Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 5:4
For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.
An angel – It is not affirmed that the angel did this visibly, or that they saw him do it. They judged by the effect, and when they saw the waters agitated, they concluded that they had healing properties, and descended to them. The Jews were in the habit of attributing all favors to the ministry of the angels of God, Gen 19:15; Heb 1:14; Mat 4:11; Mat 18:10; Luk 16:22; Act 7:53; Gal 3:19; Act 12:11. This fountain, it seems, had strong medicinal properties. Like many other waters, it had the property of healing certain diseases that were incurable by any other means. Thus the waters of Bath, of Saratoga, etc., are found to be highly medicinal, and to heal diseases that are otherwise incurable. In the case of the waters of Bethesda there does not appear to have been anything miraculous, but the waters seem to have been endued with strong medicinal properties, especially after a periodical agitation. All that is special about them in the record is that this was produced by the ministry of an angel. This was in accordance with the common sentiment of the Jews, the common doctrine of the Bible, and the belief of the sacred writers. Nor can it be shown to be absurd or improbable that such blessings should be imparted to man by the ministry of an angel. There is no more absurdity in the belief that a pure spirit or holy angel should aid man, than that a physician or a parent should; and no more absurdity in supposing that the healing properties of such a fountain should be produced by his aid, than that any other blessing should be, Heb 1:12. What man can prove that all his temporal blessings do not come to him through the medium of others – of parents, of teachers, of friends, of angels? And who can prove that it is unworthy the benevolence of angels to minister to the wants of the poor, the needy, and the afflicted, when man does it, and Jesus Christ did it, and God himself does it daily?
Went down – Descended to the pool.
At a certain season – At a certain time; periodically. The people knew about the time when this was done, and assembled in multitudes to partake of the benefits. Many medicinal springs are more strongly impregnated at some seasons of the year than others.
Troubled the water – Stirred or agitated the water. There was probably an increase, and a bubbling and agitation produced by he admission of a fresh quantity.
Whosoever then first – This does not mean that but one was healed, and that the first one, but that those who first descended into the pool were healed. The strong medicinal properties of the waters soon subsided, and those who could not at first enter into the pool were obliged to wait for the return of the agitation.
Stepped in – Went in.
Was made whole – Was healed. It is not implied that this was done instantaneously or by a miracle. The water had such properties that he was healed, though probably gradually. It is not less the gift of God to suppose that this fountain restored gradually, and in accordance with what commonly occurs, than to suppose, what is not affirmed, that it was done at once and in a miraculous manner.
In regard to this passage, it should be remarked that the account of the angel in Joh 5:4 is wanting in many manuscripts, and has been by many supposed to be spurious, There is not conclusive evidence, however, that it is not a part of the genuine text, and the best critics suppose that it should not be rejected. One difficulty has been that no such place as this spring is mentioned by Josephus. But John is as good a historian, and as worthy to be believed as Josephus. Besides, it is known that many important places and events have not been mentioned by the Jewish historian, and it is no evidence that there was no such place as this because he did not mention it. When this fountain was discovered, or how long its healing properties continued to be known, it is impossible now to ascertain. All that we know of it is what is mentioned here, and conjecture would be useless. We may remark, however, that such a place anywhere is an evidence of the great goodness of God. Springs or fountains having healing properties abound on earth, and nowhere more than in our own country. Diseases are often healed in such places which no human skill could remove. The Jews regarded such a provision as proof of the mercy of God. They gave this healing spring the name of a house of mercy. They regarded it as under the care of an angel. And there is no place where man should be more sensible of the goodness of God, or be more disposed to render him praise as in a house of mercy, than when at such a healing fountain. And yet how lamentable is it that such places – watering places – should be mere places of gaiety and thoughtlessness, of balls, and gambling, and dissipation! How melancholy that amid the very places Where there is most evidence of the goodness of God, and of the misery of the poor, the sick, the afflicted, men should forget all the goodness of their Maker, and spend their time in scenes of dissipation, folly, and vice!
