The Book of Enoch tells us that his responsibilities include healing the diseases and wounds of men. But those incidents John did record, he usually follows up with the greater and deeper meaning behind the incident. It was the earliest public artwork by a woman in New York City and the only sculpture sanctioned as part of the early design and construction phase of Central Park. During the same period, only one Greek manuscript does have this explanation. ( Log Out /  Matthew 21:42, 153 The spirit of the Antichrist. Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com. I first learned of it from the play "Angels in America," as seen in the HBO version. The book would not be published until the 20th century. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. American Antiquarian Society and Barre Publishers, 1972 - Medical - 384 pages. He has no one to assist him to enter the water after it had been stirred – and every time someone else goes into the bath before him. A 2m tall sculpture of an Angel, based on the painting "Pool of Bethsesda" by Robert Bateman. The Pool of Bethesda was used in ancient times to provide water for the temple. Raphael works with the healing angels and Mary, Queen of Angels, to heal diseases of body, mind and soul. We examine the reasons for differences between the KJV and NIV, View all posts by Herman of bibledifferences.net, 157 Preaching to the Spirits in Prison. That people eagerly would like to know who and how the water got stirred, is understandable. It does not resemble words copied from a written account, but rather of some explanation overheard, and noted from memory. It was cast in Munich and officially dedicated on May 31, 1873. Answer: "Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches.In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. Even the revised Vulgate by Wordsworth and White (1898) removed this explanation from the earlier Vulgate by Jerome. The name Bethesda occurs only once in the Bible. The pool of Bethesda was said to have a special power to heal the sick. After 800 A.D. it is more common. Mail It was the name of a pool near the Sheep Gate of Jerusalem, upon which an angel of the Lord periodically descended and stirred the water ().When that happened, the first person to plunge into the pool would be … The Pool had five porches and according to the Bible there was a tradition that an angel moved the waters at certain times and healed the sick. According to archaeological excavations, this pool, from time to time, received water from the brook Kidron. The fountain, with its Angel of the Waters statue, is located in the center of the terrace. The Angel at Bethesda, John 5:4. My avatar is this angel. Five more Church Fathers do mention the reason for the water to be stirred in their writings. Of cource these could be quotations from the Version he had at hand, but could just as well be his own personal explanation. Services . Let us look at the King James Version where I highlighted the words not found in modern Versions like the NIV: John 5:3-5: “In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. The angel of Bethesda by Cotton Mather, 1972, American Antiquarian Society and Barre Publishers edition, in English It is obvious that this incident focuses on the fact that Jesus heals in the same way and with the same authority as the Father. The challenge before us is to discern whether the explanation of the Angel coming down to stir the water at the bath of Bethesda had originally been written by John, or whether someone else had added it at a later stage. Sometime during the Hasmonean Period, an additional pool was added to the original one. 1. (37, 39, 46). The Angel of the Waters statue atop the Bethesda Fountain is the masterpiece of sculptor Emma Stebbins. The Bethesda Pool, where Jesus heals the paralytic man in the Gospel of John, is a complex site. ( Log Out /  The intrinsic matter also calls for excluding this explanation. Internal Criteria, (Concerning what scribes would normally do) The name of the pool, “Bethesda,” is Aramaic. (John 5:4). Change ). For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. The eight oldest Greek manuscripts up to 500 A.D. do not have this elaboration, two of them less than 100 years after the Gospel had been written. The angel of Bethesda, visiting the invalids of a miserable world [Seven lines of quotations] / By a Fellow of the Royal Society. Up to the year 800 A.D it is found in three more Greek manuscripts (one ±550 and two ±750). Bethesda Fountain rises high above Bethesda Terrace, looking over the hundreds of visitors that come every day to enjoy the view of the Lake and relax at the “heart” of the Central Park. Edition Notes Includes bibliographical references. To evaluate the manuscript evidence, we use three objective scientific criteria. It is more possible that the water got stirred by natural means. Jones, Gordon, ed. Healing by a single spoken word, especially without anybody or anything else is at the core. The text blamed afflicted individuals for their own sickness. This edition was published in 1972 by American Antiquarian Society and Barre Publishers in Barre, Mass. It rather points to a note written from memory in different personal copies of John. (Vs.7). It appears to have been a mikveh, or ritual bath.As the spot of one of Jesus’ miracles, the Bethesda Pool was built over in subsequent periods with chapels and churches that are still visible today. (1972) "Cotton Mather's 'The Angel of Bethesda: An Essay Upon the Common Maladies of Mankind.'" Though this document