DIVINITY SCHOOL
TROWBRIDGE LIBRARY

A DAY m CAPERNAUM.

BY DR. FRANZ DELITZSCH,
Profttsor \n tht University of Leipsig.

£ranstalcb from f0e $$frb German tyition
BY
REV. GEORGE H. SCHODDE, PH.D.,
Professor in Capital University, Columbus, Ohio.

NEW YORK:
FUNK & WAGNALLS,
IS and 20 Astor Place.
188 7.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1887,
By PUNK & WAGNALLS,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, I). C.

PREFACE.

The following pages are an effort to give, with
in the space of a day, a vivid picture of the Gali
lean activity of Jesus. The historical data are
taken from the gospels, but consist not only of what
is there narrated, and which can be made clear and
elucidated by all the means of exact exegetical sci
ence and research in biblical antiquities, but embrace
also many features that have hitherto been but little
noticed, but which can be drawn out by comparison,
combination, and conclusions. The description of
the localities in their present appearance is based,
although not exclusively, on the works of Robinson ;
their reproduction in their older form on the notices
scattered in Josephus, the Talmud, and the Mid-
rashim, for which the author was not restricted
to those already collected by Reland, Lightfoot,
Schwarz, and Neubauer. The illustrations of the
circumstances of the times and of the life of the
people are in no wise the work of fiction ; they are

IV PREFACE.
throughout drawn from the oldest Jewish literature
as their sources.*
With these words characterizing this magnificent
little book, the author, Professor Franz Delitzsch,
recognized by all as the leading Old Testament
scholar of the world, sent it out for the first time
in the summer of 1870. Since then two new edi
tions have been called for, and the venerable Nestor
of German theologians has given it the finish of his
continued biblical and Palestine studies. Delitzsch
is a Christian, a scholar, and a poet. These three
leading features of the almost myriad-minded Leip
zig professor are most harmoniously blended in the
little volume here translated. It is as truly an his
torical picture of a busy day in Christ's life as could
possibly be drawn ; it is written with a poetic
fervor that holds the attention and interest to the
end ; it is written with such a glowing love for the
* The notes added by Delitzsch by way of appendix to the
German edition, indicating the sources or giving further
illustrations, have been, for the most part, omitted, as the
specialist will resort to the original in any case, and the general
reader will not need the notes. In a number of cases, however,
the contents of the notes have been worked into the text itself.

PREFACE. V
Saviour and faith in His salvation, that it warms
and enkindles the heart of all who peruse these
pages. Thank God that Christian science and the
Christian Church still have such noble men to serve
their cause as Franz Delitzsch ! The Translator.

CONTENTS.

I. PAGE
The Place  9
II.
Thb Morning  40
III.
Noon  71
IV.
Mincha (Vesper)  90
V.
The Evening  103

A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.

I.
THE PLACE.
To f oDow out the events of the past and to repro
duce them with all the vividness of life — this is the
true art of the historian. And to portray the life
of antiquity on the basis of the bare facts of the
records in such a manner that we are, as it were,
made contemporaries, and placed in the midst of
the surroundings, customs, and habits of a people
— this is the art of the archaeologist. But if to this
process is joined the imagination, which, with the
help of a thorough research of the past, fills out the
accounts that traditional history hands down in
fragmentary form, and enlarges them into pictures
of history and of customs, there results from this a
mixture of fact and fiction. But the fiction also
will be truth, if what it contributes is not without
rhyme or reason, but has been drawn out by a long
spiritual communion with the individuals to be por-

10 A DAY IN CAPERNAUM.
trayed and with their people and their age. Bacon,
on one occasion, calls the historian an inverted
prophet. He is, in case he does not look at the past
superficially, but seeks rationally to explain the past
to himself and to others, a seer who looks back
ward. Especially such pictures of the past which
are to be represented to our eyes in all their sur
roundings must not only be drawn, but, after a
thorough study of the whole matter, they must be
come a portion of the mental personality.
Understanding our task in this sense, let us make
the western shore of the Sea of Gennesaret, along
the lower border of Galilee, the home of our
thoughts for a short time. No other inland water on
the whole earth enjoys such a fame as does this Sea
of Gennesaret. The basin in which it lies was formed
in the secondary period of the earth's formation.
The basalt on the western shore ends in the heights
which surround it on the north, just as the basalt
ground of the Plain of Esdrelon begins in the east
ern, northern, and southern hills, where almost
thirty places for the exit of basalt streams can be
seen. The whole depression of the valley, of which
the basin of this sea forms a part, lies far below the

THE PLACE. 11
level of the sea, and down at the Dead Sea it de
scends to such a depth that there is scarcely another
depression on the surface of the earth as deep as
this. In this valley, which, like the ditch around
a fortress, separates Western Palestine, the real
Canaan, the land of Israel in the narrow sense of
the word, from East Palestine, the Jordan flows,
coming from the foot of Mount Hermon, and run
ning through the Sea of Galilee, as the Khine does
through the Sea of Constance, and the Bhone through
the Lake of Geneva, to end its course in the Dead
Sea. From the place where the Jordan, after wind
ing its way through the Baticha plain, empties into
the sea, its course can be followed for quite a dis
tance. Then it disappears entirely, and in a scarcely
perceptible manner the bulk of water which has
received it moves southward. Even the climate
of the northern half of the western shore, together
with the Plain of Gennesar, is about as warm as is
that of Egypt. The climate of the southern half,
where the hills descend abruptly, is still warmer, and
the region around Jericho lying beyond the mouth of
the Jordan has the climate and Vegetation of a tropi
cal country, so that the palm-trees, which in most

12 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
parts of Palestine are found only as ornamental trees,
here (as also along the coast south of Gaza) bear ripe
fruit. It is a characteristic of the Holy Land that
within comparatively small limits it unites the great
est variety of land formations and land peculiarities.
But what century, what period of history shall
we select in order to make ourselves at home on
the western shore of the Galilean Sea ? Which of
the great historical events that followed almost in
a stream the course of time on these few miles of
sea coast will fascinate us ? This will be seen when
we have started on the way, and have walked
through this land, so richly blessed with attractions
by nature and by history, following the example of
my dear friend, David Hefter, who brought me
from there a now dried -up, but still pretty, palm
\ branch ; and as, later, in 1876, my friends, Pro
cessors v. Orelli and Kautzsch did, who there rev
elled in the sight of those localities, which, as they
themselves, when returning home, wrote in a letter
from the harbor at Larnaca, had been made all the
dearer to them by this little book of mine. And
thus I have in spirit travelled with one of my friends,
with whom I am united in the love of the Lord

THE PLACE. 13
and of His chosen people, and these wanderings I
shall now repeat with him, after having been taught
sharper observation and more faithful reproduction
of the impressions received through the instructions
of those friends to whom I express my gratitude in
the introductory words to this book.
In coming from Jerusalem and up the Jordan
Valley we meet at the southwestern extremity of
the sea, where the Jordan leaves it, the hill of
Kerak, almost entirely surrounded by water, and
beneath this hill a dam resting upon arches over
marshy ground, the remnants of a ten-arched bridge
across the Jordan. It is the bridge of Sennabris,
where the Roman legions encamped before they,
under the leadership of Vespasian and his son Titus,
made their entrance into the city of Tiberias, situated
about one and a quarter hours farther up. Here,
also, it was that, in the days of the Crusades, Baldwin
I. was defeated. After a walk of twenty -nve minutes
on the path that forces its way between Kerak and
the rugged descent of the hills bordering upon the
lake, we pass by some ruins called " Kadish ;" and,
having gone on three quarters of an hour farther, we
will find ourselves in the vicinity of Tiberias.

14 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
The road runs along close to the hills on a narrow
level coast tract, and the region is void and almost
entirely without vegetation. Before we reach the
city, we pass its famous hot springs. These formerly
were in the corporate limits of the city proper,
which at that time extended down so far, but has
now shrunk together to miserable dimensions. Be
fore us lies the old and the new bathing-house, and
the arched basin, from which the water of the prin
cipal spring, of medium warmth, with a strong sul
phur smell, is conducted to the new bathing-house.
An accurate chemical analysis has as yet not been
made ; but doubtless, when made, it will confirm
the opinion of the similarity of the waters, which
are now used considerably, with the sulphur springs
of Aix-la-Chapelle. That the old Tiberias did ex
tend down to these springs, we can see yet, by the
ruins of old foundations and walls, and by the gran
ite columns still lying around.
In order to reach the " Tabaria" of the present
day, we go northward for half an hour farther on
the same level. There beyond the baths it lies, in
a narrow valley, at the foot of a rather abruptly
ascending hill. How often this Tiberias has

THE PLACE. 15
changed masters ! It has stood under the control
of the West-Roman emperors, of the East- Roman
emperors, of the Califs, of the Crusaders, of the
Turks, and a short time under Napoleon Bonaparte.
But no destruction by war has equalled the horrors
of January 1st, 1837, when an earthquake killed
about seven hundred persons, one fourth of all its
inhabitants, and buried them under the ruins of
their houses. In the Roman wars the city suffered
but very little. It bore the name of the Emperor
Tiberius. The Emperor Nero had presented the
place to Agrippa, King of Judea, and when Ves
pasian encamped with his three legions on the
southern border of the sea, the city threw aside its
revolutionary leaders and begged for mercy. Saved
in this way, Tiberias became for the following cen
turies the centre and gathering-place for all those
agitations which aimed at the self-preservation of
the Jewish people in their spiritual unity and great
ness. But in another respect it was the place where
Judaism reached its lowest stage. After the San-
hedrin had been deprived of its hall of assembly in
the temple at Jerusalem, it wandered, as the Tal
mud says, from place to place, until it finally went

16 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
down from the Galilean capital of Sepphoris to
the deep valley city of Tiberias. Among the signs
which are represented to accompany the advent of
the Messiah, according to the statements of the Tal
mud, is also this, that Galilee shall be devastated,
and that the waters of the Jordan which pour out
of the grotto of Paneas shall be changed into blood.
When the Romans undertook to besiege Jerusalem,
they had already subdued Galilee, and transformed
it into a mighty waste of dead bodies and ruins.
The sign had been fulfilled, but, nevertheless, the
Jews transferred the Messianic hope to the future
and connect it with Tiberias. From Tiberias, they
say, Israel shall be delivered ; in Tiberias the great
Sanhedrin will again be recalled to life and then
depart to the temple ; in Tiberias the resurrection
of the dead will take place forty years earlier than
elsewhere. With this wealth of history and story
which we find at Tiberias, we might feel tempted to
stay in this city. The Sea of Galilee, which is con
sidered to be the chosen one of God among the seven
of the Holy Land, has received one of its names from
this city. In spite of all this, we must go farther
on. Adieu, Tabaria ; " shetoba reijaikah" thy ap-

THE PLACE. 17
pearance is beautiful, as is the meaning of thy name.
Neither the grave of Rabbi Akiba, nor the grave of
Moses Maimonides, nor all thy famous graves can
keep us. We will go farther on, seeking life among
the living and, not among the dead.
On following the road still farther up along the
sea, we leave the lowlands of Tiberias, and pass be
yond the base of the hill, which extends almost
down to the very shore. After having gone on a
good half hour the road becomes wider, and we
enter a small triangular plain near the sea, into
which the Wadi 'Amwds empties, through which
there is an easy ascent to the country farther back
toward Mount Tabor. Here we pass along for a
distance over a level tract filled with shrubbery of
oleander and castor-oil plants, and here and there
also a nebek tree (Zizyphus. lotus). Still farther on
the hills again extend down to the water's edge,
covered to half their height with grass and occa
sional shrubbery, and from there on ascending in
almost perpendicular masses of rocks to the tops.
Not far from Tiberias, says Josephus, hot springs
are found near a place called Emmaus. These
are the springs that still bubble forth, here ; al-

18 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
though not as hot asformerly, they are still tepid, and
are now called " TJj-un-el-Fulije". being found near
the water's edge where the valley of Amwds ends in
the sea. When Vespasian, in the beginning of
the Jewish war, had entered Tiberias from the south,
it having petitioned for his mercy, he tore down a
part of the wall on the south side of the city in order
that his legions might not crowd and press each
other. .-> He encamped his three legions, between
Tarichea and Tiberias, in this plain of Emmaus, and
from here he advanced farther upward, in order to
subjugate Tarichea, which was strongly fortified by
the rebels. The battle against this city, which has
now disappeared, leaving not a single trace behind,
was one of the most horrible scenes in the tragic
destruction of the Jewish people. By means of the
many boats which they had in their possession, the
sea apparently gave them a safe protection in the
rear ; and on the land side the well-known Josephus,
who later became the historian of this war, the
friend of his people only in so far as it was pro
ductive of honors for himself and did not endanger
his life, had to some extent fortified the place. But
after Titus, who had been sent by his father, Yes-

THE PLACE. 19
pasian, as the general-in-chief , had conquered the un
disciplined troops of Tarichea in open field of battle,
he was himself the first to gallop into the city. It
was captured and taken without opposition, for the
inhabitants desired peace, and deserted the fanatics
who were clamoring for war. The Romans, how
ever, butchered without distinction those that were
armed and those that were not ; and, as a great
number of the inhabitants had fled to their b^ats and
were going hither and thither on the sea, Vespasian
caused rafts to be made in all haste to pursue them,
and sent his troops out on these. As the boats were
but poorly manned, there could be no thought for
contest in regular battle order. The stones which
they threw rebounded on the iron coats-of -mail worn
by the soldiers. Whenever a boat came near a raft,
the former was sent to the bottom, or the Roman
sprang upon it and killed the refugees. Those who
attempted to escape the swords and spears by swim
ming, were hit by arrows or were caught by the
rafts. If they tried to catch hold of these, their
hands or heads were struck off. The boats which
held out the longest were surrounded, and the
people in them were either then and there at once

20 A DAY IN CAPERNAUM.
slain, or they were killed as soon as they reached
the shore. According to Josephus, the number
who were slain in Tarichea or on the sea was sixty-
five hundred. The Sea of Gennesaret looked like a
great pool of blood, and the shores, for a long time,
were strewn with wrecks and dead bodies which
decayed in the hot sun and filled the air with pes
tilence. The location of this Tarichea is about the same
as that of Magdala, unless, possibly, Tarichea is the
heathen name of the Jewish Magdala. After leav
ing Tiberias an hour' s walk, we come to a plain
which is encircled by hills ; and, in the south of this,
where this plain is shut off by the hills that run
down into the water, we find Magdala, formerly a
rich and luxurious city, but now shrivelled down to
a miserable village. It is impossible to hear of this
Magdala on the Sea of Galilee (Megdel el- Ohuwer)
mentioned, and still less to see it, without thinking
of that woman, from whose soul that One, whom
she took to be the gardener of Joseph of Arima-
thea, removed the misty cloud with the single
word " Mary," so that, with the cry " Rabluni,'*''
she fell at His feet and worshipped Him. But

THE PLACE. 21
however much Magdala, on account of this remem
brance, may fascinate us, it is not the place where
we are to abide ; for, higher than disciple and pupil
stands for us the Master.
A quarter of an hour west of Magdala the deep
defile of the Wadi-el-Uamdn — i.e., Valley of the
Doves, opens to our view. The caves in the rugged
and rocky walls on both sides of this valley, in
which now the Syrian domestic dove hides its nests
from the hawks" that also in great number make
their homes here, were formerly united to form one
grand fortress. At this place a large number of
bold adventurers had established themselves in the
days of King Herod, and defied the Roman and
Idumean power. Herod conquered them in battle,
and destroyed them by letting his strongest men in
baskets down along the side of the rocks into the
caves. The adventurers, however, all preferred
death to submission ; one of them killed his seven
children, calling one after the other to the mouth
of the cave. When Herod, by a motion of his hand,
appealed to him to cease, he cursed the Idumean
robber of the Jewish throne, and at last killed also
his wife and threw all the bodies down the rocky

22 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
abyssKthrowing himself down after them. More
pleasing memories are called up by the ruins of
Irbid, the old Arbel, which we reach from this
defile by climbing briskly for a quarter of an hour.
In this place, which was once famous for its grain
trade and its manufactory of twine, was born Nittai,
the Arbelite, so famous in the history of the San-
hedrin, whose motto was: "Depart a great dis-'t,
tance from a wicked neighbor, and do not make '
common cause with the evil ones, and hold fast to
the hope of a righteous retribution." Here on the
edge of the hill, which looks into the valley and
toward Magdala, on one occasion Rabbi Chija, who
had come from Babylon, and Rabbi Simeon ben-
Chalefta, who was a native of Sepphoris, were walk
ing up and down before sunrise, and were speaking
of the sad fate of their people, which they had
suffered in the recent unfortunate rebellion of the
pseudo-Messiah Bar-Cocheba and in the suppression
of the revolution by the Emperor Hadrian. Just
then " the hind of the morning dawn appeared " 
(that is, the first rays of the morning sun, which are
compared by the Semitic peoples to the horns of deer
or of a gazelle), burst open in the Eastern sky.

THE PLACE. 23
" Birabbif began Rabbi Chija, stopping Rabbi
Simon with this title of honor, and pointing to the
rising morning sun : " This is a picture of the de
liverance of Israel. Small and unseeming it begins,
as the prophet says (Micah 7 : 8). When I sit in
darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me ; but it
will grow with constant power, as Mordecai sat first
in the doors of the palace, in order to hear news of
Esther, but afterward rode upon a proud steed
clothed in royal purple, as a light and joy of his
people" (Esth. 2 : 21 ; 8 : 15, 16). But has not
the sun of deliverance already risen ? And have
not actually, as Psalm 22 shows, its first rays been
tinged with red ? Therefore we again take our
staff in hand, and after having drawn for our mental
eye the picture of the city and the old Jewish syna
gogue that stood where some of these columns of
Arbel now lie, we descend into the plain.
We are again in the Gennesar Valley, properly
so-called, where in olden times, before war after
war had devastated the country around the sea, its
beauty was almost paradise-like. Here it was
where Elisha ben-Abuja, of Jerusalem, the talented
teacher of the law, is said to have received the germ

24 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
of disagreement with the Jewish religion, which was
ripened into the poisonous fruit of total apostasy
by the diligent reading of Greek, and especially of
gnostic writers. He was a man who had become
the miserable slave of truly demoniacal vices through
his insatiable but godless thirst for wisdom, and
whom Meir Letteris, in his beautiful Hebrew trans
lation of Goethe's "Faust," has, by a fortunate
hit, made to take the place of the German Doc
tor. If you find a bird's nest, says a Mosaic law
(Deut. 22 : 6, 7), you can take the young, but not
the mother ; but the latter you must first scare away
in order to ease her sad loss, so that it may be well
with you and you may live long. Elisha, however,
6n one occasion sat in the Gennesar Valley, and was
explaining the law, when the following took place :
A man ascended to the top of a palm-tree and took.
away a bird's nest with both the mother bird and
her brood, and came down in safety with them. He
saw another, who had waited until the Sabbath had
ended, ascend to the top of a palm-tree and take the
young birds while he let the mother fly. The second
one, when descending, was bitten by a serpent and
died. " Where, now," says Elisha, " is the promised

THE PLACE. 25
prosperity and long life, upon which the latter could
count, but not the former ?" Such and similar ex
periences caused him to doubt God's justice and
truth. His only support was Rabbi Meir, who did
not tire of learning even from the apostate, and of
exhorting him to repentance. He interrupted his
discourse in the Midrash-house in Tiberias, when he
heard that Rabbi Elisha, notwithstanding that it was
the Sabbath, was riding through the city, and ran
after him to learn from him, and, if possible, to bring
him to rights again. He stood at the bedside of the
dying man, and brought him who had considered
himself irredeemably lost, at least to tears ; and when
a flame of fire burst out of the grave of the apos
tate, the story runs that in order to extinguish it,
Rabbi Meir threw his mantle over it, and called
out to the dead with the words of the Book of Ruth :
" Sleep through this night (i.e., of death), and
when He (namely, God) will deliver thee with the
dawn of the morning, then may He do so ; but if
He will not deliver thee, then I, as the Lord liveth,
will deliver thee. Rest, then, until the dawn of
the morning." This is the same Rabbi Meir who,
when he was dying in Asiah, said to those standing

