Sea of Galilee/Kursi/Qasri/Capernaum (Galilee Day 3)

We began the third day of our field study with a boat cruise on the Sea of Galilee. While on the boat we discussed the several different types of fish and fishing styles present during the time of Jesus. I highly recommend the book “The Sea of Galilee and its Fishermen” by Mendel Nun. We noticed that the city of Capernaum has a significant number of harbors, more than any other city. It is this city that Jesus adopts as a hometown during most of his Galilean ministry.

After our boat ride on the Sea of Galilee, we moved onto the city of Kursi. It was here we discussed the different regions around the Sea of Galilee during the time of Jesus. The region to the northwest of the Sea of Galilee was a very religious region. This is where the cities of Capernaum and Chorazin were located. We labeled this region “Galilee” on our syllabus map # 13. The region directly to the east of Galilee was Gaulinitis. This region was known for being on the fence, so to speak. It was made up of people who were “half and half” in their religious beliefs. The region directly to the south of Gaulinitis is the Decapolis. This region is made up of 10 cities, and is an extremely pagan location.

After our discussion of the regions around the Sea of Galilee, we discussed the appointing of the 12 disciples. We also discussed how each one of us was called to be a disciple, just like the 12 so many years ago. Dr. Wright pointed out that 11 of the disciples were from the region of Galilee, and only one (Judas Iscariot) was not from the Galilee.

The last story we discussed at this location was the story of the demon-possessed man from Mark 5. In between the cities of Kursi and Hippos is the only steep ridge that runs to the edge of the Sea of Galilee. In addition, Kursi is the city identified as the “Gergesa” mentioned in Mark 5. It is very likely that the ridge in between Kursi and Hippos is the very ridge where the pigs ran into the sea. I believe the account of the demon-possessed man is one of the most powerful stories in the gospels. Here is a man whose life is totally changed around after a few minutes with Jesus. At the end of this story the people of the Decapolis plead with Jesus to leave their region. It is just before this time that Jesus tells the man who had been demon possessed to go and tell his story throughout the Decapolis. A few chapters later Jesus returns to the Decapolis and there are large crowds waiting for him. One of the best possible explanations for this is that the story of Jesus mercy had moved these people. The man’s story had touched the hearts of the people of the Decapolis, and they were curious to see what this Jesus was all about.

Later on in the day we moved on to the cities of Qasrin and Capernaum to discuss more themes from the life of Jesus. At Qasri we examined the insula housing model that was common during the time of Jesus. We also discussed that Jesus’ profession was not necessarily that of a carpenter, but something much more than that. It was interesting to explore the Greek word “tekton,” and what that meant for the life of Jesus. Jesus was a “stonecutter” or master builder, and would’ve been skilled at many different tasks. We explored the different professions that would have been present in a major city like Capernaum. We also noted that Capernaum was located directly on the Via Maris, which was the international highway in the time of Jesus. In the Gospels Jesus calls Capernaum “his hometown,” and “his own town.” The fact that Capernaum is on a major highway would’ve enabled Jesus to interact with every single possible group of people in the second temple. Not only was Capernaum on the Via Maris, it was also a center for agricultural manufacturing and fishing. It was so interesting to examine this in light of what we learned about the different people groups living around the Sea of Galilee at the time. Galilee truly was the perfect place to prepare the gospel to take it to the ends of the earth and beyond.