JESUS AT CAPERNAUM.
Beset by an idea, gradually becoming more and more imperious and
exclusive, Jesus proceeds henceforth with a kind of fatal
impassibility in the path marked out by his astonishing genius and the
extraordinary circumstances in which he lived. Hitherto he had only
communicated his thoughts to a few persons secretly attracted to him;
henceforward his teaching was sought after by the public. He was about
thirty years of age.[1] The little group of hearers who had
accompanied him to John the Baptist had, doubtless, increased, and
perhaps some disciples of John had attached themselves to him.[2] It
was with this first nucleus of a church that he boldly announced, on
his return into Galilee, the "good tidings of the kingdom of God."
This kingdom was approaching, and it was he, Jesus, who was that "Son
of Man" whom Daniel had beheld in his vision as the divine herald of
the last and supreme revelation.
[Footnote 1: Luke iii. 23; Gospel of the Ebionites, in Epiph., _Adv.
Hær._, xxx. 13.]
[Footnote 2: John i. 37, and following.]
We must remember, that in the Jewish ideas, which were averse to art
and mythology, the simple form of man had a superiority over that of
_Cherubs_, and of the fantastic animals which the imagination of the
people, since it had been subjected to the influence of Assyria, had
ranged around the Divine Majesty. Already in Ezekiel,[1] the Being
seated on the supreme throne, far above the monsters of the
mysterious chariot, the great revealer of prophetic visions, had the
figure of a man. In the book of Daniel, in the midst of the vision of
the empires, represented by animals, at the moment when the great
judgment commences, and when the books are opened, a Being "like unto
a Son of Man," advances toward the Ancient of days, who confers on him
the power to judge the world, and to govern it for eternity.[2] _Son
of Man_, in the Semitic languages, especially in the Aramean dialects,
is a simple synonym of _man_. But this chief passage of Daniel struck
the mind; the words, _Son of Man_, became, at least in certain
schools,[3] one of the titles of the Messiah, regarded as judge of the
world, and as king of the new era about to be inaugurated.[4] The
application which Jesus made of it to himself was therefore the
proclamation of his Messiahship, and the affirmation of the coming
catastrophe in which he was to figure as judge, clothed with the full
powers which had been delegated to him by the Ancient of days.[5]
[Footnote 1: Chap. i. 5, 26, and following.]
[Footnote 2: Daniel vii. 13, 14; comp. viii. 15, x. 16.]
[Footnote 3: In John xii. 34, the Jews do not appear to be aware of
the meaning of this word.]
[Footnote 4: Book of Enoch, xlvi. 1-3, xlviii. 2, 3, lxii. 9, 14, lxx.
1 (division of Dilmann); Matt. x. 23, xiii. 41, xvi. 27, 28, xix. 28,
xxiv. 27, 30, 37, 39, 44, xxv. 31, xxvi. 64; Mark xiii. 26, xiv. 62;
Luke xii. 40, xvii. 24, 26, 30, xxi. 27, 36, xxii. 69; _Acts_ vii. 55.
But the most significant passage is John v. 27, compared with _Rev._
i. 13, xiv. 14. The expression "Son of woman," for the Messiah, occurs
once in the book of Enoch, lxii. 5.]
[Footnote 5: John v. 22, 27.]
The success of the teaching of the new prophet was this time decisive.
A group of men and women, all characterized by the same spirit of
juvenile frankness and simple innocence, adhered to him, and said,
"Thou art the Messiah." As the Messiah was to be the son of David,
they naturally conceded him this title, which was synonymous with the
former. Jesus allowed it with pleasure to be given to him, although
it might cause him some embarrassment, his birth being well known. The
name which he preferred himself was that of "Son of Man," an
apparently humble title, but one which connected itself directly with
the Messianic hopes. This was the title by which he designated
himself,[1] and he used "The Son of Man" as synonymous with the
pronoun "I," which he avoided. But he was never thus addressed,
doubtless because the name in question would be fully applicable to
him only on the day of his future appearance.
[Footnote 1: This title occurs eighty-three times in the Gospels, and
always in the discourses of Jesus.]
