Jesus and the Man Born Blind (John 9)

“…..the Waters of Shiloah that go softly…”

For the purposes of this column we will consider the incident of Jesus and the man born blind in John 9, and look into the intertextual background to this event, with all quotations in this article taken from the King James Version. We will learn that whilst John’s record appears to be a simple tale of healing, there is within this chapter, a complex subtext which contains a veritable ‘flood’ of deeper spiritual meaning. These deeper matters concern God’s plan of reconciliation with man through his Son Jesus Christ, a matter upon which the Apostle Paul has much to say (2 Cor 5:18-19).  So, John 9 draws upon OT themes which are brought to a focal point in NT times by the teaching of Jesus.

In looking into this matter, we will also discover inter alia, that what is recorded in the OT is effectively,

• A data-bank of ‘spiritual collateral’, gathered together for the purposes of the ministry of one man—Jesus Christ.
• Jesus makes use of this data-bank to create a set of instructive and interpretive ‘tableaus’ in the form of his sayings, parables, miracles, and other actions which are enacted by Jesus for the benefit and education of those of NT times and, (through the Gospel record), beyond the first century CE, to the faithful of every age.
• This OT ‘spiritual collateral’, generated over centuries of human history and spanning many incidents and deeds both good and bad, was written down by holy men of God and held in suspense as it were, awaiting the appearing and ministry of Jesus to unlock the true meaning of these OT prophetic hints and dark sayings.
• The Gospels then provide a set of final and definitive interpretations of OT themes, some originating from the dawn of time, which Jesus used to great effect in his ministry, as he sought to witness to his generation and provide the catalyst to divide the faithful from the faithless, and to warn the latter of the impending doom in the outworking of the covenant curses in 70 CE.

The incident of the man born blind is the apex of just one spiritual aspect which Jesus quarries from this vast mine of spiritual collateral. It concerns living waters—we shall trace the source of the concept of living waters and see how this theme flows across the centuries touching various individuals in its course and, fittingly, in the hands of Jesus, culminates in the eddying waters of the pool of Siloam where a man born into darkness receives sight for the very first time, and experiences a mid-life theophany.

Israel in the Wilderness

It is apparent that the journeying of Israel in the wilderness had multiple divine objectives. First, it was to remove Israel from the corruption and near death conditions of the ‘Iron Furnace’ of Egypt (Deut 4:20; Ezek 16:4-9[1]); secondly, there was to be a period of cleansing and purification; and thirdly, there was a three-part preparation of the people,

1. in God’s self-revelation;
2. in an exchange of oaths given at Sinai, resulting in the divine covenant or, more correctly, a marriage contract; and
3. in the setting up of formal structures of worship, leadership and a judicial system—i.e. a ‘nation’.

None of this, however, would have been accomplished in the hostile environs of a desert place without the provision for the essentials of life, i.e. copious quantities of water and food. Israel was of course sustained by divine providence and the visible hand of God which is attested to by a number of OT writers. The provision of water and food was, however, administered on divine principles, and whilst the primary object was to provide daily sustenance, the close secondary objective was to teach the ordinary Israelite, (1) spiritual lessons (“man doth not live by bread alone” Deut 8:3); and (2) about the tender care and loving nature of the God with whom they were now in ‘contract’. The lessons were obvious, God is a loving god who provides life through the giving of water and food, but the water and food (manna) which God gave were symbolic of something spiritually much deeper (John 6:31, 49, 58). Hence, Moses was directed to strike a rock to provide water for a thirsty people (Exod 17:6).

However, as we know from the NT (1 Cor 10:4), this rock pointed forwards to the crucified Jesus. The water would only flow from the rock once it had been struck by the rod of Moses. So the atoning work of Jesus could only be achieved by a divinely appointed ‘striking’ of Jesus. The blood of Jesus would prove more effective than “the blood of bulls and goats” (Heb 10:4) to atone for the sin of Adam. So, whilst the water from the rock sustained life for a few days, the spiritual Israelite was being challenged to discern in the sparkling cascade, a source of water which would meet the real need of man i.e. the removal of the curse of sin in the flesh once and for all time.