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 4. Angel] “Of the Lord,” is added by AKL, about 20 others, the AEthiopic, Armenian, Slavonic, Vulgate, Anglo-Saxon, and six copies of the Itala: Cyril and Ambrose have also this reading. If this reading be genuine, and the authorities which support it are both ancient and respectable, it destroys Dr. Hammond’s conjecture, that, by the angel, a messenger only, sent from the Sanhedrin, is meant, and that these cures were all performed in a natural way.
Those who feel little or none of the work of God in their own hearts are not willing to allow that he works in others. Many deny the influences of God’s Spirit, merely because they never felt them. This is to make any man’s experience the rule by which the whole word of God is to be interpreted; and consequently to leave no more divinity in the Bible than is found in the heart of him who professes to explain it.
Went down] , descended. The word seems to imply that the angel had ceased to descend when John wrote. In the second verse, he spoke of the pool as being still in existence; and in this verse he intimates that the Divine influence ceased from these waters. When it began, we know not; but it is likely that it continued no longer than till the crucifixion of our Lord. Some think that this never took place before nor after this time. Neither Josephus, Philo, nor any of the Jewish authors mention this pool; so that it is very likely that it had not been long celebrated for its healing virtue, and that nothing of it remained when those authors wrote.
Certain season] This probably refers to the time of the feast, during which only this miraculous virtue lasted. It is not likely that the angel appeared to the people-his descent might be only known by the ebullition caused in the waters. Was not the whole a type of Christ? See Zec 13:1. He is the true Bethesda, or house of mercy, the fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness; unto which all the diseased may come, and find health and life eternal.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This water had not always in it this healing virtue, but only when it was
troubled, and this was at a certain season, how often the Scripture hath not determined; some will have it to be only at their great feasts, of the passover, and Pentecost, &c., but the Scripture saith no such thing. None must think that the angel appeared in any visible shape, but the rolling or troubling of the waters was a certain sign, that that was the time when alone they were medicinal; nor were many healed at one time, but only one person, that could first get into this water, he was healed, let his disease be what it would. The waters not being constantly medicinal, but, first, at a certain time, when they were troubled; and then, secondly, not for all, but only to him who could first get in; and, thirdly, for any disease, of what sort or kind soever his disease was; sufficiently confutes the opinion of those who fancy that the waters derived this healing virtue from the entrails of the beasts offered in sacrifice being washed there; for besides that this is denied by some, who say those entrails were washed in a room on purpose for that use within the temple; if they had derived their healing virtue from thence in a natural, rational way, they would have exerted their virtue upon more than him who first stepped in, and not at the time only when they were troubled, nor would their virtue have extended to all kinds of diseases. Of whatever use this pool therefore was before, certain it is at this time God made use of the water in it to heal, and so as men might see that it healed not by any natural, but a miraculous operation. The Scriptures of the Old Testament make no mention of it. And it is observed by those who are versed in the Jewish Rabbins, that neither do they make the least mention of it. Which makes it very probable, that they had this virtue, not from the time of the building of the sheep gate by Shallum, Neh 3:15; nor from the time when the Asmonean family was extinct; or the rebuilding or further building and adoring the temple by Herod; but a little before the birth of Christ, as a figure of him being now coming, who, Zec 13:1, was a fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and from whom is both our cleansing and our healing, as these waters, which before had a cleansing, and now received also a healing virtue.