Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

GALILEE

(Heb. gālîl; Gk. Galilaía)

Sea of Galilee, from its southern end, E of Yardenit. Mt. Hermon and Golan are in the distance (Phoenix Data Systems, Neal and Joel Bierling)

The northern region of Palestine, shaped by geology, prehistory, and historic circumstance for an important role in the emergence of both Judaism and Christianity. Called Galilee since at least the 7th century b.c.e., the region was bounded roughly by the Esdraelon Plain to the south, the plain of Acco and the Phoenician lowlands to the west, the Litani River to the north, and the Golan Heights to the east. Josephus (BJ 3.3.1 [35-40]) and the Talmud (m. Šeb. 9:2) distinguished Upper and Lower Galilee, marked roughly by the great escarpment on the line from Acco to Safed. Upper Galilee ranges to ca. 1200 m. (3900 ft.) above sea level, while Lower Galilee reaches only 600 m. (1970 ft.). The area around the freshwater Galilean lake (OT “Sea of Chinnereth,” NT “Sea of Galilee”) was considered part of Galilee; in the 1st century c.e. this included some of the eastern shore (Gamala). Fed by the Jordan River from Lake Huleh and the Lebanon range, the lake surface lies ca. 210 m. (690 ft.) below sea level. Galilean rainfall averages between 300 and 1000 mm. (12-39 in.) per year, providing ample water for perennial springs and agriculture.

The major geologic features of Galilee were established during the Cretaceous and Eocene periods when encroachments of the Mediterranean Sea laid down the sedimentary rocks so prevalent in the terrain today. Cenomanian-Turonian limestones and Senonian chalks supplied the basic building materials, with limestone making up the hills and mountains and chalks eventually eroding to become fertile valleys. The eastern part of Galilee, however, was subject to volcanic activity. Basalt rock there overlies the limestone.

Enormous tectonic forces forced the Jordan Valley to drop, creating the Galilean lake and the Jordan River, and orienting the major lines of Galilean topography east and west. Fertile valleys transect the Lower Galilean landscape, and during ancient times offered important agricultural produce — especially grain, grapes, and olives (cf. Deut. 8:8) — as well as natural avenues for human commerce. Geology also opened Galilee to the cultural and political “tectonics” of Mediterranean history.

Prehistoric Galilee was the home of important hominid activity. Neanderthals inhabited caves during the Middle Paleolithic period (Naḥal ʿAmud), and ancestral homo sapiens dwelling at Qafzeh were apparently the first humans to inter the dead. Indeed, human habitation is attested continuously in Galilee from the Paleolithic through the Bronze Ages. The agricultural revolution in the Neolithic period made possible the numerous settlements that dotted Galilee in the Bronze Age, including at times the mountain regions. Large cities like Hazor and Megiddo controlled the best land and the major routes of commerce. Nomadic ancestors of Israel may have wandered through Galilee, but little is made of this in the Bible.

Israelite Period

The biblical period of Galilee began with the Late Bronze–Early Iron Age transition. Josh. 19 perhaps contains early Israelite traditions and indicates that Asher, Zebulun, Naphtali, and Issachar received tribal allotments of land in Galilee. Dan moved at a later time to extreme Upper Galilee (Josh. 19:40-48; Judg. 18). For an accurate picture, biblical records must be supplemented by archaeological information and extrabiblical documentary material. The Egyptian Merneptah Stela provides the earliest mention (ca. 1225) of the people “Israel,” suggesting a location in northern Palestine. Archaeological surveys by Yohanan Aharoni, Zvi Gal, and Rafael Frankel trace possible “Israelite” remains in the mountainous terrain of western Upper Galilee (Asher, Josh. 19:24-31) and eastern Lower Galilee (Zebulun and Naphtali, 19:10-16, 32-39), but no Iron Age remains attest the presence of Issachar (cf. Josh. 19:17-23). The Israelites were able to settle and control mountainous regions, while the Phoenicians and Canaanites continued to dominate the rich agricultural valleys and plains, down to the time of David.

