the Week of Proper 25 / Ordinary 30
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Bible Encyclopedias
Capernaum
Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
or Caper´naum, a city on the north western side of the Lake of Gennesareth, and on the border of the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali. The infidelity and impenitence of the inhabitants of this place, after the evidence given to them by our Savior himself of the truth of his mission, brought upon them this heavy denunciation—'And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in Sodom, it would have remained unto this day,' etc. (). This seems to have been more than any other place the residence of Christ after He commenced His great mission; and hence the force of the denunciation, which has been so completely accomplished, that even the site of Capernaum is quite uncertain. Dr. Robinson is inclined to look for the site in a place marked only by a mound of ruins, called by the Arabs, Khan Minyeh. This is situated in the fertile plain on the western border of the Lake of Gennesareth, to which the name of 'the land of Gennesareth' is given by Josephus. This plain is a sort of triangular hollow, formed by the retreat of the mountains about the middle of the western shore. In this plain there are now two fountains, one called 'Ain el Madauwarah, the 'Round Fountain'—another called 'Ain et-Tin, near the northern extremity of the plain, and not far from the lake. This is the fountain which Dr. Robinson inclines to regard as that which Josephus mentions under the name of Capharnaum; and which we may conclude was not far from the town, and took its name from it. Near this fountain is a low mound of ruins, occupying a considerable circumference, which certainly offer the best probability that has yet been produced of being the remains of the doomed city: and if these be all its remains, it has, according to that doom, been brought low indeed.
Public Domain.
Kitto, John, ed. Entry for 'Capernaum'. "Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature". https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/kbe/c/capernaum.html.