26 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
around : " Bring my. coffin down to the shore of the
sea that it may be washed by the waves which wash
the Holy Land ;" and in the consciousness that he
was a saint, or even more, he added : " Tell to the
inhabitants of the land of Israel that here their
anointed One (Messiah) lies. " But, enough of these
stories, that have penetrated even to Asia Minor, and.
which are told us by the palm-trees of Gennesar.
We still go on, for memories of a Teacher invite us
who had a greater right to such an exalted con
sciousness than had Rabbi Meir.
The way is charming. Oleander trees in blossom
cover the road on the right and on the left like
wreaths of roses. With their fragrance is mingled
the exquisite aroma of the white blossoms of the
nebek. From the inclosures of the gardens and
melon-fields we see the smiling opuntias, which are
either native here or have been brought from
America, and which look like flickering flames of
fire with their large green leaves surrounded by the
yellow blossoms. And to our right we hear the
soft murmuring of- the sea, in which the azure
heavens and the golden sun are reflected. Filled
with such feelings, we, after a walk of a good quar-

THE PLACE. 27
ter of an hour, come to " Ain-el-mudauwara,"
hidden behind the trees and bushes and inclosed by
a low round wall. It is the large basin of a foun
tain, beautiful and full of fish, which, after water
ing the plain, empties into the sea ; and in order to
secure a bird's-eye view of this Gennesar Valley,
we cannot deny ourselves the pleasure of ascending
the hill that rises behind this fountain. Arriving
at the top, we are not a little surprised to see a man
sitting at the outer edge of the hill. The long black
coat of taffeta tells us at once that it is a Polish
Jew ; the long white, blue-edged tallith, which he
has thrown over him (and which has a golden
border above where it lies upon the head), shows
that he is praying ; and, as he is holding this prayer-
veil over his breast, he looks neither to the right
nor to the left, but only directly in front of him
toward the sea. 1 try to wait until he has com
pleted his prayer, but as he never seems to end, 1
approach him, and touch him on the shoulder, and
salute him with the words : " Peace be unto you,
and unto the whole house of Israel, peace !" He
springs up joyfully, and, after he has looked at us
steadily for a few moments, he says, hesitatingly :

28 A DAY IN CAPERNAUM.
" Are you children of my people ?" His eyes be
neath his bushy brows, which are as white as his
beard, look at us so confidence-inspiring and so
full of intense contemplation, that I feel tempted
to embrace him, and cry out enthusiastically :
" No ; but we are friends of Israel, and those who
look and long for the consolation of Jerusalem.
And because we are such, and consider every inch
of the Holy Land of great importance, you must
tell us why you are sitting here ; why you are
praying here, and what you are gazing at ?" "It
is a great secret, " he says, "which you desire to
know ; but I will not keep it from you, for God
has brought us together and you have opened my
heart. I have been for fifty years the Rabbi of a
congregation in Volhynia, and have written noth
ing, but have read and investigated all the more.
Since the days of my boyhood, when I began to
read Rashi on the Pentateuch and the Targums and
the Talmuds, no story of the ancient records has so
fascinated me and filled my mind as that of the
fountain of Miriam (beerdh shel Mirjam). After I
had come as a pilgrim here to Tiberias, in order to
die at the bosom of my home and to be buried in

THE PLACE. 20
the sacred soil, my first question was, Where is the
fountain of Miriam ? Nobody knew it, or they
gave me false information, because they did not
want to appear to be ignorant. But, as the Jerusa
lem Talmud says, that he who would find it must
stand in the middle door of the old synagogue of
Serugnin and look straight before him, I asked the
Jews and the Nazarenes and the Ishmaelites, Where
is Serugnin ? But they all answered that they had
never heard of a place with such a name. I then
concluded never to rest until I had found the mys
terious fountain ; and there is no favorable outlook
above on the hills and below in the valley where I
have not stood for a long time, and inquiringly
have looked toward heaven, and have searchingly
gazed out upon the sea. I know of all the marks
of identification : a small block of rocks, shaped
like a beehive, round, perforated like a sieve. But
it lasted a long time before I finally saw in reality
the realization of my life's dream, and enigma and
mystery before me. It was on the first of Elul, last
year, when the waters, in consequence of continued
droughts, were at a low stage. See, he said, taking
us to the edge of the hill where he had been sitting,

30 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
the rock itself at the present stage of the water is
hidden from view, but there, a little on this side of
the middle current, where the Jordan water in min
gling with the sea creates a small eddy, and some
times throws up bubbles, there is the fountain of
Miriam the prophetess — Peace be to her !' '
We must here add by way of explanation that the
fountain of Miriam cannot be known to the ordinar/
Bible reader, because it is the creation of fable.
We read in Scripture that when Miriam died at
Kadesh-Barnea, the people began to murmur for
water (Num. 20 : 1, 2), and elsewhere in the Scrip
tures, that the people were in a mi raculous manner
supplied with water from the rocks. Fable has
drawn the conclusion from this, that on account of
the services rendered by Miriam to the children of
Israel during the forty years in the desert, she was
accompanied over hill and valley with a rolling rock
that constantly threw out water. To this Miriam
fountain, which is represented to have been taken
away from the people a short time after the death
of Miriam, and then to have been given to them
again, are referred the words in Num. 21 : 17,
" Then sang Israel this song, Spring up, O well,

THE PLACE. 31
sing unto it !" At the death of Moses this foun
tain disappeared, God hid it in the middle of the
Sea of Tiberias, but in such a manner that he who
looked northward toward the sea from the top of
the hill of Jishimon, in the country of Moab, could
always recognize it in the shape of a small sieve.
This story is very old, is widely spread, and has im
pressed itself so deeply upon the minds of the peo
ple that it is considered as a special proof of piety
to have seen a Miriam fountain at this or that place.
" But," I ask my honest old friend, " why are
you sitting here covered with your tallith, and are
looking so steadfastly toward this Miriam fountain,
which you think you have discovered ?" " Have
you ever been in Merom ?" he asks. " Yes," I
said, ' ' and we have there stood at the grave of
Rabbi Simeon bar- Jochai. " " Then you will
know," he continued, " that the Caballa (tradition)
says, that here where the deliverance from Egypt
came to a close in the sinking of the fountain-rock,
the future salvation will begin!" "Do you
know," I said, " that the Miriam fountain is also
mentioned in the holy writings of the Christians ?' '
" You are mistaken," he cried ; "the Sea of Gali-

32 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
lee is mentioned in the Gospels, but not the fountain
of Miriam." " But the Apostle Paul," I said, in
return, " who sat at the feet of the Rabbi Gamaliel,
the grandson of Hillel, says in his first letter to the
Corinthian Christians (10 : 1-4) : ' Our fathers who
passed under the cloud through the sea all drank
the same spiritual drink, for they drank of a spirit
ual rock that followed them ; ' and to this the
apostle adds : ' And the rock, this Miriam foun
tain, was Christ,' the One of whom Isaiah (28 : 16)
says : ' Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a
stone, a tried stone, a precious stone of a sure
foundation.' But now we must part ; you are
searching for the signs of the Mosaic deliverance,
and we are following in the wake of the Messianic
deliverance, which has made its beginning in truth
and reality at this God-chosen sea. "
After we have left him, it is a question whether
we want to take a look at the large perennial Rabadija
Brook, which, like the Mudauwara Brook, empties
into the Sea of Gennesaret. It runs only a little to
the north from here ; but, as there are no historic
memories connected with it, we will continue our
journey on the lower road, which runs along the

THE PLACE. 33
foot of the hills, and there where these again ap
proach almost to the very edge of the water and the
valley comes to an end, we come to an old dilapi
dated halting-place, built of basaltic tufa, from
which the Damascus road branches off up the hill.
It is the Chan Minje. _, Having gone from here to the
Ain-et-Tin (the fig-fountain), near by, whose name
is derived from a large old fig-tree standing near,
we find, after proceeding two and a half hours, that
the smaragd carpet of luxuriant green surrounding
this beautiful fountain is so inviting, that we must
take a rest here and refresh ourselves by the sea air
which has been mixed with the fragrance of this
excellent pasture land. South of the Chan we find
some ruins which reach down to the shore of the
sea. Evidently an ancient town was situated here.
Might it have been Capernaum ? Robinson and many
who follow him are of this opinion. Sepp thinks he
has proved by irrefutable arguments that Minje is
to be connected with the word Minim, or heretics,
which is the name the Jews gave to the Christians.
Keim, in his " Life of Christ " (1873), accepts this
view. It is true that Capernaum of all other places
could have been called Minim. But the name

34 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
" Minim city" is nowhere mentioned, and, in fact,
the name Minje is applied to this Chan first in the
year 1189, in an Arabic biography of Saladin. The
word Minje is the Greek Mone or Moni (stopping-
place or station), which through the medium of the
Coptic passed into the Arabic. But to look for
Capernaum near Chan Minje is to be rejected, for
this reason, that the unanimous testimony of tra
dition claims that the whole western coast of the
Sea of Gennesaret belonged to the tribe of Naph
tali. But, according to Matt. ± : 13, Capernaum
lay on the border of Zebulun and Naphtali, and
hence, farther north, there where, on the northern
edge of the sea, the districts of Zebulun meet the
districts of Naphtali extending down from the hills
of Naphtali and the Merom Sea. But some old city
undoubtedly stood at this Chan. Some of these peo
ple dwelling around this fig-fountain on one occa
sion went in a south-westerly direction inland to
Sepphoris, in order to make a visit of congratula
tion to a famous man at that place ; and it is nar
rated that Rabbi Simeon ben-Chalefta, whom we
mentioned farther up, when speaking of Arbel, was
surrounded by a crowd of unruly children at the

THE PLACE. 35
city gate of Sepphoris. These would not let him
go until he had danced in their presence. One of
my companions exclaims : ' ' This fig-tree reminds
me of the story of Hadrian and the man a hundred
years old. The emperor on one occasion was trav
elling in the district of Tiberias, and called out to an
old man who was engaged in planting young trees :
1 Old man, old man, work of that sort should be
done in the morning, and not in the evening, of
life ! ' The old man said : ' I was a worker in my
young days, and will continue to be such in my old
years ; the result lies in God's hands.' ' Do you,
then, believe,' says the emperor, ' that you will
enjoy the fruits of these trees ? ' ' Possibly, ' he
said, ' if God considers me worthy of this ; if not,
then I am only doing for my descendants what my
ancestors did for me.' Thereupon the emperor
exclaimed : ' If you live to gather the fruit, I com
mand you to inform me of it. ' After several years
the old man with a basket of figs appeared at the
imperial palace. Hadrian commanded him to sit
down upon a golden chair, and ordered his basket
to be emptied, and to be filled with gold coins,
saying to his astonished servants : ' He has hon-

36 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
ored his Creator ; shall I not honor him ? ' But
when another man in this neighborhood, urged on
by his wife, also brought the emperor a basket of
fine figs in the hope of a royal reward, the emperor
gave orders that the bold-faced man should stand
all day long at the entrance to his palace, and that
every one who entered cr left the palace should
throw one of his figs into his face. When he
returned, his greedy and ambitious wife did not
even pity him, but scornfully said : ' Go and tell
your mother how glad you were that they were
only figs and not paradise apples, and that, too,
ripe figs ; for, if this had not been the case, you
would have presented a pretty appearance when
you returned home ! ' . . . But, brethren, we are
not here to tell pretty stories and look at beautiful
scenery. We are here to hunt for the Jesus city,
the Messiah city, the city on the sea near to the
borders of the Gentiles, the place where the words
of the prophet Isaiah (9 : 2) were fulfilled : " The
people that walked in darkness have seen a great
light : they that dwell in the land of the shadow of
death, upon them hath the light shined. "
There is no road farther along the shore which

THE PLACE. 37
we could follow ; there is only an old aqueduct,
which in older times helped to water the northern
portion of the Plain of Gennesar, or gutter cut
into the rocks and running along the shore. We
will then take our course over the rocky hills which
close in the Valley of Gennesar to the north.
On our right we see the motion of the blue sea, and
before us in the distance Mount Hermon raises his
white peak in the blue atmosphere. The magnifi
cent view fills our souls with awe. After a walk of
a quarter of an hour we have reached the low ground
of Tabigha, with its fountains of water covered
with reeds, which flow in several arms into the sea.
After we have crossed these watercourses, we be
come more talkative, and the conversation turns on
that which the Talmud and Midrash say about
Capernaum. It is considered as a chief seat of the
"Minim''' (i.e., heretics, or Jewish Christians),
and what the Jews say concerning these is nothing
better than were the stories which the heathen in
vented about the early Christians. One, at least, of
these fictions of the Jews is tragico- comical. Cha-
nina, the nephew of Rabbi Joshua, it is said, went
to Capernaum. The Christians of that place then

38 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
persuaded him to ride through the city upon an ass
on the Sabbath day. Having regained his thoughts,
he fled to his father's brother, Rabbi Joshua, who
anointed him with a salve and cured him of the
witchcraft, but said to him : " Since the ass of
those wicked people has betrayed you to act fool
ishly you can no longer dwell in the Holy Land."
He then went to Babylon and died there in peace.
The " ass of the wicked ones" which had brayed at
him was the preaching concerning the crucified One.
The nearness to our goal hastens our steps. In one
hour more we are on the great waste of ruins
known as Tell Hum, and pass by some oleander
trees, and go through grass and undergrowth to the
surprisingly grand ruins of old Capernaum. The
ruins of Chorazin, in a westerly direction among
the hills, are equally grand, and those of Gamala (el-
Husn) yonder on the other side are considerably
grander ; but the black basalt blocks and white
rocks which lie scattered here in Tell Hum awak
ened much stronger and more vivid impressions.
For here it was that the One sent of God, without an
equal, made His abiding-place, in order to proclaim
from this strong place the religion of love, amid the

THE PLACE. 39
miracles of love, for the deliverance from the bonds
of the old covenant. How terribly have His threats
against the ungrateful and unbelieving city been
fulfilled I The black and the white stones of the
ruined houses are like the memorial stones of those
who have descended into the region of the dead
(Matt. 11 : 23) ; and the black, miserable Arab huts
on this field of the dead remind us of the words of
the prophet (Isa. 5 : 17) : " The waste places of the
fat ones shall wanderers eat." We, however, in
this region of the dead recall to mind the Prince of
Life who once lived here, and who thereby exalted
Capernaum to the skies. Here, yes here, we cry
as with one voice, We will tarry and will not go
farther, until these ruins have again been built up
in our souls, and until we have seen Him who once
dwelt here, walked among these houses, and in this
synagogue revealed Himself by His wisdom and His
power to perform miracles, as the Founder of a new
era.

II.
THE MORNING.
" Now we are here, my father," said a little ten-
year old girl who was leading an elderly man by
the hand. And when she had gone a few steps
farther, she cried out : " How fortunate we are to
find the seat in front of the house still unoccupied. "
In saying this she hastened toward the bench, and
drew her father after her. Reaching it, she pressed
him to sit down upon the seat, saying : " God be
thanked who has helped us so far !" " Bnt," said
he, "is this really the house where He lives?"
" How could I be mistaken in it, since I have often
forced myself through the crowds up to this very
house in order to hear the blessed words of His
mouth." " But," he continued, "is He at home
and not abroad?" "We must hope," said she,
" that we have been rightly informed. But remain
seated here, and I will go and look around a little."
It was the time of the change of the middle

THE MORNING. 41
night-watch to the third ; the starry heavens glit
tered in all the glories of a diadem enshrined in
diamonds and precious stones. The little girl took
her stand some distance from the house, whose out
lines were clearly seen in the starlight, and looked
intently with her large eyes, particularly toward the
one room upon the flat roof (the upper room),
which was dimly lighted. When she saw the shad
ow of a figure appear at the perforated window,
she uttered a cry and sank upon her knees, and bent
her face to the ground. In this prayerful attitude
she continued, until the voice of her father, crying,
" Peninnah, Peninnah ! why are you leaving me
alone ?" again aroused her.
In the mean while the space in front of the house
was becoming more and more alive. From differ
ent directions were heard in the silent night air the
dull sound of the steps and voices of new-comers.
Here came a man carrying his child upon his back,
whose suffering head was hanging down over his
shoulder ; there came two who were carrying a
third in a hammock, and as they, before they bring
him to the much-longed-for house, let him down
upon the ground once more, he is heard lamenting

42 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
about the hardness of his bed. From the east
side of the sea, where the road which comes from
Damascus and goes to the coast of the Mediterra
nean Sea runs along the Sea of Galilee, a camel is
seen coming, accompanied by an older and. a younger
man, and which, in the woman's saddle, is carrying
a thickly-veiled and decrepit Woman. Led and
carried, more and more sick persons arrive, until
the place in front of the house has become like a
hospital in which the cries of pain uttered by the
sufferers, mingling with the subdued and often
rather rough voices of their attendants, create a-
dull din. Peninnah was compelled to use all the
fire of her eyes to retain the seat for herself and her
father. All tried, sometimes with threats and
pushes, to secure a place near the entrance door.
And as often as a sign of life was visible within the
house, all became excited and the noise was sud
denly hushed.
The shadow which Peninnah had seen at the
window was not His shadow. When the early
dawn took a reddish hue, a man in a blue tallith
(cloak) and a pale red tunic came down from the
upper part of the city, and passed through the liar-

THE MORNING. 43
row streets. His countenance was as pale as the
sudor which covered His chin and forehead. The
night watchman, when he saw Him, stepped rev
erently to the side, and trembled through and
through when, with a gentle greeting, His eyes,
filled with love and deep earnestness, met his. After
standing for a while, as if spellbound, he followed
Him at a distance as quietly as possible. He whom
he followed hastened, or rather moved along with
inaudible steps. He was plainly and poorly rather
than richly clothed ; He walked rather bent forward
than perfectly erect ; He made the impression of a
man who in his heart was carrying a heavy burden,
but who was carrying it willingly and not by
compulsion. The gentle majesty of an exalted suf
ferer hovered over Him. As He turned the corner
and saw the multitude of sufferers, He, indeed, for
a moment as it were recoiled ; but looking upward
with a countenance drawing in and sending forth
heavenly light, He was at once again collected and
stepped forward. The multitude, seeing Him,
turned in an instant from the house and toward
Him, and all stretched out their arms in petition and
intercession to Him. " Blessed be He that cometh

44 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
in the name of the Lord !' ' cried out an old man,
who stood in front, who had himself experienced
the healing power of this miraculous Physician, and
now was constantly bringing other sick people to
Him. Out of almost fifty throats a variety of greet
ings met the longed-for Helper, accompanied with
gestures imploring assistance. Here one voice cried
out : " Sablenu''' (O thou, our Rabbi) ; there an
other, " Marana'1'' (Our Lord) ; or another, " Shel-
icha Dishmaja' ' (Messenger of Heaven) ; another,
" Mikwe Israel " (Hope of Israel), and the suffer
ing woman on the camel, whom father and brother
had brought from Bethsaida Julias, stretched out
her arms from behind her veils, and in a hoarse and
shrill voice criod : " Malcha Meshicha?'' (O King
Messiah). Her cry sounded like the voice of spirits
in this confusion. The impression this all made
upon Him was clearly confusing. With a motion of
the hand and a ruddy gleam overspreading His coun
tenance, He quieted the commotion and restored
silence. Those of the sick who still had control of
their limbs then threw themselves in a row upon
their knees before the door of the house, but the
path which had been left for Him to pass through

THE MORNING. 45
between them was very narrow, because all were
anxious to get as near to Him as possible. He passed
through slowly and only by steps, and His whole
appearance showed the intensity of His feelings and
His work. To the right and to the left they greedily
caught hold of the ends of His tallith ; they kissed
them and drew them as near as possible to the local
ity of their suffering. But, in spite of this pressing
and pulling from both sides, His person was not
molested by any overboldness. In reverence-inspir
ing majesty He stood there, attracting, and at the
same time overawing, in the midst of a crowd of
people. Whenever His hands, which He extended
to both sides, could not be reached by any of the
badly afflicted farther off, He bent over to him_ and
laid His hand upon his own, and spoke some words
to him in an undertone. The nearer He approached
the house, the greater became the excitement, espe
cially among those behind Him. The ecstasy of
those who felt a new life coursing through their
members, and through their souls as well as through
their bodies, broke out in words of exulting grati
tude. And when one raised his voice in the words
of the Psalmist : " Blessed is the Lord, the God of

46 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
Israel, who alone doeth wonders," the whole multi
tude, as though it were a congregation assembled in
the house of worship, answered : " Blessed is the
glorious name of His kingdom f orevermore !' '
The nearer He came, the more agitated Peninnah
became in her expectancy. Her form" rose higher
and higher, and she watched every one of His mo
tions with a devouring look. And when the eyes
of the Lord fell upon the child, who was standing
at the door of the house like a statue decorat
ing the entrance, it seemed that a glowing dawn
was beginning to cover her pale face, and she
chanted with a voice clear as silver : " The Lord
killeth, and maketh alive : He bringeth down to the
grave, and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor,
and maketh rich : He bringeth low, and He also
Hfteth up" (1 Sam. 2 : 6, 7). She at first sang
almost tremblingly, and only when she saw no sign
of disapproval in His face, she became firmer and
bolder. " Is He soon coming ?" asks the old man,
whose left hand was expectantly and tremblingly
lying in the right hand of his daughter. "We
must wait yet," she answered; "but a glance
which He has given me promises us good."

