Barry Britnell from Athens, Alabama is a deacon at Capshaw church of Christ. He leads Bible Study tours to Israel and blogs to his website ExploringBibleLands.com.

Most of the time, archaeological excavations are planned out to the finest detail. Time is of the essence and wasted time means wasted money. But, sometimes excavations and archaeological finds are accidental. This is especially true if you begin to move any dirt in and around the Old City of Jerusalem. Rarely does a shovel get inserted into the ground without revealing a treasured part of our past. Often, even these accidental excavations can reveal some very important things. This is how archaeologists found the Pool of Siloam.

As the Assyrians continued their campaign against the southern kingdom of Judah, King Hezekiah made preparations in and around the capital city. He built a wall around the Western Hill to protect the refugees from the fallen northern kingdom. He also redirected the water from the Gihon Spring. Until then, the water from the spring flowed into the Kidron Valley. Hezekiah, not wanting the Assyrians to have access to the water, arranged for a tunnel to be dug through the Eastern Hill and the water pooled up inside the newly constructed wall. Centuries passed and that water eventually drained into the Pool of Siloam.

eginning in A.D. 70, and continuing for centuries, Jerusalem was destroyed and rebuilt a number of times. The Pool of Siloam was eventually covered with dirt and debris. In the 5th century, the Byzantines remodeled a pool of water near the southern end of the ancient city. Their assumption was this collection of water was the remains of the ancient Pool of Siloam. This assumption continued until very recently.

In 2004, while clearing some land for work on a sewage pipe, backhoe operators heard a sound they had heard many times while digging around Jerusalem. It was the sound of their machine hitting paved stone. Quickly, the operators stopped their work and experts were brought in. Over the next several weeks, archaeologists patiently removed dirt bucket by bucket. They eventually uncovered the northern end of a large, three-tiered, first century pool. They had located the real Pool of Siloam.

Currently, only about 20% of the pool is visible to visitors. The remaining portion of the pool lies underneath several feet of dirt on private property. While previous attempts to gain access to the land have been unsuccessful, I have recently heard that there might be a door opening to the possibility.

For Christians, our knowledge of the Pool of Siloam comes from the wonderful story in John 9. Jesus encounters a blind man and, after putting mud in his eyes, instructs him to go and wash in the Pool of Siloam. The man leaves the pool with his sight restored, praising the name of a man called Jesus.

Whether planned or accidental, we should be thankful for the archaeologists who help illuminate the Biblical narrative for us by digging up pieces of the past.