AROUND THE SEA OF GALILEE

 

Apart from several journeys, Jesus’ entire activity before his final departure for Jerusalem was concentrated around the Sea of Galilee (Matthew 15:29; Mark 1:16, 6:31), also called Lake Gennesaret (Luke 5:1) and Lake Tiberias (John 6:1, 21:1), and usually just “the sea” in the Gospels. Gennesaret seems to be an earlier name, for it replaces the biblical “Sea of Chinnereth” (Numbers 34:11), because the city of Gennesaret was located on the site of Chinnereth (Tell Ureime). “Sea of Tiberias” is clearly posterior to the foundation of that city in A.D. 18-19. The first Apostles were fishermen; sometimes Jesus taught while standing in a boat, with the crowds listening on the shore. The Sermon on the Mount was delivered according to tradition near Capernaum (Matthew 8:1, 8:5); the site is said to be located on the height just behind Capernaum. Only occasionally did Jesus upbraid the cities that refused to repent — “Woe to you Chorazin, woe to you Bethsaida, Capernaum shall be brought down to Hades” — (Matthew 11:21-23; Luke 10:13-15).

On the Sea of Galilee there are frequent storms. During one such storm, Jesus slept while sailing across to the Gadarenes (Mark 5:35-41; Matthew 8:23-27; Luke 8:22-24) and upon his awakening the sea was suddenly becalmed. The location of the incident of the “Gadarene swine” has been much disputed (the usual version “Gerasene” is quite impossible, for there was no territory of Gerasa on the lake shore); the two‘ possibilities are “Gergasene” —  pointing to Gergasa (Kursi) on the eastern shore of the lake in the territory of Hippus  — and “Gadarene”; Gadara might have possessed a stretch of the shore that lay between the river Jordan and Kefar-semah. The shore there is steep; thus the plunging of the herd of swine into the waters of the lake is plausible. The inhabitants of Gadara, being Gentiles, did not share Jewish scruples regarding the raising of swine. In any event, the name Gergasa appears in an ancient Jewish source as the name of a village east of the Jordan river and is thus evidence that a village by this name existed. In the sixth century a large monastery was founded in the area.

Other events recorded in the Gospels pertaining to the Sea of Galilee and its surrounding are the Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes at a lonely spot near the town of Bethsaida, the story of Jesus’ walking on the water, and Peter’s attempt to follow his example (Mark 6:45-51; Matthew 15:22-23; and John 6:15-21). Other journeys of Jesus include a visit to “Magadan” — “Dalmanutha,” in Mark (Mark 8:10); in both cases we should read Magdala, the most important townlet on the sea shore after Tiberias, and famous for its fishcuring industry. This locality was the home of Mary Magdalene, who followed Jesus to Jerusalem; she was one of a group of women “who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities who provided for him out of their means” (Luke 8:23).

 

September 4, 2020

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