BETHESDA, or, as it is called in the copies of the Vulgate, Bethzaida, or Piscina John v. 2.probatica1, because the sheep were washed in it, which were appointed for the Sacrifices, and were called in Greek, probata. Bethesda, as many Interpreters expound it, signifies2 the House of Mercy, probably by reason of the Sick, who lay under the porticos that surrounded it; or as others explain it3 the sink house or drain, because the waters which came from the temple, and the place where the victims were washed, flowed hither. Eusebius and S. Jerom say, that in their time there were two fish-pools, or a kind of double reservoir, shewn at Jerusalem. One of which conservatories of water was filled every year with rain water; the other with water of a deep red colour, as if some of the blood of such victims as formerly were washed there, were still remaining. The Gospel informs us, that there were five galleries about this fish-pool, probably because it was made in the figure of a pentagon; and many sick persons were always waiting there in order to descend into it, when the water was stir’d; for the Angel of the Lord came down at some certain time and stir’d the water; and the first sick person that then plunged into it, was cured, let his disease be what it would. Travellers tell us, that this fish-pool was to the East of Jerusalem.
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