NE of the most interesting passages in the writings of Josephus is O that in which he narrates the history of his campaign against the Romans on and around the Lake of Gennesareth. Having spoken of the clear, cold waters of the lake, the innumerable ships and boats which floated upon it, and the prosperous towns and villages which lined its banks, he proceeds to describe the fertile palin from which it takes its name. • The country also that lies over against this lake hath the same name of Gennesareth; its nature is wonderful as well as its beauty; its soil is so fruitful that all sorts of trees can grow upon it, and the inhabitants accordingly plant all sorts of trees there; for the temper of the air is so well mixed, that it agrees very well with those several sorts, particularly walnuts, which require the coldest air, flourish there in vast plenty; there are palm trees also, which grow best in hot air; fig trees also and olives grow near them, which yet require an air that is more temperate. One may call this place the ambition of Nature where it forces those plants that are naturally enemies to one another to agree together; it is a happy contention of the seasons, as if every one of them laid claim to this country; for it not only nourishes different sorts of autumnal fruit beyond men's expectation, but preserves them a great while; it supplies men with the principal fruits, with grapes and figs continually during ten months of the year, and the rest of the fruits THE LAKE OF GENNESARETH. 195 as they become ripe together, through the whole year; for besides the good temperature of the air, it is also watered from a most fertile fountain. The people of the country call it Capharnaum.' The traveller who visits the lake with this passage in his mind, and expects to find its descriptions realised, is doomed to disappointment. The population has disappeared. To the stir of busy life a mournful silence has succeeded. A single filthy ruinous town-Tiberias-half-a-dozen wretched villages, and the black tents of the Bedouins, are the only human habitations. on the banks. Where Herod, Josephus, and Titus could, without difficulty, collect fleets of from three hundred to five hundred vessels, I only found three small fishing-boats, and these so dilapidated that their owners dared not launch them except in a perfect calm. The soil is fertile and productive as ever, but labour is wanting to break up the fallow ground, to cast in the seed, or to reap the harvest. But there is a sense in which this mournful silence and solitude are not inappropriate. There is nothing to distract our thoughts from that Divine Presence which here abode in human form. One great memory lingers undisturbed amongst these hills and valleys. The bustle of modern life and the squalid misery and degradation of the Eastern peasantry would equally clash with the sacred, tender associations of the spot where 'most 1 Bell. Jud. x. § 8. of His mighty works were done,' most of His 'gracious words' were spoken. The stage is empty, and there is nothing to prevent our peopling it with hallowed memories of Him who spake as 'never man spake,' who was Himself 'the way, the truth, and the life.' The contrast between the silence of Scripture as to our Lord's life at Nazareth and the ample details which it gives of His life here is very striking. To mention them all would be to quote the larger part of the first three Gospels and some of the most striking incidents of the fourth. He dwelt in Capernaum,' which was His own city.' On the shores of the lake He called Peter, Andrew, James, John, and Matthew to be His disciples. In the villages and towns around it most of His mighty works were done.'3 In a mountain overlooking it, from a boat upon it, and in a town on its banks, He taught the people in His most memorable discourses.* Over its waters He often sailed, on them He walked, hushed its storm to a calm, and rescued His faint-hearted disciple who was sinking beneath them.5 In a desert place on its shore He twice fed the assembled multitudes. But space is wanting to enumerate all the mighty deeds and gracious words of which this hallowed spot was the scene, and which culminated in that affecting interview when He manifested Himself to His disciples after His resurrection and restored Peter to the place from which he had fallen in the apostolic band." In the Old Testament the lake is known as the Sea of Chinneroth, or Chinnereth, from a city which stood on its north-western shore. Gennesareth is probably a Grecised form of the earlier name, though its etymology (a garden of riches) suggests a very suitable derivation. By this name or by that of the Sea of Galilee it is commonly known in the New Testament. John, writing after the city of Tiberias had risen to importance as the capital of Galilee, speaks of it as 'the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias,' a fact which is not without importance as fixing the date of his Gospel. The road from Nazareth to Tiberias leads over the low ridge which bounds the valley on the north-west, across a broken table-land, and through the village of Kenna, already spoken of as the traditional site of Cana in Galilee. Sefurieh, the ancient Sepphoris, is passed. It played an important part in the heroic but unsuccessful resistance of the Jews to the Romans under Titus, and hither the Sanhedrim retired after the fall of Jerusalem. The battle-field of Hattin is likewise distinctly seen, where the last great battle was fought between the Crusaders and Saladin, issuing in the total destruction of the Christian army and the establishment of the Moslem power in the East. The hills which enclose the lake soon come into view, but the 2 Ibid. iv. 18-22; ix. 9. Matt. v., vii., xiii. Mark iv. John vi. 24- 71. 1 Matt. iv. 13; ix. I. 3 Ibid. ix., xi. 20-24. Luke x. 13-15. ' John xxi. 8 Num. xxxiv. II. Deut. iii. 17. Joshua xi. 2. 1 Kings xv. 20. " John xi. I; xxi. I |