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. an angel, c.This miraclediffered in two points from all other miracles recorded in Scripture:(1) It was not one, but a succession of miracles periodicallywrought: (2) As it was only wrought “when the waters weretroubled,” so only upon one patient at a time, and that thepatient “who first stepped in after the troubling of thewaters.” But this only the more undeniably fixed its miraculouscharacter. We have heard of many waters having a medicinal virtue butwhat water was ever known to cure instantaneously a singledisease? And who ever heard of any water curing all, even the mostdiverse diseases”blind, halt, withered”alike? Aboveall, who ever heard of such a thing being done “only at acertain season,” and most singularly of all, doing it only tothe first person who stepped in after the moving of the waters? Anyof these peculiaritiesmuch more all taken togethermust haveproclaimed the supernatural character of the cures wrought. (If thetext here be genuine, there can be no doubt of the miracle, as therewere multitudes living when this Gospel was published who, from theirown knowledge of Jerusalem, could have exposed the falsehood of theEvangelist, if no such cure had been known there. The want of Joh5:4 and part of Joh 5:3 insome good manuscripts, and the use of some unusual words in thepassage, are more easily accounted for than the evidence in theirfavor if they were not originally in the text. Indeed Joh5:7 is unintelligible without Joh5:4. The internal evidence brought against it is merelythe unlikelihood of such a miraclea principle which willcarry us a great deal farther if we allow it to weigh againstpositive evidence).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool,…. This angel is not to be understood of a messenger sent from the sanhedrim, or by the priests, as Dr. Hammond thinks; who has a strange conceit, that this pool was used for the washing of the entrails of the sacrifices; and which at the passover being very numerous, the water in it mixed with the blood of the entrails, was possessed of an healing virtue; and which being stirred by a messenger sent from the sanhedrim for that purpose, whoever went in directly received a cure: but this angel was “an angel of the Lord”, as the Vulgate Latin, and two of Beza’s copies read; and so the Ethiopic version reads, “an angel of God”; who either in a visible form came down from heaven, and went into the pool, the Ethiopic version very wrongly renders it, “was washed in the pool”; or it was concluded by the people, from the unusual agitation of the water, and the miraculous virtue which ensued upon it, that an angel did descend into it; and this was not at all times, but at a certain time; either once a year, as Tertullian thought, at the time of the feast of the passover, or every sabbath, as this was now the sabbath day; or it may be there was no fixed period for it, but at some times and seasons in the year so it was, which kept the people continually waiting for it:
and troubled the water; agitated and moved it to and fro, caused it to swell and rise, to bubble and boil up, and to roll about, and be as in a ferment. The Jews have a notion of spirits troubling waters; they speak of a certain fountain where a spirit resided, and an evil spirit attempted to come in his room; upon which a contest arose, and they saw , “the waters troubled”, and think drops of blood upon them q: the Syriac r writers have a tradition, that
“because the body of Isaiah the prophet was hid in Siloah, therefore an angel descended and moved the waters.”
Whosoever then first after the troubling of the waters stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had; from whence it seems, that only one person at a season received a cure, by going in first into the water, so Tertullian thought s: the Jews ascribe an healing virtue to the well of Miriam; they say,
“a certain ulcerous person went to dip himself in the sea of Tiberias, and it happened at that time, that the well of Miriam flowed, and he washed, , and was healed t.”
Now this angel may represent a minister of the Gospel, for such are called angels, Re 1:20; being called of God, and sent by him, with messages of grace to the sons of men; and the preaching of the Gospel by such, may be aptly signified by the troubling of the waters, as it is by the shaking of heaven, earth, and sea; see Hag 2:6, compared with Heb 12:25; especially when attended with the Spirit of God, who moved upon the face of the waters in the first creation; and who, in and by the ministry of the word, troubles the minds of men, and whilst the prophet prophesies, causes a shaking among the dry bones, which is done at certain seasons; for as there are certain seasons for the preaching of the Gospel, so there is more especially a fixed, settled, and appointed one, for the conversion of God’s elect; who are called according to purpose, and at the time the Lord has appointed: and whoever now, upon the preaching of the Gospel, are enabled to step forth and come to Christ, and believe in him, are cured of all their soul maladies and diseases, be they what they will; all their inquiries are pardoned, their persons justified, and they are saved in Christ, with an everlasting salvation: and as this cure was not owing to any natural virtue in the water, nor even to the angels troubling it, but to a supernatural power; so the conversion of a sinner is owing to ministers, and to the word and ordinances as administered by them, but to the superior power of the grace of God; and which is exerted in his time, and on whom he pleases.
