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Bible Dictionaries
Joppa
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
or JOPPA. The principal seaport of S. Palestine; a place of high antiquity, being mentioned in the tribute lists of Thothmes iii., but never before the Exile in Israelite hands, being in Philistine territory. It was theoretically assigned to the tribe of Dan ( Joshua 19:46 ), and is spoken of as a seaport in 2 Chronicles 2:16 and Ezra 3:7 [where RV [Note: Revised Version.] reads ‘to the sea, unto Joppa’ in place of AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘to the sea of Joppa ’]: these, and its well-known connexion with the story of Jonah (1:3), are the only references to the city to be found in the OT. The Maccabees wrested it more than once from the hands of their Syrian oppressors ( 1Ma 10:75; 1Ma 12:33; 1Ma 13:11 ); it was restored to the latter by Pompey (Jos. [Note: Josephus.] Ant . XIV. iv. 4), but again given back to the Jews ( ib. XIV. x. 6) some years later. Here St. Peter for a while lodged, restored Tabitha to life, and had his famous vision of the sheet ( Acts 9:1-43; Acts 10:1-48 ). The traditional sites of Tabitha’s tomb and Simon the tanner’s house are shown to tourists and to pilgrims, but are of course without authority. The city was destroyed by Vespasian (a.d. 68). In the Crusader period the city passed from the Saracens to the Franks and back more than once: it was captured first in 1126, retaken by Saladin 1187, again conquered by Richard CÅ“ur de Lion in 1191, and lost finally in 1196. In recent years it is remarkable for Napoleon’s successful storming of its walls in 1799. It is now a flourishing seaport, though its harbour little more than a breakwater of reefs is notoriously bad and dangerous. A railway connects it with Jerusalem. It is also one of the chief centres of the fruit-growing industry in Palestine, and its orange gardens are world-famed. Tradition places here the story of Andromeda and the sea-monster.
R. A. S. Macalister.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Joppa'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdb/j/joppa.html. 1909.