had been rejected from the beginning by prominent Christian leaders, many of its deviations found their way into some later manuscripts. It also endorsed the use of repentance and traditional folk medicine as treatment for mental illness. Intrinsic Criteria. The existence of six different versions of this clause, each with several variations, is important. (Oil on canvas) Cotton Mather’s medical manual, The Angel of Bethesda, takes it name from the story in the Gospel of John about a pool of miraculous and curative waters in Jerusalem where the sick went to be healed. ( Log Out /  The mention of the “Upper Pool” in 2 Kings 18:17 may be a reference to the Pool of Bethesda. The external evidence calls for the exclusion of this elaboration as not being originally written by John. For a scribe to leave out words that had been in his source manuscript, there had to be obvious reasons. The internal evidence also calls for not accepting this explanation as authentic to the original. 31 Mather, The Angel of Bethesda, 1. In verse 7 the invalid mentions his dilemma. The clause in question directs the attention to something on the periphery and not the centre. ( Log Out /  Navigate; Linked Data; Dashboard; Tools / Extras; Stats; Share . People in Jesus’ time believed that an angel would sometimes trouble the water there and whoever jumped into the water first would be healed of any disease they had (John 5:3-4). In John 21:25 John writes: “Jesus did many other things as well” that John did not mention. At the end of the play, we learn that the Bethesda Fountain in Central Park was inspired by another Bethesda Fountain, in Jerusalem. It was here at the Pool of Bethesda that Jesus healed the man who was lame for thirty-eight years. The text blamed afflicted individuals for their own sickness. The water source was a nearby spring. The explanation of the stirring of the water plays no role in the understanding of the miracle or of the rest of the chapter. This article is within the scope of WikiProject Books.To participate in the project, please visit its page, where you can join the project and discuss matters related to book articles.To use this banner, please refer to the documentation.To improve this article, please refer to the relevant guideline for the type of work. 3. The sculpture that tops it, Angel of the Waters, was designed by Emma Stebbins in 1873 and is one of the most recognizable icons in the entire park. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. Such a personal copy could later serve as the source for a next copy to be made. The angel of Bethesda, visiting the invalids of a miserable world [Seven lines of quotations] Mather, Cotton, 1663-1728., Winthrop, John, 1681-1747. We have to assume that where it is lacking, it had not been part of the source copy for this manuscript. But the stirring of the water does not play any role in the rest of the chapter, nor is it even mentioned. Bethesda (house of mercy, or the flowing water), the Hebrew name of a reservoir or tank, with five "porches," close upon the sheep-gate or "market" in Jerusalem. This book contains Cotton Mather's writings on medicine, who saw illness in a spiritual context and provided a combination of … The Pool of Bethesda (1645) by Joost Cornelisz Droochsloot. Since the last part of verse 3 and the whole of verse 4 are present or absent in almost the exact same manuscripts, I give the evidence on verse 4 only: Apart from the manuscripts mentioned in the table above, four more Uncials, two Minuscules as well as a Syriac translation do have verse 4, but with clear indication that its authenticity is in doubt. It is possible that an angel went directly before God to stir the water. Mather never served an apprenticeship but he had read medicine voraciously and widely, and his own medical book, The Angel of Bethesda, shows an extraordinary acquaintance with the medical teachings of his time. He was deeply religious and all his medical concepts had a religious orientation. 1. It explains many illnesses in a spiritual context, attributing illnesses to demonic and divine sources. And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.”. The book would not be published until the 20th century. It explains many illnesses in a spiritual context, attributing illnesses to demonic and divine sources. for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the waters stepped in was made whole, with whatsoever disease he was holden. The invalid gives no explanation on how or by whom the water got stirred. Boston University Libraries. In this instance it is the same. The rest of the chapter is devoted to different aspects concerning the deity of Jesus as Son of God; He is Lord of the Sabbath (10, 18), He is one with the Father (20), He provides salvation (24), He has the final authority to judge (27), and the Father, Scripture and even Moses testify concerning Jesus. According to legend, the angel Bethesda blessed the fountain, so that all sick people could bathe there and cure their afflictions. Bethesda Terrace and Fountain are two architectural features overlooking the southern shore of the Lake in New York City's Central Park. These views became defunct with the arrival of the Enlightenment period. It means “House of Mercy.” Published from the manuscript of the American Antiquarian Society. The oldest Church Father to include the explanation is Tatian in his Diatessaron, a document containing many additions or omissions of words and clauses as well as rearrangements at Tatian’s own will. 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