Reading the Gospels Through Hebrew Eyes: The Old Testament Background of John 9

In this video, Chad Bird takes a look at Jesus' healing of the man born blind (John 9:1-41). He explains the various Old Testament themes that surface in this story--everything from creation, to messianic signs, to idolatry, to the implicit warning that accompanies the use of the Pool of Siloam.

[EdDoss]

Love your lessons. It would be helpful to show scripture references as you speak. Thanks for teaching.

[chadbird]

Notes on John 9
4th Sunday in Lent (Series C)

Context:
--Jesus has just claimed to be the great I Am (8:58), the one who preceded even Abraham. This happened in the temple (8:59). Jesus thus claims to be the very God in whose temple he was now teaching. In this temple, he was opposed by the very people who should have recognized him, but in their blind unbelief they refused.
--In the previous chapter, Jesus also testified that he is the light of the world (8:12).


Creation themes permeate this chapter:
--Christ is the Light of the world (Gen 1:3)
--By dirt man was made, and by dirt mixed with saliva, this man’s eyes are remade
--“From the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind, ” (9:32).
--Restoring Sight: the restoration of sight to the blind is a common act of the Messiah in the Old Testament (Isa 29:18; 35:5; 42:7). Giving sight to the blind and blinding those who see are also both common OT themes (Ps. 146:8; Isa 6:10; Jer 5:21) and ref. cited above).
--In the background of the contrast between blindness and seeing is the pervasive Old Testament theme of idolatry. Those who are spiritually blind resembled the idols which they worshipped, who had eyes but could not see, ears but could not hear, etc.


Pool of Siloam (aka Shiloah; Isa 8:6). The aside in John 9:7, “which is translated, Sent, ” is in reference to the verbal root of Shiloah (shalach, “send”). It’s possible that there’s an echo here of the “Sent One, ” the Shaliach of the LORD.
--We see a prophetic parallel in Elisha sending Naaman to wash in the Jordan to be cleansed of his leprosy (2 Kings 5).
--Isa 8:6, “The LORD spoke to me again: “Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over Rezin and the son of Remaliah, therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the River, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks, and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck, and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.”
--The Isaiah reference is in the context of impending judgment upon Judah during the days of the rebellious king, Ahaz, who refused to trust in the LORD (Isa 7). Isaiah delivered the Lord’s word to Ahaz at “the upper pool” (7:3), probably a reference to Siloam/Shiloah. The threat in 8:6 might be summarized thus: Because you, O Ahaz, refused to trust in the waters which I, the LORD, give you at Jerusalem in the “waters of Shiloah that flow gently, ” trusting instead in other leaders and their gods, I will bring upon you a destructive Assyrian flood.
--Bear in mind, too, that Isaiah 8 is in the section known as the Book of Emmanuel, where prophesies of the coming Son of David are prominent.
--All this to say that Jesus, in having this blind man wash in the Pool of Siloam, was engaging in a prophetic action whose import was thus: “I have come as the LORD himself to bring judgment upon the world (John 9:39), giving sight to the blind and blindness to the seeing. At the same time, since you do not receive my word, you will be subject to another destructive flood that will come upon you, as did Assyria of old.


Sabbath Healings: the implicit message in Jesus’ Sabbath healing is the breaking-in of the new creation. Each of them presages the new-creation resurrection which Jesus will inaugurate after his Sabbath rest in the tomb.
--Jesus “broke” the Sabbath according to Jewish tradition in (1) not waiting until the day after the Sabbath to heal him and (2) kneading the dirt and saliva together, since the parallel act of kneading [dough] was prohibited