q Vajikra Rabba, sect. 24. fol. 165. 2. r Vid. Hackspan. Interpr. Errabund. sect. 20. s De Baptismo, c. 5. t Midrash Kohelet, fol. 71. 4.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
All of this verse is wanting in the oldest and best manuscripts like Aleph B C D W 33 Old Syriac, Coptic versions, Latin Vulgate. It is undoubtedly added, like the clause in verse 3, to make clearer the statement in verse 7. Tertullian is the earliest writer to mention it. The Jews explained the healing virtues of the intermittent spring by the ministry of angels. But the periodicity of such angelic visits makes it difficult to believe. It is a relief to many to know that the verse is spurious.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool,” a messenger of God’s heavenly host, sent to heal men, at His bidding, Heb 1:14, to deliver or liberate men, Psa 34:7. This “certain season” coming of an angel appears to have been by tradition, perhaps not an actual fact.
2) “And troubled the water: (caused the waters to stir, roll, or whirl, to be purified, much as Moses caused the bitter (poison) waters of Marah to be sweet or pure, Exo 15:23-25.
3) “Whosoever then first,” in order, among those waiting in the porch areas of the pool, Joh 5:2-3.
4) “After the troubling of the water stepped in,” was able to enter the troubled, stirred, or healing waters, Joh 5:3; Joh 5:7.
5) “Was made whole of whatever disease he had.” Though minerals may have curative, medicinal powers to heal some diseases, they do not cure all diseases. It was Divine intervention, to the extent that this periodically occurred, Joh 5:3.
THE POOL OF BETHESDA
This was probably a bath for unclean persons, for whose accommodation the “five porches,” or cloistered walks, were erected. “Bethesda” means “house of mercy, grace, or goodness;- doubtless because many miserable objects there received mercy and healing. Athanasius speaks of the pool itself as still existing in his time, although the surrounding buildings were, as we might expect, in ruins. The place to which the name of the pool of Bethesda is now given is possibly the same thus mentioned. Chateaubriand thinks it offers the only example now left of the primitive architecture of the Jews at Jerusalem. In conformity with other travelers, he states that it is still to be seen near St. Stephen’s gate. It is situated near the Temple, on the north, and is a reservoir one hundred and fifty feet long, and forty wide.
Kitto.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
4. For an angel went down. It was, no doubt, a work peculiar to God to cure the sick; but, as He was accustomed to employ the ministration and agency of angels, so He commanded an angel to perform this duty. For this reason the angels are called principalities or powers, (Col 1:16😉 not that God gives up his power to them, and remains unemployed in heaven, but because, by acting powerfully in them, he magnificently shows and displays his power. It is, therefore, wicked and shameful to imagine any thing as belonging to the angels, or to constitute them the medium of communication between us and God, so as to obscure the glory of God, as if it were at a great distance from us, while, on the contrary, he employs them as the manifestations of his presence. We ought to guard against the foolish speculations of Plato, for the distance between us and God is too great to allow us to go to the angels, that they may obtain favor for us; but, on the contrary, we ought to come direct to Christ, that, by his guidance, protection, and command, we may have the angels as assistants and ministers of our salvation.
At intervals. God might have at once, in a single moment, cured them all:, but, as his miracles have their design, so they ought also to have their limit; as Christ also reminds them that, though there were so many that died in the time of Elisha, not more than one child was raised from the dead, (2Kg 4:32😉 (95) and that, though so many widows were famished during the time of drought, there was but one whose poverty was relieved by Elijah, (1Kg 17:9; Luk 4:25.) Thus the Lord reckoned it enough to give a demonstration of his presence in the case of a few diseased persons. But the manner of curing, which is here described, shows plainly enough that nothing is more unreasonable than that men should subject the works of God to their own judgment; for pray, what assistance or relief could be expected from troubled water ? But in this manner, by depriving us of our own senses, the Lord accustoms us to the obedience of faith. We too eagerly follow what pleases our reason, though contrary to the word of God; and, therefore, in order to render us more obedient to him, he often presents to us those things which contradict our reason. Then only do we show our submissive obedience, when we shut our eyes, and follow the plain word, though our own opinion be that what we are doing will be of no avail. We have an instance of this kind in Naaman a Syrian, whom the prophet sends to Jordan, that he may be cured of his leprosy, (2Kg 5:10.) At first, no doubt, he despises it as a piece of mockery, but afterwards he comes actually to perceive that, while God acts contrary to human reason, he never mocks or disappoints us.