THE MORNING. 47
" Blessed are you, my daughter," he cried ; " you
have the name of Peninnah and the heart of Hannah ;
your song was to me like the voice of the turtle
dove which announces the coming of spring." The
healing of the blind man seemed really destined to be
the very last. Approaching the girl, He asked her :
"What is thy wish, Peninnah?" She answered :
" Lord, that my father may see Thee and Thy
works." He then took hold of the old man by the
back part of his head, bent him over nearer to
Himself, and said, speaking toward his eyes :
" The Lord killeth and maketh alive. Be it unto
thee according to the confession of thy daughter !' '
All this had happened within the space of several
moments, and the hands of the father and of the
daughter, outstretched in gratitude, no longer reach
ed Him, as He had disappeared through the door,
which had been unlocked and was only closed.
Peter, behind the door, had, as far as possible, been
a witness of this early work of the Lord in the
pursuit of His calling. But also the words : " O
heavenly Guest of sinful mankind," with which he
saluted Him, scarcely reached His ears, for He has
tened through the inner part of the house toward

48 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
(.the steps which led to the upper chamber. Enter
ing His room there, He tottered to the couch at the
side of the wall, and broke down as under the bur
den of the many sicknesses and sufferings which He
had taken upon Himself from the sufferers.
The sun was already rising in full splendor ; the
birds were chirping in the thick foliage of the mul
berry-tree whieh covered the house ; a thrush was
cradling herself on the highest limb of a palm-
tree that overshadowed the place like a sentinel,
and sang her morning hymn ; while below, at the
well, at which the principal street of the town, run
ning from north-west by north toward south-east by
south, ended, the maidens were gossiping about the
miraculous healings which had taken place in the
front of the house during the past night. The
whole place was on this day alive earlier than usual.
The rejoicing of those that had been healed and of
their companions had disturbed many in their
morning dreams, and had excited their curiosity.
Many of the strangers had sought and found admis
sion at the homes of their relatives and friends ;
and also the owners of the pundics (inns) found to
day early but welcome guests. In that house, how-

THE MORNING. 49
ever, which at that time formed the spiritual centre
and height of Capernaum, a deep silence prevailed.
Those that lived there, although awake for a long
time, moved around very quietly ; for they knew
that the Master had all night long been watching
and praying in solitude ; and that, upon His return,
He had found much and hard work to be done.'
But above, on the platform of the house, Peter
stood, some distance from the parapet, in order not
to be seen by anybody in the place which had be
come alive so early. It was a beautiful morning,
and no air was stirring. Quiet, like a sleeping child,
the sea lay there in'the lap of the encircling moun
tains whose peaks were gilded by the red globe of
the rising sun. The waters rose and fell, like the
bosom of one breathing gently, and only occasion
ally were they agitated by the quick jump of a fish
which was unwise enough to betray its presence to
the osprey. The vessels that are sailing in the dis
tance look like white specks, and only make grander
the impression made by the widespread expanse of
water ; and here and there something glitters in the
air, appearing and disappearing quickly. These
were the nets which the fishermen threw out of the

50 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
rear end of the boats, forming a wide circle, and
thus descending into the water. Peter had an open
eye for this life and activity in the midst of the
silence reigning around. He, the active and ex
perienced fisherman, knew this sea through and
through. Now, however, he saw in it a picture of
the great ocean of life, into which he in the future,
after the Sun of Righteousness had risen over it,
was to throw his nets. Then, looking up in prayer
to God, he directed his eyes to the south, toward the
region of the Dead Sea, where, in the Moabitic and
Gaditic regions, the terrible and steep fortress
Machserus lay, in which the great and much-beloved
prisoner was held, to whom he owed the beginnings
of a better knowledge. Turning his eyes away
again, he directed them to Bethsaida, his birth
place, from which he had come with his brother to
live in this house of his mother-in-law in Caper
naum ; and he greeted in spirit his parents and
friends at that place, wishing them faith in the
Saviour of Israel, whom he, although unworthy,
had been privileged to receive into his family.
When he, then, as he was about to descend, glanced
over the parapet, he saw that a number of men had

THE MORNING. 51
abeady assembled themselves in the vicinity of the
house, and were waiting for the first opportunity to
hear the great Teacher ; and he noticed at the same
time that a scribe was engaged in angry discussion
with those around him. "Why," cried he, "are
you seeking instruction and help from this unau
thorized person, and not from those who are ap
pointed for this, our Rabbis and priests ? Be
warned : He heals the bodies, but He poisons the
souls. He is a Shed (demon) in human form, and
will drag you with Himself into the pit out of
which He has come forth." Shuddering and en
raged, Peter heard . this. With great difficulty he
restrained himself from hurling a suitable answer
down at the man, and in silence he descended to
the room in which the members of his family were
assembled for the morning meal and were awaiting
him. It was a one-story house, but by no means poor
in character. The three sides of the plastered, four-
cornered centre room, which we will call the court,
contained living-rooms and storage-places. Above,
in the upper room, was the place for guests. When
Peter had entered the family room on the first

52 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
floor, he immediately asked : " Has He not yet
made His appearance ?" And when this was an
swered in the negative, he turned to his mother-in-
law and said : " Please go up, beloved, and knock
softly at the door, and see if you can persuade Him
to come down ; for He certainly is in need of bodily
nourishment after such exertions, in order to con
tinue His labors." When she had ascended and
asked for admission, she said to Him : " Lord, we
would not like to break bread unless Thou hast
pronounced the blessing." He thereupon arose,
and allowed her to precede Him, while He fol
lowed. The table companions consisted of Peter,
his wife, his mother-in-law, his brother Andrew,
and their exalted Guest. " Now relate something,
My brethren," He said, while they were eating.
Those present hesitated and halted. " Have you
heard notliing from Machserus ?" He continued
asking. "O my Lord," they cried, "the thick
walls of that fortress can as little be penetrated as
the gates of hell !" " But I," continued Andrew,
" may, perhaps, relate what I saw yesterday at the
toll-house of Matthew. A Syrian merchant car
avan, crossing the Jordan up there at Bethsaida

THE MORNING. 53
Julias, halted there, and one of the men, who lives
at Edessa, related that King Abgar had commanded
him and others to make closer inquiries concerning
the miracle-worker and Galilean teacher." " Yes,"
answered Jesus, " Jerusalem is the place where the
Messiah shall be exalted as a standard for the na
tions, but Syria is the land which will be the first
to rally to this standard. But, tell Me, what was
that quarreling which I heard so early this morning
under My window ?" Peter told the affair — as
much as he had heard of it. "There, you see,"
He said, " what I have to expect. We are on all
sides surrounded by the spies of the Sanhedrin and
of the Pharisee crowd of Jerusalem." Amid such
conversation the meal was finished. He then arose,
went to the entrance of the house, opened the door,
and addressed the people who were there assembled
in considerable number : " Do ye desire to hear the
Word of life, then enter, as Isaiah hath said : ' Ho,
every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and
he that hath no money ; come ye, buy, and eat ;
yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and
without price ' " (Isa. 55 : 1).
The house was not a grand one, but it was roomy

54 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
and well arranged. After passing through the en
trance-door they came into the court, which in this
case was not covered with cloth or with vines, as
was usually the case ; but it was roofed over. After
Jesus had invited those assembled around the door
to enter, He returned before the people that fol
lowed into the court, and took His position in front
of the cistern — i.e., the marble water-basin in the
middle of the court — and preached the Word of God
to the multitude that was fast becoming a solid mass
around Him, concerning the salvation that had been
promised and now had appeared. The crowd be
came greater and greater in the course of time, so
that the first floor and in front of the house was en
tirely filled with people. Just then four men made
their appearance, of whom two and two, relieving
each other, were carrying a totally lamed man lying
in a hammock. It could be seen that they had
travelled a great distance, and had already borne
the heat of the morning's toil. They came too late
to gain admittance to Jesus ; it was absolutely im
possible to force a passage through this mass of men.
They accordingly went around the house, and for
tunately found a ladder set up against the rear,

THE MORNING. 55
which was just high enough to take them up on the
platform. When the sick man's consent had been
gained to have himself transported up this ladder,
they tied him tight to the bed with the ropes
of the hammock. Two of them went above, and
the two others lifted and raised the sick man up so
far that those above could draw him up the rest of
the distance. After he had reached the top, the
other two also went up on the roof. When they
were all up, one of them descended a few steps
down the roof -steps, in order to see what was to be
done. He heard from here the voice of Jesus. In
deep silence the multitude stood around Him ; His
rich voice filled the room. The effect of His words
was electric and chained the attention, for His
whole soul was in them, and His countenance and
His personality spoke with them. The one who had
descended listened and looked and forgot every
thing else. The sick man began to ask impatiently :
"What is to become of me?" When the three
had called their companion back again, all four
agreed that it would be impossible to take the sick
man down these narrow stairs. " Nothing else can
be done," they said, " except to take off the roof,

56 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
and to let him down in that way. But we are lay
ing our hands on another man's property, and be
sides it is a dangerous venture." "Let me down,"
cried the sick man ; " I will be satisfied if I can
only lie at His feet, be it dead or alive ; and all
damages which we may do we will fully repay."
In the middle of the flooring there was a square,
made of bricks, which were laid together, mosaic
like, in order to make a figure decorating the floor.
But this square was intended not only for an orna
ment of the roof, but also for light and ventilation.
In the rainy season in winter it was closed, and in
this condition it happened to be now, although the
rainy season was over, and with the Easter time,
especially along the sea, spring in all the glory of a
resurrected life had made its appearance. When
the four carriers had taken away the bricks, it ap
peared that these were lying on a plank with a
ring, which could be opened like a trap-door. The
rafters of the building proved to offer a space which
was just large enough, and none too large to let the
sick man down, still bound to his bed. The four-
cornered opening had intentionally been made just
above the cistern in the court, and it seemed possible

THE MORNING. 57
to let the sick man down in such a manner that he
would land just back of the speaker, and would lie
directly in front of Him, when He should turn
around. The poor invalid allowed them to do with him
what they wanted, and his four friends were really
anxious to secure deliverance for him, and they were
also sure that among men there was only One who
could help him. This only One was Jesus of Na
zareth, in whom they, as at that time thousands,
were persuaded that the God of salvation had Him
self visited His people. The four were the neigh
bors and friends of the sick man, and had done
their best to encourage and relieve him in his pain.
The invalid belonged to that small class of men who
look first of all to God. He would have endured
his sufferings gladly, if he had not (we know not
for what reason) seen in them a merited punishment
from God. Just as the thought that God had re
jected him would have converted a wealthy and
luxurious life into a hell on earth, thus, too, this
thought made his terrible sufferings which chained
him almost as dead, though alive, to his couch,
all this doubly bitter. He had become entirely in-

58 A DAY IN CAPERNAUM.
capable of hoping for anything better ; and that
even Jesus would cure him in body and soul, he did
not venture to hope. But he knew that He was
the only One who had the power to help him ; and,
although he considered himself entirely unworthy
of any help, he nevertheless determined, either for
death or life, to hear the Word of God from the
mouth of the One sent by God.
The ropes by which the invalid was lowered were
scarcely long enough, and the four men were com
pelled to bend over so far that they were almost
lying on their stomachs in order to reach down far
enough. Before this the noise in uncovering the
roof had attracted the attention of the assembly be
low ; but the eloquent and fascinating power of the
orator had not allowed this to cause an interruption.
But when the hammock appeared over the heads of
the assembly, blank astonishment at first seized
them, which found expression at last in the cry :
' ' Rabbi, Rabbi ; they are letting a sick man down
behind Thee !" " See," said Jesus, looking up
ward, " their faith ! Assist them with your love ;
take hold of the invalid, so that he may not fall !"
Thereupon the men who stood near Jesus at the

THE MORNING. 59
cistern reached out their arms and took hold of the
hammock. And as the ropes were not long enough
to let it down to the ground, they untied them, and
with their own hands laid the sick man, together
with his bed upon which he was lying, at the feet
of Jesus. The feeling of expectancy which this in
cident had awakened in the assembly was remark
able ; for whenever Jesus had on previous occasions
healed the sick, He had done so as silently and as
unobserved as possible, and generally in such a
manner that only the sick and their nearest friends
were present. For He intentionally avoided en
kindling the unspiritual fire of popular enthusiasm,
and in this manner to cause the flame of hatred
against the Pharisees, which had for a long time
been glimmering secretly, to burst forth. He did
not desire that His main reputation should be that
of a miraculous healer, but He endeavored to be the
object of faith as a Saviour, who was ready will
ingly to endure all the sufferings which His Father
would lay upon Him ; but He would not of His
own will draw these on. Now, however, when all
at once an apparently incurable invalid was laid
down before Him in the presence of many witness-

60 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
es, a problem was imposed upon Him whose solu
tion the dense multitude around Him were awaiting
with deep anxiety. Will He solve it, and how will
He do it ? Such were the questions which could be
read upon all the inquiring faces around.
" Man, what is thy wish ?" He asked, in a de
termined voice, of the unknown man who had so
suddenly interrupted His sermon, and who had by
no word of address or petition appealed to Him.
The sick man was silent, but his breast rose and
fell ; his whole body trembled, and his eyes, whose
upward glance was riveted on Jesus, with heavy
weeping, gushed forth a stream of tears. He, of
whom those who stood near Him testified that He
could penetrate the innermost thoughts of men, saw
that He had before Him here a man to whom bodily
health was not the highest good. His groanings
were self-accusations ; his trembling was fear of the
Holy One ; his weeping was begging for grace.
Therefore the Lord rejoiced, because He could on
this occasion seize the evil by the roots, and could
begin the restoration from within. His heart was
opened ; his face became bright ; his voice became
mellow ; and, with an expression in which exalted

THE MORNING. 61
self-consciousness, deeply sympathetic condescen
sion and undoubting' certainty were harmoniously
united, He said : " Be of good cheer, My son ; thy
sins are forgiven thee. ' ' These words had an effect
upon the invalid such as when the winds scatter the
clouds and the blue azure appears, or as when a
heaven-sent shower refreshes a plant almost with
ered in the torrid earth. The feeling of possessing
grace came over him ; the peace of God penetrated
his soul ; his features became smooth and bright ;
his eyes looked in gratitude up to the Comforter,
and in his tears his joy was reflected, as is the sun
in the pearly dewdrops. But while these consoling
words were giving new life to the sick man, there
were hidden in them for Him who spoke them the
germs of death.
The liturgy of the law knew of a purification
pronounced by the priest — e.g., of the lepers ; but
not of a declaration of purity from sin through the
priest. In general, Judaism knew nothing of an
absolution pronounced through the medium of men.
Isaiah, in the sixth chapter of his prophecies, is ab
solved by a seraph ; and Zechariah, chapter three,
by the angel of the Lord ; but in both prophetic

62 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
visions there is a special command of the Lord to
this effect, which the heavenly messengers carry out.
For the forgiveness of sins is a right belonging ex
clusively to God ; and whenever one creature pro
nounces the other free and delivered of his sins, it
cannot be done by the authority of the speaker
himself, but only through authority from God. It
can therefore be easily understood why the words of
Jesus addressed to the paralytic aroused surprise
and astonishment in those that were present. Their
effect upon several of the company was also another
than this. Back in the last row of people, on a side
bench, sat several Tannaim (scribes), who were ex
cited to a wonderful degree by these words, and
moved from one side to another on their seats, shook
their heads, and gesticulated with their han ds. Jesus
understood their angry faces and conduct. The
accusation which they had thereby raised against
Him was nothing less than that He was a blasphemer.
It was a most important turning-point in the life
of Jesus ; for the condemnation of Jesus as a blas
phemer, which those scribes pronounced in their
hearts, was the beginning of the prosecution which
several years later was to be brought to such a tragic

THE MORNING. 63
end in Jerusalem. Those gentlemen in the rear of
the court thought they could observe what was
going on without being noticed ; but in this they
were disagreeably disappointed when they were
compelled to learn that they were the ones who
were being watched, and that His all-penetrating
eye had seen even through the thoughts of their
hearts. They were indignant at the assumptions of
this man, who, without having attended a " Beth-
ha-Midrash''' (house of instruction), and without
being able to show up a " MoraalC (certificate
showing a right to teach), had ventured to become
a teacher. And now they were compelled to sub
mit to the disgrace of being pointed out before all
the people, when He directed toward them His
eyes with their piercing fire, so offensive to their
innermost souls, and asked them : " Wherefore
think ye evil in your hearts ?" (Matt. 9 : 4).
He had already come to the conclusion that He
could not hope to leave a wholesome impression on
those who looked upon Him as a layman animated
solely by a morbid selfishness, and who, contrary to
all right, had assumed the duties of a teacher, and
was making the people rebellious against their law-

64 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
f ul instructors. He knew well that these men drew
only poison out of His words ; that they were gather
ing material for the purpose of destroying His use
fulness forever ; and that they could not be cured
of taking offence at His person, because they had
purposely steeled their hearts against Him. But
He did not fear them ; He took up the battle
which they offered Him, by suddenly dragging
them upon the battle-ground, and putting those
who were secretly planning an attack, upon the de
fence. " For which is easier," He says, " to say
to the paralytic : ' Thy sins are forgiven thee,' or to
say : ' Arise and go !' " Since they judged accord
ing to what they heard and saw, the former would,
of course (although it appeared blasphemous to
them), be easier than the latter ; for the former is
a word whose effects are invisible, and in which
deception could be practised ; but in the latter case,
unless the speaker would put Himself to shame, a
visible result must take place as proof to those pres
ent. Without waiting for their answer, He con
tinued, turning to the paralytic : " But that ye may
know that the Son of Man hath power to forgive sins
— arise, and take up thy bed, and go to thy house."