The raising of Jesus on the third day by the power of the Holy Spirit sealed this work of salvation for mankind. It is significant that subsequent to the striking of the rock, the Sinai covenant is formed and the Law of Moses is given. That the work of the Holy Spirit is central to the ‘living water’ concept is evidenced by the fact that at the time of covenant making and law giving, men like Bezaleel were energized by the Holy Spirit to provide the means and method of acceptable worship (Exod 31:1). It is interesting to note the similarities between the Exodus and the early days of the first century church, and the key part played by the power of the Holy Spirit in both dispensations.

Our first conclusion then is that ‘living waters’ stands as a metaphor for the power of the Holy Spirit deployed in the work of salvation for mankind but more specifically in the raising of Jesus (the Immanuel) from the dead. This concept, established early in the life of the fledgling nation of Israel, will appear again in both Old and New Testaments.

Isaiah and Immanuel

The next significant sighting of the ‘living water’ theme is in the days of Isaiah and the threat to Judah from the alliance of Pekah of Israel and Rezin of Syria. With the ‘Christ-rock’ of the Exodus now centuries behind them, the ‘living waters’ were now manifested in the small Gihon spring which percolated from beneath the mountain of Zion on the south eastern side of the Kedron valley to form the brook of Shiloah.

This quiet, unassuming, and largely unseen little brook was of vital strategic importance to the existence of the city of Jerusalem, particularly under siege conditions. The waters of Shiloah were also a fitting symbol of God’s quiet, unseen, and yet eternal presence in the life of the nation, symbolising the salvation and life rejuvenating mercies in Jesus Christ.

There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God the holy place of the tabernacles of the most high. God is in the midst of her she shall not be moved: God shall help her and that right early. Ps 46: 4-5

The prophet Isaiah uses this feature to drive home a lesson to King Ahaz and the nobles of Judah (Isaiah 7-8). Isaiah upbraids them for seeking help from the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser, rather than seeking help from Yahweh their God. The metaphors used by Isaiah are chosen carefully:

Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah’s son, now therefore, behold the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river strong and mighty, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory, and he shall come up all his channels, and go over all his banks: and he shall pass through Judah: he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck: and the stretching out of his wings shall fill thy land, O Immanuel. Isa 8:6-8

He compares the ever present sweet and softly flowing waters of the ‘Shiloah’, (with all the resonances of a deity who loves, protects and provides a way of salvation for his people), with the cold, hard and ultimately destructive tidal-surge of the inhuman Assyrians as they would sweep down as a wild river over the Promised Land.

But whilst the polemic of Isaiah was lost on King Ahaz and his cronies, it was not lost on his faithful son Hezekiah.  Ultimately, the tidal surge of the Assyrian would in the days of Hezekiah reach to the neck of Judah itself (701 BCE) when Sennacherib besieged Jerusalem. But, as the record shows, the faithful attitude of Hezekiah was in complete contrast to that shown by his father Ahaz.

Indeed, Hezekiah, with the eye of faith looked to the “sweet and softly flowing waters of Shiloah” in a number of ways. First, he diverted the waters of Shiloah into the protecting walls of Zion via a conduit, thereby strengthening the city against a long siege and denying sustenance to the enemy; and secondly, by this act of faith, he demonstrated to the world he would look only to the power and presence of God for his salvation.  He would eschew worldly alliances. By implication he identified his temporal and eternal destiny with the life and work of Jesus Christ, and accordingly at the time of the great crisis, the power of the Holy Spirit raised him from his death bed, and through the Angel of the Lord annihilated the Assyrian force which surrounded Jerusalem.

