The Sea of Galilee
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By the Sea of Galilee Jesus calls Simon and Andrew: follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
The lake is a harp-shaped basin 210 metres below sea level, ringed by fishing towns: Capernaum, Bethsaida, Chorazin, Magdala. Here Jesus called his first disciples, taught from a boat, stilled a storm, walked on the water, and met the eleven again after the .
The freshwater lake below sea level around which most of Jesus' Galilean ministry happened: the call of the fishermen, the storm, the walking on the water.
- the Sea of Galilee, the sea of Chinnereth (OT), the lake of Gennesaret, the Sea of Tiberias
- Lake Kinneret · Israel
Cold air falls from the Golan heights onto the warm lake basin and storms rise without warning, exactly as Mark 4 describes: experienced fishermen fearing for their lives in a sudden squall.
The towns around the lake were a half day's sail from each other; the Gospels' constant crossings are ordinary working travel.
- Mark 1:16-18 By the Sea of Galilee Jesus calls Simon and Andrew: follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
- Numbers 34:11 The sea of Chinnereth marks the border of the land
- Mark 4:37-41 The storm stilled: who then is this?
- Matthew 14:25-27 Jesus walks on the sea in the fourth watch
- John 21:1-6 The risen Jesus at the shore and the great catch
What we know
Certain
- The lake and its towns are securely identified; a first-century fishing boat recovered from its shore illustrates the Gospel setting.