That the World May Know

A City Fit for the HerodsThere is no biblical record of Jesus teaching in Sepphoris, but we know that he grew up in the nearby village of Nazareth. From his hometown, Jesus could probably see the impressive city, which covered nearly five hundred ...

Light to the World

Light To The WorldIsrael was called "an olive tree, leafy and fair," because they shed light on all. Ancient Jewish Commentary on Jer. 11:16Olive trees and the abundance of oil they produce were significant in the lives of the people of ...

No Greater Love

Korazin - The CityStudying the ruins of Korazin and other Galilean towns, scholars have pieced together a picture of family life in the first century. Korazin stood in the northwestern corner of the Galilee region, about three miles from the sea. ...

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Encyclopedia

Modern-day Fishing

Modern-day FishingToday fishermen catch the same fish and use the same nets as the disciples did. The Sea of Galilee is near the hills of today's Golan Heights and the Decapolis of Jesus' day. The cool wind blowing off the hills sinks rapidly onto...

Mount of Beatitudes

Tradition holds that this is the place where Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7). There is no concrete evidence to support this belief because the exact location is not specified in the Scriptures. However, this slope is in the righ...

Movements of Jesus' Day

Four views of JudaismIn Jesus' day, there were varying philosophies within the Jewish faith. While some Jews embraced the Roman rulers, others resisted with violence. And whereas some Jewish believers lived a simple, isolated lifestyle...

Net Weight

Net WeightIn Jesus' day, fishing nets were made of fibers, sometimes linen.They had wood floats along one edge and sinkers attached to the rope at the bottom. These net sinkers were often made of small stones of basalt, flint, or limestone. A smal...

Olive Grove

Olive trees rarely reach 20 feet high. This ancient tree, with is gnarled trunk, is still very productive after 100 or more years of bearing olives. The root system of olive trees spreads wide to obtain the necessary moisture in Israel's relativel...

Olive Oil Processing

The cultivation and harvesting of olives was essential to Galilee's first-century economy. A community olive processing installation included an olive crusher, which cracked the olives in order to produce an initial flow of oil, and an olive press...

Orthodox Triangle Area

Certainly not all people who lived in this fertile area were religious or even Jewish. But it is clear that most inhabitants of the sea's northwestern side were very religious;a fact supported by the many synagogues discovered there.Jesus conducte...

People around the Sea

People Around the Sea Galilee was heavily populated in the first century, especially around the sea. The remains of the area indicate that several villages and towns had populations of more than 5,000 people. Perhaps that is one of the reasons Jes...

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Glossary

Mount Arbel Definition

Mountain ridge 1,000 feet above the Sea of Galilee. Site of a brutal battle in 38 BC between Galilean Jews and Herod the Great for control of Galilee.

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