How did the blind man make his way to the pool of Siloam? The Word says he returned sighted after washing in the pool.

Question

John 9 has the blind man ‘going to wash in the pool of Siloam.’ How did get get there? The Word says he returned sighted only after washing in the pool.

Answer 1

John 9:1 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

How did this blind man get to this spot in the first place?

Acts 3:2 may provide a clue:

And a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those entering the temple courts.

How did the blind man make his way to the pool of Siloam?

Perhaps his friends, perhaps some strangers helped him along.

Answer 2

The only record for a blind person using help in the first century was evidence of a seeing eye dog.

But when exactly man’s best friend became an aide to people with disabilities and other challenges remains a mystery. The earliest evidence of such partnerships—a fresco in which a blind man is led by his dog, discovered amid the ruins of the ancient Roman city Herculaneum—dates back to the first century A.D. European wood carvings and Chinese scroll paintings from the Middle Ages depict similar scenes. -- https://www.history.com/news/assistance-dogs-learning-new-tricks-for-centuries

There is no evidence that the blind man in John 9 had a seeing eye dog, but it does show things the blind used to walk did exist in the first century. Using white canes to identify blind are only a few centuries old, but feeling with canes, sticks, and even feet may well have been in use in the first century.