Jerash, ancient Gerasa , Joel Marcus, Mark 18: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, vol. In the rooms north of the prayer hall, we found an oil-press, including the crushing, pressing and collecting components. That monastery was destroyed by Sassanid Persian armies in 614 CE, partially rebuilt, and finally levelled by the 749 Galilee earthquake. Further, if the Gospel of Mark embodies the recollections of Peter, it would be difficult to find a more reliable authority for topographical details connected with the sea on which his fisher life was spent. The settlement was quite well planned and carefully organized. Ewing, "house of fish," Bethsaida, the name of two cities on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. There the Jordan, issuing from the sea, almost surrounds the mound on which are the ruins of Kerak, the Tarichea of Josephus Crossing the floor of the valley, past Semakh, which is now a station on the Haifa-Damascus railway, we find a similar strip of plain along the eastern shore. Geographically its certainly a better fit than Gerasa or Gadara. :Many scholars maintain that all the New Testament references to Bethsaida apply to one place, namely, Bethsaida Julias. GENNESARET, lake of, same as Tiberias, sea of. , Barclay Moon Newman and Philip C. Stine, A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew, UBS Handbook Series (New York: United Bible Societies, 1992), 248. du Talmud, 45).Centuries of neglect made a sad change in the plain. See CAPERNAUM. The abundance of fish at each place furnished a good reason for the recurrence of the name.W. The lower part simply encloses a huge boulder, over 22 feet high. Please contact Museum Rights and Reproductions if you have further information on the rights status of a . From this date the era of the city was reckoned. We discovered these images when we lifted the columns and reopened the blocked doorways. Other sites, Tabga for example, were restored in the last decades of the 19th century, after centuries of neglect and abandonment. The hot springs, as noted above, are in the bottom of the valley to the North. A dedicatory inscription contains the date 685 A.D. The fig and the vine are still cultivated with success. The gospels. gad'-a-ra (Gadara):1. A narrow ribbon of plain between the mountain and the shore runs to the South end of the lake. 8:4-18 Sea of Galilee. (iv) In view of the frequent repetition of names in Palestine the nearness of the two Bethsaidas raises no difficulty. Thus Gamala, on the eastern shore, was within the jurisdiction of Josephus, who commanded in Galilee (BJ, II, xx, 4). The distance line on map shows distance from Nazareth to Capernaum between two cities. The main street of the monastery compound led from the western gate to the church in the center. Josephus names it as marking the eastern limit of Peraea (BJ, III, iii, 3). Login & Purchase. , Flavius Josephus and Steve Mason, Flavius Josephus: Life of Josephus (Boston; Leiden: Brill, 2003), 47. These demon-possessed pigs then run headlong into the lake and, presumably, drown. Mark 7:31 Again he departed from the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and came to the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the region of Decapolis. , Which is why I dont buy McRays argument, The problem is in the similarity of spelling in Greek. Nevertheless, life continued at Kursi. On the Sea of Galilee there are frequent storms. "One may call this place the ambition of nature;. So, Matthew is aware that on the face of it Marks account doesnt work. The air cleared, and the wide welter of foam-crested waves attested the fury of the blast. The Gadarenes captured some of the boldest of the Jews, of whom several were put to death, and others imprisoned (ibid., 5). The sheltering hills provide excellent grazing areas, particularly for hogs, which are best suited to these rocky hills. Unless they had moved their residence from Bethsaida to Capernaum, of which there is no record, and which for fishermen was unlikely, Bethsaida must have lain close to Capernaum. 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. In most cases they have gone, leaving not even their names with any certainty behind; but His memory abides forever. 2019 Dr. Andrew Jackson. , The name Gerasenes is to be associated with the modern city of Jerash, located in Transjordan, 22 miles N of Amman. John McRay, Gerasenes, ed. 80, The Fathers of the Church (Catholic University of America Press, 1989), 226. The southern city, therefore, should be understood as "the capital of Peraea" in BJ, IV; vii, 3.Gadara was a member of the DECAPOLIS (which see).W. Tyre: 33.2721571: 35.203278: Capernaum: 32.88033: 35.573307: Distance: 55.56 km: This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. There is a cliff lying beside this lake from which they point out the swine were cast down by the demons.15. fine for parking in handicap spot in ohio. There is no good reason, however, to question the accuracy of the text in either case. From the beginning of our work, it was clear that we were excavating the remains of a large, walled settlement of a religious character, undoubtedly a monastery that included a well-built basilica of exceptional quality. (London; New York: United Bible Societies, 1994), 18, 72, 121. The surface is 680 ft. below the level of the Mediterranean. GADARA. From the northern parts of the lake the Horns of ChaTTin, the traditional Mount of Beatitudes, may be seen through the rocky jaws of the gorge. Harry M. Jol, Gloria I. Lpez, Haim Cohen, Michal Artzy, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Mark 5:1-20, Luke 8:26-39, Matthew 