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Bethsaida....
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The northeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee is a fertile
plain where the feeding of the 5,000 likely took place.
There is good reason to doubt the current belief that et-Tell is
Bethsaida,
and a better candidate for the fishing village may be el-Araj near the
shoreline.
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Bethsaida To North of The lake
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Excavations at et-Tell since 1987 have sought to
demonstrate that the site is the New Testament
Bethsaida.
Archaeological remains show that the site was occupied in Early Bronze II,
Iron II, Hellenistic and Early Roman periods. From the time of
Jesus though,
"There is not a single convincing piece of urban architecture" that would
fit Josephus' description of Herod Philip's city.
The old writers, up to the sixteenth century, knew of but one
Bethsaida, though they do not seem to have
always indicated the same site. Since then it has been a much debated
question whether there were not two places of this name: one east of the
Jordan; the other west, near Capharnaum. A
Bethsaida, which the Tetrarch Philip enlarged into a city and named Julias,
after the daughter of Augustus, existed east of the river, near where it enters the lake
(Josephus, Ant., XVIII), |
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Larger even than the Winemaker's house (at 4300 sq.
feet), the excavators assumed this was a fisherman's home based on their
discovery of two types of lead net weights, a round lead weight of the
so-called musket type, and a long, crooked needle.
Among the coins discovered in the house were two silver didrachmae of
Demetrius II. |
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The negative view seems to be
gaining ground. In the supposition: of two Bethsaidas, the western would be
the home of Peter, Andrew, and Philip
(John, i, 44; xii, 21), and the Bethsaida of
Matt., xi, 21 and Luke, x,
13. Julias is identified by many with et-Tell; but, as this is somewhat too
far up the river to answer Josephus's
description, others prefer El-Araj, close to the shore, or Mesĉadîyeh
farther east. The partisans of a western Bethsaida
are much divided on its site Ainet-Tâbigha and Khân Minyeh are most favored. |
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