Capernaum, in the Galilee, and the Lake of Galilee. An aerial view of the region. (land-of-the-bible.com)
Greeting from the Galilee! This week’s virtual tour of Israel continues around the Sea of Galilee. We head toward the northern end of the lake to a place that is best known as the “home away from home” for the Jewish carpenter’s son who was kicked out of his hometown, Nazareth, and spent the last three years of his life living in Capernaum, preaching throughout the region about the kingdom of heaven. His name was Yehoshua, but better known in Christianity as Jesus.
For Christians, this place is called Capernaum, but its Jewish name is Kfar Nachum. It was a poor Jewish fishing town and also the home of Jesus’ disciples Peter and Andrew. The town was under the responsibility of the Roman ruler, Herod Antipas, after the death of his father, Herod the Great in the year 4 BCE. The village was the border of the area ruled by his brother, Philipus, to the north and east. So Herod equipped the town with a customs office and a small garrison under a centurion, and it became a taxing station for those entering the area.
In 1838, the American explorer, Edward Robinson discovered the ruins of ancient Kfar Nachum. The city appeared to the first explorers to be a sad and desolate place. But as more and more of the town was excavated the findings were very exciting. As we enter into biblical Capernaum, we will discover some of those incredible finds and read some New Testament passages of scripture that will bring the site to life.
The Catholic Church built on stilts over the remains of previous churches and the home of Peter and Andrew, two of the disciples of Jesus.
Picture of the archaeological findings at Capernaum prior to the building of the church above it, circa 1989-1990. Photo: Garo Nalbandian, theowlpress.com
When we enter through the gates and into the ancient city we see a very odd site. Just in front of us is a large octagonal shaped building on stilts. It looks a bit like a spaceship. Drawing closer we see that it is a church. How odd. But behold, under the stilts are two more octagonal shaped foundations that look very old. And in the very centre is what looks like a small room. Now, if we open the New Testament to Matthew 8:14 this is what we read, “When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.” This scripture passage is the foundation for what we are looking at. There are very few places that one can stand and say, “this is X marks the spot!” but this is one of them. We are not only in ancient Capernaum, where Peter and Andrew lived; but we are looking at the room where this healing most likely took place! How do we know? Because the archaeologists found symbols that had been engraved into the walls that made reference to Jesus having been in that room (in Latin, insula). For centuries, Christians have memorialized this spot by erecting churches, one on top of the other. In the 4th century, a Domus Ecclesia (home church) was built over the 1st-century insula. In the 5th century, another larger octagonal church was built over this room. And once again, in the 20th century, the Catholic Church we see on stilts was built on top of all the ruins of previous generations. If we walk up the steps and into the church, we can go to the centre of the building and look through the large glass flooring that shows through to the original room in Peter’s house. It is quite an incredible site!
Jesus Healing the Crippled, by Yongsung Kim
Next, we make our way to another large ancient structure, but on the way, we can see the ruins of an entire neighbourhood of 1st-century homes. It reminds us of another story in Mark 2:1-12:
A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven. “Now some teachers of the law were sitting there thinking to themselves, “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
What a story! We are standing in the very neighbourhood that Jesus healed the paralytic. The walls of the houses were constructed with coarse basalt blocks and reinforced with stone and mud, but the stones were not dressed and mortar was not used. The roofs would have been constructed of light wooden beams and thatch mixed with mud. Knowing this, can you envision the people removing a portion of the thatched roof in order to lower the mat through? It all makes sense now.
We continue along the neighbourhood to a huge limestone building. Basalt is the native rock in the area, so this limestone must have been imported. The walls and columns we see have been reconstructed from the ruins that were found on site. It is a spectacular building but what is it; a church or a synagogue? Let’s explore to see if we can find the answer. The building dates to the 4th century. The entrance is from the south facing away from Jerusalem, opposite of most synagogues, which actually face towards Jerusalem. Almost all synagogues face towards Jerusalem so that when the people are praying they are facing where the Temple once stood. So from this understanding, we might think this is a Basilica style church and not a synagogue. But the capitals and door frames that adorn the building have markings of ornaments from the seven species of Israel. This leads us to believe it would be a Jewish synagogue. But the archaeologists couldn’t actually confirm this with certainty until they found an incredible decorative stone with markings of an Aron Kodesh (cabinet for holding the Torah scrolls). And the most interesting part is that the image shows wheels on the bottom of the cabinet, meaning it was portable. So once the people came into the synagogue, they actually could turn around facing the front doors to the south and the Torah scrolls could be wheeled in, therefore, being able to have the service facing and praying towards Jerusalem. This is one of only a few examples of the creativity that people face when the geographic lay of the land doesn’t allow for conventional architecture. Pretty cool, right?
A carved stone found in Capernaum depicting the Aron Kodesh on wheels (IsraeLink Staff pic)
So given that we know this was a synagogue from the 4th century, we can further assess that the exactly sized basalt foundation that was found under the limestone foundation, dated to the 1st century, is also a synagogue. This is as exciting as it gets because this would have been the synagogue that Jesus preached in when he came to Kfar Nachum (Capernaum)! The first words he ever preached were “Repent” (Matt. 4:12-25). He probably preached right here in this spot, in a 2nd Temple period synagogue 2,000 years ago!
As we leave the site through a beautiful sitting area with large trees, the perimeter is lined with all kinds of artefacts uncovered during the excavations. It is referred to as an archaeological graveyard. We can see a whole display of ancient basalt grinding millstones; suggesting that there was a wheat industry located in the town. There are limestone column capitals engraved with Jewish symbols, such as menorahs (seven-branched candelabras) and shofars (ram’s horns), several shell shaped arches, all signs that there was indeed a synagogue here in the 1st and 4th centuries.
Kfar Nachum/ Capernaum is a must-see site for Jews and Christians alike. It was a town of Jewish fishermen and farmers, who welcomed Jesus of Nazareth into their homes, heard him teach in the synagogue, heal the sick, and speak of repentance. Some followed him and others did not. But one thing we know is that the stories of what happened in this place have lived on for 2,000 years.
Our tour will continue around the Galilee next week. Please join us again!
Shalom from Israel and Shavua Tov! (Good Week)