8:28-34, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gergesa&oldid=1129180387, Articles needing additional references from January 2009, All articles needing additional references, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 24 December 2022, at 00:24. To one descending from Mt. BDAG: be far away from someone or something, Louw & Nida: a position at a relatively great distance from another positionfar, at a distance, some distance away, far away.. Robert L. Webb and Mark Allan Powell, vol. Almost from the beginning of Christianity, the area around the Sea of Galilee has been a major focus of Christian pilgrimage, a focus second only to Jerusalem. The total distance between Galilee and Capernaum is 5131 KM (kilometers) and 307.05 meters. The road then crosses a second promontory, and proceeds along the base of the mountain to Tiberias. It was on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, and must have been a locality where the steep edges of the Bashan plateau drop close upon the brink of the lake. Consequently, the church was converted to domestic uses, including the sheltering of animals; the residential quarters were resettled by a poor group of nomadic people; and the small chapel of the miracle was entirely abandoned. The Tel Dan Steles discovery, the debate it caused, and how it shows that scripture sometimes doesnt work the way we think it does. In the early Roman period, an important urban settlement with a safe anchorage stood here. , Ulrich Luz, Matthew: A Commentary, ed. Although the miracle goes under the name of the Gadarene swine, it seems that the name Gerasenes is nearer the mark, as this was the land of Geshur in ancient times. Description:Modern Jerash lies on both banks of Wady Jerash, about 6 miles from its confluence with Wady ez-Zerqa (the Jabbok). The action you just performed triggered the security solution. Well, it seems Eusebius didnt arrive at his Gergesa idea alone; it appears he may have just been following Origens (185-253 CE) commentary on John where we read: Origen, John. II, ix, 1). A Christian laymans perspective on the intersection between archaeology, historical criticism, text, and faith. Now there is no question that Capernaum was on "the other side," nor is there any suggestion that the boat was driven out of its course; and it is quite obvious that, sailing toward Capernaum, whether at Tell Chum or at Khan Minyeh, it would never reach Bethsaida Julius. It is probably represented by the modern Jedur, not far from es-Salt (Buhl, Buhl, Geographic des alten Palastina, 255; Guthe). David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 991. In their season the wild flowers lavish a wealth of lovely colors upon the surrounding slopes; while bright-blossoming oleanders fringe the shore.Coming westward from the point where the Jordan enters the lake, the mountains approach within a short distance of the sea. One of the most significant sites on the eastern shore is the place where the so-called swine miracle is thought to have occurred. Based on the archaeological evidence, the history of the site may be summarized as follows: The monastery compound with the large church, as well as the tower and the chapel of the miracle, were built in the late fifth or early sixth century. The Old Testament names were "sea of Chinnereth" (yam-kinnereth: Numbers 34:11 Deuteronomy 3:17 Joshua 13:27; Joshua 19:35), and "sea of Chinneroth" (yam-kineroth: Joshua 12:3; compare 11:2; 1 Kings 15:20). If you travel with an airplane (which has average speed of 560 miles per hour) between Cana to Capernaum, It takes 0.03 hours to arrive. Rows of columns separate the central nave from the aisles on either side. When they arrive on the shore he gets out and is met by two demoniacs/a guy called Legion. Mark 6:53 When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret, and moored to the shore. All three of these New Testament variants have solid textual support. William of Tyre calls the city Jarras, and places it 16 miles East of Jordan (Hist, xii, 16). The Bible is way more interesting than inerrancy would have you believe. Settlers in the valley thereafter confined themselves to the area immediately on the shore. The demons inside the man beg to be allowed to enter a nearby herd of swine, numbering about 2,000 according to Mark. Today they are the modern towns of Jerash and Umm Qais. 6.211. JOHN. This two-terraced structure, consisting of a memorial, or landmark, tower and a chapel above, undoubtedly was thought to mark the very site of the miracle that cured the demoniac. As a result of excavations by the Israel Department of Antiquities and Museums, however, it is becoming quite clear that the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee also played an important role in early Christian pilgrimages. Gerasa, Gadara, Gergesa from where did the pigs stampede? It curves round from el-Mejdel in the South, to `Ain et-Tineh, or Khan Minyeh, in the North, a distance of over 3 miles, with an average breadth from the sea to the foot of the mountains of about a mile. 3. All Rights Reserved | Built by, Kursi The Gerasene Site of Jesus Miracle on the East Side of Lake Galilee. Reland (Pal, II, 806) notes certain extant coins of Gerasa, from which it is clear that in the 2nd century it was a center of the worship of Artemis. The Gerasa of Mark 5:1 was probably Kursi/Gergesa. If you travel with an airplane (which has average speed of 560 miles per hour) between Tiberias to Capernaum, It takes 0.01 hours to arrive. 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.3 The country of the Gerasenes did not reach the Sea of Galilee (an important point that well get to in a bit). 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