Wind, WeAther, and the SeA of Galilee 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 “earthquake” (8:24).2 As the Wthe boat for the first time, extract the 27 foot long and 7 foot 5 lake 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 “Jesus boat.” the in Ginosar, north of tiberias.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. Luke 8 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, storms.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 storm northern part of the Jordan Rift muddy shores north of tiberias. subsided. Luke called it a storm, Valley, which stretches from Mount Winter 2009-10 Winter BI 58 Below: Winter in North Africa storm on the helps us under- Sea of Galilee. stand how some OLOGY (32/43/40) P Roman period Left: Mosaic pave- fishing boats NTHRO A ment from Sousee looked. percent of the land is covered with water, namely the Jordan River, RCHAEOLOGY AND A the sea of Galilee, and the dead OF M sea. precipitation comes primar- A MUSEU I ily from the Mediterranean and moves eastward. Generally more rain falls on the Mediterranean TY OF PENNSYLVAN I side of the mountains than on the VERS I Jordan Valley side. For instance, N U tel Aviv receives about 21 inches of rain per year, while the sea of Galilee receives about 16.8 Annual rains begin in november and continue through May. Average rain spells last about two-and- ILLUSTRATOR PHOTO/ BRENT BRUCE/ BRENT BRUCE/ PHOTO/ ILLUSTRATOR a-half days. even though the hermon southward to the Red sea. of marsh, the headwaters of the annual rains schedule is generally A mountainous region bisects the Jordan River feed through Lake predictable, “[it] is not rare, even land between the Mediterranean huleh into the sea of Galilee.6 in the middle of the rainy season and the sea of Galilee. thus being Much of the Galilee’s water also to have more than a month with- located in the valley, the sea of comes from the 9,000-plus foot out rain.” 9 essentially no rain Galilee is some 700 feet below snow-covered peaks of Mount falls in Israel, though, from June the surface of the Mediterranean, hermon. to show the contrast of through mid-October. although the two bodies are separat- the region, the annual precipita- Being located “in a bowl,” with ed by only about 30 miles. the sea tion at Mount hermon is about 60 mountains to the north, west, of Galilee is a large freshwater lake, inches per year, but 120 miles south and east, the sea of Galilee is 13 miles long and 8 miles wide.5 at the dead seam rainfall is rare.7 uniquely situated for crosswinds Flowing from the foothills of Modern-day Israel covers about and weather currents. the upper Lebanon Mountains through areas 8,600 square miles; about three air in the mountains is cooler, ISTOCK PHOTO LESSON REFERENCE ETB: Mark 4 Winter 2009-10 Winter BI 59 (35/43/40) NGER I EDD TERRY / HOTO P LLUSTRATOR I Capernaum • Gennesaret • (Nof Ginnosar) Sea of Galilee• Gergesa Tiberias • The springs at Dan serve as Jordan River 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 M (35/1/79) USEU while the air closer to the sur- the hometown of peter, Andrew, 4. Roger Crook, “Galilee, Sea of” in Holman Illustrated M CAL Bible Dictionary (HIBD), gen. ed. Chad Brand, Charles I 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. ARCHAEOLOG warmer air, forcing it upwards. can imagine almost 2,000 years 6. Ibid. 7. Gary Baldwin, “Hermon, Mount” in HIBD, 753. this movement is exacerbated ago, when Jesus and his dis- ATHENS 8. Information regarding the average rainfall is from / “World Weather Information Service: Israel Meteorological ELL by the steep slopes of the sur- ciples left Capernaum and began W Service,” World Meteorological Organization [online; HO . B rounding mountains, resulting to cross to the other side, towards . accessed 18 March 2009]. Available from the Internet: G / in sudden, dangerous storms. Gerasa. When the seismos came www.worldweather.org. 9. Yair Goldreich, The Climate of Israel: Observation, HOTO P 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, LLUSTRATOR the east—these factors converge as he calmed the storm and Weather and the Bible (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1992), 99-100. i I OSTHENES: resulting in disturbances that can harnessed the elements. 11. George W. Knight, “Capernaum” in HIBD, 263-65. M E bring sudden havoc and chaos.10 D Winter 2009-10 Winter 1. “The Story of Discovery Jesus Boat,” Discovery Along the northwest shore of Jesus Boat [online; accessed 10 December 2008]. Available HOTO BI the sea of Galilee are the ruins from the Internet: discoveryjesusboat.com; Jesus Boats Jerry M. Windsor is secretary- K P [online; accessed 10 December 2008]. Available from the STOC : I : of the first-century fishing town Internet: www.jesusboats.com. treasurer of the Florida Baptist HONE of Capernaum. this town was 2. Herschel H. Hobbs, An Exposition of the Gospel of historical society, Graceville, P Luke (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1966), 142-43. 60 CRO Jesus’ preaching headquarters and 3. Ibid. Florida. MI.