Galilee: Tuesday 3/31

Our first stop today was at Capernaum, which was the place Jesus had moved into from Nazareth. Here, they had built all the buildings out of basalt, which is a black volcanic rock. They think they know where Peter’s house is, but if it was then Peter would have been a very wealthy fisherman, which was not likely at all. There was also a synagogue that was built during the Byzantine period, but the foundation of it is a basalt foundation, which is not the same as the synagogue standing there today, which means that the synagogue there today might be built on top of the one that was there during the time of Jesus. Jesus cast a demon out of a man in the synagogue here, and Jesus, in the gospels is said to have taught with authority here. We also read in Capernaum the account of Jesus walking on the water and feeding the five thousand. When Jesus fed the five thousand it was symbolic of His death because He was giving life to them all through the bread He gave them. When He walked on the water the disciples think He is a ghost, and the only other time they think He is a ghost is when He appears to them after the resurrection, which means that this incident is a foreshadowing of His resurrection. This was also the city where the centurion’s servant was and Jesus was amazed at the centurion’s faith.

We then went to the Hill of the Beatitudes where Jesus could have given the Sermon on the Mount. We see that in the first twelve verses of Matthew 5 that we might be looked down upon for associating with Jesus, which goes to show that being a follower of Him is not easy but it will be rewarded. The Sermon on the Mount proves that Jesus is the new Moses because He interprets the Torah. This is the new Mount Sinai, and the crowd recognized His authority.

From there we walked down to Tabgha which could have been where Jesus called His disciples. In Matthew 4 when He calls them we have to keep in mind that Jesus had known them previous to this encounter. Then before Jesus ascends to heaven seven of the disciples are in this area fishing and Jesus fills their nets with fish, and as they get to shore Jesus asks Peter if he love Him. This question is to remind Peter of his denial of Jesus on the eve of His crucifixion. Peter is a lot more humble in his answer; he has changed a lot since then. Peter knows that he cannot love Jesus on his own that is why he says it is Jesus who knows what is in the heart.

We then drove to Nof Ginosar, or in biblical terms Gennesaret. This is where the ‘Jesus boat’ is. It is a first century boat that was discovered in the mud. They can determine the date of the ship by its design and also some pottery that was found next to it.

Our last sightseeing stop was at what people claim to be Bethsaida. The reason why it could not be is because they have only found Iron Age buildings here. During the Old Testament times this would have been in the land of Gesher. The Gesherites were not pushed out of the land when Israel came in from the wilderness. Later on David married a Gesherite princess who was the mother of Absalom, and after Absalom murdered Amnon. Anyway, the New Testament town of Bethsaida would be nearby because it is said to be along the Jordan River as this city is. This was made a city by the Roman government which would mean that archeologists would have found capitals from pillars or other things that Roman cities would have. This is also a reason why the city we went to could not be the New Testament Bethsaida. The only miracle performed here is a blind man being healed, which is found in Mark 8:22-26.