photo: A view from Capernaum

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May–August 2007Adult Bible Study

Learner’s

STUDY GUIDE

Formations

Look insidefor new travel journalLook insidefor new travel journal

Jesus & HisDisciples

Capernaum

• JoelHow to Cope when Tragedy Strikes

• Everyday BlessingsEncountering God in the Stuff of Earth

• The Mission of GodGod’s Vision of Transformation and Renewal

• Life Lessons from the JudgesFaithfulness in Challenging Times

• JoelHow to Cope when Tragedy Strikes

• Everyday BlessingsEncountering God in the Stuff of Earth

• The Mission of GodGod’s Vision of Transformation and Renewal

• Life Lessons from the JudgesFaithfulness in Challenging Times

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Joshua. Chinnereth (or Kinneret) is proba-bly derived from kinnor, the Hebrew wordfor harp, because the sea is shaped like aharp. Others imagine the shape of the Seaof Galilee forming a great heart.

Water flows into the Sea ofGalilee from snowy MountHermon and from Lake Huleh inthe north. Water exits the Sea ofGalilee through the Jordan River,flowing 60 miles south to theDead Sea. Below the Dead Sea,this rift valley becomes WadiArabah and then the Gulf ofAqaba and the Red Sea. This

great rift runs parallel to the Israeli-Jordanian border.

In a dry and thirsty land, the Sea ofGalilee has become a water reservoir today.Only a small section of the Jordan River,near the Sea of Galilee, can be used forbaptisms. Huge amounts of river water

Prominent in the geography ofthe Gospels is the Sea ofGalilee. Located in northern

Israel and almost completely sur-rounded by mountains, it is cradledin a geological rift that starts inLebanon and ends in Africa. The Seaof Galilee is actually a lake14 miles long, 7 miles wide,150 feet deep, and with ashoreline 32 miles in circum-ference. It is located 30 mileseast of the Mediterranean,and its surface is 700 feetbelow sea level.

This body of water has beenknown by many names. InMatthew and Mark, it is called theSea of Galilee, but John calls it theSea of Tiberias and Luke knows it asthe Lake of Gennesaret.

An even earlier name wasChinnereth, referencing an ancienttown mentioned in the book of

Formations Travel Journal by Jim Pitts

the

Jesus & HisDisciples

Capernaum

This travel journal leads us on a journey to a location related to the Bible.

Sea of

Galilee

Tiberias at Sunrise

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have been siphoned off to meet needsin this arid region, and wastewater ispumped back in. The 60-mile down-stream stretch of the Jordan River, ameandering stream from the Sea ofGalilee to the Dead Sea, is pollutedwith raw sewage.

Much of Jesus’ ministry occurredaround and even on this freshwaterlake, especially along its northern shore.Since biblical times, fishing has thrivedin these waters. Commercial fishermenuse nets to catch fish in the Sea ofGalilee just as they did in Jesus’ day.Fishing in the Sea of Galilee provided arich resource for Jesus’ parables. Heonce declared, “The kingdom of heavenis like a net that was thrown into thesea”(Matt 13:47-48).

Historically, Galilee was a crossroads ofcommerce and culture, a frontier inter-section of customs and taxation. Herepeople passed through in caravans onthe trade routes between Asia, Africa,and Europe. Also, people seeking curesfor physical ailments made their way tothe mineral springs of Galilee.

Numerous communities with biblicalconnections surrounded the lake:

• Bethsaida, a small fishing village nearthe northeastern shore, was the home ofPeter, Andrew, and Philip. Jesus with-drew here upon learning of the death ofJohn the Baptist.

• Capernaum became Jesus’ adoptedhometown. From this small village offishermen, Jesus started his travels andreturned. Capernaum, Chorazin, andBethsaida formed “the evangelical trian-gle.” In this lakeshore countryside, Jesusperformed “mighty works” and laid thefoundation of his ministry.

The inhabitants of Capernaum,Chorazin, and Bethsaida, in spite ofbeing witnesses to many miracles, werereproached by Jesus for their lack of faithand failure to repent. Yet, his teachingand healing attracted crowds of fisher-men, artisans, and farmers.

• Tiberias was built by Herod Antipasearly in the first century AD and wasnamed in honor of the emperor Tiberius.The hot mineral springs of Tiberias havebeen known for thousands of years fortheir healing qualities.

Sea of Galilee

This view is from St. Peter and the Chapel of the Primacy onthe northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee near Mount ofBeatitudes, Tabgha and Capernaum.

Sea of GalileeBoat landing near Capernaum

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• Magdala was the home of MaryMagdalene, an early follower ofJesus.

• Tabgha is the traditional locationof the multiplication of the loavesand fishes (Mt 14:13-21). Its name,a corruption of Greek Heptapegon, isderived from the existence nearby ofseven warm springs.

Sea of GalileeHarbor at Ein Gev

Sea of Galilee (Hebrew Yam Kinneret) is a freshwater lake

through which the Jordan River flows. The lake is harp -

shaped, with a length from north to south of 14 miles, a

maximum width of 7 miles. With a maximum depth of 157

feet, it covers about 64 square miles. The lake is 686 ft below

the level of the Mediterranean Sea. Its

bed is part of the great Rift

Valley. Approximately 40

miles south, the Jordan

River empties into the

Dead Sea.

Sea of Galilee

Capernaum - Greek Orthodox InteriorA depiction of Jesus and his disciples on the Seaof Galilee.

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The Sea of Galilee is widely associ-ated with the ministry of Jesus.Along its shores, Jesus began topreach the kingdom of God, spentmost of his public life, gave most ofhis teachings, and performed manymiracles. It was here that the man ofGalilee healed lepers, spoke to mul-titudes, stilled storms, and calledand commissioned his disciples.

George Adam Smith, a nineteenth-century biblical geographer,describes the Sea of Galilee:

Sweet water, full of fish, asurface of sparking blue.The lake of Galilee is atonce food, drink, and air, arest to the eye, coolness tothe heat, an escape from the

crowd. Where there are now no trees, therewere great woods, where there are marshes,there were noble gardens, where there isbut one boat, there were fleets of sails.

On and around the Sea of Galilee, serenesunshine can become a raging storm with littlenotice. In contrast to his romantic reflections,Smith also writes,

We do not realize that the greaterpart of our Lord’s ministry wasaccomplished at what may betruly called the bottom of a

trench, 680 feet below sealevel…. The cold currents, as

they pass from the west, aresucked down in vortices of air, or

by the narrow gorges that breakupon the Lake. Hence suddenstorms arise (for) which the region isnotorious.

(Historical Geography of the Holy Land,London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1894)

CapernaumIn the first century, Capernaum was a fishing village on thenorthwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee. The scripture identi-fies Capernaum with the early accounts of Jesus teaching bothJews in the synagogue and Romans in the homes. Here Jesuscalled four fishermen (Peter, Andrew, James and John) and atax collector (Matthew) as disciples.

w w w . n e x t s u n d a y g a l l e r y . c o m

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