Summary
Chapter summary
Sixth sign. The man born blind. Sabbath controversy; clay and the pool of Siloam. Pharisees' interrogation. 'One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.' 'For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.'
Context
Gospel · John — John overview
- A. 1–12 Clay, Spittle, and Sight for a Man Born Blind
- B. 13–23 The Pharisees Interrogate; His Parents Dodge
- C. 24–34 One Thing I Know: I Was Blind, Now I See
- D. 35–41 Jesus Finds Him; the Seeing Are Made Blind
The outline
A.Clay, Spittle, and Sight for a Man Born Blindvv. 1 to 12
Read vv. 1 to 12 →B.The Pharisees Interrogate; His Parents Dodgevv. 13 to 23
Read vv. 13 to 23 →C.One Thing I Know: I Was Blind, Now I Seevv. 24 to 34
Read vv. 24 to 34 →D.Jesus Finds Him; the Seeing Are Made Blindvv. 35 to 41
Read vv. 35 to 41 →
The world behind this chapter
John 9The history
Blindness meant begging. There was no work a blind man could do in that economy and no provision beyond family and alms, so a blind adult sat at a gate or a busy corner for life. The disciples' opening question — who sinned, this man or his parents — reflects a common assumption that a specific affliction traced back to a specific sin, an assumption the book of Job had already fought.
Making mud was a legal problem. Kneading is one of the thirty-nine categories of work forbidden on the Sabbath, and mixing spittle with dust to form clay fell under it in the strict reading. Jesus did not have to do it that way, which is part of why John records that he did.
The pool of Siloam is at the bottom of the city, fed by Hezekiah's tunnel, which carried water from the Gihon spring under the ridge — a tunnel you can still walk, with the workmen's own inscription describing the moment the two digging teams met. The pool itself, a large stepped basin, was uncovered in 2004 during drainage work. So the man walked downhill through the city, blind, with mud on his eyes, in front of everyone.
The threat that hangs over the chapter is exclusion from the synagogue, and it was devastating. The synagogue was the school, the court, the welfare office, and the social centre of a Jewish community; being put out of it cut a family off from work, marriage, and burial. His parents' careful non-answer — he is of age, ask him — is a portrait of fear.
What it meant to them
The man's testimony gets simpler as the pressure increases, until it reaches the line the whole chapter is built on: one thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see. He wins the argument by refusing to argue.
For readers who had been expelled themselves, this chapter was their own story with a hopeful ending. He is thrown out — and Jesus goes and finds him. The last exchange turns the theme around: it is those who insist they see who are left in the dark.
Sources cited
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament
- The Siloam Tunnel inscription (Hezekiah's tunnel, Jerusalem)
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on John 9. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.