THE MORNING. 65
The men sitting on the bench bent their heads in
confusion and anger, and looked intently upon the
ground. A deep and breathless silence prevailed
in the whole assembly. All eyes were fixed on the
sick man, and the four men above, several of whom
were looking through the opening, while the others
were standing upon the stairs, were all eye and ear
for what was taking place below. The word of
power from Jesus was for what they had labored ;
but it had unexpectedly taken such a turn, that it
had confused them as does a sudden thunder fol
lowing quickly upon lightning. The sick man had
indeed heard the sound of the words, but he lacked
the will to obey them. The powers of nature, which
the miraculous power of these words had called into
life, exerted themselves gradually, and the eye of
Jesus, intently fastened upon the invalid, followed
the effect of the words step by step. The numb
ness began to loosen ; the muscles began to show
life ; feeling and the power to move returned ; and
when he felt that his members, which heretofore
had been without feeling and motion, were again
obedient to his will, he raised himself up, astonished
at himself, little by little, and with increasing

66 A DAY IN CAPERNAUM.
self-confidence, until he finally stood erect be
fore Him, and, stretching out his hands to Jesus,
sank upon his knees, and worshipped Him. But
Jesus stepped back, and pointed to the bed. He
took his bed by the four corners, folded it, held it
in front of himself, so that he could still look straight
at Jesus, stepped backward, without taking his eye
from his Deliverer, through the crowd that made
room for him, until he reached the street.
Spellbound by fear and astonishment, all were
silent while this took place. But when the man
restored to health had departed, cries of wonder
and enthusiasm broke forth, first in subdued tones,
but gradually becoming louder. " We have never
seen anything like this." " We have seen incredi
ble things to-day." In this way one cried to the
other, who assented to what was said. A venerable
old man, who was one of the leading citizens of
Capernaum, sought to express the sentiment that
appeared in these mingled voices of enthusiasm, by
turning to the benches which the scribes had taken
but now had secretly deserted, by crying aloud :
" Blessed be God, who hath given such power to
men !" These words referred to Him who called

THE MORNING. 67
Himself the Son of Man ; and they praised God
for the power which through this one man He had
given to mankind. The heart of the people was
yet in a healthy state, and had. not been cor
rupted by the false leaders, but re-echoed faithfully
the impressions received by it.
The names of the scribes who on this occasion
had accused Jesus of blasphemy are not recorded
in the three synoptic gospels. The Midrash to
Eccles. 7 : 28 may have contained them. Under
the wicked woman, of whom the preacher is here
speaking, the old teachers of the synagogue under
stand heresy (minuth), and in this sense the Mid-
rash on this passage says on the words : " Whoso
ever is pleasing to God will escape it," that ex
amples of this are Chanenja ben-Ittai and Rabbi
Joshua ; and on the words : " But the sinner shall
be taken by her" (Eccles. 7 : 26), that this refers to
the men at Capernaum.
"The men of Capernaum?"- — -but by no means
all ; for there was lacking yet a great deal that all
the inhabitants of that city which Jesus honored by
making it the scene of His Galilean activity had
been caught in the net of the Gospel concerning

68 A DAY IN CAPERNAUM.
the coming of the kingdom of God. Only too
many had become rooted in their every-day life,
and were taken up entirely by the affairs of the
world, than that the words of Jesus should awaken
their desire to hear more, and His deeds arouse their
curiosity. For, in their leisure hours (and many en
joyed an abundance of these), they much preferred
to parade up and down the public highway, to open
conversations with travellers going by, to inquire of
them for the latest news, or to gaze by the hour at the
sea, watching the incoming and outgoing boats with
their men and loads, or to sit in the public inn with
their mug of Italian wine, criticising the last year's
wines from Lebanon and Moab, as also the new
est government decrees of King Herod Antipas,
or Herod Philip. They were satisfied to accept
Jesus as a miraculous physician for the sick, but
congratulated themselves that they did not need
Him. The one or the other even shook his head,
and thought that something was wrong about the
whole affair. Those who on this morning had
crowded around Jesus were of a better type. We
have reason to believe that they, even if they were
not all impelled by a longing for salvation, were yet

THE MORNING. 09
driven to Him by a motive higher than of this
world merely. When they with astonished gaze
had followed the man to the door, and with their
cries of surprise had again turned to Jesus, He had
disappeared from His position at the basin. He
had taken advantage of the confusion which the
miracle had created to make His way through the
mass of men and to hasten up the back stairs. Ar
riving there He sank upon His knees. The ap
plause, in which, besides a number of tones of the
right ring, He had recognized even more that were
not, had offended Him, and the adventure with the
scribes pictured to His mind His bloody end. He
collected Himself through prayer until the multi
tude had dispersed. Only when all had become
quiet below did quietness enter His soul. Then He
arose, stepped out of His room into the hall in
front ; and when He had there gained the composure
necessary for His purpose, He went down the stairs
and entered the family room, where the faces of the
two women, mother and daughter, lighted up with
joy. They were reading the psalm of the day.
" Read on," He said, " and read aloud, so that I
can hear." A little later the four men who had

70 A DAY IN CAPERNAUM.
carried the paralytic came in, and brought, as a
token of their gratitude, a basket of roses (which,
in that region, where the climate is too hot for
roses, are a rarity), with an edge around it of nar
cissus and hyacinths and blue-blossomed squills.
" Take these," they said to the wife of Peter, " and
decorate the chamber of our Master and Helper
with them !" But she assured them that He de
clined all such presents, and that He had strictly
commanded her not to accept any. Thereupon they
emptied the basket, and scattered the roses on the
place in front of the house. The children of the
city came and stood around this artificial garden.
And when a voice out of the house cried out to
them : " Take them," they made wreaths of the
roses and squills, narcissus and hyacinths, and ran
in great joy, crying out to those at home : ' ' See
here, flowers from the Jesus-house !"

III.
NOON.
Toward noon Simon and Andrew, having fin
ished their first half day's work, returned. " What
does this mean ?" asked Andrew, when he saw the
flowers scattered in front of the house. " Have
you not read," answered Simon, " what Zechariah
says (6 : 12) : ' Behold, the Man whose name is the
Branch ; and He shall grow up out of His place,
and He shall build the temple of the Lord ' ? "
"But," continued Andrew, "there is such an
abundance of flowers, as though the chuppa (the
marriage-bower) of a king's son had been erected
here." " Well," says Simon, "is He not a king?
When our wise men say these Rabbis are kings,
is He not all the more a king whose words and
deeds are as much exalted over theirs as the heavens
are above the earth?" "Yes, indeed," says An
drew, " His soul can have come from nowhere save
from the throne of glory. Do you not feel as I do ?

72 A DAY IN CAPERNAUM.
When I see Him before me only mentally, I cannot
restrain myself for love, and 1 fall upon His neck
and kiss Him. But when I see Him bodily, I trem
ble at His presence, as though I were in danger of
touching the holy ark in the holy of holies. And
when He takes my hand into His, my whole body
trembles, the ground disappears from beneath my
feet, and I seem to be suspended between heaven
and earth."
The two men had been busy out on the lake from
early morn. Now they laid aside their girdles and
washed their hands, for the noon meal was ready.
Jesus was called, and pronounced the blessing. He
did not seem to be a guest in this house, but rather
its Master. Those assembled were silent and waited
until He began the conversation. " And now, My
brethren," He began, "add zest to our appetites,
and tell us how you fared to-day." " Lord," said
Peter, smiling, "the fish were more willing to go
into our nets than the buyers were to take them
out. Our lot was the best of all, and yet not the
most valuable. We offered for sale breams bar
bels and perch, in great number, at low prices ; but
we could see that the people who came to buy

NOON. 73
thought with the adage, ' A fat piece, but a thorn is
in it. ' They seemed to be afraid of our fish, just
as if these were heretical and full of witchcraft."
" Have ye not read," said Jesus, " what is said in
Psalm 119 : 91 : ' All things are Thy servants ' ?
The fish are better servants of God than is man
kind." " Yes," began Andrew, " we would have
sold out sooner if the market master and several
scribes had not been standing by, who scrutinized
closely all who bought of us." "But you have
certainly sold out, have you not ?" asked Jesus.
" Yes, Lord," answered the two brothers together.
Then Andrew was silent, while Peter alone con
tinued to narrate that the man of the royal house
hold, who owed the deliverance of his son to Jesus,
had often helped them out of a similar difficulty,
and had saved them from waiting too long for
customers. " Then you finished your market business at a
not very late hour ?" said Jesus ; " what have you
been doing since ?" " We went down to our boats,
in order to take a chomer of wheat from Chorazin
which had been sold to Bethsaida. Then five men
came running down toward us who had been in-

74 A DAY IN CAPERNAUM.
quiring up and down the shore for us. The one
cried : ' It is well that we have found you, for I
am your debtor ; I owe my health to your exalted
Guest, but at the cost of the roof of your house. '
After he had explained the matter to me, he pressed
a. coin of gold into my hand, but I refused to ac
cept it, until I should know what the repairing of
the house would cost. Then his countenance fell,
and he asked : ' Would you be willing to take us
over, so that we can take the shortest road to Beth
saida Julias ? ' ' Most assuredly, ' I said, ' if you
hurry, and we will even consent to take the ordinary
fare for the trip.' Thereupon they ran back
a piece, and afterward entered the boat with their
baggage. Among this was a hammock, and a rose
bush with budding roses, taken up with the roots
(a rarity around the sea), of which the healed man
said : ' I intend to plant this in a well-prepared bed
in front of my house, and the roses which it will pro
duce shall be called only by the name of ' Miracle
Roses of Capernaum.' The wind came from the
west, and our boat sailed along almost without the
use of the rudder, and we soon came to our desti
nation. It was a lovely trip ; for the five men

NOON. 75
could not hear enough of Thee, Lord. It was a
good thing that there were two of us, so that we
could relieve each other in narrating. "
This conversation at the table was interrupted by
a singular incident. Mary, the mother of Jesus,
had, indeed, on one occasion before this been at Ca
pernaum (John 2 : 12) ; but since that time every
month of separation had increased her yearning for
her son. In her spirit she was constantly with
Him ; but, since His public ministry, the sympathy
of her heart had not found the wished-f or response.
Even the sentiments of her immediate surroundings
did not fully harmonize with hers. All the more
diligently did she employ the spare moments which
she could gain from the duties of a large household
to work for Him. She prepared linen clothing for
Him, and rejoiced in anticipation that she would
possibly be able to take these things to Him herself.
Such an opportunity had presented itself just at the
right moment. A wealthy friend of her family,
belonging to those few who had recognized in Jesus
the One sent by God, had some business to attend
to in Tiberias, which was at that time a great
business and commercial centre ; and he intended

76 A DAY IN CAPERNAUM.
from there to make a visit to Capernaum, in order
to hear once again the Word of truth from the
mouth of the great Nazarene. He told Joseph of
this, adding that he would not only gladly take
Mary with him, but would consider it an honor to
do so. He could easily make the journey to
Tiberias, which was a distance of seven hours, on
foot, while his beast of burden was at her service ;
and he would also see to it that she should be
brought back again in safety. Mary heard this with
joyful agitation, and a petitioning look at her
husband readily secured his permission. As they
desired to arrive at Capernaum about noon, her
escort was ready to start between the ninth and
the tenth hour — i.e., about three and a half hours
before sunrise. The man walked rapidly, and the
animal seemed not to feel any weight. When they
went by the grain-fields and flower-beds of Kefar-
Kenna, the village above was yet lying in deep
sleep. From there the way went on one arm of
the plain Battauf, and from here gradually ascended
to the water-shed, which is marked by the village
Lubije. At sunrise they had come to the birth
place of the Apostle Judas Thaddseus, which was

NOON. 77
on a hill covered with fig and olive-oil trees. And
when, after taking a short rest, they arrived at two
wells up on the ridge of a hill, the first view of the
dusky sea, lying sparkhng in the sunshine, burst
upon their view. When they were near it, passing
by the south side of Karn Hattin, the rocky mass
with its dark peaks, at the foot of which it is said
that the Sermon on the Mount was delivered, they
began to meet people from the neighborhood, who
could inform them that Jesus was in Capernaum,
and had on that morning performed a number of
miracles. In order to go directly to Tiberias they
did not descend through the Valley of Doves ( Wadi
Hamdm), by way of the wheat village (Kefr
Hattin), but went by way of the Emmaus Valley
(Amwds), which ends at the sea near Tiberias. At
Tiberias it happened that Mary found a boat which
had just come from Capernaum and was to return
at once. The fishermen were at first brusque, but,
after they had looked at her, they became quieted
and reverent.
It was Simon's wife who first heard the gentle
knock at the door of the house. She arose, looked
through the wooden window-bars, and sprang back

78 A DAY IN CAPERNAUM.
astounded, crying out with great joy : " Mary of
Nazareth !" Scarcely had she said this, when Peter
sprang up and hastened after her. He opened the
door, and took hold of Mary's hand, looking at her
with intense earnestness, saying : " Blessed be she
that cometh !" and with his left he took the bundle
which she was carrying. Returning the salutation,
she asked in a voice that indicated her anxiety and
fear of hearing a negative answer : " Will I find
Jesus here?" "Yes, in truth, mother of my
Lord," answered Peter, and at the same moment
Jesus came, followed by the others, who allowed
Him to precede them, and remained a few steps be
hind Him. For a long time Mary held Him in her
embrace, which He did not refuse ; and her hot
tears flowed down upon His breast, tears of deep
joy and grief at the same time. " Peace be unto
thee, peace be unto thee, My dear mother," said
Jesus, pressing His lips upon the crown of her head.
Then He supported her by the arm, and conducted
her into the room, where first the women saluted
each other with loud expressions of joy, followed
by Andrew, who approached, feeling more than he
could express, and whose hand she pressed all the

NOON. 79
more heartily. But when the women were begin
ning to ask how it happened that Mary had at this
tune of the day been able to get to Capernaum,
Peter interrupted them, and said : " Why do you
permit our friend to stand so long ? She must be
tired after her long journey. Be seated, lady, be
side our Master, and break bread with us, so that
you may refresh yourself, and honor us. We would
like to be able to offer you something better than
salted fish ; but, Hannah (calling to his wife), bring
in some grapes and figs, such as are yet to be had at
Nazareth, so that our guest may be able to taste
of the blessings of the Gennesar land. "
When they were all seated at the table, Jesus
Himself asked her in whose company and in what
way she had come. And when in her joy at again
seeing her son she forgot to eat, He urged her to
partake. And when He added that after the meal
she should go up with Him to His chamber, she
gave Him a look of the deepest gratitude ; and the
others, who knew well why and had so long re
mained silent, felt encouraged to speak. " How
happy ye are," began Mary, " who have this beau
tiful and large and picturesque sea constantly before

80 A DAY IN CAPERNAUM.
your eyes, whose waves, after my long ride on the
ass, have so gently but quickly brought me into
your midst, and how beautiful is this city ! Its
houses are visible from a long distance, and are seem
ingly swimming on the water. " " Yes, Capernaum
is beautiful," answered Simon, " and never was it
more beautiful than it now is, when it is really, as
its name signifies, the city of the Comforter and of
consolation. But the majority of the inhabitants
think of nothing further than of a delicious fowl
and of old wine." "But Nazareth also," inter
rupted Andrew, "is not to be despised. We see
the sea here ; but you, when you ascend the hill,
have also a view of the sea. I will never forget the
evening when from there I saw the glorious sun
descend behind Mount Carmel and the Bay of
lAkko into the sea." "You are right, Andrew,"
said Jesus ; "I, too, can never forget that hill ; it
has become for me what Sinai was for Moses."
"Already from His boyhood days," continued
Mary, "that was His favorite place ; and when I
missed my child and Joseph went to hunt Him, he
seldom looked for Him there in vain." When the
conversation had in this way been opened, inquiries

NOON. 81
were made concerning the individual members of
Mary's family. "How is Joseph getting along,"
exclaimed Simon ; "he who has so faithfully
guarded the tender shoot (Isa. 11 : 1), which has now
grown into the Tree of Life ?" Then questions were
asked concerning the brothers and sisters of Jesus.
And the women thought that they, too, could now
take a part in the conversation. They asked con
cerning the outward prosperity, but also concerning
the attitude which they now assumed toward Jesus.
Mary, well knowing that she was in the dearest
family circle, spoke openly ; His countenance by
turns becoming bright and dark. Whenever she be
gan to speak, all were silent and followed with in
tense interest her rather slowly and carefully selected
and considered words. It was interesting to notice
how the light and shadow of what she related pro
duced corresponding feelings in the hearts of those
that listened. Jesus, however, merely listened. He
left His mother to the friends who were entertain
ing her, and rejoiced to see her received with such
marked affection.
When the meal had .been concluded, which on
this occasion lasted considerably beyond the usual

82 A DAY IN CAPERNAUM.
time, Jesus arose, and, with covered head, spoke
words of thanks. After this Mary also thanked her
kind friends. Then she followed the beck of Jesus,
and with Him went to His chamber, where Peter,
as she heard, had already taken what she had
brought with her. When she now had Him alone
with her, and had reached the goal of her jour
ney, she embraced Him, but instead of kissing
Him, as she had done in her thoughts a thousand
times at home, she hid her head on His shoulder,
and He bent down over her. Amid strong agita
tion of her body, she burst out in violent weep
ing. She wept only, but did not speak ; she clung
to Him, and did not let Him go. Then, after
awhile, Jesus said : " Mother, be calm, and sit down
at My side, and tell Me why thou art weeping so."
And when they were sitting, she began, holding
His hand in hers and looking into His eyes, to
speak, and said : " I rejoice that I at last have Thee
again, and weep because I will soon not have Thee
any more." "Dost thou then know," answered
Jesus, " how soon or how late I shall leave this
world ?" " Oh, my child !" answered Mary, " do
not the paleness of Thy countenance and the trans-

NOON. 83
parency of Thy hands tell me that Thou art wear
ing out Thy strength. And if Thou dost not wear
out Thyself (I am, indeed, only a woman, and con
fined to the four walls of my house), how would it
be possible not to see through the hatred of Thy
enemies, which grows from day to day, and that
they have sworn long ago to slay Thee !" " But
yet," said Jesus, "has not a large number of the
people come over to My side, who will thwart the
plans of the enemy?" "Yes," said Mary, "the
power of Thy sermons, Thy boldness over against
those in authority, and the novelty of Thy whole
appearance have enthused many for Thee ; but this
favor of the people is like a brook which the show
ers rapidly fill, but which soon disappears again."
" Thou art right, O blessed among women," an
swered Jesus ; " the majority of this people do not
seek a salvation from their sins, but from entirely
different burdens. And, when the time to decide
comes, they will desert Me cowardly, faithlessly, and
ungratefully. Thy look into the future does not
deceive me, but even the enmity and infidelity of
men must serve the plans of God, to carry out
which I have come into this world. My path goes

84 A DAY IN CAPERNAUM.
down into an abyss at which I shudder ; but I obey,
without consulting My own will, the God that is in
Me, be it upward or downward." With these
words, His face, which for some moments had been
dark, brightened up as though transfigured, as the
divine power within Him came to the foreground.
Mary, drawing in all the rays of His countenance,
felt herself filled with a trembling of heavenly bliss.
A long pause ensued. Mary was silent ; but, as
always, she was engaged in prayer with her whole
heart. " Beautiful," thus spoke her soul that was
in deep communion with God, " was the rising sun,
beautiful the green inclosure, beautiful the blue
sea, beautiful this love-feast in the charming circle
of friends, but more beautiful than all is He.
What an hour this is ! My eyes have seen the
King in His beauty" (Isa. 33 : 17).
" And now what does My mother say ?" asked
Jesus, breaking the silence. She reached out her
hand toward His brow, but did not touch it, and
cried : ' ' Blessed art Thou who sayest : ' Lo, I am
come ; I delight to do Thy will, O my God ! ' "
(Ps. 40:8, 9). "And blessed," He continued,
taking hold of her hands, " is she who subjects her

NOON. 85
will to the will of her Creator, and who is not
affrighted at the sight of the sword which shall
pierce her soul. But, tell me, what is in that bundle
there with which thou hast loaded down thy
self ?" The change to this question was abrupt,
and Mary was compelled to collect her thoughts be
fore she could answer. " What is sweeter for a
mother," she began, "than to work for her dear
child ? and what would be more painful for her
than to be compelled to give to other women the
care for him who has lain under her heart ? The
bundle contains different kinds of linen garments
which Thou wilt have need of ; not, indeed, of a very
fine texture, which our poverty is not able to secure,
but substantial and neat, and everything cut, sewed,
and prepared by my own hands. My thoughts are
always with Thee, but never with greater pleasure
than when my hands are doing something for
Thee." When she opened her treasure and took
out each single garment, and told its purpose, Jesus
exclaimed repeatedly: "How well thou hast pro
vided for Me ! How diligently thou hast labored !
This is more than I need, and more than I can use.
This is good and plenty enough for the wedding of

86 A DAY IN CAPERNAUM.
a son who is preparing to take his bride with him
to a distant land." She knew well how little her
presents were worthy of this praise, but she re
joiced, because He was pleased. The cheeks of her
who was yet to suffer so much had for a long time
not seen such a ruddy hue.
Then the Lord laid His arm around her shoulder,
and when He had led her back to the couch at the
wall, and had taken His seat near her, He began :
" Now go on and tell Me further about what thou
didst mention at the table. Does the city upon the
hill continue to be white without and dark within ?"
" To day, my Son and Master," answered she,
" they are as hostile to Thee as they were when
they attempted to hurl Thee down the mountain"
(Luke 4:29). "And is Mary yet," He con
tinued, "as a lily among the thorns?" "Yes,
Lord," was her answer, " the daughter of Eli con
tinues to be the favorite object of slanderous tongues ;
but she lives so retired that the thorns hurt her
but little. " " And thy husband ?" He continued ;
" they doubtless treat him less harshly because he
is of the seed of David." "Oh, no," she an
swered ; " as he is nothing but a carpenter, he is re-

NOON. 87
garded in the eyes of the people as having commit
ted a crime, because he has not rejected as a bas
tard Thee, who was sent to him from heaven.' ' At
these words the countenance of Jesus was en-
clouded, and Mary was frightened at herself, as
though through her words she had defiled that
which was holy ; and as if to smooth the mat
ter over, she added : " But the secret of the Lord
is with those who fear Him, and such disgrace is
an honor to us." "It is indeed so," He con
tinued; "but are My sisters and brothers also so
much above the defamations of the revilers as are
their parents ?' ' Mary looked down sadly, and said
to the Lord, anxiously selecting her words : " Lord,
in this slander not one of them joins ; they all honor
and love Thee ; but Thou art going too far for
them, and they are frightened at Thy opposition to
the existing order of things ; they cannot make
themselves to understand that their firstborn brother
is the Messiah of Israel." "How," he said, sur
prised ; " are James and Jude also no further than
this?" " Yes, my Lord," she answered, "these
two stand nearest to me. Whenever we converse
about Thee, they always take my part. When I

88 A DAY IN CAPERNAUM.
left, they cried out after me to greet Thee, and to
ask Thee to pray for them." " This I will do,"
He said, " this Galilee is a land of the shadow of
death, and he who has for a long time been in
prison can only slowly accustom himself to the
light of the sun."
Conversing in this manner for about an hour,
He arose, saying : " Now, mother, I must leave
thee ; the Mincha (evening prayer) time is ap
proaching, and My calling directs Me to seek the
lost sheep of the house of Israel. " " And am I yet
one of these ?" she asked. " No," He answered ;
"thou knowest the Shepherd of Israel, and canst
say with Shulamite, ' My friend is mine and 1 am
His. ' " " But since Thou art going around through
the land," she said, " I but seldom get to see Thee ;
and how happy I am when I do see Thee !"
" Thou wilt yet see Me often," He said, in return ;
" but joy without grief the sight of Me will not be
to thee until we meet in the other world. " " Yes,"
she answered, " I must train my soul to give Thee
up for this world ; but what is easy for Thee
through Thy divine power is hard for me, who am
nothing but a weak mortal." " And I know,"

NOON. 89
He continued, " what it is that will draw thee
down again to the ground after God hath so ex
alted thee, but only for the purpose of keeping and
strengthening thy soul in its longings for that which
is above." These words did her good ; she felt
that He had penetrated her soul. " Let us go,
then," she said; "and do not for my sake alone
use up the time which belongs by rights to the
many." He then kissed her forehead, and said :
" Depart in peace, and remain yet as long as thou
canst here in Capernaum with this beloved family.
I hope to see thee again, even if not just as I see
thee at this hour. Thou standest in need of a
strengthened faith, but it is only a short time yet,
and thou wilt speak as did the prophetess Miriam :
' Sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed glori
ously ; the horse and his rider hath He thrown into
the sea ' " (Ex. 15 : 21).

