The application of the clay was not enough. Jesus further said: Ὕπαγε … ἀπεσταλμένος. Elsner shows that “wash into,” νίψαι εἰς, is not an uncommon construction. But John 9:11, which gives the same command in a different form, shows that the man understood that εἰς followed ὕπαγε and not νίψαι, The pool of Siloam, supplied from the Virgin's fountain (Isaiah 8:6), lay at the south-east corner of Jerusalem in the Kidron Valley. On the opposite side of the valley lies a village Silwan representing the old name. The name is here interpreted as meaning “Sent” [שָׁלוּחַ, missus; not שִׁילוֹחַ, missio sc. aquarum, Meyer]. The word ἀπεσταλμένος is so frequently used by Jesus of Himself that, notwithstanding what Meyer says, we naturally apply it here also to Himself, as if the noiseless Stream which their fathers had despised (Isaiah 7:6) and which they could trace to its source, was a fit type of Him whom the Jews rejected because they knew His origin and because he had no external force. His influence consisted in this, that He was ἀπεσταλμένος. The blind man obeyed and received his sight. Cf. Elisha and Naaman. From the succeeding γείτονες several interpreters conclude that ἦλθε means “came” home. Needlessly.

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Old Testament