Shalom and welcome back to Israel with Aline! Today we are in Galilee, more specifically in the city of Capernaum, the city was also known in the Bible as "Yiro shel Yeshua", the city of Jesus. Why is Capernaum the city of Jesus?
We'll find out when we enter. So if you are ready, let's get started! We are entering Capernaum, known in Hebrew as Kfar Nahum which means the Village of Nahum.
Jesus was born in Bethlehem, lives most of his life is Nazareth, and only at the age of thirty, he moves to Capernaum, as it is written in Matthew four, thirteen: "And leaving Nazareth he went to live in Capernaum, located by the sea, in the borders of Zebulun and Naphthali. " But why is this city is rightly called the city of Jesus? Because although he lived here only three years, he lived here the most important three years of his life, which are the years of the Ministry and of public life and that's why the city of Capernaum receives this title.
We come to the most important place of all here in Capernaum, which are the remains of Peter's house, the house where Jesus stayed and lived. And in this house also happened one of Jesus' miracles, the healing of Peter's mother-in-law, as it is written in Luke four, thirty-eight and thirty-nine: "After leaving the synagogue that day, Jesus went to Simon's house, where he found his mother-in-law very sick, with high fever. When those present pleaded for her, Jesus stood by her bedside and rebuked the fever that had left her.
She immediately got up and started to serve them. " In this drawing, we can see what Peter's house looked like, quite different from the archaeological remains that we see here. What happens?
In the first centuries, Christianity will be a forbidden and persecuted religion by the Roman Empire. So no churches could be built, so what do the first Christians here do? They build a Domus Ecclesia, which means a secret church.
This place will have a secret church. And later, when finally christianity will be a permitted religion in the Holy Land, a church is built here in the Byzantine Period, which is this octagonal Church that we are seeing. that it has eight sides.
This church will also later be destroyed and rebuilt and the last reconstruction is up here. This church will be built on pillars, it means that it will be on top of the archaeological remains but without covering them. And a super cool thing that they did, is that the floor of The church is made of glass.
So where we are going to go up, and also look at the archaeological remains from above. So let's go! Look how nice, there is now a group of ladies who are Arabs, Israelis, Christians, visiting the Church and a nun is talking to them too.
So let's go to the side to don't get in the way of what they're doing. But let's get here to this point with glass, and see the excavations from above. The archaeological excavations in Capernaum started in one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight, I mean one hundred and eighty years ago.
And so I will now show you pictures from before this church was built. We can clearly see the Byzantine Octagonal Church but we can also see some walls that are looking a little bit random. These are the oldest walls both from the Domus Ecclesia, the Secret Church, and also from Peter's House.
And this church we are walking on now, it was only built in nineteen ninety. I mean, it is super modern by Israel's standards. Nowadays Capernaum is an archaeological park, but two thousand years ago, it was a city, a very important city in Galilee.
Among the people who lived here, there was Peter, but not only him, there was a whole city here, and we can see a little piece of it behind me. These black stones are the remains of Capernaum houses from the period of Jesus, from the Roman Period. An interesting thing that we see is that all the building stones are black, why?
Because we are very close to the Golan Heights and the Golan Heights, are actually inactive volcanoes and this whole region was covered by lava for a long time ago. So here the stones are basalt stones, I mean then the lava, which is the magma that has hardened. And so all the houses were built with this stone.
But suddenly, when we walk here in Capernaum, we see a building that is different from any other building. You see that in the background there is a white building. What was it?
This colossal building, it is a synagogue, or rather, two synagogues, one built on top on the other. This base that we are seeing, that is made of black stones, like the rest of the city is the base of the synagogue from the times of Jesus. We know that Jesus attended synagogues and that he attended this synagogue too.
For some reason, the people of Capernaum decided to dismantle this synagogue. Maybe because they wanted to expand it, maybe because it was in a very bad state of repair. But they dismantled and rebuilt a colossal synagogue on top, which are these white stones that we are seeing, the question is when was this reform done?
Let's go together now, go inside and see it. So when is this part of the synagogue from? And how can archeologists discover this?
They pick up and lift the columns. So here they raised the columns and the floor of the synagogue and saw what was underneath. And they found coins, archaeological remains and they were able to date this synagogue to the fifth century, I mean, it's a Byzantine synagogue built on top of the synagogue from the times of Jesus.
In Jesus' times, the Temple of Jerusalem still existed and it was the heart of all the people of Israel; it's where the priests stayed, it's where the sacrifices were made, it's where they went on the three great annual pilgrimages. So why was a synagogue needed? It was a community center, the center of the local community, where the scriptures were taught and studied, where the meetings were held.
