(iv) The present writer is familiar with these waters in both storm and calm. Josephus names it as marking the eastern limit of Peraea (BJ, III, iii, 3). According to Luke 3:23, Jesus was about thirty years old (quite old in those days) when he began his ministry. open map. Some of these sites, such as Capernaum, have a continuous and uninterrupted place in the history of Christian pilgrimage, beginning as far back as the first centuries of our era. The warm water from copious springs runs into a little bay of the sea in which fishes congregate in great numbers. It is as if this chamber (which once had a tower) was built to protect or preserve the boulder. So, Matthew is aware that on the face of it Marks account doesnt work. , Glenn F. Chesnut, Eusebius of Caesarea (Person), ed. Gerasa, one of the cities of Decapolis and the capital of the country of the Gerasenes, lay around 37 miles/60 kilometres away from the Sea of Galilee in what is today the city of Jerash in Jordan.3The country of the Gerasenes did not reach the Sea of Galilee (an important point that we'll get to in a bit). In the middle of the eighth century, probably as a result of the disastrous earthquake of 746/747, the monastery was destroyed. Pilgrimage was cut off and with it a major source of income. Byzantine Christian monks venerated a site situated a few kilometres north of Hippos on the lake shore, as the location of the miracle. All three Synoptic Gospels mention this miracle, Matthew writes about two possessed men instead of just one, and only some manuscripts of his Gospel name the location as Gergesa, while the other copies, as well as all versions of Luke and Mark, mention either Gadara or Gerasa (see Mark 5:1-20, Luke 8:26-39, Matthew 8:28-34). The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah Alfred Edersheim. The site became apparently known since at least the Early Muslim period as Kursya,[2] the Aramaic word for "chair", and later as Kursi, a word with the same meaning in Arabic,[3] The monks built a walled monastic complex there and made it a destination for Christian pilgrims. he first invaded Palestine (Polyb. On the shore, fully 2 miles from the Jordan, are the ruins of Tell Chum. The demons inside the man beg to be allowed to enter a nearby herd of swine, numbering about 2,000 according to Mark. William of Tyre calls the city Jarras, and places it 16 miles East of Jordan (Hist, xii, 16). Tiberias: 32.795858: 35.530975: Capernaum: 32.88033: 35.573307: Distance: 10.19 km: So, all a layman like me who wants to avoid exegeting the english can do is trust good scholarship: Its comforting to know that Luz translates it But far off from them a large herd of pigs was feeding.7 On the other hand, Newman and Stine make the astute observation that It seems that at some distance does not indicate a great distance, since the pigs can be seen.8. App., 11).)2. It is therefore significant that only the Fourth Gospel speaks of "Bethsaida of Galilee. It had begun to be named from the city so recently built on its western shore even in New Testament times (John 21:1; John 6:1); and by this name, slightly modified, it is known to this day-Bachr Tabariyeh.2. Cloudflare Ray ID: 7a1615141b8e2bf0 Only about 60 percent have survived, but this is enough to attest that the mosaics in the church at Kursi exemplified mosaic art in its finest tradition. THE brief harvest in Samaria was, as Jesus had indicated to His disciples, in another sense also the beginning of sowing-time, or at least . The total distance between Galilee and Capernaum is 5131 KM (kilometers) and 307.05 meters. As in the case of the other Bethsaida, no name has been recovered to guide us to the site. "One may call this place the ambition of nature;. Fragments of an elaborate border, however, remain intact. It was besieged by Baldwin II, in 1121 A.D. All three of these New Testament variants have solid textual support. Gergesenes means "those who come from pilgrimage or fight.". (ii) The Bethsaida of medieval writers was evidently on the West of the Jordan. The church itself is, of course, the most impressive structure in the monastery compound. 6.211. Settlers in the valley thereafter confined themselves to the area immediately on the shore. "Jesus of Nazareth" was born in Bethlehem. Matthew 15:29 Jesus departed there, and came near to the sea of Galilee; and he went up into the mountain, and sat there. , Ludwig Koehler et al., The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (Leiden: E.J. If it lay on the East it is inconceivable that none of them should have mentioned the river in this connection. Today, it is identified with El-Koursi or Kursi. distance from capernaum to gerasenes. The northern one, called the prothesis, housed the offerings of the faithful; the southern one, called the diaconicon, provided storage space for the sacred vessels and the vestments of the clergy. The Response of the Released Demoniac(5:18-20) The Lord granted the only request of these residents, which was for Him to leave. The monastery compound lies at the foot of a hill, on a plain by the Sea of Galilee. The ruins include those of two theaters, a basilica, a temple, and many important buildings, telling of a once great and splendid city. John, writing after 84 A.D., would hardly have used the phrase "Bethsaida of Galilee" of a place only recently attached to that province, writing, as he was, at a distance from the scene, and recalling the former familiar conditions. Nazareth: 32.699634: 35.303548: Capernaum: 32.88033: 35.573307: Distance: 32.24 km: The fruits of Gennesaret had such high repute among the rabbis that they were not allowed in Jerusalem at the time of the feasts, lest any might be tempted to come merely for their enjoyment (Neubauer, Geog. Four of the apostles, and these the chief, had been brought up as fishermen on the Sea of Galilee. In one area we uncovered two large buildings with a street running between them. Login & Purchase. With these, however, the Gerasenes dealt mercifully, letting such as wished go free, and escorting them to the border (BJ, II, xviii, 1, 5). We discovered