His centre of action, at this epoch of his life, was the little town
of Capernaum, situated on the shore of the lake of Gennesareth. The
name of Capernaum, containing the word _caphar_, "village," seems to
designate a small town of the ancient character, in opposition to the
great towns built according to the Roman method, like Tiberias.[1]
That name was so little known that Josephus, in one passage of his
writings,[2] takes it for the name of a fountain, the fountain having
more celebrity than the village situated near it. Like Nazareth,
Capernaum had no history, and had in no way participated in the
profane movement favored by the Herods. Jesus was much attached to
this town, and made it a second home.[3] Soon after his return, he
attempted to commence his work at Nazareth, but without success.[4] He
could not perform any miracle there, according to the simple remark
of one of his biographers.[5] The knowledge which existed there about
his family, not an important one, injured his authority too much.
People could not regard as the son of David, one whose brother,
sister, and brother-in-law they saw every day, and it is remarkable
besides, that his family were strongly opposed to him, and plainly
refused to believe in his mission.[6] The Nazarenes, much more
violent, wished, it is said, to kill him by throwing him from a steep
rock.[7] Jesus aptly remarked that this treatment was the fate of all
great men, and applied to himself the proverb, "No one is a prophet in
his own country."
[Footnote 1: It is true that Tell-Houm, which is generally identified
with Capernaum, contains the remains of somewhat fine monuments. But,
besides this identification being doubtful, these monuments may be of
the second or third century after Christ.]
[Footnote 2: _B.J._, III. x. 8.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. ix. 1; Mark ii. 1.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xiii. 54, and following; Mark vi. 1, and following;
Luke iv. 16, and following, 23-24; John iv. 44.]
[Footnote 5: Mark vi. 5; cf. Matt. xii. 58; Luke iv. 23.]
[Footnote 6: Matt. xiii. 57; Mark vi. 4; John vii. 3, and following.]
[Footnote 7: Luke iv. 29. Probably the rock referred to here is the
peak which is very near Nazareth, above the present church of the
Maronites, and not the pretended _Mount of Precipitation_, at an
hour's journey from Nazareth. See Robinson, ii. 335, and following.]
This check far from discouraged him. He returned to Capernaum,[1]
where he met with a much more favorable reception, and from thence he
organized a series of missions among the small surrounding towns. The
people of this beautiful and fertile country were scarcely ever
assembled except on Saturday. This was the day which he chose for his
teaching. At that time each town had its synagogue, or place of
meeting. This was a rectangular room, rather small, with a portico,
decorated in the Greek style. The Jews not having any architecture of
their own, never cared to give these edifices an original style. The
remains of many ancient synagogues still exist in Galilee.[2] They are
all constructed of large and good materials; but their style is
somewhat paltry, in consequence of the profusion of floral ornaments,
foliage, and twisted work, which characterize the Jewish buildings.[3]
In the interior there were seats, a chair for public reading, and a
closet to contain the sacred rolls.[4] These edifices, which had
nothing of the character of a temple, were the centre of the whole
Jewish life. There the people assembled on the Sabbath for prayer, and
reading of the law and the prophets. As Judaism, except in Jerusalem,
had, properly speaking, no clergy, the first comer stood up, gave the
lessons of the day (_parasha_ and _haphtara_), and added thereto a
_midrash_, or entirely personal commentary, in which he expressed his
own ideas.[5] This was the origin of the "homily," the finished model
of which we find in the small treatises of Philo. The audience had the
right of making objections and putting questions to the reader; so
that the meeting soon degenerated into a kind of free assembly. It had
a president,[6] "elders,"[7] a _hazzan_, _i.e._, a recognized reader,
or apparitor,[8] deputies,[9] who were secretaries or messengers, and
conducted the correspondence between one synagogue and another, a
_shammash_, or sacristan.[10] The synagogues were thus really little
independent republics, having an extensive jurisdiction. Like all
municipal corporations, up to an advanced period of the Roman empire,
they issued honorary decrees,[11] voted resolutions, which had the
force of law for the community, and ordained corporal punishments, of
which the _hazzan_ was the ordinary executor.[12]
[Footnote 1: Matt. iv. 13; Luke iv. 31.]
