John 9 - NIV LifeConnect Study Bible

9:2 The rabbis taught, based on Exodus 34:7, that if a person suffered from a physical ailment from birth this must have been (1) because the individual’s parents or grandparents had committed some sin or (2) because the sick person had sinned before birth.

9:7 The Pool of Siloam, a rock-cut pool on the southern end of the main ridge on which Jerusalem was built, served as part of the major water system developed by King Hezekiah (see the note on Ne 2:14). This pool is still in existence today.

9:22 Excommunication was reported as early as the time of Ezra (Ezr 10:8), but there is practically no information about the way it was practiced in New Testament times. The synagogue was the center of Jewish community life (see the notes on Mk 1:21 and Lk 21:12), so excommunication cut a person off from many social relationships (though, in some forms, at least in later times, not from worship).

9:34 “Threw him out” may mean “excommunicated him” (see the note on v. 22).

9:40 The Pharisees found it incredible that anyone would consider them spiritually blind (see the notes on Mt 3:7; Lk 5:17).