Why Spit and Clay?
A Bible Study on John 9:6-7
John's depth never ceases to amaze me. There is so much intentionality that we should never stop asking, “Why?” For example, why did he tell this story? Why did he place it here? Why did he recall that detail? What is he trying to say? Today, we’ll look at a quick 2 verses from John 9, regarding the healing of the blind man.
6 When He had said this, He spat on the ground, made clay of the saliva, and rubbed the clay on his eyes,
7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went away and washed, and came back seeing.
Is this just a weird story, or is there more to it that the original readers may have understood or known? Clearly, it’s the latter. Therefore, I want to examine a few details in these verses that I believe help our understanding and growth. First, let's focus on the making of the clay. To understand the use of rubbing dirt or clay in the eyes of the blind man, we need to ask what John’s overall message to his readers is. John’s audience is Christians, but it is not a specific sect of Christians. Meaning, there are those of Jewish roots, Roman citizens, and Gentiles. When he writes, he does so in a way that references both the prophets of the Old Testament and the secular world of wisdom and logic around him. Even the opening phrase of John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” is a reference to both the creation of everything in Genesis 1:3 as well as personalizing the Greek philosophical concept of divine reason and wisdom as something rational and interactive with the world.
John, in talking to his audience, is then addressing two concerns. He is engaging with proto-Gnostics and early heresies that range from the denial of Christ’s physical body, the necessity to reject materialism, including the body, the divinity of Christ, and salvation through secret knowledge. Thus, John tends to highlight Christ’s humanity, his restoration of body, public speaking, and explicit path to salvation, and the divinity of Christ as the eternal creator. And, second, John is reassuring the faith of Christians. But in this section of verses, it is noted that John is highlighting Christ’s work of creation by relating it to the creation of man. As man was created from dirt, so will Jesus fabricate new eyes for the blind man out of dirt. This simple act is best understood as a parallel of creation and recreation through Christ alone as the work of God.
Why, then, did Jesus spit on the ground? While many tend to correlate the action of spitting to disdain or contempt, the context doesn’t necessarily fit. Yes, we could say that Jesus despises the corruption of his creation and the need to fix the blindness of this man, it doesn’t fit the context like other uses of the action of spitting. Instead, we see that in the Greco-Roman world, there is a link between spit and healing properties.[1] It would not be from any individual who spits that can cause healing, but rather that of great nobility or divinity.[2] It’s as if there is a transference of power that enables the body to correct whatever ails it. Therefore, Jesus’ actions relate back to the Greco-Roman world of His greatness. His greatness relates to John’s claims that Jesus is the divine creator of the world. Though Christ could just heal the man with a simple word, instead, He reveals His person and nature through this action to a larger audience.
Last object or subject, we look at the pool of Siloam. The first thing I want to highlight is the connection with the Festival of Booths, as this event is still occurring in relation to the festival. There, the Pool of Siloam is where the water is taken for this festival and considered sacred.[3] It bookends the beginning of the festival with the statement of living water (John 7:37-38) to the end of the festival, in which Jesus' use of this festival water is highlighted. Additionally, the pool, while man-made, collects from an unknown spring, which is living water. All of this connects to concepts of baptisms, healing properties of water, and most importantly, the coming salvation of the blind man as he progresses through the chapter in understanding who Jesus is.
The last purpose I want to highlight about Siloam, which has the scribal note that is translated as “Sent.” This could be for the purpose of the Greek readers to know what it means, but it appears to serves a purpose. As John Barry writes, “As the prescribed action was purely symbolical in its design, so in connection with it the Evangelist notices the symbolical name of the pool as in this case bearing testimony to him who was sent to do what it only symbolized.”[4] Many then rightly note that there was an act of faith and obedience in the work of this miracle. The man did not simply see from the mud on his eyes, but had to obey the will of Christ and wash it off before he saw. Thus, he was sent to accomplish the task.
Overall, though we don’t review all the verses here the entire narrative that takes place at the Festival of Booths (minus the Adulteress as that was most likely a later addition to John’s gospel and doesn’t contribute to the narrative), is to distinctly, more than in the other events, putting Jesus as the primary focus of creative powers in the first creation and the second creation. Regarding the blind man, John is connecting the cure of both body and soul to Jesus, who is the Light of the world and is sent by God the Father to open blind eyes.[5]
How, then, does this help our understanding and growth? First, as the early church benefited from this knowledge, so can we. We may not always know how or why, but often, it works in the field of apologetics, defending our faith from misconceptions. Second, it is one thing to say that Jesus is God, but another to see how He has performed actions that challenge our conceptions and beliefs and rewrite them. It also highlights that there is nothing by chance, but everything is intentional. It is intentional in how Jesus works. It is intentional in how John writes. It is intentional in how we study and examine. Continue to dig deep, not for secret knowledge, but to get the fullest of the divine revelation.
Semper Reformanda.
[1] John D. Barry et al., Faithlife Study Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016), Jn 9:6.
[2] Prioreschi, Plinio, A History of Medicine. Vol VIII-Roman Medicine, (Omaha, NE: Horatius Press, 1998), 728.
[3] Barclay Moon Newman and Eugene Albert Nida, A Handbook on the Gospel of John, UBS Handbook Series (New York: United Bible Societies, 1993), 301.
[4] Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, vol. 2 (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 145.
[5] Marvin Richardson Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament, vol. 2 (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1887), 183–184.