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Bethsaida on the western shore" (Kopp, 20). The two Bethsaida theory enjoyed acceptance throughout most of this century, following Schurer's "The Life of the Jews." (1902)22
Tabgha
The persistent tendency to identify Bethsaida with some west shore location, carries some weight. Robinson's identification of Tabgha as the specific site, supported by Daniel's love of "Zebedee's village" there, seems the most plausible. Tabgha is located two kilometers west of Capernaum. If the lake were a clock face, Gennesaret would be at 10.00, Tabgha at 10.30, Capernaum at 11.00.
Tabgha is the site of the warm springs (hence the name, "seven springs" in Greek) which draw fish to that area in the cold part of the year, and has been a favorite site for winter fishing from earliest times. Mendel Nun, longtime Galilee resident and independent historian, refers to Tabgha as the ''fisherman's suburb of Capernaum."23 Josephus refers to the largest spring as "the well of Capernaum." The musht are drawn to the springs in the winter. "Capernaum fishermen stayed in this area during winter and early spring, making Tabgha an important industrial suburb of Capernaum." (Nun, 14).
We saw that Mark has the apostles leaving the feeding-site, heading back to Bethsaida (6:45), and landing at Gennesaret (6:53); Matthew concurs in the latter point, but John has them land at Capernaum. If these are consecutive sites on the west shore, the range of disagreement of the biblical records may be very small. They may even be referring to the same landing. A landing at a minor fishing village might be referred to as a landing at its parent town, either Gennesaret or Capernaum. Mark may be inconsistent by referring to both Gennesaret and Bethsaida in the same story, but literary inconsistency is not rare.
There are currently two pilgrim sites at Tabgha. The "Church of the Multiplication" celebrates the feeding of the five thousand. It appears that the name "Bethsaida" at an early date, attracted to this site the story of the feeding which occurred in the vicinity of the other Bethsaida. We saw that by the third and fourth centuries, manuscript copyists were already confused about the locale of "Bethsaida."
The other pilgrim site at Tabgha is the "Church of the Primacy," referring to Jesus statement "on this rock will I found my church" (Mt 16:18). The church is located right on the water. What appears to be the tops of ancient stone piers lie a foot or two under the surface of the lake. On the shoreline are several large heart-shaped rocks. They may have been water-level markers. In like manner, theories of Biblical scholars which are dismissed as sentimental, sometimes turn out to be accurate markers.
Bibliography
Culpepper, R. Alan. "John, the Son of Zebedee." University of South Carolina Press, 1994
Dodd, C.H. "Historical Tradition in the Fourth Gospel." Cambridge University Press, 1965
Edersheim, Alfred. "The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah." Third Edition, 1886. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 1971.
Kopp, Clemens, D.D. "Christian Sites around the Sea of Galilee." in Dominican Studies, 3. London: Blackfriars Publications, 1950
Kuhn, Heinz-Wolfgang, and Rami Arav. "The Bethsaida Excavations: Historical and Archaeological Approaches" in "The Future of Early Christianity," Ed. Birger A. Pearson in collaboration with A. Thomas Kraabel, George W.E. Nickelsburg, and Norman R. Petersen.
Nestle-Aland. "Novum Testamentum Graece." 27th ed. Stutgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1993.
Nun, Mendel. "The Sea of Galilee and its Fishermen in the New Testament." Kibbutz Ein Gev, Israel: Kibbutz Ein Gev, 1989.
Rousseau, John J., and Rami Arav. "Jesus and His World." Augsberg Fortress, 1995.
[SBL.] Abstracts for the summer 1995 Budapest meeting of the Archaeological section of SBL.
References.
1. Kuhn, Heinz-Wolfgang and Rami Arav (cited above)
2. Kopp, Clemens D.D. (cited above)
3. Jew. War. 3.10.7.515, Life 398-406- Kuhn and Arav, 81
4. Kuhn is "author of the first part of this article" (Kuhn and Arav, 77)
5. Also in the 1955 Chall.-Rheims Rev. This reading is based on the presence of (foreign text) in some of the oldest manuscripts: Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus, Vaticanus, and Ephraemi Rescriptus. It makes more sense than "in" the city, since five thousand could hardly crowd into the city comfortably. Furthermore, a remote setting is suggested by the apostles' anticipation of the crowd needing to go "into the surrounding towns... and get provisions; for we are in a deserted place here" (9:2). In Mark 6:31-32, Jesus twice makes reference to going to a a "remote place."
6. Christian Sites Around the Sea of Galilee, X in Dominican Studies 3, 20-27
7. This refers to crossing a significant portion of the sea; it does not signify crossing to a spot on the east coast directly opposite to the starting point.
8. Kopp, "Christian Sites" in Dominican Studies 3, 11.
9. Nestle-Aland's apparatus refers to P?. The "vid" (?) indicates "that the reading... cannot be determined with absolute certainty... [but with] a high degree of probability," Novum Testamentum Graece. 27th ed., p.55.
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