Lake Genesareth

Continuing with Fouard's Life of Christ:

Chapter VI: Genesareth

What was it to that occurred at Nazareth when Jesus returned there there?  The Gospel does not tell; but apparently something happened which rendered any carrying in this village either painful or perilous for the Saviour, since Saint John adds immediately: "After that, He descended to Capharnaum with His Mother, His brothers, and His disciples." The uncouth violence of the Nazarenes as was proverbial.  Perhaps they refused to see anything but a clever imposture in the miracle of Cana, and so would force this "son of Joseph" to take Himself out of their country.

From Nazareth to Capharnaum is about a day's journey, which, as indeed may be inferred from Saint John's expression, is only a long descent down the slopes of the hills of Zabulon. The traveller reaches the end of his road, when, on coming out of the Valley of Doves (Ouadi el-Hamâm) he beholds at his feet the Sea of Galilee.  The long and narrowing outlines of the lake’s formation, with the rippling of its waters, suggested the idea of a harp, from which the Hebrews gave it the name Chinnereth.  In the time of Jesus it was often recalled the The Sea of Tiberias; or again, the Lake of Genesareth from the plain, which bloomed and flowered like a garden-bed, encircling its shores.  The Jews, in their admiration for this beautiful sheet of water, hold that the Lord once said: "Seven lakes have I created, yet but one of them have I reserved unto Myself, the Lake of Genesareth." But the renown of this lake rest not so much upon its beauty as upon our memories of Jesus.  Here everything recalls the Master, the waves over which His bark furrowed its way; the fertile banks along which He wandered; the rich harvest-fields; the sea-beach where He was so often to be found seated, sometimes in solitude, sometimes surrounded by the listening throngs.  In the distance you may still see those same bleak, bare mountain-peaks which were the lonely watchman at His hours of prayer.  There is no region which was witness to a greater number of His prodigies, nor one that hearkened for a longer period to His heavenly accents; thereby it is too endeared to all Christian hearts to pass over without striving to bring up a picture of it in our minds.

Lake Genesareth. Fouard.

The Lake of Genesareth is one of the three deep basins which are filled by the waters of the Jordan, on its course to the south.  Though it stretches out to a greater with than the Marsh of Houleh yet it has not the dimensions of that sea of pitch into which the Jordan empties its waters;2 but in the epoch of the Christ, the two lakes formed an astonishing contrast.  Everything round about the one was teeming with life, — its clear depths so well stocked with fish, its outlying lands lovely with flowers and fruit; while over and about the other real ale horror as of death, — with its sluggish sulphurous flow, within only living creature in its floods of bitumen, with its blasted and driven banks.  Nevertheless, each of these wide expanses of plain and water, now so different of aspect, had once rivalled one another in fertility.  When from the highlands of Bethel Lot looked down on the lake of Sodom and the Vale of Siddim, he found them both equally grateful and pleasant to the site, even as the gardens of the Lord and the banks of the Nile.

There were, in fact, the same causes which could not but have produced an equal fertility; for indeed these two seas are nothing but craters of extinct volcanoes, sunken so far within the burning soil that the Jordan, after entering the Lake of Genesareth, ranges to a depth of 191 metres below the level of the Mediterranean.

In such low-lying lands the earth, warmed by sky of fire, while it is refreshed with abundant waters, clothes the fields with every variety of plant.  "The walnut, a tree of colder regions, here springs up majestic, while the palm tree bends beneath its load of fruit, as in the torrid zones.  At their side products of the temperate climes here thrive and flourish, — the grape, the fig, and the olive.  It seems as if Nature had reversed all her laws to gather together in these places everything she has to offer which could presents the most striking contrast, — those rich in their native habits are the most opposite.  The difference seasons here dispute with one another for the sway, and exert their influence simultaneously.  Figs and grapes ripen, without intermission, during ten months, and the other fruits never are damaged by any season of the year."


In this picture it is easy to recognise the touch of a Galilean, proud of his fatherland and its beautiful lake.  There is not a particle of exaggeration in it, however; for even in our days, only let the Bedouins cease from their ravagings for a season, and the traveller will still find the palm trees overshadowing the Lake of Tiberias; in the meadows of Magdala he will see the indigo, the lotus, and sugar cane, while all around the lake still gleams a crimson girdle of laurel roses.

With no less complacency does Josephus boast of the fecundity of the waters.  The fish were so abundant that the fishermen living along its banks could be counted by the hundred; there were even two villages bearing the name of Bethsaïda, (The Fishery House).  Therefore, ever since the partition of Judaea among the sons of Israel, the right of casting nets into the lake had been reserved, as the common privilege of each and every inhabitant, by the law of Moses.  In the time of Jesus thousands of bright sails sparkled over the sea: there were Roman galleys, Herod's fine fleet, and fishermen's craft in plenty.  Today there are only three boats, which lie almost unused by the indolent seamen of Tiberias and Mejdel.

