Bethesda: House of mercy, a reservoir (Gr. kolumbethra, "a swimming bath") with
five porches, close to the sheep-gate or market
(Nehemiah 3:1; John 5:2)
Eusebius the historian (A.D. 330 calls it "the sheep-pool." It is
also called "Bethsaida" and "Beth-zatha"
(John 5:2) R.V. marg. Under
these "porches" or colonnades were usually a large number of infirm
people waiting for the "troubling of the water." It is usually
identified with the modern so-called Fountain of the Virgin, in the
valley of the Kidron, and not far from the Pool of Siloam (q.v.); and
also with the Birket Israel, a pool near the mouth of the valley
which runs into the Kidron south of "St. Stephen's Gate." Others
again identify it with the twin pools called the "Souterrains," under
the convent of the Sisters of Zion, situated in what must have been
the rock-hewn ditch between Bezetha and the fortress of Antonia. But
quite recently Schick has discovered a large tank, as sketched here,
situated about 100 feet north-west of St. Anne's Church, which is,
as he contends, very probably the Pool of Bethesda. No certainty as
to its identification, however, has as yet been arrived at.