The prophet Joel, in his remarkable prophecy also speaks of the Assyrian tide coming upon Judah and Jerusalem, and exhorts the people to reformation and a renewal of faith. In Chapter 2:28-32, Joel predicts that following God’s pity for his people (2:18) and his miraculous deliverance of Jerusalem (2:20), he will “pour” out his Holy Spirit upon the people – akin to a cascade of refreshing rain on a desolated land and people. Of course these words are also related also to the events of Acts chapter 2 and the happening of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, an event which Jesus had already predicted as recorded in the Gospels.

In John chapter 7, the Gospel writer records[2] the incident in the life of Jesus which took place during the feast of Tabernacles and looked forward to the Pentecost out-pouring.

In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit that they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Spirit was not yet given; because Jesus was not yet glorified). John 7:37-39

The rivers of living waters flowing from the belly clearly represents the coming first century apostolic ministry, supported by the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit, a ministry in which the pure doctrine of God was preached.

The brook Shiloah which emptied itself into the pool of Siloam (created by Hezekiah), was central to the ordinances undertaken in the Feast of Tabernacles. This feast replete with salvation symbology was a joyous affair and celebrated at the end of the agricultural year. It looked forwards to the refreshing winter rains to rejuvenate the recently harvested earth and prepare the ground for winter seeding.  Jesus used this fact to appeal to his nation that they should rally to him, the true Immanuel. If men heeded his call, they would be blessed with the Holy Spirit, but more they would hear and understand importantly the true and pure life giving doctrine of God, and be saved from falsehood and the vain repetitions of men.

The Man Born Blind

So, we come to the man born blind in John 9. That he represented and stood as a symbol of the nation of the Jews is apparent for two reasons. First, he was born blind—he was in darkness from the cradle as were the people. The nation suffered under a religious system that professed to deal with eternal Godly truths, but was in fact a counterfeit religion, which observed the ritual of the Law but not its spirit, and indeed multiplied burdens upon the ordinary Israelite by adding a plethora of man-made observances. These added rules, enforced by a ruling caste, which was mired in political intrigue with the Roman rulers of the day, caused Jesus to affirm, “This people honour me with their lips but their heart is far from me”.

Secondly, when this blind man eventually meets Jesus, his blindness is compounded by the Messiah making clay of the dust of the earth with his spittle, which is daubed on eyes that had never seen light. The man is thus doubly blind. The use of clay by Jesus to compound the blindness of the man born blind is significant (fulfilling Isa 6:9-10). This blind man was then directed (sent) to go to the waters whose very name means ‘sent’ by an Immanuel who had himself been ‘sent’. He is directed to these waters but in this we see an enacted parable of the Jews being directed to Jesus as the true source of the ‘living waters’.

The blind man having felt and struggled his way down to the Pool of Siloam washed his clay covered eyes with the living water sent from God  (with all the echoes implicit within that term for the rite of baptism), and for the first time in his life he can now see. Later we know, having been excluded from the Synagogue by the Jews, he meets the Lord Jesus Christ who specifically seeks him out to complete the work of salvation commenced through the power of the Holy Spirit, which also incidentally addresses the failure of the nation as a whole and concludes some wonderful prophecies set out in Isaiah (Isaiah chapter 35:5, 42:7, and 42:16-19)

In conclusion, the visible work and power of the Holy Spirit in the world of men died out when the last of the Apostles ceased their labours as the ambassadors of Jesus Christ towards the end of the first century CE. So, have the ‘living waters’ ceased to be seen in the lives of men and women? In one sense the power of the Holy Spirit is still outworking today, as evidenced by the fact that there is still a steady stream of those seeking baptism.  As Jesus himself said,

No man can come unto me, except the Father which hath sent me[3] draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. John 6:44

In this article we have reviewed in outline the concept of ‘living waters’ as the work of the Holy Spirit in the process of the salvation of men, manifest by the rock in the wilderness and in the brook of Shiloah. We in this dispensation however, can look forward to the day still future in a reconstituted earth when as the book of Revelation tells us (22:1):

And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.

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