So it was, too, with the cities of the lake; today lying in ruins, formerly so busy and populous.  They were mostly dotted in a close line along the western shore; for on the eastern side the scarped and steep cliffs, rising from the water’s edge, make the shore inaccessible, except by way of the gorges, through which rush the mountain torrents in the winter season.  Of all these towns the city of Tiberias was the most famous.  Herod Antipas had only recently founded it, in honour of his protector Tiberius, and with such sumptuosity of architecture and ornament as the tastes which he had cultivated during his sojourn in Rome now prompted.  However, in his contempt for all Judaic customs, he had erected his Capitol upon the site of an ancient cemetery; and by so doing had closed its portals so far as the Jews were concerned, for they could not enter therein without contamination.  It was useless for him to multiply his solicitations, his favours, his privileges: he never triumphed over the scruples of his people.  Tiberias still remained, for the most part, a city of foreigners, Greeks and Romans who were charmed with their residence more Pagan than Jewish in tone and aspect, with the gilded palace of Antipas, his amphitheatre, and the warm baths of the ancient Ammaüs.  It is more than probable that Jesus never entered the gates of this city, and only from afar did He look upon its snowy ramparts and palaces of marble.

To the north of Tiberias the hill-ranges approach nearer to the shores; and the highway, climbing along a cliff, follows its trend for an hour or so, until it comes out upon the Plain of Genesareth.  There the heights, sweeping back from the sea once more, former natural amphitheatre encircling those fields which the Talmud calls the Paradise of Earth. Genesareth is no longer the fair and fragrant garden through which Jesus wondered long ago; yet now, in its desolation, it still bears delicate traces of its former fertility, in the spring-time covered with flowers, with thickets of laurel-roses overshadowing its brooks, while the thistles roundabout grow to be a veritable coppice, through which it is with difficulty that the traveller can tear a passage-way.

It is to the streams of water which have been so lavishly granted it, that Genesareth owes her garment of flowers.  In the south there is a " Round Fountain" (Medaouarah); in the north, the Spring of the Fig-tree (Aïn et-Tin); in the centre, a stream (which is, in fact, a river), falls sparkling from the mill-wheel of Shoncheh, and gliding through a thousand channels, moistens the fields along their course to the lake.  It seems as if even this wealth of waters was not thought sufficient to freshen Genesareth, for athwart the barrier cliff which rises over the northern part of the plain an aqueduct has been channelled out to divert this way the waters of Tabigah.

Still farther on the banks present a different scene: here the hillside slopes gently down to the lake, while all strong winds are warded off by the thick clumps of caper-trees, tamararisks, and laurels.  But on the summit of the hills and on the farther side of these mountains, there is nothing beside barren and scant pasturages, where a stony surface of basalt stares one in the face.

Such is the general landscape of the country bordering the western shores of the lake.  From Tiberias to the outlet of the Jordan, it forms a curve of nearly four leagues; and it is here that the town's made famous by the gospel are to be found, — Magdala, Capharnaum, Bethsaïda, and Chorozaïn.

Lake Genesareth, from Magdala. J-J Tissot.

The first named is the only one of the cities which can be easily located.  The desolate little village of Mejdel, situated at the southern extremity of the plain of Genesareth, still retains the name of Magdala, — the native place of the Magdalene, from whom Jesus drove seven devils, and who in gratitude for her deliverance followed Him even to the foot of the Cross.

It is more difficult to discover any traces of Capharnaum, "the city of Jesus." Geographers sometimes locate it to the south, it in the Plain of Genesareth, close by Round Fountain, (Aïn Medaouarah); sometimes in the north, in the vicinity of the Fig-tree Spring (Aïn et-Tin); sometimes even in Tell Houm, near the outlet of the Jordan.  The latter is only chosen for the reason that in its neighbourhood are some beautiful ruins, and in its name is contained the last syllable of Capharnaum. Aïn Medaouarah, on the other hand, is too distant from the lake to be regarded as the site of Capharnaum, "on the sea-shore;" and furthermore, in the neighbouring parts there are no remains of any such ruined town.  While, on the contrary, to the south of Aïn et-Tin, rise two masses of ruins, one of which gives certain indications of being a tomb, while far and near as far as Ouadi el-Amoud the ground is strewn with stones and ruins.  It is in this locality that, in harmony with the most ancient traditions, we have placed Capharnaum; for this position alone, or so it seems to us, answers to the descriptions of it in the Gospel, lying in the Plane of Genesareth, close by the lake, within the borders of Zabulon and Nephthali, and upon the high road of the caravans which, coming from the East and from Damascus, would descend by this route into Egypt.

Yet after all it matters little enough what opinion one may cherishas to these geographical questions; for, however uncertain we are as to the precise spot whereon the Christ made His abode, at least we know in what places He dwelt.  It is with perfect assurance that we hold the Plain of Genesareth in veneration, since Jesus once trod its paths; here His bark came to land when He left the opposite shore; just here too the little boat was pushed out from land at the time when, crowds becoming so great about Him, the Master would so order it that all might hear some one of those Parables over which the world will meditate to the end of time.  Somewhere, too, above those meadow-lands which today lie untilled, stood in those days the synagogue where Jesus healed the Demoniac; there too was the residence of Jaïrus, with that of the Centurion to whom He gave back his faithful servant; the dwelling where Simon's mother-in-law lay in all the languor is and pains of fever.  Matthew the publican had his toll-gatherers office on "the highway which skirts the sea," close by that caravansary whose ruins are still visible at Khan Miniëh.