IV.
MINCHA (VESPER).
It was a hot day. During the hours of noon the
streets of Capernaum had been almost entirely de
serted. Now the sun's rays were beginning to in
cline and were less scorching, especially as on this
day the heat was tempered by a soft, cooling wind,
from which it could be felt that Mount Hermon, with
his snow-clad brow, was sending a friendly greeting
to the country of the Tabor and of Gilead. Men,
women, and children came in swarms out of the
houses, of whose existence now only the masses of
ruins give testimony, and hastened toward the syna
gogue, built in the Herodian style of architecture,
whose columns and marble blocks,' now lying
ecattered around in ruins, covered with heavy thorn
bushes and burning red oleanders, still tell us plainly
that the wealthy little city along the lake could be
proud of this building, and grateful to the centurion
in the Gospel who had erected it. The city which

MINCHA (VESPER). 91
sloped so gradually down to the sea formed a length
ened square, whose southern edge lay along the
water, and the synagogue stood at the water's edge.
"Abba," said a little boy softly to his father,
when they were passing the house of Simon,
" will Rabbi Jeshu come into the synagogue to
day ?" "It may be," answered he, "but you
must not call Him Rabbi ; for He is a prophet who
is risen again. John was Elias ; and He has in Him
the soul of Elijah." "If only that man will not
bother us to-day," said a man farther on to his
wife, who did not answer him, except to say : " Do
not talk in this way !" in order not to excite the
wrath of her husband. In one of the streets which
terminated on the wharf, an alms-gatherer (gdbbd)
joined one of the officials of the congregation (par-
nas), saying : " Have you heard of what happened
to-day in the house of Simon ?" " How would it
be possible not to have heard it," was the answer ;
" the two Rabbis are raving, and demand satisfac
tion from the oflicers of the congregation. And in
truth we dare not suffer our teachers to be publicly
put to shame in this way by a layman." " But did
they not deserve it?" said the other. "He saw

92 A DAY IN CAPERNAUM.
very well that they had come as spies, and then He
cleaned them out like leaven." " O God of Abra
ham," said the officer of the congregation, " are
you already inclining to two sides ? Are you, too,
running after the Nazarene ? And yet it is written
(Proverbs 6 : 27) : ' Can a man take fire in his
bosom, and his clothes not be burned ? ' " The
alms-gatherer was frightened at himself that he
had spoken so boldly. "Mar Lazar," he said,
to make good again his lack of wisdom, " we must
not leave the uneducated masses to themselves ; one
of us must be with them. A Gabba must be every
where in order to know his people."
The colonnade of the synagogue and the open
place in front of it was swarming with people. The
whole congregation, as many of them as had already
arrived, was without the house of God. Many were
walking up and down by themselves, others by twos
or threes, and they were telling each other the
news of the day, and looked expectantly for Jesus.
For, however often they had seen Him, they could
not be satisfied, and always awaited Him with anxiety
as though they had never seen Him before. In
the vestibule, however, the two aggrieved Rabbis

MINCHA (VESPER). 93
were engaged in animated conversation with several
officers, to whom a number of people associated
themselves out of curiosity, and whose attention
was divided between what was going on without
and what was transpiring within. " Excuse us, ye
leaders of the congregation," said one of the Rab
bis ; " but will you soon decide whose honor is more
sacred to you, that of your teachers or that of this
am hadrez (ignorant man)?" "If He had only
not selected Capernaum as His abiding-place," an
swered one of the oflicers. "We are in a sorry
plight." "Not only this," said the other ; "but
there is One higher than the high (Eccles. 5 : 8),
to whom we must give an account, and this it is
that makes us hesitate." "How," fairly screamed
the second Rabbi, "are you also inclining to two
sides ? Do you not know what is written in the law
(Deut. 13 : 6-8) : If thy brother, the son of thy
mother, entice thee to serve other gods, thy eye shall
not spare him, and thou shalt not pity him, and
shalt not conceal him?" Just then one of those
that were listening near the door cried out : ' ' By
God, He is no idolater ; He honors the God of Israel
through His works and words." "No; He de-

94 A DAY IN CAPERNAUM.
serves not only the ban, but something worse ; for
He makes Himself to be a God," cried the two
Rabbis as out of one mouth. " Ye do not under
stand Him," answered the other ; and turning to
those standing without, he cried: "Ye men of
Capernaum, these Jerusalemites have come down to
make us the murderers of innocent blood." The
excitement constantly increased, and the two Rabbis
withdrew, disappearing into the synagogue, crying
woe over the ignorance of the Galileans concerning
the law.
At the same time the attention of all in the
colonnade and on the open place was directed tow
ard Jesus, who was now approaching. A crowd of
children were running in front of Him and others
followed. Their deportment in all this zeal of curi
osity was rather hesitating than bold. They did
not venture to touch Him, and spoke to each other
rather in signs ' than in words. But those that ran
ahead, when they had come at the open place, cried
out triumphantly : " He comes ! He comes !" and
hastened, as in a race, to the doors of the syna
gogue, in order to find good places to satisfy their
curiosity. The men and the women in the open

MINCHA (VESPER). 95
place also became silent at once, and each one took
a stand as though a festive train was expected.
And when Jesus turned the corner of the street that
led to the synagogue, all eyes were riveted on Him.
The crowd of children that followed Him disap
peared in the nearest rows of those looking on, and
sought to get ahead of the others in order to see
Him when He entered the synagogue. The two
rows of sightseers formed, as it were, a guard of
honor, through which He passed. All of those
whom He had passed stepped together, and thus
His following grew step by step. He looked neither
upward nor downward, but straight forward ; and
as often as to the right or left He heard a hearty
sheldm (greeting) ovjischar (mayest Thou prosper),
He turned His eyes aside and answered by a won
derfully benign brightening up of His countenance.
The tongues of many were bound by the power of
the impression made. Others remained silent, be
cause they did not want to have any connection
formed between themselves and the bold innovator
who was endowed with such supernatural power. A
venerable old man murmured, when he saw Jesus
coming, the Baracha (blessing) which was to be pro-

96 A DAY IN CAPERNAUM.
nounced when a king, approaches. " Blessed be
Thou, Lord our God, King of the world, who hast
given man a portion of Thy glory." And a beg
gar in rags waited on his knees for Him to pass,
and kissed the hem of His garment. Of the larger
children, among those that were standing at the por
tal, some had taken their smaller sisters and brothers
upon their shoulders, so that they might be better
able to see- the wonderful Man. Some, more bold
than the rest, had climbed up the columns and upon
the window-sills. The nearer He came the quieter
the young folks became ; but the little ones on the
shoulders of the others would not keep quiet or still.
"The Nazarene," cried a little girl, pointing her
finger toward Him, and almost touching His head
dress. In no wise disturbed by this childish curi
osity, and obstructed by nobody, He entered the
house of the Lord, but the crowd behind Him be
came all the more compact after He had entered.
The eyes of those pressing in after Him sought
Him in vain ; for, having entered the synagogue,
He at once turned to the left, and took a seat on
one of the farthest benches along the wall, opposite
the sanctuary, which behind a rich purple and gold-

MINCHA (VESPER). 97
embroidered curtain concealed the book of the law.
The sun, however, seemed to be better informed
as to His whereabouts, for its evening rays stream
ing through the high windows seemed to seek
out His countenance with especial favor, and ren
dered for those present the same service that the
Star of Bethlehem had for the wise men of the East.
The ' ' Sheliach Zihbur1 ' (leader in prayer), on the
" Buchan" (platform), in front of the sanctuary,
prayed with a fervency beyond that which he was
wont to do. A power of especial consecration,
going out from the person of the great One, perme
ated the whole service. As is yet the case now,
the services were opened with the jjsalms. " Is He
praying, too ?" was the question asked by all.
Steady, with His eyes directed toward the place
where the law was, and in deep contemplation, He
sat there ; but His lips were moving, and the feel
ings of the congregation were much heightened by
the consciousness of this communion of prayer with
Him. When the " Shemone Esre" (the prayer of
the eighteen benedictions) was opened, with the
benediction Aboih, and the words were uttered :
" O Thou that rememberest the grace given to the

98 A DAY IN CAPERNAUM.
fathers (Aloth), and bringest a Saviour (goel) to the
children of their children, for Thy name's sake in
love," all eyes were turned to' Him ; for, even if
they were far from regarding Him as this Saviour,
they nevertheless all knew that He considered Him
self to be this Saviour. When the " Tachanun"
(prayer of penitence) was to be spoken, and the
leader was bowing his head before the sanctuary,
He, too, bowed His head, and, like the whole con
gregation, hid His face in His left arm. When the
"Kaddish" (holy) was being chanted at the close,
He raised His head and His countenance shone, so
that one who believed in Him whispered to his
neighbor : " Is not this the glory of the Shechinah ?"
(John 1 : 14). With the words : " May great peace
from heaven and life come over us and over all
Israel, and speak ye, Amen," the Mincha liturgy
drew to a close. His eyes at this point glanced
over the congregation, and met the look of hatred
on the faces of the two Jerusalemites. He en
dured the glance firmly, and compelled them to
cast their eyes down through the mild fire of His
eyes ; and one of these men murmured : ' ' The
evil eye of this sorcerer kills !"

JIINCHA (VESPER). 99
Up in the women's gallery, where the women
sat, removed from the sight of the men, and took
part in the worship, the feeling during the whole
service was one of painful anxiety. For it was only
a short time ago that the presence of Jesus had been
the occasion of an awful and terrible interruption
of the service. One possessed of a devil had arisen
during the silent prayer, and cried out : " Cease ;
what have we to do with Thee, thou Jesus of Na
zareth ? Art Thou come to destroy us ? I know
Thee who Thou art, the Holy One of God"
(Mark 1 : 24). Whoever had heard and seen this
episode could never forget the terrible screams, and
the contortions of face and members in the afflicted
man. Jesus had, indeed, on that occasion, through
the word of His power, driven out the demon, and
compelled him to silence ; but the healing also had
taken place amid great and wonderful phenomena,
and the remembrance of this was more terrible than
agreeable. The evening services in the synagogue
on this occasion, however, passed by without any in
terruption, and the miracle-worker of the morning
satin the midst of the " Kehillan (congregation)
of the city quietly and modestly, and as one of their

100 A DAY IN CAPERNAUM.
neighbors, and He would have preferred to have
disappeared at once from the midst of the assembly.
But, after the services had come to an end, they
all remained for a little while yet in their places.
Frequently before this, Jesus had arisen to teach in
the synagogue at Capernaum, and His. manner of
teaching had filled His hearers with astonishment ;
for He taught, as the Evangelists tell us, as one hav
ing authority, and not as the scribes — i.e., He did not
confine Himself to interpret and apply the different
portions of Scriptures according to fixed rules of in
terpretation, but, in the consciousness of being Him
self the Mediator of a divine revelation, He had
opposed to the old revelation a new revelation, and
had shown from the whole Scriptures that this new
revelation was the completion of the old. In this
way the people waited yet a while anxiously, to see
if He would ascend the " Bima" (the reading-desk),
and would begin to teach. But He did not do it.
But neither did He leave the synagogue. The two
Jerusalemites went out ahead, and stood without
on one side, in order to be able to see what would
happen now. When, then, the assembly closed, He
endeavored to depart without being seen ; but this

MINCHA (VESPER). 101
He found impossible. Reverently the people stepped
back and made room for Him. A young man, how
ever, stepped up to Him, and asked Him in a sub
dued and trembling voice : " Lord, Thou hast not
spoken any word of God to us this day." " Come
down to the .sea, " He answered, also in a subdued
voice, "soon after the setting of the sun." But
scarcely had He disappeared from the synagogue,
when the word went around from mouth to mouth :
" This evening, late, down on the lake front."

THE EVENING.
Capernaum is now a field of imposing ruins, ex
tending down to the sea, and buried under grasses,
shrubs, thistles, and undergrowth as high as a man.
These ruins are called " Tell Hum.'''1 The word
" tell " is frequently met with in the names of places
to designate an elevation, either a natural eleva
tion, as, e.g., a single hill, or one made by the
hands of men, as a heap of ruins. "5«m" is an
abbreviation from Nahum, for Capernaum means
Nahum's village. This abbreviation was probably
already in vogue in the older vernacular of the peo
ple, for they have also abbreviated " Nechunjcf in
Palestine into " Chunja." It is also possible that
the word assumed this form in the mouth of the
Arabs. For them, however, the word " hum" has
no special meaning. It is not an Arabic proper
name ; nor is a herd of camels called thus in
Arabic, but rather el-haum (el-hom). Instead of

THE EVENING. 103
Tell Bum we also hear the name " Ber Hum'''
(cloister of Hum), from the opinion that the prin
cipal ruins are those of an old cloister.
From the ruins the country rises northward for
half an hour, so that the city, seen from a distance,
seems to be lying against a hill. A steep and
arduous path, which winds itself along in a narrow
valley going in a north-westerly direction, takes the
traveller, after a walk of an hour, to a little spring,
called " Bir Kerdze.'''' Around about lies the field
of ruins called " Khirbet Kerdze,'''' which are much
similar to the ruins of Tell Hum, only more im
posing, and are noticeable in the distance by the
high columns of black rock — the remains of old
buildings. The original form of these old ruins
can be reconstructed from the remains with more
probability than can those of Tell Hum. There
are still standing several well-preserved squares of
mason-work, of old and small houses. The walls
are, as a rule, constructed out of basaltic rocks,
which are found in abundance in the surrounding
hills. The columns in the middle of the building
support the roof, which was, apparently, flat. The
ruins of the synagogue can also still be recognized.

104 A DAY IN CAPERNAUM.
Capitals of the Corinthian kind, made of hard basalt,
show that it was an imposing building. And what
a beautiful site this city occupied ! The city was,
in part, built in the depression in which the waters
of the winter rains poured down from here to Tell
Hum, in part on projecting rocks, from which a
grand view of the sea and of the mountains en
circling it on the other side could be gained. And
it was here that the synagogue, built of basaltic
stone, stood. Here, where now its black ruins stand
in grim silence, surrounded by desolation and con
fusion, there reigned at the time into which we are
trying to transfer ourselves a wealth of smiling life
of man and nature. All Galilee was at that time
filled with cities and villages, of which Josephus, in
his autobiography (chap. 45) mentions more than
two hundred. Even the smallest numbered its in
habitants by the thousands. No part of the country
was uninhabited ; everywhere inventive industry
had utilized the whole land ; and, according to Jo-
sephus's history of the Jewish war (III. , 3), it looked
like one great orchard. From that day on, on
which transpired what has here been narrated, but a
few decades passed, and war had already commenced

THE EVENING. 105
its work of devastation in this magnificent land.
Earthquakes, like that of January 1st, 1837, at
which in Safed alone about five thousand people
were killed, have contributed their share to trans
forming opulent cities into piles of ruins, and luxuri
ant fields into deserts. In this manner, the way
from Capernaum to Keraze is now so covered with
stone and grass that it scarcely can be found with
out a guide. Formerly it was, notwithstanding its
steep ascent, a comparatively easy and well-pre
served road, used a great deal by man and beasts of
burden. The hour's walk is soon over. As we
turn around and look backward, eye and soul find
pleasure in the contemplation of the magnificent
blue sea, and arriving above, we are surprised at
finding Chorazin lying in part in- the upper valley,
surrounded by golden wheat-fields, and in part on
projecting rocks above the valley. Here at the
railing of the synagogue, built on the highest point,
Jesus undoubtedly often had stood, deeply intent
in watching man and nature at His feet ; or, with a
heartfelt appeal to Heaven, observing the passing
crowds. For this Chorazin He often and gladly
visited in His journeys through the Gennesaret dis-

106 A DAY IN CAPERNAUM.
tricts and their surroundings, but without noticeable
success ; for in grouping Chorazin with Bethsaida
and Capernaum, He cries out, in looking over His
work in Galilee : " Woe unto thee, Chorazin ! woe
unto thee, Bethsaida ! for if the mighty works had
been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in
you, they would have repented long ago, sitting in
sackcloth and ashes" (Luke 10 : 13). The judg
ment with which He threatened both of them has
caused them to disappear, with even fewer remains
than Capernaum ; namely, first, Chorazin, which
lay in ruins in the days of Eusebius, and then Beth
saida on the sea, whose location is as yet only a
matter of conjecture.
After Jesus had left the synagogue, He desired,
even if only for a' short time, to be alone. ' He en
deavored to leave Capernaum by the nearest way,
and walked about a quarter of an hour upward to
the spring that was in the valley leading up to
Chorazin, but without following it farther where it
turns to the left. He wanted to keep the sea and
the city in sight.
He loved to be alone, in order to commune, with
out interruption on the part of men, with the God

THE EVENING. 107
from whom He came, and from whom He had de
rived His spiritual life. The world of nature did
not disturb Him ; for He understood the divine
thoughts of the Creator that were hidden in it, and
every creature reminded Him of God's Word in
the Holy Scriptures. The waterless wadi that He
saw spoke to Him in the words of Job (6 : 15) :
" My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook,
as a. channel of brooks that pass away. ' ' And the
lily which He saw bidding defiance to the thicket
of thorns in the midst of which it grew, banished
these sad thoughts with the words of Sulamith
(Cant. 6:3): "I am My beloved's, and My be
loved is mine ; He feedeth His flock among the
lilies." The worm on the ground interrupted His
steps, whispering to Him in begging tones (Ps.
22 : 6) : " But I am a worm, and no man ;" and
the basalt rocks on the way whispered to Him (Ps.
27 : 5) : "He shall keep Me secretly in His pavil
ion : in the covert of His tabernacle shall He hide
me." There was no object in nature that was not
full of instruction for Him. Hence, it was all the
more natural for Him to employ objects in nature
as illustrations of His teachings. In these lonely

