But he who was healed didn't know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a crowd being in the place.
      2. How it was called: It was a pool (a pond or bath), which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda--the house of mercy; for therein appeared much of the mercy of God to the sick and diseased. In a world of so much misery as this is, it is well that there are some Bethesdas--houses of mercy (remedies against those maladies), that the scene is not all melancholy. An alms-house, so Dr. Hammond. Dr. Lightfoot's conjecture is that this was the upper pool (Isaiah 7:3), and the old pool,Isaiah 22:11; that it had been used for washing from ceremonial pollutions, for convenience of which the porches were built to dress and undress in, but it was lately become medicinal.