these images when we lifted the columns and reopened the blocked doorways. Scholarship seems to be split on whether Gergasa/Kursi is a viable option or not: But, whats the historical value of Eusebius claim? On the Sea of Galilee there are frequent storms. "(iv) There could hardly have been two Bethsaidas so close together.But:(i) It is not said that Jesus came hither that he might leave the territory of Antipas for that of Philip; and in view of Mark 6:30, and Luke 9:10, the inference from Matthew 14:13 that he did so, is not warranted. On the sands along the shore from el-Mejdel to `Ain et-Tineh these shells are so numerous as to cause a white glister in the sunlight.The main formation of the surrounding district is limestone. Luke 5:1 Now it happened, while the multitude pressed on him and heard the word of God, that he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret. The pigs would still have had to have been long distance runners not the picture painted for us in Mark or Luke where the herd is on the hillside close to the water. This writer extols the productiveness of the plain. Ancient scribes probably heard or saw one name in the process of copying a manuscript and thought they heard another. John R. McRay, Archaeology and the New Testament, Dictionary of New Testament Background: A Compendium of Contemporary Biblical Scholarship (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), 97. It dominates the center of the compound and covers a spacious area of 12,110 square feet. The town of Kursi (if thats what its name was) and its harbor must have played an important role in the economic life and the religious functioning of the monastery. See FISHING. It was located on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, whereas Gerasa and Gadara were several kilometers south-east of it. Inside the compound, near this western entrance, we uncovered the remains of a large, well-constructed building that probably functioned as a guest-house or hospice for pilgrims. Its geography is very steep, it is close to the shore of the lake, and it is kinda across the lake from Capernaum. Water:The middle portion is supplied from `Ain el-Madawwerah, a copious fountain near the western edge of the plain, round which a wall has been built, to raise the level of the water; and from the perennial stream, Wady er-Rubadiyeh, which drives a mill before starting on its work of irrigation. :Many scholars maintain that all the New Testament references to Bethsaida apply to one place, namely, Bethsaida Julias. (NOTE.-The Textus Receptus of the New Testament reading. , Which is why I dont buy McRays argument, The problem is in the similarity of spelling in Greek. Josephus explains that the country of the Gadarenes reached the shore of the lake: the villages of the Gadarenes happened to lie on the frontier between Tiberias and the territory of the Scythopolitans.4. (he thalassa tes Galilaias):1. II, ix, 1). Considerable portions have also passed into the hands of Jews. Both Gerasa and Gadara were cities to the east of the Sea of Galilee and the River Jordan. (St. Matt. , William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 612. If Capernaum were at Khan Minyeh, then the two lay close together. Gergesenes means "those who come from pilgrimage or fight."[1]. 4:1-34. After all its not far off 300 years after the events. (Ant., XV, vii, 3; BJ, I, xx, 3). Possibly, however, the name may represent the Hebrew ganne sarim, "princely gardens." At eT-Tabgha in the North, at `Ain el Fuliyeh, South of el-Mejdel, and on the shore, about 2 miles South of modern Tiberias, there are strong hot springs. It gradually narrows toward the South, taking the shape of a gigantic pear, with a decided bulge to the West. The soil is deep, rich loam, of amazing fertility. On the second occasion the wind blew from the East, and the phenomena described above were practically repeated.4. (ii) Medieval works of travel notice only one Bethsaida. Demonology, ton Gergesenon, "of the Gergesenes," must be rejected (Westcott-Hort, II. , Origen, John. At the center is a large prayer hall in the form of a basilica. ger'-a-sa, ger'-a-senz (Gerasa; Gerasenon):1. The "desert" of the narrative is just the barriyeh of the Arabs where the animals are driven out for pasture. On the other hand, with a wind from the West, such as is often experienced, eight or nine hours might easily be occupied in covering the four or five miles from el-BaTeichah to the neighborhood of Capernaum. This street was over 25 feet wide and was paved with carefully cut, black basalt stones. All three Synoptic Gospels (Mark 5:120; Luke 8:2639; Matthew 8:2834) mention the swine miracle, although with variations. The Name:The first syllable of the name Gennesaret is evidently the Hebrew gan, "garden"; while the second may be a proper name. 80, The Fathers of the Church (Catholic University of America Press, 1989), 226. It lay near the place where the Jordan enters the Sea of Gennesaret (Ant., XVIII, ii, 1; BJ, II, ix, 1; III, x, 7; Vita, 72). Today they are the modern towns of Jerash and Umm Qais. The Name:This is the name 5 times given in the New Testament (Matthew 4:18; Matthew 15:29 Mark 1:16; Mark 7:31 John 6:1) to the sheet of water which is elsewhere called "the sea of Tiberias" (John 21:1; compare John 6:1); "the lake of Gennesaret" (Luke 5:1); "the sea" (John 6:16, etc. Sites such as Capernaum, the center of Jesus mission before he left for Jerusalem; Bethsaida, the birthplace of the apostles Andrew, Peter and Philip; Magdala, the home of Mary Magdalene; Tabga, where the miracle of the multiplication of loaves and fishes occurred; and the Sea of Galilee itselfall are places that to the Christian recall events connected with Jesus life, the miracles he performed and the sacred words he uttered. Arabs where the animals are driven out for pasture place, namely, Bethsaida.. Occasion the wind blew from the East it is as if this chamber ( which once had a tower was. Is identified with El-Koursi or Kursi paved with carefully cut, black basalt.... 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