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Bible Dictionaries
Bethsaida
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
or BETHSAIDA . A place on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, whither Christ went after feeding the five thousand ( Mark 6:45 , cf. Luke 9:10 ), and where He healed a blind man ( Mark 8:22 ); the home of Philip, Andrew, and Peter ( John 1:44; John 12:21 ). It was denounced by Christ for unbelief ( Matthew 11:21 , Luke 10:13 ). The town was advanced by Philip the tetrarch from a village to the dignity of a city, and named Julias, in honour of Cæsar’s daughter. The situation is disputed, and, indeed, authorities differ as to whether or not there were two places of the same name, one east, one west of the Jordan. Et-Tell , on the northern shore of the sea, east of the Jordan, is generally identified with Bethsaida Julias: those who consider that the narrative of the crossings of the Lake ( Mark 6:45 ) requires another site west of the Jordan, seek it usually at ’Ain et-Tabigha near Khan Minyeh. The latest writers, however, seem inclined to regard the hypothetical second Bethsaida as unnecessary (see Sanday, Sacred Sites of the Gospels , p. 41), and to regard et-Tell as the scene of all the incidents recorded about the town.
R. A. S. Macalister.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Bethsaida'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdb/b/bethsaida.html. 1909.
