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ILLUSTRATOR PHOTO/ JAMES MCLEMORE (10/37/8) Sea of

BESIDE THE MUSEUM, ISRAEL SCHATZ/NOF GINNOSAR ILLUSTRATOR PHOTO/BOB economy. part ofthelocal ing anessential easier andfish- transportation harbor, making town haditsown villages. Each about 16fishing was linedwith Sea ofGalilee ’ day, the Gennesaret. In near ancient ers atGinnosar by twobroth- was discovered time ofChrist, ing backtothe The original,dat- at NofGinnosar. the Kinneret boat Upper: Modelof BY BILLPATTERSON T and 160feet deepat its lowest point. long, across 8miles at its widestpoint, atsea allbut afreshwater lake 13miles oflake. Galile TheSea 5:1), for plain fertile the northwest of the ern shore; and Lake of Gennesaret6:1; 21:1),after acapital city on west- the (Luke its of harp-like shape; Tiberias (John Sea names derivedfrom Hebrew the word for 13:27) or Chinneroth (Josh. 12:3,KJV), Chinnereth (Num. 34:11;Deut. 3:17;Josh. by other biblical names including of Sea known also is and region the from name or “circle.” of Galileetakes its TheSea “galila” in the Hebrew (“Galilaia” Greek)in the and means “district” (“Galilaia” Hebrew the in “galila” HE WORD GALILEE e actually isnot a comes from 17 BI Winter 2006-2007 The is about 60 miles north of Right: Ruins of the Gergesa and at the bottom of a geological bowl, roughly 700 feet Church date from below the Mediterranean Sea (only 30 miles to its west) the Byzantine and is surrounded by hills and mountains. The cliffs of period. In the foreground is an hard, porous basalt and the hot springs at Tiberias offer olive press. At evidence that volcanoes formed this basin.1 When the Gergesa, Jesus healed the cool air from the snowy peaks of Mount Hermon to its demoniac. north crashes into the hot air rising from the valley lake, dangerous storms can suddenly emerge, such as the one Below: Basalt col- umns at Tiberias described in that threatened to swamp the boat on the western carrying Jesus and His disciples. shore of the The River flows into the Sea of Galilee from Sea of Galilee. About A.D. 18, the north and out at the southern end towards its final destination in the Dead Sea. In Jesus’ day, populous made Tiberias 2 his capital city fishing villages dotted the shores of the Sea of Galilee. for Galilee. It Jesus spent much of His ministry there. , remained so until which during the was home of Peter about A.D. 61. and Andrew (:29) and where Matthew collected taxes (Matt. 9:9), was on the northwest. , the original home of Peter, Andrew, and Phillip (:44), and Chorazin were on the north. Gergesa and were on the east. Tiberias, the capital of Galilee, was on the western shore and three miles farther north was Magdala, home of . The fishing industry was an important source of income, and the

exportation of fish from the Sea of Galilee was famous SMITH (33/1/3) LOUISE KOHL / DR. in the Roman Empire.3 Jesus called most of His disciples near the Sea of Galilee. Eleven of the twelve spent much of their lives in settlements near its shores.4 On or near this lake Jesus PHOTO ILLUSTRATOR performed many of His including feeding the (Matt. 5–7) and a postresurrection appearance (John five thousand (John 6), feeding the four thousand (Matt. 21) occurred along the shores of the Sea of Galilee. 15), walking on water (), calming the storm The people of the were influenced (), healing the demoniac (Luke 8), predicting considerably by their geographical environment and where disciples could cast their nets to catch many fish especially by the Sea of Galilee. In Jesus’ time, the Sea of (), and forecasting that Peter would pull up a fish Galilee served both as a vital water source in an arid area containing the coin necessary to pay their taxes (Matt. and an important food source. It was the fertile setting 17). Major teachings such as the where Jesus carried out much of His early ministry. Winter 2006-2007 Winter BI

18 Traditional site Jesus performs Jesus calls Levi, Simon, of Sermon on numerous miracles Andrew, John, and James the Mount Jesus teaches and heals S TI W Chorazin AN

. L AU Feeding of the A G multitudes m Bethsaida m esaret u enn P d G B la of et in in Capernaum h o la sa f Jesus appears P id Heptapegon (Tabgha) a to His disciples Gennesaret on the Sea Arbela Taricheae Sea of (Magdala) Gergesa Galilee Jesus heals Tiberias a demonic LO WER GA LIL Hippos EE Hammath Jesus calms Home of a storm Mary Magdalene Sennabris / BOB SCHATZ (10/12/9) / BOB SCHATZ

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J D ILLUSTRATOR PHOTO ILLUSTRATOR E C A P O L I S HOLMAN PUBLISHERS

Left: Located Imagine being beside Jesus as He prayed in the hills about five miles overlooking the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee while southeast of the Sea of Galilee, the sun set in the west (Matt. 14:22,23) or being with ruins at Gadara the disciples at the lake as Jesus called them to fish for give evidence of the town’s men (4:18-20). From the Sea of Galilee came the means Hellenistic heri- of making a living for an impoverished people. Beside tage. Shown is it also came One who still brings the means of eternal one of its three theaters. Pliny list- living for a spiritually impoverished people. i ed the cities: Gadara, 1. Arthur M. Ross, “Galilee, Sea of” in Pictorial Bible Dictionary, Merrill C. Tenney, Scythopolis, Pella, gen. ed. (Nashville: The Southwestern Company, 1976), 296. Dion, Gerasa, 2. George Adam Smith, The Historical Geography of the Holy Land (New York: Philadelphia, Ray Long and Richard R. Smith, Inc., 1932), 447. Smith believes the region of Galilee Raphana, Kanath, contained three million people and there were nine cities bordering the Sea of Galilee, each containing 15,000 people or more. Hippos, and 3. J. H. Patterson, “Galilee, Sea of” in New Bible Dictionary, J. D. Douglas, org. ed. . The (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1962), 450. Decapolis cities 4. Merrill C. Tenney, New Testament Times (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2004), 87.

/ BOB SCHATZ (8/32/6) / BOB SCHATZ formed a league of defense for early Christians Bill Patterson is pastor, First Baptist Church, Richland, facing persecu- tion. Mississippi. ILLUSTRATOR PHOTO ILLUSTRATOR

LESSON REFERENCE

BSFL: John 6

At Magdala, the of lone structures home of Mary and the footprint Magdalene, not ruins of an old much exists today house just inside except a couple the concrete wall.

ILLUSTRATOR PHOTO/ DR. LOUISE KOHL SMITH (33/26/16) Winter 2006-2007 Winter BI

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