Part 3 - The Galilee

March 17 - We drove to the mystical city of Safed, one of the four holiest cities of Judaism, and spent three nights.  It lies about 10 miles north of the Sea of Galilee, at the top of a barren hill.  There are Hasidic Jews everywhere.  The men wear their forelocks long below the ears, a black wide-brimmed hat, black pants, and a long black coat.  A high percentage of non-orthodox men wear the Kippah, or prayer cap.

The Galilee is lush and green this time of year.  It is gently rolling land, for the most part, with an escarpment that falls to the Sea of Galilee.  The Sea of Galilee lies 680' below sea level, and it would remind you of a bowl of water that is half filled.  There is an escarpment around three sides that reaches down to the water.  The sea is about 13 miles long and 8 miles wide.  One can easily see to the far side and clear around the lake from almost any vantage point.  Boats on the lake are quite visible.  

We are given a description of the HaGalil, as it is known in Hebrew, in Josephus' Wars of the Jews.  We learn that it was a very fruitful land, and densely populated.  "These two Galilees, of so great largeness, and encompassed with so many nations of foreigners, .............. their soil is universally rich and fruitful, and full of the plantations of trees of all sorts, insomuch that it invites the most slothful to take pains in its cultivation, by its fruitfulness; accordingly, it is all cultivated by its inhabitants, and no part of it lies idle.  Moreover, the cities lie very thick, and the many villages here are everywhere so full of people, by the richness of their soil, that the very least of them contain above fifteen thousand inhabitants."

I

Capernaum

Mark 1:21  "And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught. And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes. And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, saying ..... And Jesus rebuked him, saying, hold thy peace, and come out of him.  And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a a loud voice, he came out of him......  And immediately his fame spread abroad throughout all the region around Galilee."

Matthew 4:12.  "And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea .......... And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.  Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” They immediately left their nets and followed Him.  Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him."

This picture shows where Jesus ( probably) gave the Sermon on the Mount.  Capernaum is on the left.

The second or third century synagogue at Capernaum.  It was the same place as Jesus taught, but later in time.

Chorazin

Luke 10:13   “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.  But it will be more bearable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.  And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hell."

A second century synagogue has been excavated in Chorazin.   One of the fascinating artifacts is a "Seat of Moses" with an Aramaic inscription honoring a donor to the synagogue. Jesus said, "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach" (Matthew 23:2-3).  In the Catholic Church, Mose's seat become the cathedra, or bishop's throne. 

The Seat of Moses at the synagogue of Chorazin

Chorazim was built on a spur in a ravine a couple of miles up from the Sea of Galilee.  It was easy to imagine Jesus winding his way up this ravine from Capernaum.

Caesarea Philippi

Matthew 16:13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”  So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”  He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”  Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.   And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it."

The cave in the picture below had a deep chasm at the back, and an underground spring that went down hundreds of feet.  It was believed that the gods of the underworld dwelt down there, and so they tossed sacrifices into the chasm.  If they didn't see it again, they believed it had been accepted.  If, on the other hand, the water downstream ran red, then it had not been accepted.  This chasm was known as "the gates of hell."

The palace of Herod Phillip II.  The town synagogue lie behind the palace, with a capped column.

Bethsaida

Luke 9:10:   "And he took them, and went aside privately into a desert place belonging to a city called Bethsaida. And the people, when they knew it, followed him............   For they were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, make them sit down by fifties in a company. And they did so, and made them all sit down. And he took the five loaves and the two fishes, he blessed them, and break, and gave to the disciples before the multitude and they did eat and were all filled."

Mark 8:22  "And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him.  And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought.  And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking.  After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.  And he sent him away to his house, saying, Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town."

The city gate of Bethsaida

The interior courtyard and city gates of Bethsaida.