Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

CAPERNAUM

(Heb. kĕpar naḥum;
Gk. Kapharnaoúm)

Ruins of the 4th-century c.e. synagogue at Capernaum, a basilica with gabled roof. Its richly ornamented architectural details are unique among the synagogues of Palestine (Consulate General of Israel in New York)

A city on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee, identified with modern Tell µum (Talḥum). Located just to the west of where the Jordan empties into the Sea of Galilee, Capernaum was a border town separating Herod Antipas’ and Herod Philip’s territory during Jesus’ ministry. No texts prior to the 1st century c.e. mention Capernaum, and it is doubtful that the Nahum in its name refers to the OT prophet. Josephus twice anecdotally mentions Capernaum without giving it any political or cultural significance: he once fell off his horse near there, and he (perhaps incorrectly) identified the “Springs of Heptapegon” as the “Springs of Capernaum” (Vita 403; BJ 3.520). Later rabbinic literature notes Capernaum’s association with the minim, an unorthodox Jewish group (which some simply assume to be Jewish-Christians; cf. Qoh. Rab. 1.8).

Archaeological excavations fill the void left in literary texts for Capernaum. More than a century of excavations have unearthed some walls and sherds from the Bronze Age, but the most significant remains date to the Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic periods. The most imposing structures are the 4th-century synagogue and the 5th-century octagonal church. The synagogue is one of the largest in Israel; its white limestone facades stood in stark contrast to the black basalt houses that encircled it. Of interest because of parallel names in the NT is an Aramaic inscription on a column from the Byzantine period that reads “Alphaeus, son of Zebedee, son of John, made this column; may he be blessed (CIJ, 982-83). Whether a basalt floor underneath this synagogue represents a 1st-century synagogue or not is disputed. The 5th-century octagonal church known as St. Peter’s House was rebuilt on a 4th-century house church. Christian graffiti makes it likely that this was the site mentioned by the 4th-century pilgrim Egeria as the “house of the prince of the apostles.” One speculates that the remains under this structure, the so-called insula sacra which was built in the 1st century b.c.e. and occupied in the 1st century c.e., were associated with Peter (Mark 1:29-31). Recent excavations have also uncovered a small bathhouse, analogous to those used by Roman soldiers stationed along Rome’s borders. The obvious link to the Capernaum centurion mentioned in the NT is undermined by the bathhouse’s likely date to the late 1st or 2nd century (Matt. 8:5-13 = Luke 7:1-10).

More significant than these later structures for understanding the life of Jesus has been the picture of 1st-century Capernaum that the excavations paint: crudely made basalt houses reinforced with mud and dung and covered with thatched roofs (cf. Mark 2:1-12). Houses consisted of rooms and animal pens centered around a central beaten earth courtyard. The unpaved roads, the crudely made harbor, and the lack of public Graeco-Roman architectural features renders the Gospel’s use of Gk. pólis hardly appropriate in its proper technical sense (Matt. 9:1; Luke 4:31). With a population of no more than 1500, it was a large village that profited from fishing, as the many fishhooks found there indicate. A 1st-century boat salvaged by archaeologists at nearby Kibbutz Ginnosar provides a good illustration of the type of small boat used by Galilean fishermen. A Roman milestone dating to the early 2nd century confirms that a major road led through Capernaum towards Syria, and Matthew’s traditional identification as a tax collector can perhaps more precisely be tied to border tolls (Matt. 9:9).

The Gospels indicate that Jesus’ ministry centered around Capernaum, and it would not be inaccurate to label it his base of operations. Matt. 4:13 states that Jesus left Nazareth for Capernaum, and Mark 2:1 describes Jesus as being “at home” there. The Gospels record several miracles as having occurred in Capernaum, including the healing of a paralytic who was lowered through an opening in the roof where Jesus was preaching (Mark 2:1-12) and the exorcism of an unclean spirit from a man in the synagogue (1:23-28). Five of the disciples were chosen in or near Capernaum: Peter and Andrew were from Capernaum and were called to follow Jesus near there (Mark 1:16, 29), James and John were fishing nearby when they were called (1:21), and Matthew’s toll booth was apparently stationed there (Matt 9:9-13). Jesus’ unique relationship with Capernaum is perhaps nowhere more apparent than in the vehement woe against Capernaum for its refusal to respond to his teachings (Matt. 11:23).

Bibliography. S. Loffreda, A Visit to Capharnaum (Jerusalem, 1972); Loffreda and V. Tzaferis, “Capernaum,” NEAEHL 1:291-96; J. L. Reed, The Population of Capernaum. Institute for Antiquity and Christianity Occasional Paper 24 (Claremont, 1993); J. E. Taylor, Christians and the Holy Places (Oxford, 1993).

Jonathan L. Reed

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

CAPERNAUM

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)