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"CAPHARNAUM"
Northern Shore of The Sea of Galilee, Israel

Thursday, ‎December ‎26, ‎2013

Sixth Day of my Holy Land Trip, Mount Zion, Jerusalem

My Holy Land Trip

"CAPHARNAUM"

Northern Shore of The Sea of Galilee, Israel

St Peter, after the Franciscan monastery, Capernaum, northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee:

Capernaum is an ancient fishing village on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee in Israel. It is home to a celebrated Byzantine-era synagogue as well as the house where Jesus healed a paralytic and St. Peter's mother-in-law.

On the way to Caphernaum, the fishing village inhabited from mid 2nd century BC to 11th century AD. It is located on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee:

THE NAME

The original Semitic name of the settlement is Kefar Nahum, the village (kafar) of Nahum (personal name). It is not possible to identify this Nahum after whom the village was named. Some ancient writers bypassed the problem of identification since they took Nahum as a common noun. For instance, Origen interpreted Kefar Nahum as "the village of consolation" from the etymological meaning of the Hebrew root (consolation); whereas St. Jerome in some cases translated the same name as "the beautiful city", from the Hebrew root n'm (beauty).

The Lake of Galilee on whose shores lies Capharnaum languages as a single name, and the guttural h has been dropped altogether. In the Greek manuscripts of the Gospels two spellings occur, i.e. Capharnaum (Kafarnaouvm) and Capernaum (Kapernaouvm). The first transcription "Capharnaum", closely following the Hebrew pronunciation and adopted also by Josephus Flavius, is the right one, while the spelling "Capernaum" is rather an idiom of the district of Antioch

On the way to Caphernaum, the fishing village inhabited from mid 2nd century BC to 11th century AD. It is located on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee:

Capharnaum And The Gospels

1. Capharnaum "The Town of Jesus"

The rediscovered remains of Capharnaum help us to set several passages of the Gospels in the human and physical context of that site. We learn from the Gospels that Jesus left Nazareth and settled in Capharnaum (Mt 4:12) which in some way became "his own town" (Mt 9:1). Actually Capharnaum much more than Nazareth offered to Jesus a twofold advantage as far as his messianic activity were concerned

On the way to Caphernaum, the fishing village inhabited from mid 2nd century BC to 11th century AD. It is located on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee:

Firstly, Capharnaum was a crossroad of primary importance, being along the Beth-shan-Damascus highway; whereas Nazareth was a mountainous and isolated hamlet. Secondly, Capharnaum was sufficiently apart from the big centers and especially from Tiberius where Herod Antipas had set his capital. In that way Jesus was able to spread his messianic message to many persons without running too soon into trouble with the political and religious leaders.

On the way to Caphernaum, the fishing village inhabited from mid 2nd century BC to 11th century AD. It is located on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee:

In contrast to Nazareth, the population of Capharnaum was highly stratified: fishermen, farmers, artisans, merchants, publicans etc. lived in the same village, but apparently without any strident economical inequality. Even the relations between the inhabitants of Capharnaum and the Romans were surprisingly cordial.

It was a Roman centurion who built the synagogue for the Jewish community, while the elders of the village reciprocated in kindness and pleaded earnestly with Jesus asking him to heal the centurion's servant (Lk 7:1-10). All in all, the inhabitants of Capharnaum were hard workers, parsimonious and open-minded; to those people Jesus addressed himself while in Capharnaum and from the same community Jesus chose many of his apostles either among fishermen (Peter, Andrew, James, John - Mt 4:12-22) or publicans (Matthew-Mk 2:13)

On the way to Caphernaum, the fishing village inhabited from mid 2nd century BC to 11th century AD. It is located on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee:

2. The house of Simon Peter

The Christian community of Capharnaum paid a special attention to the house of Simon Peter. That house became very soon "the house" of the followers of Jesus, i. e. a domus-ecclesia. As a matter of fact, the rediscovered house of Peter is the first example of a domus-ecclesia in the Christian world. The special reasons for this choice can be found in the Gospels. It was Jesus himself who had chosen that house as his home in Capharnaum. In the same way that Capharnaum became "the town of Jesus", Peter's house could be called rightly "the house of Jesus".

Reaching to Caphernaum, the Town of Jesus:

There are several details which recent archaeological discoveries can clarify in a concrete way. The house visited by Jesus was only some 30m south of the synagogue. It was a large house precisely in fact that it consisted of several roofed rooms clustering around a spacious courtyard. We are therefore not surprised when we read in the Gospels that the same house was shared by three families, namely by the families of Peter, of his brother Andrew and of Peter's mother-in-law. Actually this was the standard pattern of the private houses in the living quarters of Capharnaum. 

In front of the Town of Jesus; Capernaum was a fishing village inhabited from mid 2nd century BC to 11th century AD. It is located on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee:

We read that "the whole town came crowding round the door". This detail clearly suggests that a large space was available in front of the house. This is the case indeed. The rediscovered house was along the main NS Street of the village and an additional open space was between the spacious street and the doorway leading to the courtyard of the house.

St Peter, after the Franciscan monastery, Capernaum, northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee:

Peter and Jesus are put together in fact of taxes. Only Matthew, who was previously a tax collector, relates this event. Peter is described as the intermediary between the tax collectors and Jesus. Apparently he was ready to pay both for himself and for Jesus. It is Jesus however who solves the tribute for both. The whole passage hints that Jesus was a guest of Peter, and as such was considered as a member of Peter's family (Mt 17:24-27).

St Peter, after the Franciscan monastery, Capernaum, St Peter, after the Franciscan monastery, Capernaum, Sea of Galilee is in the background:

The mention of the people gathered even in front of the door is a literary reference to Mc 1:33. The Greek expression "en oikoi" can be translated either as in a house, or at home. The second rendering is here recommended. In other words, the healing of the paralytic took place in Peter's house where Jesus lived. The lowering of the paralytic from the stripped roof is not strange at all in the context of the rediscovered living quarters of Capharnaum, where indeed the one storey rooms were covered by light roofs reached through a flight of steps from the courtyard(Mk 2:1-4; cfr. Mt 9:1-18; Lk 5:17-26).

St Peter, after the Franciscan monastery, Capernaum, St Peter, after the Franciscan monastery, Capernaum, Sea of Galilee is in the background:

Another passage depicts two families of Jesus, i. e. his relatives waiting outside, and his followers sitting around him in the house. In the redaction stage of St. Marc the contrast between those who are outside and those who are inside the house, betrays ecclesial-Christological dimensions, meaning those who are inside or outside the Christian community. In some way the house of Jesus in Capharnaum i.e. the house of Peter, receives here the connotations of a Domus-ecclesia (Mk 3:20-21 and 31-35; cfr. Mt 12:46-50; Lk 8:10-21).

The new Church built over Peter's house, Capernaum, northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee:

3. Jairus and the Roman centurion

Besides the house of Simon Peter, three more houses are explicitly mentioned in the Gospels, namely the house of Matthew, where Jesus dined with many tax collectors (Mk 2:15-17); the house of the synagogue official Jairus, the little daughter of whom was brought to life by Jesus (Mk 5:21-23, 35-43); and the house of the Roman centurion (Lk 7:1-10). There is no way to tell where those houses can be found; and this remark applies also to the house of the apostles James and John who for sure were stationed in Capharnaum (Mk 1:19-20). Apparently their location did not concern the Christian community of Capharnaum or at most was soon forgotten. It is not impossible that some of these houses were indeed found by us in the large area so far excavated, but only the house of Peter has been identified.

These are the ruins of a synagogue built on the remains of the synagogue where Jesus taught His disciples and public, Capernaum: