June 3rd (part 2): Walking in His footsteps

In my last Israel trip entry, I said that June 3rd was kind of a special day. It was the day we toured all of the towns around the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus did the bulk of His earthly ministry. This day included stops at the three towns where Jesus did most of His preaching and teaching: Capernaum, Bethsaida, and Chorazin (collectively known as the "Evangelical Triangle"). The photo you see here is a sign welcoming us to Capernaum, “The Town of Jesus.” Matthew 4:13 tells us that after His baptism and subsequent time of fasting and temptation in the desert, Jesus lived in Capernaum.


This picture is of a fifth-century church built by Byzantine pilgrims that marks the location of the house of Simon Peter. We know that Peter had a house in Capernaum from Mark 1:29 and Luke 4:38. Also, in this immediate area, archaeologists have unearthed inscriptions from another house, dated to the late first-century A.D., that reference Jesus Christ, Peter, and the Eucharist (Communion, or the Lord’s Supper). It was likely a house church (that’s where churches met back then) that met just a few decades after Jesus lived.


In Israel, churches are often built on top of places of historical significance. At the location of Peter’s house, it has happened twice. A modern church is built over this fifth-century Byzantine church. The photo that you see is an overhead view of the old church from inside the modern church (obviously, looking through protective glass).


Here is a picture of a statue of Peter in Capernaum, complete with a freshly-caught fish at his feet. Not seen in this photo are several inscriptions underneath the statue noting the significant life of Peter.


Having finished our tour of the towns on the northern side of the Sea of Galilee, we proceeded to check out a few interesting places on the eastern shore of the Sea. The first was near a place called Gergesa. The Bible describes it as the region of the Gadarenes. The picture you see is of a steep bank dropping into the Sea of Galilee (it might not look terribly steep in the picture, but believe me, it was very steep). This is the probable place where Jesus drove a legion of demons out of a possessed man, and sent the demons into about two thousand pigs. The pigs then ran down this steep bank into the Sea of Galilee and drowned (see Mark 5:1-17).

By the way, I had always been slightly puzzled by this passage in that, I thought Jews did not tend, raise, or eat pigs. I asked about this. The professor reminded us that the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee was known as the region of the Decapolis (a term mentioned in the Bible). As the name suggests, this was an area of ten Roman cities. Thus the pig farmers were likely not Jewish.


This picture is of prominent mountains on the northeast shore of the Sea of Galilee, and is the most likely sight of the Feeding of the Five Thousand. This is deduced primarily from what we are told in the biblical accounts, i.e. these mountains were in a somewhat remote area, removed from towns and villages, and could support the amount of people referenced in this event (which was five thousand men plus women and children, perhaps fifteen to twenty thousand in all).


Our last stop of the day was at the remains of the Roman city of Hippus. Hippus was one of the cities of the Decapolis. The photo that you see is the main road of the ancient city, the “cardio maximus.” Every Roman city had one. It was kind of like “Main Street.”


Hippus had a lot of interesting Roman remains. In this picture you can see an example. But, what I’d also point out is the mountain top in the background. Hippus was a city that rested atop a mountain of a few thousand feet! I remember as our bus approached Hippus, I noted a large mountain in front of us, but I thought, “No worries, the bus will take us to the top.” But guess what? The bus stopped half way and we had to walk the rest of the way up! Believe me, after a long day of touring, the last thing I wanted to do was make another long, steep trek.

As I think back on my trip now, I can remember having this thought on several of our “final stops of the day.” This trip was mentally and physically taxing. By the end of some days, I just didn’t feel like making one last climb to another ancient city’s ruins. But you know what? In every case, that last stop of the day was well worth any climb. I saw some amazing things on June 3rd, and even though Hippus may not seem to compare to a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee or Peter’s house in Capernaum, nevertheless, I can’t tell you how amazing it was to see the intricate nature of this Roman city perched all alone atop this breathtakingly steep hill. I would have hated to have missed it. I would also have hated to have been the first-century “delivery man” who had to hike a bunch of supplies up that hill every day for the people of Hippus!