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Wind, Weather, and the Sea of Galilee

Wind, Weather, and the Sea of Galilee

Wind, WeAther, and the of

By Jerry M. Windsor For 12 days and nights, the Israeli but Matthew called it a tempest Antiquities Authority and many (KJV) or seismos, the Greek word hen I stepped onto volunteers carefully worked to for “” (8:24).2 As the Wthe boat for the first time, extract the 27 foot long and 7 foot 5 pitched and rolled, the disciples I felt a new kinship to the inch wide boat. After an extensive cried out, “Epistata, Epistata, we are Sea of Galilee. Used mostly by 10-year preservation process, the drowning.” Some translations say tourists, the locals refer to this boat is now on display at a museum they cried “Master, Master,” but the vessel as a “ boat.” The in , north of .1 crew was really calling “Captain, weather was in our favor as we Such extreme weather condi- Captain, we are perishing.”3 crossed that day. That is not tions as the 1986 drought are rare. Jesus called for calm and imme- always the case, however. Turbulent weather conditions, diately the wind and sea subsided. Unique weather conditions made however, are not. describes The seismos was instantaneous and possible a remarkable find along Jesus and His disciples setting so was the calm. The geographi- the shores of the Sea of Galilee in out across the lake (vv. 22-25). As cal features surrounding the Sea 1986. A prolonged drought and a they sailed, a squall came up and of Galilee and its location make receding shoreline led to the dis- the boat was swamped. Jesus was the Sea susceptible to intense and covery of what is thought to be asleep. Sensing grave danger, the unexpected, albeit brief, .4 a first-century boat. Two broth- disciples awoke Him. Jesus rebuked The Sea of Galilee is in the ers made the discovery along the the wind and waves, and the northern part of the Rift muddy shores north of Tiberias. subsided. Luke called it a storm, Valley, which stretches from Mount Winter 2009-10 BI Winter

58 ad ewe te Mediterranean the and the between land the bisects mountainous A southwardRed Hermon the to Mountains through areas 13 miles long and 8 miles wide. miles 8 and long miles 13 largea freshwateris Galilee of lake, miles. 30 about only by ed although the two below Mediterranean, bodies are separat the feet of surface 700 the some is the Galilee valley, the in located Flowing from the foothills of of foothills the from Flowing ea of Galilee. of Sea hus being being Thus The ea of of Sea 5 ea. Sea. ea Sea - at the at inches per year, but 120 miles south precipita - Mount at tion annual the region, the Mount Hermon. of foot peaks 9,000-plus snow-covered the from comes also water Galilee’s the of Much 8,600 square miles; about three three about miles; square 8,600 lh no the into Lake Huleh through feed River the Jordan of headwaters the marsh, of Modern-day covers about Dead T o show the contrast of of contrast the show o eam rainfall is rare. rainfallis Seam ermon is about 60 60 about is Hermon a f Galilee. of Sea 7 6

Illustrator Photo/ brent bruce/ University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (32/43/40) Galilee receives about 16. the year,while per rain of T instance, For Valley side. Jordan side of the mountains than on the Mediterranean the on falls rain more Generally eastward.moves and Mediterranean the from ily Sea. the River, Jordan the namely water, percent of the land is covered with ment from ment pave- Mosaic Left: Galilee. of Sea the on storm Winter Below: n es, the west, east, north, and the to mountains throughmid-October. June from though, Israel, in falls i i te onan i cooler, is mountains the in air currents. weather and crosswinds for situated uniquely u rain.” out tohave with- month a morethan season rainy the of middle the in predictable, “[it] is not rare, even annual rains schedule is generally -af days. two-and- a-half about last spells rain Average May. through continue in begin rains el Aviv receives about 21 inches inches 21 Avivabout receivesel Lesson Reference Being located “in a bowl,” with ea of Galilee, and the and Galilee, of Sea P recipitation comes primar comes recipitation Sousee B: Mark ETB: 9

ssentially no rain rain no Essentially E ea of Galilee is is Galilee of Sea ven though the the though ven N looked. boats fishing period Roman some how stand under us helps in ovember and and ovember orth North he upper upper The 8 Annual Annual ea of of Sea ISTOCK PHOTO ead Dead - - 59 BI Winter 2009-10 EDD I NGER (35/43/40) / TERRY P HOTO I LLUSTRATOR • Gennesaret • (Nof Ginnosar) Sea of Galilee• Tiberias •

The springs at Dan serve as headwaters to the Jordan River.

