This morning we left Tiberius on the Sea of Galilee headed to Capernaum. On the way, we stopped at Tabka, the site of Jesus feeding the 5000 men plus many more women and children. They believe that this was the site because this was the main area of the Lake that had grass on it during that period of history. This story from Matthew 14:19ff. talks about the grassy area where Jesus would do His miracle. Notice the difference between this and the miracle of the 4000 plus in Matthew 15:32 where Jesus does not want to send the people away because it has been three days and it is such a desolate place. That miracle would have happened on the east bank of the Sea of Galilee near Capernaum instead. This also seems to be the site where Jesus met Peter and the other disciples after the resurrection where He restored Peter with the questions, “Peter do you love me?” You remember that the disciples had gone fishing and had a miraculous catch at the instruction of someone that was cooking breakfast at the shore.
We moved on down the road a short distance to the location of ancient Capernaum. There we saw a synagogue from the 4th century that was almost entirely toppled, but beneath its foundation was the foundation of the synagogue where Jesus had read from Isaiah. Jesus basically headquartered his ministry from this city. In Matthew 4:12 ff. you see this location as the fulfillment of the prophecy listed from Isaiah 9:1-2. Capernaum gave Jesus time to relate to the gentiles because there were many gentiles in the city whom He could teach along with the Jews to which He had been sent. The man in this picture is our 70 year old tour guide that has been leading tours for 40 years and fought in the 6 day war of 1968.
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