it is not on the coast of the Mediterranean, as our modern use of these terms would lead us to suppose, but on the shore of the small inland lake Tiberias, or sea of Galilee, as it was called by the Jews, who, with their limited notions of geography, did not draw the nice distinctions between large and small bodies of water, which the more extended knowledge of some other nations of antiquity taught them to make. Capernaum was but a few miles from Bethsaida, on the other side of the lake, and its nearness would often bring Jesus in his walks, by the places where these fishermen were occupied, in whichever of the two places they at that time resided. On one of these walks he seems to have given the final summons, which called the first four of the twelve from their humble labors to the high commission of converting the world.
Capernaum.—Though no one has ever supposed that there were two places bearing
this name, yet about its locality, as about many other points of sacred topography,
we find that "doctors disagree," though in this case without any good reason;
for the scriptural accounts, though so seldom minute on the situations of places, here
give us all the particulars of its position, as fully as is desirable or possible. Matthew,
(iv. 13,) tells us, that Capernaum was upon "the shore of the lake, on the boundaries
of Zebulon and Naphtali. A reference to the history of the division of territory
among these tribes, (Joshua xix.) shows that their possessions did not reach the
other side of the water, but were bounded on the east by Jordan and the lake, as is
fully represented in all the maps of Palestine. Thus, it is made manifest, that Capernaum
must have stood on the western shore of the lake, where the lands of
Zebulon and Naphtali bordered on each other. Though this boundary line cannot
be very accurately determined, we can still obtain such an approximation, as will
enable us to fix the position of Capernaum on the northern end of the western side
of the lake, where most of the maps agree in placing it; yet some have very strangely
put it on the eastern side. The maps in the French bible, before quoted, have set it
down at the mouth of the Jordan, in the exact place where Josephus has so particularly
described Bethsaida as placed. Lightfoot has placed it on the west, but near
the southern end; and all the common maps differ considerably as to its precise situation,
of which indeed we can only give a vague conjecture, except that it must have
been near the northern end. Conder (Modern Traveler, Palestine,) gives the following
account of modern researches after its site, among the ruins of various cities
near the lake.
"With regard to Chorazin, Pococke says, that he could find nothing like the name, except at a village called Gerasi, which is among the hills west of the village called Telhoue, in the plain of Gennesaret. Dr. Richardson, in passing through this plain, inquired of the natives whether they knew such a place as Capernaum? They immediately rejoined, "Cavernahum wa Chorasi, they are quite near, but in ruins." This evidence sufficiently fixes the proximity of Chorazin to Capernaum, in opposition to the opinion that it was on the east side of the lake; and it is probable that the Gerasi of Pococke is the same place, the orthography only being varied, as Dr. Richardson's Chorasi."
HIS CALL.
In giving the minute details, we find that Luke has varied widely from Matthew and Mark, in many particulars. Taking the accounts found in each gospel separately, we make out the following three distinct stories.
1. Matthew, in his fourth chapter, says that Jesus, after leaving Nazareth, came and dwelt at Capernaum, where he began the