108 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
walks the parables He employed took shape in His
mind. The creatures told Him not only of God's
Word ; He saw everywhere in nature and in the
doings of the world reflections of the secrets of
God's kingdom.
On the hill -side of Chorazin there stood, to one
side of the way, a shady olive-oil tree, which had
struck its roots into the ground between the rocks,
and had grown a thick crown of foliage. Here the
Lord sat down, and, either by accident or otherwise,
a troop of doves and turtle-doves crowded together
on the limbs above His head. After He had cov
ered His face with His hands for a while, He looked
up, and feasted His eyes on the sight that there met
His gaze. Quiet and even, only here and there
slightly moved by the evening breeze, the blue sur
face of the sea could be seen down to its southern
termination, a picture of that peace which He de
sired to bring to mankind. The many high strong
holds that were built along the hills lining the other
shores, especially Gamala, conspicuous at the south
end of the sea, with its imposing castles and tow
ers, showed that peace was something that be
longed to the future, and that the present was under

THE EVENING. 109
the supremacy of bloody war. Raising His eyes
above these strongholds, they found pleasure in gaz
ing at the high plateau of Golan, which, like the
picture of the mysterious supernatural existence,
rose above the rocky walls that lined the coast,
broken through by mighty crevices, out of which,
in the rainy season, great masses of water rushed
into the sea. He saw it all, comprehended it all,
and reflected on it all.
After gazing and contemplating in this manner
for a time, He arose, advanced a few steps, and re
mained standing at a place from which He could
overlook the city which He had chosen. This Caper
naum, which glittered in the glory of the setting
sun, contained people who had learned to know
Him, and now also contained the blessed one who
had given Him birth. With joy and sorrow He
looked down upon it. His whole calling and life
¦was laid open before His soul at this sight. For
the city at the sea, where the districts of Naphtali
and Zebulun meet and join, was, in truth, the
stronghold which He had chosen for Himself, in
order to work from here and change the world's
course, and bring it into a new relation to the will of

110 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
God. He spread out His hands as though blessing
it, and cried out in the words of Isaiah's prophecy
concerning Capernaum (Isa. 8 : 23 ; 9:1): " And
there shall be no gloom to her that was in anguish.
In the former time He brought into contempt the
land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali ; but in the
latter time hath He made it glorious, by the way of
the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the nations."
"Yea," He continued, "the nation that walks in
darkness sees a great light ; those that dwell in the
land of the shadow of death, a light shines over
them. O Father of lights, make Me the light of
the nations, as Thou hast made the sun the light of
the earth." "But," said a voice within Him,
" the sun goes down bloody in order to arise again
gloriously." " However this," He answered, " I
have come into the world for this purpose, to give
My life as a ransom for many." With such
thoughts and words He went with quickened steps
to the city and down to the sea. Those that met
Him stood still for a long time, as if enchanted by
the majesty and magnificence of His appearance.
In coming from Nazareth and passing Mount
Tabor to the edge of the ridge of hills that descend

THE EVENING. Ill
by a steep grade into the valley above Tiberias, the
Sea of Galilee lies before us for the first time al
most in its whole length. Then, the thought that
this bit of earth, from which the Sun of salvation
and the law of the history of the world ex oriente
Lux (the light comes from the East) has been ful
filled, fills our hearts with overwhelming feeling.
But also aside of the crown of glory that rests upon
it on account of its mission in the history of salva
tion, the clear, pure, and gently moving waters in
themselves leave an agreeable and solemn feeling.
Of the lakes in Switzerland none are like this one.
v. Orelli says : " The Sea of Mur is nearest like
it as far as size is concerned, the Sea of Zug in re
gard to the clearness of its water, the grace of its
form and the warmth of its coloring." He and
his companion saw it for the first time when they
came from Nazareth to the edge of the high hill
plateau above Tabarie. Then, after a half hour's
steep descent into Tabarie, they could not get
enough of the sight viewing it from the roof of
the Latin cloister at that place. And when one
evening they were bathing in its waters, they ex
perienced how quickly the waters, smooth as a mir-

112 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
ror, could suddenly produce the wild waves of a
storm. " Above the high rocky hills of the other
side quick flashes of lightning were seen once or
twice ; the thunder could scarcely be heard ; the
light had a mysterious appearance, and without
being able to notice the presence of any wind, the
sea, as though moved by the arms of an invisible
spirit, became restless. The breakers were regular
and loud ; they surged until late in the night, so
that it seemed as though we were at the ocean's
beach. "
My two friends saw the sea in the spring, and the
impression made on them was for this reason a
more favorable one than that received by Robinson,
in 1838, on his first trip to Palestine, who saw it in
summer, after all the herbage had been withered and
not a sail or boat dotted its waters. The sea looks
different in summer than it does in spring. How
much different from what it is now must have been
its appearance at that time when the head of the
fisherman's family in Capernaum was entertaining
the most exalted Guest that man has ever wel
comed to his house, on the day when Jesus was re
turning from the Chorazin fountain to Capernaum.

THE EVENING. 113
The mountain wall by which the east side of the
sea is encircled rises from one thousand to two
thousand feet above the level of the water, and
•forms a rolling and barren line of hills. These
have a dark, though not displeasing, and formerly
also an imposing appearance ; for in these moun
tains — that is, in their middle, between the high
table-land of Golan and the shore of the sea — a
number of small castles were to be seen, among
which that of Gamala, with its fortresses and towers,
were the most important. Its appearance, before it
had fallen into ruins, must have been magnificent ;
especially when in the light of the full moon. One
could see all these castles from the sea-shore, because
they lay high and stood out prominently from the
hills. And to the imposing appearance was added
a feeling of the wildly romantic by the irregular '
and broken character of the Golan plateau, with its
many crevices, through which, in the rainy season,
cataracts of wild waters rushed down to the sea.
The character of the western shore is entirely dif
ferent from this. It is marked by sloping hills
and rocky cliffs, that encircle the sea, now closely,
now somewhat removed, as far north as the hills

114 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
that there border on the waters, and it is cov
ered with beautiful villages. Here Nature had
poured out her horn of plenty, and here the in
dustry and craft of man had drawn from Na
ture's resources what she may have been inclined
to withhold from them. The climate of the lower
districts is sub-tropical — i.e., it approaches the
tropica], but was made milder by the fragrance of
the vegetation that covered it from the sea to the
top, and which is watered not only by the sweet
waters of the sea, but also by the brooks that come
pouring down the hill-sides and by springs along the
shore. Now, this most famous earthly paradise, by
wars and earthquakes, through the uncertainty of
holding property, and through the stupidity of
man, has been reduced to a mere remnant of its
former grandeur. In the Old Testament books the
whole western coast of the Sea of Galilee or Tiberias
is called " Kinnereth,'''' or " Kinneroth." The
Talmud connects these names with the name of the
instrument " Kinnor,"" saying: "As beautiful as
is the sound of the Kinndr is the fruit of Kin
nereth." And no greater praise can the Talmud
give than to say of this fruit that God had not

THE EVENING. 115
allowed it to grow in Jerusalem, so that people
might not come to that city for its sake and not for
the purpose of worship. But the true explanation
is an easier one. ' ' Kinnor' ' is an oval musical in
strument in the shape of a pear, which in Arabic is
called " el-ud," the lute, the name which came with
the Arabs to Europe into the Spanish language,
and from it into others of Western Europe. The
sea actually has the appearance of a lute. And
then there was situated along the shore an old city
of the tribe of Naphtali called "Kinnereth," or,
on the analogy of other names of ancient cities, in
the plural " Kmneroth." This town in later
times was called " Gennesar" (Gennesar), or " Gm-
nusar" possibly on account of its beautiful gar
dens ; for this name signifies the gardens of the
princes, and the city was accordingly the city of the
garden of the princes. This city must have been
in existence in the Middle Ages, for Estori ha-
Parchi, in 1320, according to it, determines the
sites of Zereda, Tanchum, and Tiberias. One of
the doctors of the Talmud, named Jonathan ben-
Charsha, is called " Ish Gennesar " (man of Gen
nesar), as Judas, the betrayer, is called " Ish Keri-

116 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
jdth" (man of Kerijoth). From this Gennesar the
sea took its name, which it had when Christianity
was first introduced. The first Book of the Mac
cabees and Josephus call it the " Genneser sea ;"
the Gospels, however, call both the sea and the sur
rounding country by the feminine form " Genne
saret," with the exception of the fourth Gospel,
which calls the sea by its youngest name, the Sea of
Tiberias, by which it is also known in the literature
of the Talmud. The magnificent valley that opens
up to the traveller in going from Tiberias to Mag
dala was called the Gennesar Valley, and, in the
stricter sense of the word, the Gennesar country.
It is, says Josephus, in his history of the Jewish
war (III., 10), as though there were here a rivalry
of nature, which was striving to unite opposites into
one point, and an actual contest of the seasons, each
of which is endeavoring to gain possession of the
land. For the ground brings forth all kinds of
fruits that apparently cannot grow in the same cli
mate, and does this not only once a year, but almost
throughout the whole year. The kings among
fruits, the grape and the fig, grow here ten months
without interruption, and at their side other fruits

THE EVENING. 117
ripen all the year round. In these words Jo
sephus praises this land, and other ancient eye-wit
nesses have lauded the wonderful beauty and fruit-
fulness of the Gennesar country.
The business and life that at one time covered
this inland sea, only about fourteen miles long andj
seven miles wide, and one hundred and fifty feet/
deep, has now given way to the silence of a church
yard and is dedicated to great memories. In the
division of the country among the tribes, its western
shore, as far as Kinnereth, fell to the lot of Naphtali ;
and, according to a tradition, Joshua had added the
condition that every one should be allowed to
throw his fishing-hook, but that every net should
be taxed, because unlimited fishing with nets, espe
cially with drop-nets, which were allowed to re
main in the water overnight, would interfere with
navigation. -Now, the inhabitants confine them
selves to fishing along the shore. Travellers in
the present century have seen but few or no boats
on the sea. Robinson saw but one, which was bring
ing wood across from the eastern shore. In those
days, however, of which we speak, the sea was
thickly dotted with boats, large and small, in which

118 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
fishermen were plying their vocation day and night,
and in which travellers and goods were carried
along the shore or across the lake. Josephus, as
commander-in-chief of Galilee, on one occasion or
ganized a blind attack by sea on Tiberias, which had
rebelled, and collected in Tarichia no less than two
hundred and thirty boats, each manned with four
sailors. What an activity and wealth must have
been in these cities and villages in the Gennesar
country ! In looking from the baths at Tiberias
toward the city and the sea, we see in the back
ground the mountain of Safed and the snow-covered
peak of Mount Hermon, which shuts out all further
outlook ; and from Tiberias in a north-westerly di
rection, to the Barida Springs, we see a terraced,
smiling land, covered with houses, and extending
at least half-way up the hills, behind which the
rugged and perpendicular rocks put a stop to the
Work of man. The view is a great deal like that
of the Sea of Zurich, from Zurich to Rapperschwyl.
The ruins of Tell Hum lie on the north side of
the sea, one hour's walk from the place where the
Jordan empties into the sea, between the steep
shore on the one side and the plain forming a fruit-

THE EVENING. 119
fnl delta on the other. It carries with it a slimy
mass, sluggishly and slowly proceeding on its way.
The marks of the principal highway go east and
west. If the good-sized place here, whose houses,
built of basalt stone, were reflected in the sea, is not
Capernaum, what other city could it be ? Robinson
and others, who looked for Capernaum near the
Ain-et-Tin (the fig fountain), found some twenty-
five minutes' walk farther south, cannot answer this
question. When Josephus reports that in a battle
which he fought with the Romans, near Bethsaida
Julias, he fell from his horse, and was badly hurt,
and was brought to a place called " Cephamome,"
this account agrees well with the site of Capernaum,
which was from Bethsaida, which was situated on the
eastern side of the mouth of the Jordan, the nearest
large city, where Josephus could find physicians and
could hope to remain concealed. And when Jesus,
after He had been informed of the decapitation of
John the Baptist, crossed over with His disciples in
a boat to Bethsaida Julias, and the multitude fol
lowed Him thither in great crowds on foot, hasten
ing after Him along the ghore of the sea (Luke
9 :. 10), this can be best understood, if we suppose

120 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
that Capernaum was the place from which Jesus
departed, and where the multitude had been col
lected, as this was the centre of His active work,
and if this is sought for at no other place than
where the ruins of Tell Hum are now found. The
disciples also returned to Capernaum after they had
witnessed, in . Bethsaida beyond the Jordan, the
miraculous feeding of the five thousand, and Jesus
had gone out from them in order to be alone. A
storm, which overtakes the disciples on their home
ward journey, threatens them with destruction ; but
Jesus, walking upon the waters, comes to their as
sistance, and, contrary to all expectation, they find
themselves quickly at their destination at Caper
naum. But on the next morning the people saw
that the boat which had brought over the Man of
wonders was no longer there ; and they learned that
the disciples had long before sailed away, but that
He was not with them. Thinking that Jesus had
taken the land road, they entered several boats from
Tiberias, which were lying there near Bethsaida,
and again it is Capernaum to which they steer in
order to find Jesus, and where they do find Him
(John 6 : 16-25). From all these passages we are im-

THE EVENING. 121
pressed with the fact that Capernaum lay diagonally
across from Bethsaida, and that the chief seat of
Christ's work was the land on this and that side of
the north end of the lake.
"Beside the mild atmosphere," says Josephus,
in his description of the Gennesar country, " this
also adds to the fertility, that the ground is watered
by a remarkably powerful spring, which the inhab
itants call ' Capharnaum. ' Many considered it to be
a vein of the Nile, because it has fish similar to the
Coracinus (so called on account of its raven black
ness) in the Sea of Alexandria. ' ' Josephus is speak
ing here of Gennesar in the narrow sense of the
word, that charming piece of land which is enclosed
on the north at the Chan Minje, and on the south
at Megdel by hills extending down into the sea. If
this is the district through which the Capharnaum
Spring poured its waters, then Tell Hum, which
lies one hour farther north of this, cannot be con
sidered as the old Capernaum. But what Josephus
says about the spring of Capernaum must first be
corrected. For it sometimes happens that a place is
named after a fountain found in the neighborhood,
as is seen by so many names of places beginning

122 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
with the word " Ain" (fountain) ; but that, con
versely, a fountain should have a name beginning
with the word " kepher" (village) is impossible.
The statements of Josephus seem entirely incorrect.
But if we understand the statement to mean that
the spring was called not Capharnaum, but Aim,
Capharnaum (spring of the Nahum village), then
among the places from Tiberias on and beyond the
Chan Minje, no other can be meant than the
beautiful and powerful Tdbigha fountain ; for this
lies only half an hour from Capernaum, and could
have been called after this city. In going along the
narrow shore path to Capernaum, we pass also
some other springs, but Tabigha is the only one
worth mentioning, and is the most important. The
waters of this spring, even where they burst forth,
are powerful, and of such bulk that they drive a mill.
And even yet the aqueduct is preserved in part, by
means of which the waters at one time supplied the
whole of the north-eastern part of the Gennesar
Plain. In an eight-cornered encasing made of stone,
and in part preserved to the present day, the water
was carried to a height where it could flow into the
aqueduct. A gutter cut into the rocks led it

THE EVENING. 123
around the projecting mountain, so that it watered
the plain. Ain-et-Tim, did not serve this purpose,
because it lay almost down at the water's edge, and
the other water-supplies reached only the southern
parts of the plain. But that Capernaum secured its
water-supply from Tdbigha cannot be accepted ;
for the water of Tabigha is tepid and brackish —
i.e., it tastes salty, like ocean water. It is less
pleasant to the taste and less fresh than is the wSter
of the lake, which the people of Capernaum had right
before them. The water of the Sea of Galilee is,
like that of the Nile, excellent for drinking pur
poses. The qualities which Josephus assigns to it
corroborate this ; he says it glitters, is clear, sweet,
mild, and cool.
We must, on the other hand, not pass over in
silence that there is, indeed, a tradition to the effect
that the old Capernaum was situated on the north
end of the Gennesar country, in the narrow sense
of the word, which is now called " el-ghuweir"
(ghuwer), and hence near to the present Chan
Minje.' " Chan" in the East is a name applied to
an uninhabited one-story building, which has been
built as a place for travellers to remain in over-

124 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
night ; not, indeed, an inn, but rather a structure
serving as a stopping-place without charges. But
when the Franciscan Quaresmio, of Lodi, in his
garrulous book on the " Holy Land," which ap
peared in two folio volumes in 1639, says in Vol.
II., p. 868 : " At present we see that where Caper
naum once stood are many ruins, and a miserable
diversorium, called in Arabic Menich," he meant by
this the present Chan Minje, between which and the
shore of the sea, beneath a large fig-tree, the so-called
fig fountains break forth, and cause the growth of
some rich grass along its banks covered with reeds.
Robinson and his companions camped here on the
19th of May, 1852, in the midst of magnificent
clover-fields. The pile of formless ruins lying only
a few steps south of the Chan on a slight elevation,
seemingly the remains of a not unimportant place,
were at that time grown over by an almost ripe field
of wheat. Here there must have been a place-in
olden times whose size is yet a matter unsettled.
The neighboring people have often turned this
ground upside down in order to secure building
material. At first they found, as we learn from the
work on "Palestine," by Professors Ebers and

THE EVENING. 125
Guthe, fruitful soil, then yellow earth mixed with
rocks, and under this the remains of old walls made
of carefully-prepared limestone ; and, besides this,
they found also, near the walls, some potter's ware
and other remnants of an old civilization. Was it,
perhaps, here where we are to seek the old places
" Kefar Tauchumin," or, better, " Kef or Techu-
min," mentioned in the works of the Palestinian
Jews ? The name is similar to the name of Caper
naum, but signifies ' c border village, " and would cor
respond with the north end of the Gennesar Valley.
The site of Capernaum, the N ahum village, is marked
by the much more extensive ruins of Tell Hum.
There the French Bishop Arculf saw Capernaum at
the end of the seventh century. On his return trip
to West Brittany, he described what he saw to the
Prior Adamnanus, on St. Columba, one of the
Hebrides, as follows : " Those who come from
Jerusalem and would visit Capharnaum travel
directly toward Tiberias, and then pass by the Sea
of Galilee, and the place where Jesus is said to have
blessed and broken the bread for the five thousand.
From there, upon proceeding along the shore, you
arrive in a short time, on the way that goes

126 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
along the shore, at the seaport Capharnaum. I
I saw the city from a neighboring mountain, with
no wall around it, and confined to narrow limits be
tween the mountain and the sea ; it lies extended
on a long strip of shore, with a mountain on the
north at its back, and runs eastward and west
ward. " This must have been, in truth, a bird's-eye
view of Capernaum, when seen from one of the
mountains to the south. The slowly ascending
ground at its back rapidly changes into a mountain ;
the city stretches out in width, and its front is
formed by the sea, which seems here to come to an
end. Antoninus Martyr, who had visited Caper
naum a few years earlier, found there a basilica,
which included the traditional house of Peter, just
as a chapel in Nazareth is said to enclose the tra
ditional workshop and house of Joseph. Down to
the time of Constantine, the city of Capernaum was
inhabited exclusively by Jews. This emperor,
however, allowed a Jewish convert, by the name of
Joseph, to erect Christian churches at Capernaum,
and other hitherto exclusively Jewish towns. It is
possible, even now, to distinguish in the thickets of
thorns and grasses the ruins of the basilica from

THE EVENING. 127
those of the synagogue. The synagogue was, as
can yet be plainly seen, seventy-four feet and
nine inches long, and fifty-six feet and nine inches
wide, and on its south side had three entrances.
Amid its limestone ruins are also found capitals of
Corinthian columns, and the remains of architraves
which at one time supported wooden rafters.
Capernaum lay upon a projecting curve of the
shore, where it had a natural dam against the sea,
which lay a little lower, but which in the rainy sea
son of winter rose higher, owing to the waters that
rushed into it from the wadis. The houses were, in
part, built so close to the water's edge that their
backs were reflected in the water ; others stood
back farther, and in front of them were either gar
dens with arbors or places to dry the nets. About
in the middle of this street, running along the shore
in the old city, where there was offered a good place
to unload the boats, was the landing-place where
the boats were pulled on shore and unloaded ; for
Capernaum did not possess an artificial harbor, un
less you would call this landing-place a harbor, and
the shore road the dam of the harbor. At these
places, on the evening of which we speak, there was a

128 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
remarkable bustle and life. Like wildfire the news
had spread that Jesus of Nazareth would this even
ing appear at the water's edge, and had reached even
the neighboring villages. It could, indeed, not
be brought to the places on the other side of the
sea ; for this, the time between the vesper services
and the evening was too short. But after one short
hour, it was known at Bethsaida and Chorazin ; it
was also known in the village of dyers, Magdala,
and in Arbel, lying half an hour to the west above
Magdala, and in the villages at the fig fountain,
whose names have now disappeared. From all of
these places people came to Capernaum, most of
them impelled by curiosity, but some of them by a
desire for salvation. Here and there one was seen
riding on an ass. This animal, in Palestine, is of a
better breed, and more intelligent than in our lands,
and is almost as fast as a horse, and faster than the
ordinary burden-carrying camel. In Magdala cer
tain men had lifted a sick woman, notwithstanding
her strong protests, into a boat. Her old mother,
who kneeled at her head, could with great difficulty
keep her quiet and contented. The journey, because
there was no breeze, was a slow one along the shore.

