A city east of the, in a “desert place” (that is, uncultivated ground used for grazing) possibly the site at which miraculously fed the multitude with five loaves and two fish ( 6:32; 9:10). It may be possible to identify this site with the village of Bethsaida in Lower which the raised to the rank of a polis in the year 30/31, and renamed it Julias, in honor of, the wife of. It lay near the place where the Jordan enters the (Ant., XVIII, ii, 1; BJ, II, ix, 1; III, x, 7; Vita, 72). This city was most likely located at, a ruined site on the east side of the Jordan on rising ground, 2 km from the sea.

This distance poses a problem however. Why would a fishing village be so far from the water? During Biblical times the water level of the Sea of Galilee was higher and came up to the base of et-Tell. A combination of three hypothesises can explain this. Dissenters suggest two other sites as possible locations for Bethsaida: el-Araj and El-Mesydiah.

Both of these sites are located on the present shoreline, however, preliminary excavations have revealed only a small number of ruins not dating from before the Byzantine Period. Schumacher is however inclined to favor (a ruin and winter village of Arab ) which stands on an artificial mound about a mile and a half from the mouth of the Jordan. However, the name is in origin radically different from Bethsaida. The substitution of sin for cad is easy; but the insertion of the guttural ‛ain is impossible. No trace of the name Bethsaida has been found in the district; but any one of the sites named would meet the requirements. To this neighborhood Jesus retired by boat with His disciples to rest a while. The multitude following on foot along the northern shore of the lake would cross the Jordan by the at its mouth which is used by foot travelers to this day.

The “desert” of the narrative is just the of the Arabs where the animals are driven out for pasture. The “green grass” of Mark 6:39, and the “much grass” of 6:10, point to some place in the plain of, on the rich soil of which the grass is green and plentiful compared with the scanty herbage on the higher slopes. Here dwelt,, (John 1:44; John 12:21), and perhaps also and. The house of Andrew and Peter seems to have been not far from the synagogue in ( 8:14; 1:29, etc.). Unless they had moved their residence from Bethsaida to Capernaum, of which there is no record, and which for fishermen was unlikely, Bethsaida must have lain close to Capernaum. It may have been the fishing town adjoining the larger city. As in the case of the other Bethsaida, no name has been recovered to guide us to the site.

On the rocky, however, east of Khān Minyeh we find Sheikh ‛Aly eṣ-Ṣaiyādīn, “Sheikh Aly of the Fishermen,” as the name of a ruined, in which the second element in the name Bethsaida is represented (see also ). Nearby is the site at ‛Ain et-Ṭābigha, which many have identified with Bethsaida of Galilee.

The warm water from copious springs runs into a little bay of the sea in which fishes congregate in great numbers. This has therefore always been a favorite haunt of fishermen. If Capernaum were at Khān Minyeh, then the two lay close together. Haunted Horror 15 Cbr 600. The names of many ancient places have been lost, and others have strayed from their original localities.

The absence of any name resembling Bethsaida need not concern us. Bethsaida was the birth place of. • • The present writer is familiar with these waters in both storm and calm. If the boat was taken from any point in el-Baṭeiḥah towards et-Tell, no east wind would have distressed the rowers, protected as that part is by the mountains. Therefore it was no contrary wind that carried them toward Capernaum and the “land of.” On the other hand, with a wind from the west, such as is often experienced, eight or nine hours might easily be occupied in covering the four or five miles (8 km) from el-Baṭeiḥah to the neighborhood of Capernaum. • The words of Mark (Mark 6:45), it is suggested, have been too strictly interpreted: as the Gospel was written probably at Rome, its author being a native, not of Galilee, but of Jerusalem. Want of precision on topographical points, therefore, need not surprise us.

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But as we have seen above, the “want of precision” must also be attributed to the writer of John 6:17. The agreement of these two favors the strict interpretation. Cacti F5 Host Template For Cacti. Further, if the Gospel of Mark embodies the recollections of Peter, it would be difficult to find a more reliable authority for topographical details connected with the sea on which his fisher life was spent.

• In support of the single-city theory it is further argued that • Jesus withdrew to Bethsaida as being in the jurisdiction of Philip, when he heard of the murder of by, and would not have sought again the territories of the latter so soon after leaving them. • Medieval works of travel notice only one Bethsaida. • The east coast of the sea was definitely attached to Galilee in AD 84, and (circa 140) places Julius in Galilee. It is therefore significant that only the Fourth Gospel speaks of “Bethsaida of Galilee.” • There could hardly have been two Bethsaidas so close together. • But: • It is not said that Jesus came hither that he might leave the territory of Antipas for that of Philip; and in view of Mark 6:30, and Luke 9:10, the inference from Matthew 14:13 that he did so, is not warranted.

• The Bethsaida of medieval writers was evidently on the west of the Jordan River. If it lay on the east, it is inconceivable that none of them should have mentioned the river in this connection. • If the 4th Gospel was not written until well into the 2nd century, then the apostle was not the author; but this is a very precarious assumption. John, writing after AD 84, would hardly have used the phrase “Bethsaida of Galilee” of a place only recently attached to that province, writing, as he was, at a distance from the scene, and recalling the former familiar conditions. • In view of the frequent repetition of names in Palestine the nearness of the two Bethsaidas raises no difficulty.

The abundance of fish at each place furnished a good reason for the recurrence of the name.