[Footnote 2: At Tell-Houm, Irbid (Arbela), Meiron (Mero), Jisch
(Giscala), Kasyoun, Nabartein, and two at Kefr-Bereim.]
[Footnote 3: I dare not decide upon the age of those buildings, nor
consequently affirm that Jesus taught in any of them. How great would
be the interest attaching to the synagogue of Tell-Houm were we to
admit such an hypothesis! The great synagogue of Kefr-Bereim seems to
me the most ancient of all. Its style is moderately pure. That of
Kasyoun bears a Greek inscription of the time of Septimus Severus. The
great importance which Judaism acquired in Upper Galilee after the
Roman war, leads us to believe that several of these edifices only
date back to the third century--a time in which Tiberias became a sort
of capital of Judaism.]
[Footnote 4: 2 _Esdras_ viii. 4; Matt. xxiii. 6; Epist. James ii. 3;
Mishnah, _Megilla_, iii. 1; _Rosh Hasshana_, iv. 7, etc. See
especially the curious description of the synagogue of Alexandria in
the Talmud of Babylon, _Sukka_, 51 _b_.]
[Footnote 5: Philo, quoted in Eusebius, _Præp. Evang._, viii. 7, and
_Quod Omnis Probus Liber_, § 12; Luke iv. 16; _Acts_ xiii. 15, xv. 21;
Mishnah, _Megilla_, iii. 4, and following.]
[Footnote 6: [Greek: Archisunagôgos].]
[Footnote 7: [Greek: Presbyteroi].]
[Footnote 8: [Greek: Hupêretês].]
[Footnote 9: [Greek: Apostoloi], or [Greek: angeloi].]
[Footnote 10: [Greek: Diakonos]. Mark v. 22, 35, and following; Luke
iv. 20, vii. 3, viii. 41, 49, xiii. 14; _Acts_ xiii. 15, xviii. 8, 17;
_Rev._ ii. 1; Mishnah, _Joma_, vii. 1; _Rosh Hasshana_, iv. 9; Talm.
of Jerus., _Sanhedrim_, i. 7; Epiph., _Adv. Hær._, xxx. 4, 11.]
[Footnote 11: Inscription of Berenice, in the _Corpus Inscr. Græc._,
No. 5361; inscription of Kasyoun, in the _Mission de Phenicie_, book
iv. [in the press.]]
[Footnote 12: Matt. v. 25, x. 17, xxiii. 34; Mark xiii. 9; Luke xx.
11, xxi. 12; _Acts_ xxii. 19, xxvi. 11; 2 _Cor._ xi. 24; Mishnah,
_Maccoth_, iii. 12; Talmud of Babylon, _Megilla_, 7 _b;_ Epiph., _Adv.
Hær._, xxx. 11.]
With the extreme activity of mind which has always characterized the
Jews, such an institution, notwithstanding the arbitrary rigors it
tolerated, could not fail to give rise to very animated discussions.
Thanks to the synagogues, Judaism has been able to sustain intact
eighteen centuries of persecution. They were like so many little
separate worlds, in which the national spirit was preserved, and which
offered a ready field for intestine struggles. A large amount of
passion was expended there. The quarrels for precedence were of
constant occurrence. To have a seat of honor in the first rank was the
reward of great piety, or the most envied privilege of wealth.[1] On
the other hand, the liberty, accorded to every one, of instituting
himself reader and commentator of the sacred text, afforded marvelous
facilities for the propagation of new ideas. This was one of the
great instruments of power wielded by Jesus, and the most habitual
means he employed to propound his doctrinal instruction.[2] He entered
the synagogue, and stood up to read; the _hazzan_ offered him the
book, he unrolled it, and reading the _parasha_ or the _haphtara_ of
the day, he drew from this reading a lesson in conformity with his own
ideas.[3] As there were few Pharisees in Galilee, the discussion did
not assume that degree of vivacity, and that tone of acrimony against
him, which at Jerusalem would have arrested him at the outset. These
good Galileans had never heard discourses so adapted to their cheerful
imaginations.[4] They admired him, they encouraged him, they found
that he spoke well, and that his reasons were convincing. He answered
the most difficult objections with confidence; the charm of his speech
and his person captivated the people, whose simple minds had not yet
been cramped by the pedantry of the doctors.