THE EVENING. 129
Occasionally, however, one of the two rowers, at the
earnest prayers of the mother of the sick woman,
stepped into the shallow water, and pulled the boat
along by a cord. But where to land the boat ? The
old woman, as often as the sick companion would
suffer her, looked toward heaven for an answer to
this question. For the multitude also who stood on
the wharf it was an important question where Jesus
would take His stand ; although many were too
careless to ask themselves such a question. One
would look at the beautiful and large barbels and
sea-mullets which some fisherman had been lucky
enough to catch ; another was examining lumber
brought over from Gamala, which had been hewn
in the woods of Gebel Aglun ; a third was convers
ing from the wharf with the steersman of a boat
which had been loaded with iron brought overland
from Acre, and manufactured in the iron works on
the western Lebanon, and cried out to him in the
common jargon that consisted of a mixture of Latin,
Greek, and Aramaic : " AnWci tabta, prahmatia
shapird'' — i.e., fine fruit, splendid goods! Here
and there some were seen getting into boats, and
having themselves rowed out to sea, in order

130 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
to look all over the shore, and be able to go at once
where Jesus would take His stand. Those who
were walking up and down on the street along the
shore, hoped that He would, at least, pass by that
way ; for that this place, where the boats with the
iron and other vessels were being loaded, would not
be selected by Him as a place, from which to ad
dress the people, was more than probable. But
will He go to the right or to the left before the city,
and assemble the people there ? This was the ques
tion that they discussed pro and con in an animated
manner. It was a most beautiful night. The sea was the
picture of deep peace. The murmuring of its
waves, that broke at short intervals, the pearly foam
that appeared and disappeared so rapidly, seemed
like the lovely dreams of one softly sleeping. And
as one who is journeying into a strange land thinks
again of the loved ones at home, from whom he is,
indeed, separated in space but not in heart, thus
the sun, sinking behind the western mountains,
sent his evening greetings to the sea, that slowly
and softly was taking its course southward. The
rich blue of the waves shone in his golden rays,

THE EVENING. 131
and the clouds above it reflected all the colors of
the precious stones in the breastplate of the high
priest. But the mountains above, in themselves
reddish and made still redder in the glow of the
evening sun, were enveloped, after the sun had gone
down, more and more as if by the incense of the
evening sacrifice. And on this side a mild breeze
mingled all the delicious fragrance of the orchards,
groves, and gardens, together with that of the defle-
bush crowning the shores with a crimson hue, and
united them, as it were, into a savory incense-offer
ing. On the windows of the synagogue the spar
rows chirped, as though uniting in an evening
chorus of praise ; here and there a pelican could be
seen, which, tired of diving, was flying toward his
resting-place on the rocks beyond. Only at the
harbor was this solemn silence banished by the
mingling of many human voices who cared nothing
for it. Those who without were walking up and
down, expecting the great Preacher and Man of
miracles, could not otherwise than enjoy the peace
reflected in nature around. The children run
ning back and forth between them, who were hunt
ing pretty shells, and gathered bunches of red

132 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
anemones and fragrant cyclamens and other flowers,
and here and there made a stone to skip over the
surface of the water, gave additional attraction to
this evening picture, without injuring it. Much
more animated was the scene along the shore toward
the mouth of the Jordan than it was in the direction
of Magdala. At all events, it was more probable
that He would come from Chorazin ; and, besides,
two women were walking back and forth at this
place, of whom it could be expected that they knew
whence He would probably come. These were the
wife of Peter, and Mary, who had, without diffi
culty, been persuaded to remain this evening in
Capernaum, on which she expected to hear the
Word of Life from the mouth of her Son, and to see
Him in the midst of His activity. " Possibly we
are on the wrong side, at any rate," said Mary.
" No," answered her companion, "He will cer
tainly come from His favorite place at the Chorazin
well; we will not miss Him," "The wife of
Simon the fisherman I know, ''•said a man from
Chorazin, walking behind the two women, to a man
of Capernaum, " but who is that old lady dressed so
plainly, yet who is walking with the gait of a noble

THE EVENING. 133
personage ?" " That is Mary, the daughter of
Eli," answered the other, " the mother of the Na-
zarene, who came to-day to visit Him." The man
from Chorazin then hastened in front of the women,
but scarcely had he turned around to see Mary's
face, when he was compelled to turn away again
without satisfying his curiosity. He could not en
dure the glance of her eyes.
While the people were in this manner going up
and down the shore of the lake in deep expectation,
the Rabbis from Jerusalem were in the garden of a
country house situated some distance from the city,
from the terraces of which the grand view to the
northwest upon the mountain of Safed, and farther
to the north the snow-capped Mount Hermon
could be viewed. The master of the house and a
number of the wealthiest and most influential of the
citizens of Capernaum, whom he had invited in
honor of his guests, and, as he expressed it, to save
them from the riotous noise of this evening, sat in
an arbor of the*garden, filled with palm, banana,
balsam, cypress, and castor-oil trees, engaged in ani
mated conversation, while the servants were offer
ing to the guests on silver platters, fine confections

134 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
and the choicest Gennesar fruit. The conversation
for a while was a discussion of the casuistry of the
law of the tribes. " I have," said the man of the
house, " down in the valley, three huts, in which my
fruit-gatherers live. Is it allowed that my children
and servants shall eat of the fruits down there without
paying tithes ?" " They may," answered the men
of Jerusalem. " But," continued the man of the
house, "in one of the huts the people have com
menced to keep house ; they have a handmill there
and keep chickens." "Such a hut, also," said
the Jerusalemites, " need not be tithed." " Take
note," said the master of the house to his son,
" whosoever abides in a perfume factory, although
he does not himself buy or sell it, nevertheless gets
his clothes perfumed." "Ye men of Jerusalem
are, indeed, happy, ' ' exclaimed one of the guests ;
" for ye sit at the fountain of the law." " Well,
then," was the answer, " do not yourselves sever
your connection with Jerusalem by running after
this Jesus." "Our people," said a wealthy ship
owner, "are as ignorant as the asses." He pro
nounced the word chamarin so indistinctly that it
was uncertain whether he meant asses or sheep.

THE EVENING. 135
" Yes," said one of the Jerusalemites, in answer to
this, "that you are ignorant can be seen even by
the jargon you here call language." These words
offended the self-respect of the Galileans and caused
bad feelings. An old man, who was at least as
old as the two Rabbis together, answered quietly
and smilingly : " Not so strict, ye gentlemen from
Jerusalem, for Galilee has not only beautiful fields,
but also great men. And this Jesus of Nazareth,
ye must also confess, is a great Man, even if He is
not a learned man (Lamdan), according to your
cut." " No, no," they cried, as out of one mouth,
" He is a ' Meshummed ' (apostate), He is a ' Min '
(heretic) ; He is no better than a ' Goj ' (heathen) ;
He is such an ' Am haarez ' (plebeian), of which
Rabbi Jochanan says that they should be torn
asunder like the fish." " Men of Jerusalem,' ' cried
the master of the house, in order to restore the
social harmony of the company, ' l do not judge so
harshly concerning this Man to whom so many per
sons, in and around Capernaum, who were sick owe
the restoration of their health. You have just
come here ; observe Him this evening and later ; do
not jump at conclusions so quickly." The two men

136 A DAY IN CAPERNAUM.
felt that they were doing themselves more harm
than good by such angry outbursts, and continued :
' ' Men of Galilee, dear brethren, have you not read
in the Book of Job (6 : 26) : ' Do ye imagine to re
prove words, seeing that the speeches of one that
is desperate are as wind ?' The zeal for our nation,
which needs union now more than ever, has made
us harsh. Do not the name Tiberias on this side
and of Bethsaida Julias on the other side of this
beautiful lake remind you that you are no longer
masters in your own country ? A garrison consist
ing of Gentile mercenaries forcibly reminds you
that you are servants of Herod, and that he is a ser
vant of the Romans. You must suffer the picture
of the Roman Emperor on your golden coin ; and
every copper coin that is issued has at least his
name. Shall we, the sons of free men, be forever
slaves ? No ; our teachers have said : ' Between
the present age and the age of the Messiah there is
nothing except the rule of the stranger.' When,
then, the Messiah comes He will collect Israel around
His banners, and will break the yoke of this godless
Roman supremacy, and will purify the land of Israel
from the abomination of heathendom, the theatres,

THE EVENING. 137
hippodromes, circuses, and images, which are now
found in such abundance from Jerusalem over to
Gadara, and from Cisrin (Csesarea) 'to Beisan (Scy-
thopolis). And now, just look at this Nazarene,
and answer if He can be the Messiah, which the
Minim of this Capernaum hold Him to be ? Just
imagine a helmet on His head and a sword in His
hand ! You cannot do it. He is not the One who
is to destroy Rome's power. Instead of uniting the
nation, He divides it by His new teachings ; and
instead of leading them to a war against the world-
power, He preaches contentment with the slavery,
and obedience to the tyrants."
This was about the tenor of the speech of the two
men, and when the one paused he would be relieved
by the other. Compared with the servile obedience
of the Romanites and Herodians, who utilized the
present for their selfish purposes, and with the Es-
senes, who lived a retired life of dreams, the patriotic
enthusiasm and religious zeal of these disciples of
the Pharisees challenged admiration. But when they
looked around, anxious to hear what answer they
would receive, the whole company was seized with
a curiosity that bore them resistless along. Outside

138 A DAY IN CAPERNAUM.
on the street, in front of the house, a loud noise was
heard. They heard the steps of those hastening by,
and the din of many voices, sending over the garden
enclosure the words: "He comes! By water!
Away, on the Magdala side!" "My worthy
guests," said the master of the house, arising, " if
you want to see Him, follow me ; for if He comes
by water, He will pass by near us." The whole
company hastened, as though drawn by magnetism,
after the master of the house, and took their posi
tions under the alkit, a covered open hall, on an
elevation thrown up in the corner of the garden,
from where they could have a wide sweep of the
water. It was not long until those that were assembled
behind upon the hill saw a grand sight. For them
was meant the word which they could not yet ap
preciate : " Blessed are the eyes which see what ye
see ;' ' but we glory also in the favor bestowed upon
us, because we can picture to our mind what they
saw, and can behold it with the eyes of our souls.
The boat that passed bore Jesus and the four older
apostles ; for Peter and Andrew had waited for Him
on the lake with their boat, and James and John had

THE EVENING. 139
hastened from Bethsaida. Back at the rudder sat
Peter, with dignified mien, in which the proud con
sciousness found its expression that he was allowed
to be the entertainer of Him who sat before him. Sit
ting on the front seat, and steadily gazing at Jesus,
Andrew and James divided the gentle waves of the
water with their oars, so that the boat, although
without sails, flew along as though it had wings.
On the middle seat sat Jesus, and at His left the
disciple whom He loved. Jesus with His right hand
was clasping the right of John, and pressed it to
His heart ; and John, feeling the pulsations of His
heart, had sunk into a deep, blissful contemplation.
And He Himself ? how did He whom no pen could
describe appear ? Youth and manhood, mildness
and strength, undiminished powers and nameless
sufferings, exalted majesty and gentle humility, all
these were united in a wonderful manner in His
countenance and deportment. Heaven and earth
were joined in Him ; the heavenly light penetrated
through the earthly, and the earthly subdued the
power of the heavenly light. He looked differently
from what He had done during the day. He was
not bent down, and did not look down before Him ;

140 A DAY IN CAPERNAUM.
but, with raised head and joyous countenance, He
looked around Him, sitting like a King in His royal
barge ; and the many boats that followed Him
looked as though they were His fleet. He loved
the evening above all the hours of the day. He
looked back this evening with satisfaction on His
work of the day, which His heavenly Father had
given Him to do. He found Himself separated
from the world, and yet visible to all the world in
His congregation, which was represented in the two
apostolic pairs of brothers. He felt a foretaste of
the Sabbath into which He would be about to enter
when His work would be done. Several rays of the
evening sun seemed to have forgotten to depart in
order to disappear in the glory of His countenance ;
just as if to see Him, the full moon, in its purple
glow, rose behind the brown hills beyond ; a gentle
evening zephyr arose, as if to cool the Lord's brow ;
the sea rose and fell as in a solemn rhythmic
measure ; the waves that played around His
boat threw at Him glittering diamonds. It was an
overwhelming sight. As the boat passed by the
garden, Peter called the attention of Jesus to the
spectators on the pavilion. He looked up with a

THE' EVENING. 141
gracious smile. Then a young man among the
guests in the garden cried out : " Elaha de Jisrael,
den malca Meshica? ' (by the God of Israel, this is
the King Messiah) ; and the old sire put the seal
upon this cry with the firmly spoken words :
' ' Ihu nihu" (it is He). Thereupon the two Jeru
salemites drew as many of their guests as they could
down with them, crying : " Turn away your eyes ;
woe unto you ! You are under the spell of a sor
cerer !"
On the south side was the landing-place for the
boats which had brought lumber from the high
plateau of Gola from the eastern side of the sea.
To this place the boat containing Jesus was rowed,
shooting rapidly past the harbor of Capernaum and
past the whole length of the city. When it had
arrived at its destination but a few persons were
gathered there, who appeared to have come for no
other purpose than to examine the lumber and
fire-wood collected there. On the other hand, it
was rather an accidental good fortune that the vessel
bearing the sick woman from Magdala, whose cries
could be hushed only with the greatest difficulty by
her mother, happened to be lying here. " Lord,"

142 A DAY IN CAPERNAUM.
said John, "here is work for Thee already."
" However this may be, ", answered Jesus, " I must
do the work of Him that hath sent Me. The night
will come when no one can work." Scarcely had
the woman caught a glance of Him than she at
once recognized Him whose identity could not be
mistaken, and cried out with heart-piercing words :
" O Jesus, our Teacher and Helper, Thou Messen
ger of the Most Merciful, help my poor child ; for
the Holy One — blessed be He — has heard my prayer,
that we have found Thee and Thou us." There
upon Peter, with the assistance of the two others,
who were allowing their oars merely to touch the
water, guided the boat in such a manner that its
side touched closely the side of the other boat.
Jesus arose ; the woman fell upon her knees ; the
sick woman tried with all her power to arise and
throw herself head foremost over the other side of
the boat into the water. The boatman and John,
who had jumped into the water, seized her by the
arms, and the mother despairingly clung to the long
hair-braids of her child, and hid her face in them.
Her tears ceased to flow ; her thoughts at this de
cisive hour stood still ; her soul was entirely ab-

THE EVENING. 143
sorbed in prayer, although she did not utter a word.
" Whence are these people?" asked Jesus of the
boatman. And when He heard that they were from
Magdala, He said to' His disciples : "Woe unto
this Magdala, for it will be converted unto ruins on
account of its unchastity. All the rich treasures
which it takes down to Jerusalem will not help it ;
for, as the prophet says, the wages of lewdness
she has gathered, and she will become the wages of
unchastity." Thereupon He said, " Turn her
face toward Me, that I may see it !" This was
hard to do, for the sick woman bent her head down
as near the water as possible. But John suc
ceeded at last through gentle words. " Mary," He
said (for, having turned to the mother, he has
quietly asked her name), " do you always want to
remain in the power of the demons ? See, the Sub-
duer of demons is here before you ; look at Him,
and you will be healed. We are all praying for
you, as did our teacher Moses — peace be unto Him
—for his sister (Num. 12 : 13) : ' Heal her, 0
God ! ' Do not put our prayer to shame. Now is
the time, when .you can make yourself and your
mother happy." These words were effectual ; she

144 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
suffered them to raise her head and turn her face to
Jesus. When she saw Him, her whole body was
thrown into violent contortions, so that the boat be
gan to rock, and she uttered cries of pain that
moved heart and soul, and were heard far out in
the sea. Jesus, however, kept His eyes fixed, on
hers ; He looked through her, into her heart of
hearts, and melted by His burning glances the seven
fold chain by which her soul was imprisoned. The
raving woman became submissive, and it was no
longer necessary to hold her. Her agitation quieted
down, the contortions of her face and the unsteadi
ness of her eyes disappeared, a heavy perspiration
oozed down from her forehead and mingled with
the tears that gushed from her eyes. Her mother
made room for her, and, sinking down where she
had until now been kneeling, she cried out with a
subdued, trembling voice to Jesus : " O Lord, I am
a great sinner ; is the door of repentance still open
for me ?" " Be of good cheer, My daughter," He
answered, " God hath no pleasure in the death of
the wicked. Thou hast been the dwelling-place of
evil spirits ; become now a temple of the living
God !" And the mother, who cried out to Him :

THE EVENING. 145
" O thanks unto Thee, thou Comforter of Israel,"
was interrupted by the words : "Go back now
speedily to Magdala, and do not talk much about
the affair; but thank God without ostentation."
John went back into the boat of Jesus, and soon
the other boat sailed away. The two women sat
on the middle seat. Mary Magdalene in gratitude
embraced her mother, and the two sat together in
silence, and looked as though they were transfixed
at Jesus, until the shore that constantly receded
westward hid Him from view.
When the boat with the women had disappeared,
Peter tied his to the post at which the other had
been tied. Jesus, however, was lost in thought,
and, without looking around, remained seated in the
boat. The disciples, also, whose reverence for Him
would not allow them to suggest to Him to step
out, remained with Him. In the mean while the
people of Capernaum, men, women, and children,
came in crowds, among them also soldiers of the
garrison, sent here by the government of Herod
and the Romans, and also a number of strange faces
were seen of such as had come even from Syria,
the Decapolis, and Northern Galilee, by land, and

146 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
had on the afternoon of the present day reached
their destination. A happy accident had brought
also many who had come from Tiberias by the
mountain road along the sea, and had taken this
street along the shore which they had to pass in
order to get to Capernaum ; and from the tax-
house of Matthew, who at this time had been
affected by Jesus' teaching, a number of friends
came, who had lodged there, in order to spy out a
favorable opportunity to see Jesus. When the
place was filled, Peter said softly, hiding his im
patience in his words : ' ' Mardna werabbdna (our
Lord and Master), the people are assembled and
are waiting for Thee !' ' Then Jesus arose. Peter
took a board and made a bridge from the boat to
the shore. He hastened over himself to make it
secure, and to make room for them to land, for at
this place those standing on the shore formed a solid
mass. Jesus now left the boat, and the three other
disciples followed. When He had landed, He said :
" Simon Cephas (for thus He addressed him when
He needed the assistance of His faithful and ener
getic help in the affairs of the kingdom of God), I
have selected that palm-tree there as a place from