And troubled the water Yet the troubling of the water was a manifest proof that God freely uses the elements according to his own pleasure, and that He claims for himself the result of the work. For it is an exceedingly common fault to ascribe to creatures what belongs to God alone; but it would be the height of folly to seek, in the troubled water, the cause of the cure. He therefore holds out the outward symbol in such a manner that, by looking at the symbol, the diseased persons may be constrained to raise their eyes to Him who alone is the Author of grace.
(95) The French version runs thus: “ combion que du temps d’Elisee il y eust plusieurs de ladres, toutesfois nul d’eux ne fut nettoye sinon Naaman Syrien;” — “ though in the time of Elisha there were many lepers, yet not one of them was cleansed except Naaman a Syrian, ” (2Kg 5:14; Luk 4:27.)
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
4. For an angel went down The best biblical scholars decide that this verse was not written by John, as it is wanting or defective in many of the best manuscripts. It was probably inserted early in the second century; first as a gloss or explanatory, comment, and then gradually became incorporated into the text. This moving of the water at irregular intervals probably arose from the underground connection of the pool with the water-works of the city. The popular belief of its power to heal is narrated by John, but not acknowledged as his own.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Joh 5:4. For an angel went down, &c. Some imagine that this was a proper officer or messenger, as the word primarily signifies; yet as it is most commonly used by the inspired writers to signify a celestial being, employed by God, either for the service or punishment of men, and as the circumstances of this narrative import that the virtue communicated by the agitation of the waters, was not a natural quality inherent in them; our translators seem very justly to have retained the word in a sense which implies a miraculous operation. The phrase, , rendered, at a certain season, is understood by some to express at that season, the season of the feast mentioned Joh 5:1 confining the miracle of the pool to this particular feast. See Num 9:6-7. LXX: for, since the evangelist does not say that the waters of Bethesda had their sanative quality at any other feast, we are at liberty to make what supposition seems most convenient: but I cannot help thinking, that the mode of expression, and the waiting of the multitude, evidently imply that this event was frequent; as if it had happened once only, it is not easy to account for this attendance and expectation of the multitude. That the waters of Bethesda should at this period have a miraculous effect, was without doubt in honour of the personal appearance of the Son of God on earth. Some have thought that it was intended to shew that Ezekiel’s vision of waters issuing out of the sanctuary, (ch. 47:) was about to be fulfilled; of which waters it is said, Joh 5:9 they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh. It is abundantly evident, that this was no natural virtue, nor a virtue acquired from natural causes in these waters, from the following reasons: 1. All manner of diseases were healed by them. 2. These cures were performed only at a certain season. 3. One person only was healed. And that, 4 only after the troubling of the water; whereas, in general, medicinal waters are required to be calm, and not troubled, for the use of patients.