[Footnote 1: Matt. xxiii. 6; Epist. James ii. 3; Talmud of Bab.,
_Sukka_, 51 _b_.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. iv. 23, ix. 35; Mark i. 21, 39, vi. 2; Luke iv. 15,
16, 31, 44, xiii. 10; John xviii. 20.]
[Footnote 3: Luke iv. 16, and following. Comp. Mishnah, _Joma_, vii.
1.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. vii. 28, xiii. 54; Mark i. 22, vi. 1; Luke iv. 22,
32.]
The authority of the young master thus continued increasing every day,
and, naturally, the more people believed in him, the more he believed
in himself. His sphere of action was very limited. It was confined to
the valley in which the Lake of Tiberias is situated, and even in this
valley there was one region which he preferred. The lake is five or
six leagues long and three or four broad; although it presents the
appearance of an almost perfect oval, it forms, commencing from
Tiberias up to the entrance of the Jordan, a sort of gulf, the curve
of which measures about three leagues. Such is the field in which the
seed sown by Jesus found at last a well-prepared soil. Let us run
over it step by step, and endeavor to raise the mantle of aridity and
mourning with which it has been covered by the demon of Islamism.
On leaving Tiberias, we find at first steep rocks, like a mountain
which seems to roll into the sea. Then the mountains gradually recede;
a plain (_El Ghoueir_) opens almost at the level of the lake. It is a
delightful copse of rich verdure, furrowed by abundant streams which
proceed partly from a great round basin of ancient construction
(_Ain-Medawara_). At the entrance of this plain, which is, properly
speaking, the country of Gennesareth, there is the miserable village
of _Medjdel_. At the other extremity of the plain (always following
the sea), we come to the site of a town (_Khan-Minyeh_), with very
beautiful streams (_Ain-et-Tin_), a pretty road, narrow and deep, cut
out of the rock, which Jesus often traversed, and which serves as a
passage between the plain of Gennesareth and the northern slopes of
the lake. A quarter of an hour's journey from this place, we cross a
stream of salt water (_Ain-Tabiga_), issuing from the earth by several
large springs at a little distance from the lake, and entering it in
the midst of a dense mass of verdure. At last, after a journey of
forty minutes further, upon the arid declivity which extends from
Ain-Tabiga to the mouth of the Jordan, we find a few huts and a
collection of monumental ruins, called _Tell-Houm_.
Five small towns, the names of which mankind will remember as long as
those of Rome and Athens, were, in the time of Jesus, scattered in the
space which extends from the village of Medjdel to Tell-Houm. Of these
five towns, Magdala, Dalmanutha, Capernaum, Bethsaida, and
Chorazin,[1] the first alone can be found at the present time with
any certainty. The repulsive village of Medjdel has no doubt preserved
the name and the place of the little town which gave to Jesus his most
faithful female friend.[2] Dalmanutha[3] was probably near there. It
is possible that Chorazin was a little more inland, on the northern
side.[4] As to Bethsaida and Capernaum, it is in truth almost at
hazard that they have been placed at Tell-Houm, Ain-et-Tin,
Khan-Minyeh, and Ain-Medawara.[5] We might say that in topography, as
well as in history, a profound design has wished to conceal the traces
of the great founder. It is doubtful whether we shall ever be able,
upon this extensively devastated soil, to ascertain the places where
mankind would gladly come to kiss the imprint of his feet.
[Footnote 1: The ancient Kinnereth had disappeared or changed its
name.]
[Footnote 2: We know in fact that it was very near Tiberias.--Talmud
of Jerusalem, _Maasaroth_, iii. 1; _Shebiit_, ix. 1; _Erubin_, v. 7.]
[Footnote 3: Mark viii. 10. Comp. Matt. xv. 39.]
[Footnote 4: In the place named _Khorazi_ or _Bir-kerazeh_, above
Tell-Houm.]