Apparently, the earliest attested usage of the Hebrew noun gālîl (“circle,” “district”), in construct state, required a completing noun: Isa. 9:1 (MT 8:23) means lit., “The circle (region) of the nations (gôyim).” Late Israelite usage always includes the definite article, making gālîl into a proper noun, the Galilee (1 Kgs. 9:11; 1 Chr. 6:76[61]; cf. Josh. 20:7; 21:32). That Galilee does not appear prominently in the biblical saga is to some extent perspectival, since southern Judahite interests gave final shape to the OT. The relatively few mentions frequently concern transitory battles or military operations: Joshua at the waters of Merom in Upper Galilee (Josh. 11:1-10); Deborah’s forces at the Kishon Brook (Judg. 4–5); Gideon at Harod in the Esdraelon Plain (Judg. 6–8). Solomon, moreover, fortified Megiddo and Hazor (1 Kgs. 9:15) and traded Galilean villages for Phoenician culture (vv. 10-13). During the time of the divided kingdoms, Ahab also built fortresses at Megiddo and Hazor and conducted campaigns against the king of Damascus near Galilee (1 Kgs. 20:26). Jehu’s rebellion sent rivers of blood through the Jezreel Valley (Hos. 1:4-5; 2 Kgs. 9–10).

Galilee thus earns mention only when controlled or contested by powerful Canaanite, Phoenician, Syrian, Ephraimite, or Judahite interests. Isaiah’s comment (Isa. 9:1[8:23]) pertains to the Assyrian removal of the northern kingdom Israel (721) and the region’s transformation into Assyrian provinces. Archaeology suggests that the area was unsettled for over a century thereafter (cf. 2 Chr. 30:10-11). Seán Freyne’s landmark study explores to what extent Israelites continued in the Galilee between Assyrian and Hellenistic-Roman times.

Hellenistic-Roman Period

Recent Galilean inquiries have noted Maccabean concern with northern populations loyal to Jerusalem (1 Macc. 5:1-15). Debate has centered on how to construe Ioudaíos as applied to regions or peoples outside of Judea proper (under Judean influence? Judean-orientation? Jew?).

A general dispatched to the Galilee during the early phases of the Judean-Roman War (66-67 c.e.), Josephus is the best historical source for Palestinian affairs in this time and gives important literary testimony to its culture and society. The historical worth of Talmudic references to 1st-century Galilee, however, is sharply debated after the form-critical work of Jacob Neusner and students has shown the difficulties of separating out early material.

Much concern understandably focuses on the historical activity of Jesus of Nazareth in Galilee. Jesus hailed from Nazareth of Galilee (Mark 6:1; John 1:46; cf. Mark 16:7). Recent excavation at Capernaum, the locale of major activity (Mark 2:1; Matt. 4:13; cf. Luke 10:13-15), corroborates the picture of Mark 1:29. Ernest Renan’s picture (in his 1893 Life of Jesus) of the sunny rural innocence of Jesus’ homeland epitomized romantic, 19th-century notions of Galilee. Albrecht Alt, William F. Albright, and others built the literary and archaeological foundations for a more sophisticated understanding. Recently, intensive literary study of the Gospel material, especially Q (apparently originating in Galilee in the 30s-40s), has provided important new baselines for historical Jesus arguments.

Concern with social history has deepened understanding of Galilean society. For example, Burton Mack sees Lower Galilee as a highly Hellenized and cosmopolitan region, and has argued that Jesus, like the ancient Cynics, identified the kingdom of God with a naturalistic life free of social convention. Eric Meyers and James Strange have investigated cultural and political connections through regional archaeology, showing that Phoenician, Syrian, and Judean influences continued in Galilee.

Early Church and Rabbis

There is little solid textual evidence, other than the scribal traditions of Q, for the perdurance of the Jesus movement in Galilee after his death. Early Christian tradition preserves surprisingly little about any sizable Christian presence in Galilee in the first several centuries c.e. However, the house of Peter at Capernaum apparently was continuously venerated until an octagonal Byzantine martyrion was constructed. Numerous Byzantine churches were built in the region, notably at Capernaum and Nazareth.

After the devastating revolt of Bar Kokhba (132-135), Judeans were driven north, and many rabbinic centers flourished in Galilee during late Roman and Byzantine times. The Mishnah was codified by Rabbi Judah the Prince in the early 3rd century at Sepphoris, and numerous synagogues were constructed.

Bibliography. M. Aviam, Z. Gal, and A. Ronen. “Galilee,” NEAEHL, 2:449-58; S. Freyne, Galilee from Alexander the Great to Hadrian, 323 b.c.e. to 135 c.e. (Wilmington, 1980); R. A. Horsley, Galilee: History, Politics, People (Valley Forge, 1995); L. I. Levine, ed., The Galilee in Late Antiquity (New York, 1992).

Douglas E. Oakman

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

GALILEE

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)