Such is the account which St. John gives us ofthis miraculous pool of Bethesda. As to the time when this miraculous effect first took place, nothing precisely certain can be determined; but it seems most universally agreed, that it could not be long before the coming of Christ, and that the miracle was intended to lead men to him: for the gift of prophesy and of miracles had now been withdrawn from the Jews for above four hundred years; therefore to raise in them a more ardent desire for the coming of the Messiah, and to an observation of the signs of his now almost universally-expected coming, God was pleased to favour them with this remarkable sign of Bethesda; and because in these times the Jewish people lay open not only to the irruptions and tyrannyof the Gentiles, but had wholly lost their liberty; that they might not yet entirely despair of the fulfilling of the promises made to their fathers, nor entirely cast off their allegiance to God, he favoured them with this eminent token of his regard, this wonderful pool, in a place near to the gate of victims, which were figures of the propitiatory sacrifice of the Messiah. As this miracle then began, when the coming of the Messiah drew near, to advise them of the speedy and near approach of that promised salvation, (wherefore also this gift of healing was without the temple,) so there can be no doubt that Christ entered these porches, and performed the following miracle, to shew what was the true intent of this gift of healing, and to what it was designed by God to lead men; even to himself, the fountain opened for sin, and for all uncleanness. The water was thus troubled only at some certain season, to shew them at once the weakness of the law, and the great difference between that and the gospel dispensation; and to teach them, not to rest in the corporal benefit only, as in the ministration of anangel, but to betakethemselves to a careful consideration of the promises of HIS approaching advent, who, not at stated periods of times, but every day, performed, not a single cure only, but healed whole multitudes resorting to him.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
4 For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.
Ver. 4. For an angel went down ] The miracle of this pool was granted to the Jews, partly to strengthen them in the true worship of God under the persecution of Antiochus, in the cessation of prophecy; partly to retain them in their religious course of sacrificing to the true God, against the scoffs of the Romans (that were now their lords). Such a virtue being given to that water, wherein their sacrifices were wont to be washed. See a more sovereign bath than this,Zec 13:1Zec 13:1 ; an ever-flowing and over-flowing fountain, not for one at once, as here, but for all that come, they may wash and be clean, wash and be whole.
At a certain season ] Once a year only, Semel quotannis, saith Tertullian. Others (more probably) at all their great feasts, when the people met out of all parts at Jerusalem, taking distributively, asMat 27:15Mat 27:15 .
Troubled the water ] Not in a visible shape, likely; but as it appeared by a visible troubling of the waters and a miraculous healing of the diseased. But that troubled waters should do cures was the greater wonder: since holy wells (as they call them) and waters that heal are commonly most calm and clear. It was a witty allusion hereunto of him that said, Angels trouble the clear stream of justice at certain times.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
For an angel. The water was intermittent from the upper springs of the waters of Gihon (see App-68, and 2Ch 32:33, Revised Version) The common belief of the man expressed in Joh 5:7 is hereby described. All will be clear, if we insert a parenthesis, thus: “For [it was said that] an angel”, &c.
at a certain season = from time to time. Greek. kata (App-104. kairon.
into. Greek. en. App-104.
troubled. Greek. tarasso. Compare Joh 11:33; Joh 12:27; Joh 13:21; Joh 14:1, Joh 14:27.
whole = well or sound. Greek. hugies. Seven times in John. Compare Joh 7:23.
he had = held him fast. See note on “withholdeth”, 2Th 2:6.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Joh 5:4. , an angel) To many without doubt that event has seemed purely natural [not supernatural]; because it took place .- , at certain times) Were these times at equal intervals? Were they especially about the time of Pentecost? Who knows?-, used to go down [went down]) Past time. Therefore this phenomenon had ceased before that John wrote.-, was troubled) By the passive verb is expressed the phenomenon as it presented itself to the eyes of all, although they knew not the angels action.[103]-, the first) To him that hath, it shall be given.
[103] They could not positively know that it was the doing of an angel, but they judged of the cause from the effects.-E. and T.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
For See margin ref. (See Scofield “Joh 5:3”)
angel See note, (See Scofield “Heb 1:4”)
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
whosoever: The sanative property of this pool has been supposed by some to have been communicated by the blood of the sacrifices, and others have referred it to the mineral properties of the waters. But:
1. The beasts for sacrifice were not washed here, but in a laver in the temple.
2. No natural property could cure all manner of diseases.
3. The cure only extended to the first who entered.
4. It took place only at one particular time.
5. As the healing was effected by immersion, it must have been instantaneous; and it was never failing in it effects.
All which, not being observed in medicinal waters, determine the cures to have been miraculous, as expressly stated in the text.
first: Psa 119:60, Pro 6:4, Pro 8:17, Ecc 9:10, Hos 13:13, Mat 6:33, Mat 11:12, Luk 13:24-28, Luk 16:16
was made: 2Ki 5:10-14, Eze 47:8, Zec 13:1, Zec 14:8, 1Co 6:11, 1Jo 1:7
Reciprocal: Joh 5:7 – before
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE TROUBLING OF THE WATERS
For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.