[Footnote 5: The ancient hypothesis which identified Tell-Houm with
Capernaum, though strongly disputed some years since, has still
numerous defenders. The best argument we can give in its favor is the
name of _Tell-Houm_ itself, _Tell_ entering into the names of many
villages, and being a substitute for _Caphar_. It is impossible, on
the other hand, to find near Tell-Houm a fountain corresponding to
that mentioned by Josephus (_B.J._, III. x. 8.) This fountain of
Capernaum seems to be Ain-Medawara, but Ain-Medawara is half an hour's
journey from the lake, while Capernaum was a fishing town on the
borders of the lake (Matt. iv. 13; John vi. 17.) The difficulties
about Bethsaida are still greater; for the hypothesis, somewhat
generally admitted, of two Bethsaidas, the one on the eastern, the
other on the western shore of the lake, and at two or three leagues
from one another, is rather singular.]
The lake, the horizon, the shrubs, the flowers, are all that remain of
the little canton, three or four leagues in extent, where Jesus
founded his Divine work. The trees have totally disappeared. In this
country, in which the vegetation was formerly so brilliant that
Josephus saw in it a kind of miracle--Nature, according to him, being
pleased to bring hither side by side the plants of cold countries, the
productions of the torrid zone, and the trees of temperate climates,
laden all the year with flowers and fruits[1]--in this country
travellers are obliged now to calculate a day beforehand the place
where they will the next day find a shady resting-place. The lake has
become deserted. A single boat in the most miserable condition now
ploughs the waves once so rich in life and joy. But the waters are
always clear and transparent.[2] The shore, composed of rocks and
pebbles, is that of a little sea, not that of a pond, like the shores
of Lake Huleh. It is clean, neat, free from mud, and always beaten in
the same place by the light movement of the waves. Small promontories,
covered with rose laurels, tamarisks, and thorny caper bushes, are
seen there; at two places, especially at the mouth of the Jordan, near
Tarichea, and at the boundary of the plain of Gennesareth, there are
enchanting parterres, where the waves ebb and flow over masses of turf
and flowers. The rivulet of Ain-Tabiga makes a little estuary, full of
pretty shells. Clouds of aquatic birds hover over the lake. The
horizon is dazzling with light. The waters, of an empyrean blue,
deeply imbedded amid burning rocks, seem, when viewed from the height
of the mountains of Safed, to lie at the bottom of a cup of gold. On
the north, the snowy ravines of Hermon are traced in white lines upon
the sky; on the west, the high, undulating plateaux of Gaulonitis and
Perea, absolutely arid, and clothed by the sun with a sort of velvety
atmosphere, form one compact mountain, or rather a long and very
elevated terrace, which from Cæsarea Philippi runs indefinitely toward
the south.
[Footnote 1: _B.J._, III. x. 8.]
[Footnote 2: _B.J._, III. x. 7; Jac. de Vitri, in the _Gesta Dei per
Francos_, i. 1075.]
The heat on the shore is now very oppressive. The lake lies in a
hollow six hundred and fifty feet below the level of the
Mediterranean,[1] and thus participates in the torrid conditions of
the Dead Sea.[2] An abundant vegetation formerly tempered these
excessive heats; it would be difficult to understand that a furnace,
such as the whole basin of the lake now is, commencing from the month
of May, had ever been the scene of great activity. Josephus, moreover,
considered the country very temperate.[3] No doubt there has been
here, as in the _campagna_ of Rome, a change of climate introduced by
historical causes. It is Islamism, and especially the Mussulman
reaction against the Crusades, which has withered as with a blast of
death the district preferred by Jesus. The beautiful country of
Gennesareth never suspected that beneath the brow of this peaceful
wayfarer its highest destinies lay hidden.
[Footnote 1: This is the estimate of Captain Lynch (in Ritter,
_Erdkunde_ xv., 1st part, p. 20.) It nearly agrees with that of M. de
Bertou (_Bulletin de la Soc. de Geogr._, 2d series, xii., p. 146.)]
[Footnote 2: The depression of the Dead Sea is twice as much.]
[Footnote 3: _B.J._, III. x. 7 and 8.]
Dangerous countryman! Jesus has been fatal to the country which had
the formidable honor of bearing him. Having become a universal object
of love or of hate, coveted by two rival fanaticisms, Galilee, as the
price of its glory, has been changed to a desert. But who would say
that Jesus would have been happier, if he had lived obscure in his
village to the full age of man? And who would think of these
ungrateful Nazarenes, if one of them had not, at the risk of
compromising the future of their town, recognized his Father, and
proclaimed himself the Son of God?