And so we know that Jesus also attended synagogues. Among them, this one, to teach the scriptures. And here happens the passage of Luke, four thirty-three to thirty-five: "And there was in the synagogue a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying: Oh, what have we to do with thee, Jesus of Nazareth?
Do you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him saying: be quiet!
And come out of him! And the devil, throwing him down to the ground in the midst of the people, came out of him without harming him. " We are walking in the remains of a Byzantine Synagogue.
But if we look through the door here, on the other side, the Church and underneath it is the remains of a Byzantine church. This means that Capernaum was an example of coexistence. A city where Jews and Christians lived side by side.
And this colossal synagogue will end up being destroyed along with all the city of Capernaum. When a big earthquake happens here, since that the synagogue was made of stone, stones do not disappear. And yes, they will fall and crumble.
When this archaeological park is prepared, they go and take all these stones and spread them around here, what we are seeing here now, behind me are remains of the synagogue facade and look how interesting, we see here some symbols, among them the symbol of the Menorah, the lampstand of the Temple of Jerusalem. We remember that synagogue and the Temple are two different things. But, despite when this synagogue was built, the Temple of Jerusalem had already been destroyed, but the memory of the Temple was and is still alive.
So we see that in the synagogue they put symbols of the Temple of Jerusalem: the Menorah and on both sides there are other two small symbols: one that looks like a Nike symbol, but it's not. It is a shofar, which is a trumpet made of a horn that was played. And on the other side, the symbol that was a shovel, which was the shovel used to remove the ashes from the Temple of Jerusalem, but it has a symbol that we'll see if you can find out what it is.
It is a construction on wheels. This construction symbolizes the temple of Jerusalem and more specifically, the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant had no wheels.
We remember that it was carried. So what story does this represent? This story represents what happens after the Ark of the Covenant is stolen by the Philistines, the Philistines will steal the Ark of the Covenant and take it to a city on the coast that is called Ashdod.
But the city will be ravaged by a great plague. So the Philistines understand that they shouldn't have the Ark of the Covenant. And they put the Ark of the Covenant on wheels and put animals to pull it.
And they send Ark of the Covenant to a nearby Jewish city called Beit Shemesh, the people of the city of Beit Shemesh folks, though being Jews, they don't treat the Ark of the Covenant with all the respect and so do they will also receive a plague. And then of them being devastated by this plague, they also decide to send the Ark of the Covenant ahead and the Ark is then sent to a city near Jerusalem, called Kriat Yarim and from there, later on, the Ark ascends to Jerusalem to it's rightful place. So I think it's very interesting that of all the biblical stories that they decide to represent here, they represent symbols of the Temple of Jerusalem.
And also this very different story of the Ark of the Covenant. But now it is time to follow our tour. Let's go!
The city of Capernaum will see many other biblical passages. For example, the healing of the paralytic. (Mark 2:1-12) We saw a little bit of the houses of the city.
The houses themselves were made of stone, but the roof was made of wood and clay. So when they come, they break of a piece of that roof of wood and clay, and lower the paralytic by the roof. This is also the hometown of the apostle Matthew.
And this town of fishermen, founded two thousand and two hundred years ago, it will be the center of the Ministry of Jesus and so this whole area here north of the Sea of Galilee is going to be the area that will most see miracles. We have near here the place of the multiplication of the loaves and the fishes. We have the primacy of Peter, we have the mount of the Beatitudes, where he gives the Sermon on the Mount, the city of Migdal, also known as Magdala, and also crossing the sea to the other side, we reach the city of Guedara, where Jesus meets possessed man.
So this small geographic space, beside the Sea of Galilee, brings together so many important biblical passages. So now we come to the edge of the sea. And here we can see why Peter lived in this city.
Peter was fisherman and right next to Capernaum is the Sea of Galilee, which is a large freshwater lake, but think about it for those people who lived here two, three thousand years ago. This amount of water is like a whole sea to them. The Sea of Galilee remains being essential for Israel until today.
It is one of the biggest sources of drinking water in the country and here we can see how transparent and clean the water is. So when you come to Israel and come to visit Capernaum, take a few minutes, sit down here by the sea, listen listen to the sound of the sea and see what was seen in the times of Jesus. The landscape here is practically untouched.
And also because of this, to come to Capernaum is to make a trip back in time I hope you have enjoyed our tour here in Capernaum today. Don't forget to leave that like, to subscribe to the channel for more videos. A big kiss.
One special thanks to my father, who is holding the camera on the day of today, and see you next time!