Joh 5:4
The graphic story of the pool of Bethesda, which is related by no other evangelist than John, is remarkable and instructive in a very high degree.
We may notice one or two great features.
I. The first is the emphasis laid on the personal element in social or charitable work.The healing is not to be effected by any mechanical means. There must be personal effort. The absolute need of personal effort, and the evil of charitable work without it, may be seen very clearly on a small scale in the case of indiscriminate almsgiving. Benevolent people, who will not hurt their own feelings by refusing the poor man in the street, and who give money without any effort of personal inquiry into the case before them, are guilty of just this mistake. They are using mechanical means. They are not as the angel that troubles the water.
II. In all kinds of social work it is not money that is most needed. What we want is not money, but men.Money, which is of little real use in any department of life, is of little real use here. It will not, it cannot, take the place of that humanity and sympathy by which alone men are helped to walk steadily and be strong.
III. But, again, another side of the same truth appears in this passage. It is the need of concentration in social work. Here, we are told, is a great multitude of sufferers, yet to one, only one, the first who can step down, is the compassion of our Lord extended.
IV. The troubling of the waters! How eloquent the words become as we lift our eyes and look out on the social condition of the people.There they lie, the stagnant waters. What are we doing, as Christian men and women, to stir them for the healing of the nations? There they lie, here dead and motionless, there just rippled by the breath of aspiration. What are we doing to make that breath blow strong on them? Each of us, whatever his place and position, has some at least within his reach with fewer of Gods gifts than he; some soul to which he might bring help and strength, whose wounds he might bind up, whose pain he might ease.
Rev. Canon Alexander.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.
[An angel went down at a certain season.] It is hardly imaginable that these impotent people lay day and night throughout the whole year at this pool. It seems rather that the troubling of the waters and healing the sick was usual only at the solemn feasts, probably only the feast of the Passover. And so it may not be amiss to interpret the certain season with this restriction, “It was a feast of the Jews, and an angel went down at that certain season into the pool,” etc.
[And troubled the water.] We have this story, or rather this tale, concerning a certain fountain troubled by an evil angel: “It is a story in our city concerning Abba Joses (saith R. Berechiah in the name of R. Simeon), that when he sat at the fountain and required something, there appeared to him the spirit that resided there, and said, ‘You know well enough how many years I have dwelt in this place, and how yourselves and your wives have come and returned without any damage done to you. But now you must know, that an evil spirit endeavours to supply my room, who would prove very mischievous amongst you.’ He saith to him, ‘What must we do then?’ He answered him and said, ‘Go and tell the townspeople, that whoever hath a hammer and an iron pin or bolt, let him come hither tomorrow morning, and have his eyes intent upon the waters; and when you see the waters troubled; then let them knock with the iron, and say, “The victory is ours”: and so let them not go back, till they see thick drops of blood upon the face of the waters.’ ” The Gloss is: “By this sign it will appear that the spirit was conquered and killed.” And the rest of the legend tells us that they did as was commanded, and did not depart till they saw the thick drops of blood upon the waters. Let them enjoy themselves in their doughty victory.
When the time was not afar off wherein “there should be a fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness,” Zec 13:1; viz. the fountain of the blood of Christ; Divine Providence would have it, that a thing of that inconceivable excellency and benefit should not want some notable prognostic and forerunner. And therefore, amongst all the fountains and pools that were in Jerusalem for washing the unclean, he chose the most noble and celebrated pool of Bethesda, or Siloam, that in that might appear some prefiguration of his blood that should heal the world. Those waters, therefore, that had been only cleansing before, were made healing now; that, by their purifying and healing quality, they might prefigure and proclaim that that true and living Fountain was not far off, who should both purge and heal mankind in the highest degree.