Four or five large villages, situated at half an hour's journey from
one another, formed the little world of Jesus at the time of which we
speak. He appears never to have visited Tiberias, a city inhabited for
most part by Pagans, and the habitual residence of Antipas.[1]
Sometimes, however, he wandered from his favorite region. He went by
boat to the eastern shore, to Gergesa, for instance.[2] Toward the
north we see him at Paneas or Cæsarea Philippi,[3] at the foot of
Mount Hermon. Lastly, he journeyed once in the direction of Tyre and
Sidon,[4] a country which must have been marvellously flourishing at
that time. In all these countries he was in the midst of Paganism.[5]
At Cæsarea, he saw the celebrated grotto of _Panium_, thought to be
the source of the Jordan, and with which the popular belief had
associated strange legends;[6] he could admire the marble temple which
Herod had erected near there in honor of Augustus;[7] he probably
stopped before the numerous votive statues to Pan, to the Nymphs, to
the Echo of the Grotto, which piety had already begun to accumulate in
this beautiful place.[8]
[Footnote 1: Jos., _Ant._, XVIII. ii. 3; _Vita_, 12, 13, 64.]
[Footnote 2: I adopt the opinion of Dr. Thomson (_The Land and the
Book_, ii. 34, and following), according to which the Gergesa of
Matthew viii. 28, identical with the Canaanite town of _Girgash_
(_Gen._ x. 16, xv. 21; _Deut._ vii. 1; _Josh._ xxiv. 11), would be the
site now named _Kersa_ or _Gersa_, on the eastern shore, nearly
opposite Magdala. Mark v. 1, and Luke viii. 26, name _Gadara_ or
_Gerasa_ instead of Gergesa. _Gerasa_ is an impossible reading, the
evangelists teaching us that the town in question was near the lake
and opposite Galilee. As to Gadara, now _Om-Keis_, at a journey of an
hour and a half from the lake and from the Jordan, the local
circumstances given by Mark and Luke scarcely suit it. It is possible,
moreover, that _Gergesa_ may have become _Gerasa_, a much more common
name, and that the topographical impossibilities which this latter
reading offered may have caused Gadara to be adopted.--Cf. Orig.,
_Comment. in Joann._, vi. 24, x. 10; Eusebius and St. Jerome, _De situ
et nomin. loc. hebr._, at the words [Greek: Gergesa], [Greek:
Gergasei].]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xvi. 13; Mark viii. 27.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xv. 21; Mark vii. 24, 31.]
[Footnote 5: Jos., _Vita_, 13.]
[Footnote 6: Jos., _Ant._, XV. x. 3; _B.J._, I. xxi. 3, III. x. 7;
Benjamin of Tudela, p. 46, edit. Asher.]
[Footnote 7: Jos., _Ant._, XV. x. 3.]
[Footnote 8: _Corpus inscr. gr._, Nos. 4537, 4538, 4538 _b_, 4539.]
A rationalistic Jew, accustomed to take strange gods for deified men
or for demons, would consider all these figurative representations as
idols. The seductions of the naturalistic worships, which intoxicated
the more sensitive nations, never affected him. He was doubtless
ignorant of what the ancient sanctuary of Melkarth, at Tyre, might
still contain of a primitive worship more or less analogous to that of
the Jews.[1] The Paganism which, in Phoenicia, had raised a temple and
a sacred grove on every hill, all this aspect of great industry and
profane riches,[2] interested him but little. Monotheism takes away
all aptitude for comprehending the Pagan religion; the Mussulman,
thrown into polytheistic countries, seems to have no eyes. Jesus
assuredly learned nothing in these journeys. He returned always to his
well-beloved shore of Gennesareth. There was the centre of his
thoughts; there he found faith and love.
[Footnote 1: Lucianus (ut fertur), _De Dea Syria_, 3.]
[Footnote 2: The traces of the rich Pagan civilization of that time
still cover all the Beled-Besharrah, and especially the mountains
which form the group of Cape Blanc and Cape Nakoura.]