“An Infirmity Thirty and Eight Years”

Near the temple at Jerusalem there was a pool with five porches that was called Bethesda. The porches were shaded by covered colonnades and accommodated “a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, [and] withered” (John 5:3).

[15] A tradition of the day claimed that the waters in the pool possessed curative powers. Specifically, the tradition stated that an unseen angel went to the pool at certain times and stirred the water. The invalid that was first to enter the water after it was moved by the angel would be healed of whatever malady he suffered (see John 5:4).