Past the promontory which shuts in the Plain of Genesareth on the north, crossing over a sandy beach strewn with sea-shells, Jesus would find Bethsaïda, the native-place of His disciples Peter, Andrew, Philip, James, and John. Aïn Tabigah today marks its site for us; for Saint Matthew speaks of this village as being on the border of the lake, between Capharnaum and Chorozaïn; and Saint Mark adds that it was near Genesareth.  Now Aïn Tabigah is separated from the Plain only by a little headland; further on, along the shore, there are no traces of any habitations until we come to Tell Houm, and we are presuming that Tell Houm is Chorozaïn.  While, furthermore, there is no position which could have answered better for a fisherman's hamlet.  Here they had a bay sheltered from the winds; there are the mouths of numberless little streams also, whose fall would draw the the great runs of fish; and there was too a smooth strand on which they could beach their boats.  It was here that Jesus was walking when he called the sons of Jonas and Zebedee to Him; it is here that He went aboard of Simon's bark, and miraculously filled his nets to overflowing.

We have said that Tell Houm appears to locate the whereabouts of Chorozaïn.  This region, in fact, is where we find the ruins most numerous, — great columns lying along the ground, the remains of a synagogue which was without a rival in Palestine.  Big blocks of stone whereon the eyes of Jesus rested are still scattered about the foot of the hills, which, from Aïn Tabigah to the outlet of the Jordan, form a graceful border about the Sea of Tiberias.

Bethsaïda, Lake Genesareth. J-J Tissot.

Genesareth, Capharnaum, Bethsaïda, Chorozaïn, or, in a word, the western shore of the lake, in length about three or four leagues, formed therefore the field chosen for the Ministry of Jesus.  This region was the most populous of all Palestine, and nowhere else would the Saviour have found that commingling of races, manners, religions, sects, which made it well deserve its name of Galilee of the Gentiles.  Officers of the court of Herod, Greeks from Decapolis, countrymen, fishers, Galileans, courtesans whom contact with the Pagan cities had corrupted, Syrians, Phoenicians, Orientals, whose caravans were following down "the road that runs along the borders of the sea," soldiers, Roman centurions, set to watch over these tumultuous lands, publicans seated by the highway to collect taxes, — made up of such a motley multitude was the populace through which Jesus passed, and which He was soon to draw after Him.

Then two, as there was no one central point from which His renown could have spread abroad so swiftly throughout all Syria, so also there was no place to place which offered Him more secure retreats in seasons either of weariness or a danger.  In a few hours a boat could bear him to the mountain fastnesses of Gaulanitis, amid whose solitudes He often consecrated whole days and nights to prayer.  A three hours walk from the lake in a northerly direction would bring Him into the kingdom of a just and mild prince, the Tetrarch Philip.  Jesus had only to cross the frontier, should it be needful to shield Himself from any blows from Herod; and He did more than once take this precaution, for that listless monarch had intervals of bloodthirsty activity.  On these occasions we shall see Jesus taking refuge near to the other Bethsaïda in the north where Philip had taken up his abode.  But these periods of absence were of short duration; as soon as Herod had fallen back into his usual indolent mood Jesus would return to His chosen land of Genesareth.
Thus from the testimony of olden times we have tried to rehabilitate that countryside just as it was when long ago Jesus saw and loved it.  Today the traveller coming down to the borderlands about the Sea of Tiberias, with his fancy filled with such memories as these, would be sadly undeceived.  The green pastures, the vines, and the orchards have disappeared; the flourishing towns are only heaps of ruins; jackals slink about the synagogue of Tell Houm, where Jesus taught; the few thorny thickets do not suffice to temper the great heats within these hollow spaces, and the air which one breathes fairly burns with the dry glow.  The lake indeed still shimmers in the sunlight between the long lines of hills, as clear and as calm as it was of old; it reflects the same horizon and the same sky.  And yet all that the scene has lost in grace and in beauty it has gained in savage majesty, nay more, in eloquence, in sooth; for this sea aforetime so brilliant with life, and now doomed to the desolation of death, must recall great thoughts to all who wonder about the solitary stretches of sand along its shores today, thoughts which remind us how terrible it is to reject the word of God and incur His Anathemas.

"Woe to thee Chorozaïn!  Woe to thee, Bethsaïda!  For if Tyre and Sidon had beheld such miracles wrought among them as have been worked in your midst, they would have done penance long since in sackcloth and ashes.  This is why I say to you that Tyre and Sidon in the Day of Judgment shall be dealt with more mercifully than shall you.  And thou, Capharnaum, wouldst thou lift thyself up to the heavens?  Thou shalt be humbled down to Hell; for if the miracles which have been done in thee had been wrought in Sodom, she would perchance be living even to this day.  This is why I say to thee, in the Day of Judgment, the land of Sodom shall be dealt with more mercifully than shalt thou." [Matt. xi. 21-24.]

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam