of the sea," they found him, and so we cannot doubt that the boat had landed him at Capernaum, or near it. When, therefore, two Evangelists tell us that they came to the shore at Gennesaret, and moored the boat there (Matt. xiv. 34; Mark vi. 53), it seems plain that Capernaum itself was in the land of Gennesaret, as it would be if situated at Khan Minyeh. And yet, considering that the disciples had been instructed to go "unto the other side, to Bethsaida," and perhaps only deviated a little through the stress of the storm, and landed at Capernaum, we can hardly doubt that Bethsaida was close by. In fact the ruins at Tell Hum may very well mark the site of Bethsaida, especially as their position agrees with the descriptions of early travellers who place Bethsaida north-east of Capernaum. For example, Willibald (A.D.. 722) says, "And thence (from Tiberias) they went round the sea, and by the village of Magdalum to the village of Capernaum, where our Lord raised the prince's daughter. Here was a house and a great wall, which the people of the place told them was the residence of Zebedæus and his sons John and James. And thence they went to Bethsaida, the residence of Peter and Andrew, where there is now a church on the site of their house. They remained there that night, and next morning went to Chorazin, where our Lord healed the demoniac, and sent the devil into a herd of swine. Here was a church of the Christians." They afterwards went on to the sources of the Jordan at Banias.[1]
Chorazin, 2 miles north-west of Tell Hum, is called Kerazeh, a name easily confounded with Khersa, in the Gadarene country east of the lake; and this mistake Willibald appears to make.
The question is much discussed whether there were not two Bethsaidas; and those who believe there were, call the
- ↑ "The Recovery of Jerusalem," p. 284.