THE EVENING. 147
which to address the assembly. " But it was a diffi
cult thing to get there ; for those who had taken
their stand near the boats were mostly sick persons,
to whom precedence had been given through pity.
And scarcely had Jesus placed His foot on the land,
when cries for help in many dialects and various
salutations greeted His ears: "Rabbi!" " Rab-
buni !" " The Holy One of God !" " Son of
David!" "Son of God !" sounded through each
other ; and when Jesus, motioning them away with
His hands, said : " Do not interrupt Me ; this even
ing is not to be devoted to the healing of your
bodily ills (Matt. 8 : 16), but that you should hear
the words of life for your souls," they nevertheless
pressed upon Him, so that they might, at least,
touch Him (Mark 3 : 10). And when, finally, with
the assistance of His disciples, who quieted the peo
ple, each in his own manner, with friendly words,
He had made His way to the tree, He gave a sign
to the people that they should sit down. It was
not a lofty but a neglected and dwarf-like palm,
but it offered some shade. The elevation of the
ground where He stood was, indeed, only slight,
but, after the masses. had taken their seats in rows

148 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
all around Him, it was quite noticeable. The
lumber lying around, the women and children had
as much as possible taken possession of.
Must we now picture Jesus to us addressing the
assembly standing ? This idea would be contrary to
the accounts in the Gospels, from which especially
we are drawing the leading features of our picture.
When He delivered the Sermon on the Mount,
which contained the leading outlines of the Messi
anic kingdom over against the fundamental ideas of
the Sinaitic law, and which is, in the shape which the
Gospel records take in the narrative of Matthew,
a model of His way of preaching, He is represented
as sitting. This is represented correctly in the old
German Gospel poem called the " Heliand."
1 ' And silently He sat, and looked at them for a long
while with gentle soul and gracious heart. And
when He opened His sacred mouth, glorious words
i flowed therefrom." When Luke (6 : 17) says that
He, after descending from the top of the mountain,
walked upon a level place, this means that He
halted at such a place — namely, by sitting down.
The saddle-like mount " Karn Hattin," which is
generally considered as the mountain of the Beati-

THE EVENING. 149
tudes, has two peaks or horns, and the terraces be
neath the eastern one are, at least, very suitable to
illustrate this. In the synagogue at Nazareth, Jesus
is, indeed, represented as standing in reading the
" Haftara," or prophetic lesson for the Sabbath
day ; but when the book-roll has been closed and
given to the " Shamm,ash" (servant of the syna
gogue), He delivers His address, His " Berasha,"
sitting ; as, in general, the regular " Barshan,'''' or
preacher of the synagogue, sat. But by the side of
Him stood the Amor a, who was His assistant, in
order to interpret to the congregation what was
spoken (hence called Methurgeman, or interpreter),
or to repeat it with a loud voice. And in the tem
ple at Jerusalem, also, Jesus is represented as teach
ing while seated (John 8 : 2). And when, on one
occasion on the seventh day of the Feast of the
Tabernacles, He takes His stand in the temple (John
7 : 37), and, connecting His thoughts with the sacred
practice of carrying water from the pool of Siloam,
to pour it over the altar, He cried out to the peo
ple : "If any man {hirst, let him come unto Me,
and drink" (John 7 : 37), this must be regarded as
a cry spoken into the noise of the festivities, and

150 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
not as a public address. Before the feeding of the
five thousand and of the four thousand, We find
Him sitting upon the mountain (John 6:3; Matt.
15 : 29). And the three Evangelists, whose books
are called the Synoptic Gospels, because they are
of a like type of Gospel composition, give us in
close connection a series of parables as a picture of
the Lord's manner of teaching by parables ; He is
represented as sitting upon the shore of the Sea of
Galilee (Matt. 13 : 1), and when the crowd pressed
upon Him, and crowded in upon Him, He enters
the boat of Simon, and tells him to push it away a
short distance from the shore, and preaches from it
to the multitude standing upon the shores (Luke
5:3; Mark 4 : 1). In Capernaum, also, we find
Him sitting. While sitting He calls the twelve
(Mark 9 : 35), and, while holding a child that had
come there, in His arms, He teaches them concern
ing the childlike hearts and childlike love. And
when His mother and His brethren visit Him in
Capernaum, He is in the house, and a crowd of
people is sitting around Him (Mark 3 : 32). This
is a similar scene to the one in Ezekiel, when the
prophet of the Babylonian exile sits in his home at

THE EVENING. 151
Tel Abib, and the elders of Israel are sitting before
him to listen to the Word of the Lord (Ezek. 1,
passim). The Talmudic tradition says, that from
the time of Moses (Ex. 18 : 13, sq.) the teachers sat
and the audience stood, and that only from the days of
Rabbi Gamaliel (i.e., still previous to the destruc
tion of Jerusalem) the people, also, on account of
increasing weakness, sat. We would accordingly
be in error were we to think that Jesus addressed
the assembly standing. Under this single palm-
tree lay a natural rock, upon which He had often
sat, in order to resign Himself to silent contempla
tion under the shade of the tree, or to feast His eyes
on the sea. The academy at Jabne (Jamnia) was
built in the shape of a . hippodrome. Sitting upon
an ordinary stone, thes Rabbi Eliezer ben-Azaria,
after the destruction of Jerusalem appointed as
patriarch, delivered his addresses. It was, then,
nothing extraordinary when Jesus, the extraordinary
Rabbi, took His seat on this occasion on the rock
and made it His pulpit.
How did He begin ? we ask further. How did
He address the assembly ? The Gospels do not
give us any direct information on this subject, for

152 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
their interest in the form of Jesus' addresses is sub
ordinate to their interest in their contents. The
words spoken also to the apostles, which we find
in the four Gospels, have no special formal ad
dresses, and of the many sermons preached to the
people or to a larger circle of disciples (Mark 5 : 1,
sq.; Luke 6 : 20), we have but one — namely, the
Sermon on the Mount, which begins with beati
tudes, and does not admit of a formal opening.
Elsewhere we hear Him addressing Chorazin, Beth
saida, and Capernaum, over which He utters His
cry of woe ; and the Pharisees and Scribes, from
whose face He tears the mask of hypocrisy with
His eightfold woes ; and then Jerusalem, the mur
deress of the prophets, to which, amid tears, He
predicts a dire judgment, which she had brought
upon herself through her rejection of salvation ;
but with what words He opened His addresses to
the people gathered around Him in the synagogues
in Jerusalem, and in the open country, of this we
are not informed. We must, then, endeavor to
learn it from other sources. When He addresses
the women of Jerusalem, who followed Him weep
ing and lamenting to the place of crucifixion, with

THE EVENING. 153
the words: "Daughters of Jerusalem" (benoth Je-
rushalajim) (Luke 23 : 28), then His address, di
rected to an audience composed chiefly of the men,
would have been, " Sons of Israel " (bene Jisrael),
especially as He loved to call His people by the name
indicating their mission as the children of God —
namely, Israel (Matt. 8 : 10 ; 10 : 6-23, sqq.) ; and
only once does He — namely, when He is speaking to
the Samaritan woman — call them by the name of
Jews, and even on this occasion, not without assign
ing to the Jews their honor in this regard, saying :
" Salvation is from the Jews" (John 4 : 22). And
what special shape His address took when directed
to the Jews of Galilee, or Judea, or Jerusalem in
particular, we can learn from the words of the angel
(Acts 1 : 11), saying : ' ' Men of Galilee, why stand
ye looking into heaven ?" When the Lord, as He,
on an evening such as we are here describing, looked
over the people assembled around Him, He prob
ably addressed them as " Sons of Israel, Men of
Galilee" (bene Jisrael, anshe ha-Galil).
However, when we attempt to picture to our
minds Christ's manner of addressing the people, we
must not measure it with the rules of our rhetoric

154 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
and homiletics. Just as He has taken our flesh and
blood upon Himself, though without our sin, thus,
too, in His addresses, notwithstanding their new
and entirely unique contents, He shows Himself
throughout as a member of a Semitic, and, more
particularly, of the Jewish people. The Japhetic
manner of address is marked throughout by this, that
it makes one point the central thought, from which
a circle of thought is described, and within this
circle radii are drawn in all directions. The Semitic
manner, however, adds line to line and point to
point, and is content with the inner harmony of
spirit and purpose. From the method of thought
as practised by the former the thought composition
of the latter is distinguished also by this, that the
thought seeks to advance from its purely abstract
character to some embodiment, and clothes itself
either in some figurative form or finds expression in
an illustration or parable. He who is acquainted
with the Talmud or Midrash knows also that illus
tration through parables is a characteristic and fun
damental feature of the Jewish method of teaching.
A natural result of this preference for sententious
and picture speech is the brevity of the discourse.

THE EVENING. 155
The speaker dare not make it long, in order not to
overburden the hearer, but he must give him time
to think. And as in the case of teachers who are
not themselves organs of divine revelation, every
thing that is offered for the purpose of being re
ceived must be drawn from the recognized records
of revelation ; all these addresses have this in com
mon, that they proceed in part from words of Scrip
ture as their basis, and in part lead to words of
Scripture as their outcome. One example may
suffice. Based on the words : ' ' He hath clothed
me with garments of salvation," taken from the
sixty-first chapter of Isaiah, from which Jesus
took His text in His address in the synagogue at
Nazareth, an old address, preserved in a Jewish
work, proceeds : " Seven garments the Holy One — •
blessed be He — has put on, and will put on from the
time the world was created until the hour when He
will punish the whole of wicked Edom" (a figura
tive expression for the Roman Empire). When He
created the world, He clothed Himself in honor
and majesty, as is said (Ps. 104 : 1) : " Thou art
clothed in honor and majesty." Whenever- He
forgave Israel' s sins, He clothed Himself in white ;

156 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
for we read (Dan. 7:9): " His garment was white
as snow." When He punishes the people of the
world, He puts on the garment of vengeance, as is
said (Isa. 59 : 17) : " He put on garments of ven
geance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a
cloak." The sixth garment He will put on when
the Messiah comes ; then He will clothe Himself
in a garment of righteousness, for it is said (Isa.
59 : 17) : " And He puts on righteousness as a
breastplate and an helmet of salvation upon His
head." The seventh garment He will put on when
He punishes Edom ; then He will clothe Himself
in Adorn — i.e., red ; for it is said (Isa. 63 : 2) :
" Wherefore art Thou red in Thine apparel ?' ' But
the garment which He will put upon the Messiah,
this will shine far from one end of the earth to the
other ; for it is said (Isa. 61 : 10) : "As a bride
groom decketh himself with a garland." And the
Israelites will partake of His light, and will speak :
' ' Blessed is the hour when the Messiah shall come ;
blessed the womb out of which He shall come ;
blessed His contemporaries who are eye-witnesses ;
blessed the eye that is honored with a sight of Him !
For the opening of His lips is blessing and peace ;

THE EVENING. 157
His speech is a moving of the spirits ; the thoughts
of His heart are confidence and cheerfulness ; the'
speech of His tongue is pardon and forgiveness ;
His prayer is the sweet incense of offerings ; His
petitions are holiness and purity. Oh, how blessed
is Israel for whom such has been prepared !" For
it is said (Ps. 31 : 19) : " How great is Thy good
ness, which Thou hast laid up for them that fear
Thee !"
This picture of the Messiah is like a mirror- re
flection of the appearance of Jesus ; like an echo of
the Gospel. When the disciples on the Mount of
Transfiguration experienced the prelude of the glory
that is to come, the glittering white light of His
garments was not absent (Matt. 17 : 2). But at
that time when He was sitting on the rock under
the palm-tree, His garments were indeed chaste and
choice, but not aristocratic or remarkable in any
respect. Upon His head He wore a white sudar,
fastened under His chin by a cord, and hanging
down backward over His shoulders, and over the
tunic which covered the body to the hands and feet.
He wore a blue tallith, with bluish white fringe at
the four edges, thrown around and over Him in

158 A DAT IN CAPERNAUM.
such a manner that the gray and red-striped tunic
could be seen only in parts, and only now and then
the feet, under which sandals were fastened, were
visible. It is a matter of course that He, who, notwith
standing that He was rich, had become poor for our
sakes, would not clothe Himself in genuine purple.
Nor in scarlet ; this showy red contradicts what
the prophet has foretold, saying that He will not
cry or- shout, nor will His voice be heard on the
streets. Herod Antipas sent Him covered with
such a showy garment back to Pilate, in order to
deride Him. Nor was He clothed in white ; for,
on the Mount of Transfiguration, His garments be
came white as snow and white as light ; hence they
were not white, but colored. Nor was He dressed
in black, for He performed His first miracle at a
wedding. Black was the dress of those in mourn
ing, of those that were accused, those that were ex
communicated, and was so little in general vogue
that entirely black shoes were regarded as non- Jew
ish. Nor can yellow or green be thought of ; for
nowhere do the old sources concerning Jewish life
make any sure mention of these two colors for cloth-

THE EVENING. 159
ing. Hence we are almost of necessity restricted to
blue and red. Blue as the color of the outer garment
was in general usage. As the color of the Lord's
garments was not left to accident to select, it is quite
natural to suppose that He preferred the blue in
common usage as the color of heaven made sacred
through God's law. The color of His tunic could
possibly have been blue ; but no color is better
suited than the mild red for the coming King of
heaven. He did not parade His heavenly origin or
royal dignity, neither did He deny them. When,
then, a famous artist, in the picture of Christ carry
ing the cross, paints Him with a blue outer garment
and a red tunic, this is entirely in harmony with the
mind of Jesus and with His calling and work. For
blood is red, and the skies with their transparent,
boundless depths are blue. The self-sacrificing love
is red ; the covenant of grace is blue, which this
grace seals. His path was red — blood-red ; heavenly
blue was the goal of His way. The cross was His
ladder to the throne of sapphire, and the garment
of the royal Lord is colored by the purple of His
blood. As the Scriptures say : " Who for the joy
that was set before Him endured the cross, despis-

160 A DAY IN CAPERNAUM.
ing shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of
the throne of God " (Heb. 12 : 2).
When Jesus had taken His seat there under the
palm-tree, and His eyes had swept over the assem
bly, the multitude became more and more quiet,
until nothing else could be heard except the gentle
breaking of the waves against the shore. And
when He began His address with the words : " Bene
Jisrael, anshe ha-Galil^ He did not speak with a
great — i.e., loud voice, which He is stated to have
done only on two occasions — namely, when He
called Lazarus out of the tomb (John 11 : 43), and
when He lamented upon the cross (Matt. 27 : 46).
But in this He was the realization of the idea of the
servant of the Lord, of whom Isaiah prophesied
that He would not cry out, and His voice would
not be heard on the street — i.e., He will not cry
out to attract public attention and approbation. His
voice was pure, penetrating, measured, melodious.
, It sounded like the tones of a silver bell through the
assembly, from one end to the other ; it was impos
sible not to be fascinated by it. The whole strength
of His soul was centred in His words, and the cords
of the souls of those around Him were agitated

THE EVENING. 161
thereby, and whoever did not wilfully resist the
influence was compelled to say : ' ' My innermost
soul was moved like a zither."
He sat upon the stone under the palm-tree. To
His right and to His left stood Simon and Andrew,
the sons of Jonah, and James and John, the sons of
Zebedee. The multitude sat close to His feet.
" Sons of Israel, men of Galilee," He began, " the
time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come.
Repent, and believe the Gospel. Moses, your
teacher — peace be unto him — has said that the Lord
would raise up a Prophet like unto him, and ye
should hear Him, and whoever will not listen to
this Prophet shall die. Amen, I tell you ; whoso
ever believeth on Me hath eternal life. No one
knoweth the Father except the Son, and no one
knoweth the Son except the Father, and to whom the
Son revealeth it." Then He continued in a raised
voice : " Come unto Me, all ye that are weary and
heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My
yoke upon you and leal-n of Me ; for I am meek and
lowly in heart ; and ye shall find rest for your souk.
For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.'-'
And, finally, he said : " Take upon you the yoke

162 A DAY IN CAPERNAUM.
of the kingdom of heaven, for the kingdom of
heaven is the fulfilment of the law and the proph
ets. Give up that which is least valuable, so that
ye may gain that which is most valuable. Become
wise money-changers, who esteem sacred coin higher
than common coin, and, higher than all, the one
priceless pearl. He that hath ears to hear, let him
hear !" We must connect speeches of this kind
with the personality of the Speaker, in order to be
able to measure the weight of the impression made.
Such words forced their way into the hearts of the
hearers as though they were spears or nails, and not
a few of the utterances of Jesus are found brought
into circulation by the Jewish converts, as anony
mous words, or ascribed to some other person in the
Talmud and Midrashm. But many sayings of
the Lord have nothing similar and no imitations.
The words so frequently uttered to arouse His
hearers to thoughtfulness : " He that hath ears, let
him hear !" is entirely peculiar to Him. And the
word "Amen" (truly), used at the beginning of
sentences to strengthen them, and which in the dialect
of the land sounded " amen amena lecMn," is un
known to the entire Jewish literature. This amen,

THE EVENING. 163
found at the opening of the sentence, is a peculiar
confirmatory particle of Jesus, so characteristic that
Rev. 3 : 14, on the basis of it, calls Him " the
Amen, the faithful and true witness."
In the mean while the last remnants of the even
ing red had disappeared from* the horizon. The
full moon had already risen over the mountains on
the other side of the lake, so high that, her full
golden glory was reflected in the water ; and on this
side, as though born of the evening red, the even
ing star looked down smilingly, and a refreshing
breeze set the palm-leaves in motion. The later
part of the evening was disappearing to make room
for the first watch of the night. Jesus arose, and,
although He was sometimes wont to disappear sud
denly from the midst of the multitude (Matt.
13 : 36), He, on this occasion, dismissed them with
words of admonition and a salutation of peace (Matt-
14 : 23). Raising His hands to bless them (Luke
24 : 50), His eye fell npon His mother. After the
last words had been spokeii, He turned to the left,
whispered to John and James, saying : " Take charge
of My mother," and disappeared in a southerly
direction, proceeding upward, and going over a

164 A DAY IN CAPERNAUM.
stony and overgrown way to a hill that sloped grad
ually down to the water's edge. He loved the soli
tude of the mountain, and many of the peaks in
Galilee and Perasa were for Him places to which
He could withdraw and pray, and were thus conse
crated as "Bethels'" (God's houses). Only when
He had arrived at the top, and the turmoil of the
world was lying at His feet, did He feel the con
sciousness of the rest at the completion of the day's
work. Without closing Himself toward the outer
world, He was entirely absorbed in prayer, and was
enjoying a sabbath in His soul. His eye swept
over the land and the sea, encircled all with His
love, and rested upon the places around about with
the greetings of peace. He felt Himself as a centre
of a whole world, and sent out the fulness of His
sympathy to all sides. He extended His arms,
pressed the world to His bosom, fell down with it
before God, and offered it, as though through His
heart's blood, as an offering unto the Lord. Now
He touched His forehead to the ground, and the
hair of His head lay upon it as a protecting veil ;
now He rose with difficulty, and, stretching higher
and higher toward heaven, as though lengthening

THE EVENING. 165
the natural size of His body, He spoke, and was
silent, and spoke again. His prayer was a conver
sation with God. His voice was low, rather lisping
than clear. Finally, however, it resounded like the
voice of jubilee and of victory, so that it was echoed
back by the mountain rocks. Nature around,
hitherto 6teeped in a dead silence, awoke ; as though
in the middle of the night the day had appeared.
The cicadas surpassed each other with their voices ;
the birds outsang each other ; the tops of the trees
nodded and rustled in the wind ; the brook began,
as though it had overcome an obstacle in the way,
to murmur more briskly ; and the waves of the
Gennesar Sea leaped over each other in their effort
to reach the western shore, and beat with the voice
of thunder against the shores at Capernaum and
Tiberias. The mysterious Man of prayer, however,
lay in silence, overwhelmed by a feeling of joy
upon His face ; and, when He had arisen, He walked
with rapid steps to the town that was now lying in
deep sleep, where the mother-in-law of Peter
opened the door when He knocked. " Again, so
late, Lord !' ' she said, looking into His eyes and
receiving from them a silent greeting. She pre-

166 A DAY IN CAPERNAUM.
ceded Him with a light to His chamber, where,
without undressing, He threw Himself upon His
couch, and at once sank into a deep sleep. His
thoughts closed with the contemplation of God's
will ; He rested in God's love, and God's peace
received Him.