Weather on the Sea of Galilee ILLUSTRATOR map/ linden artists/ london

Month JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

Wind Direction NW N NNW NW ESE NNW ESE NNW NNW N NW NW

Wind Probability 10% 12% 12% 16% 27% 22% 29% 20% 22% 5% 3% 9%

Avg. Wind Speed (knots) 6 6 6 7 8 8 8 8 7 6 5 5

o Avg. Air Temperature ( C ) 9-18 9-20 11-22 13-27 17-32 20-35 23-37 24-37 22-35 19-32 15-26 11-20 ( oF ) 48-65 49-67 51-72 56-80 62-89 68-95 73-98 75-99 71-95 65-89 59-78 53-68

Avg. Precipitation (inches) 4.4 2.7 2.7 0.4 2.0 the dry season 2.0 3.5

while the air closer to the sur- the hometown of Peter, Andrew, 4. Roger Crook, “Galilee, Sea of” in Holman Illustrated Dictionary (HIBD), gen. ed. Chad Brand, Charles face of the lake is warmer. The Matthew, and possibly James and Draper, and Archie England (Nashville: Holman Bible cooler air sinks, displacing the John.11 Standing there today, one Publishers, 2003), 617. 5. Ibid. warmer air, forcing it upwards. can imagine almost 2,000 years 6. Ibid. This movement is exacerbated ago, when Jesus and His dis- 7. Gary Baldwin, “Hermon, Mount” in HIBD, 753. 8. Information regarding the average rainfall is from “World Weather Information Service: Israel Meteorological

by the steep slopes of the sur- ciples left Capernaum and began ARCHAEOLOG I CAL M USEU (35/1/79) W ELL / ATHENS Service,” World Meteorological Organization [online; . HO . rounding mountains, resulting to cross to the other side, towards accessed 18 March 2009]. Available from the Internet: in sudden, dangerous storms. Gerasa. When the seismos came www.worldweather.org. 9. Yair Goldreich, The Climate of Israel: Observation, Additionally, moist air blows off up unexpectedly, though, Jesus Research, and Application (New York: Kluwer Academic/ of the Mediterranean and warm used the opportunity to dem- Plenem Publishers, 2003), 70. 10. Denis Baly, “The Sudden Storms of Galilee,” Biblical dry air comes from the deserts to onstrate His miraculous power Illustrator 7.1 (Fall 1980): 62-64; Donald B. DeYoung, the east—these factors converge as He calmed the storm and Weather and the Bible (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1992), 99-100. resulting in disturbances that can harnessed the elements. i 11. George W. Knight, “Capernaum” in HIBD, 263-65. bring sudden havoc and chaos.10 1. “The Story of Discovery Jesus Boat,” Discovery Along the northwest shore of Jesus Boat [online; accessed 10 December 2008]. Available Winter 2009-10 BI Winter the Sea of Galilee are the ruins from the Internet: discoveryjesusboat.com; Jesus Boats Jerry M. Windsor is Secretary- [online; accessed 10 December 2008]. Available from the of the first-century fishing town Internet: www.jesusboats.com. Treasurer of the Florida Baptist of Capernaum. This town was 2. Herschel H. Hobbs, An Exposition of the Gospel of Historical Society, Graceville, 60 Luke (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1966), 142-43.

Jesus’ preaching headquarters and 3. Ibid. Florida. / G . B P HOTO I LLUSTRATOR D e m osthenes: K P HOTO I STOC P HONE : MI CRO

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