and “erase” the heritage of the Jewish people.
“Despite ongoing efforts at the United Nations and Palestinian leadership to erase Jerusalem’s heritage, in a few years time, the millions of people visiting the City of David annually will literally be able to walk in the footsteps of the Bible, connecting with the roots of their heritage and identity,” Orenstein noted.
Fox continued with an explanation of the excavation project:
A small section of the pool, which has been fully excavated, has been accessible to the public for several years. The vast majority of the pool is being excavated and will either be opened piecemeal or once the entire site is unearthed. The archeological project to fully excavate the pool will last a few years. There is a plan for space for visitors to the pool to view the ongoing excavation.