How many years before our Saviour’s suffering this miraculous virtue of the pool discovered itself, the holy story doth not tell us: and as for the traditional books, I do not find that they once mention the thing, although I have turned over not a few of their writings (if possible) to have met with it. From what epocha, therefore, to date the beginning of it, would seem rashness in us to undertake the determining. Whether from the first structure of the sheepgate by Eliashib, as some persons of great note judge, or whether from the extinction of the Asmonean family, or the rebuilding of the Temple by Herod, or from the nativity of our Saviour, or from any other time, let the reader make his own choice. What if we should date it from that great earthquake of which Josephus hath this passage: “About that time, about the battle of Actium betwixt Caesar and Antony, the seventh year of the reign of king Herod, there was a mighty earthquake in Judea, that made an infinite slaughter of beasts in that country; and near ten thousand people slain by the fall of houses?” Perhaps in that ruin the tower of Siloam fell, of which Luk 13:4; and what if then the angel made his descent first into the pool? as Mat 28:2; “There was a great earthquake, for the angel of the Lord descended,” etc. But in this matter I had rather learn than dogmatize.
It might be further inquired, at what time it was first known that the healing quality followed the troubling of the waters; but this is as dark and obscure as the former: especially when the spirit of prophecy, appearance of angels, and working of miracles, had been things so long unwonted in that nation.
The masters attribute such a kind of a healing virtue to the fountain of Miriam; as they call it, in the sea of Tiberias.
“The story is of a certain ulcerous man; who went down to the sea of Tiberias that he might dip himself: and it happened to be the time when the well of Miriam flowed, so that he swam there and was healed.”
They have a fiction about a certain well that opened itself to the Israelites in the wilderness for the merits of Miriam, which at her departure disappeared. They suppose, also, as it should seem, that a certain well or gulf in some part of the sea of Gennesaret had obtained this medicinal virtue for her sake. It is a wonder they had not got the story of this pool by the end too, and attributed its virtue to the merits of Solomon, because this once was Solomon’s pool.
There was a time when God shewed wonders upon the fountains and rivers about Jerusalem in a very different manner, that is, in great severity and judgment, as now in mercy and compassion.
These are the words of Josephus, exhorting the people to surrender themselves: “Those springs flow abundantly to Titus, which, as to us, had dried away long before. For you know how, before his coming, Siloam and all the springs about the city failed so much, that water was bought by the bottle: but now they bubble up afresh for your enemies, and that in such abundance, that they have sufficient, not only for themselves, but for their cattle and gardens. Which very miracle this nation hath formerly experienced, when this city was taken by the king of Babylon.”
If there was such a miracle upon the waters upon the approach of the enemy and destroyer, it is less wonder that there should be some miraculous appearance there, though in a different manner, at the approach of him who was to be our Saviour.
How long the virtue of this pool lasted for healing the impotent, whether to the destruction of Jerusalem, or whether it ceased before, or from this very time, it would be to as little business to inquire, as after the original and first appearance of it, being both so very uncertain and unintelligible.
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Verse 4
An angel went down and troubled the water, &c.; that is, so they supposed. The meaning is, that such was the popular opinion; for that God would really thus miraculously interpose, to throw down, from time to time, a single boon among a company of cripples, to be seized by the most forward, selfish, and eager, leaving those most discouraged, helpless, and miserable, to be overwhelmed again and again with bitter disappointment, is a supposition not admissible. The periodical agitations observed in the water were produced, perhaps, by a bubbling up, at intervals, from the fountain, as is not unusual with springs to which medical virtues are attributed; and the popular belief respecting them is stated, apparently, in order to explain the reply of the sick man to Jesus in John 5:7.