The hot springs near Tiberias have been famous from the earliest liistory of the country, and the inhabitants still prize them for their medicinal uses. The volume of water is large, and, could they be jjroijerly cared for and managed by other than their present degraded owners, there is no 'cason why these springs slKUtld not become one of the most famous liealth resorts in the world. Except in midsummer the climate is deliglitful — in fact, tropical ; and when a person is chilled by the .strong win<ls of mountain or tableland, the sensation of going down to the warm, even balmy, atmosphere of the lake shore is one of extreme pleasure.
Equally with the hot batlis, the fish of this lake ijave always been held in highest estimation. Laws traditionally dating from the time of Joshua (Bab. Talm. Daha Kiomi. 80ti) regulated this in- dustry, and, witli certain limitations, made this
fishing ground free to all. There were several choice varieties, and the inhabitants of the region boasted that some of them were the same as tliose found in the Nile. There seems, moreover, to have been an inexhaustible supply of fish. Bethsaida on the north was a ' hou.se of fish ' ; Tarichea on the south was ' a fish factory,' and the trade in this connnodity had etiriched it-s citizens. On the part of the Jews there was not only a choice in kind but in (juality as well, for they distinguished sharply between 'clean' and 'unclean,' a fact no doubt alluded to in our Lord's parable of the net, where the • good were gathered into baskets, and the bad were cast away ' (Mt 18<" **).
The lake is subject to violent storms, owing partly to the difference of temperature about it from that of the mountains or tableland so far above it, so that the event recorded in Mt )i-*. when Christ stilled the waves, was of no infrequent occurrence. From an eminence the writer has several times seen the clouds gather above the lake, a dense black ma.ss, not covering a great area, and sink lower and lower towards the water as if about to smite the surface ; and even should they not actually do so, they disturb it so that the waves are strong and boats are placed in great peril.
From the way in which the XT speaks of boats and ships on the Sea of Galilee, we infer that it was covered with them. There seem to have been numbers of them ready at any given point. Given ten or twelve flourishing cities on or near the shore of the lake between which there was con- stant communication, it couhl not be otherwise than that the number should be great. These boats were engaged in fishing or traftic, or in carrying travellers or parties of pleasure from shore to shore. Some writers are slow to adjnit that there were ships of any size on the lake, although the Greek word for ship (TrXoroi") is used in the XT, whether the Sea of Galilee or the Medi- terranean is the body of water referred to. .So far as this evidence goes, the boats might be as large in one case as in the other. On one occasion during the Jewish war, when a movement was planned against Tiberias, Jo.sephus in a short time got ready two hundred and forty shij)s from Tarichea and its vicinity alone ( ITun^, II. xxi. 8-, Life, ;W). In this city shipbuilding was a lucra- tive industry. At a later period iluring that war many of the soldiers and citizens of Tarichea took refiige from the Romans in ships, and four thousand to six thousand of them were sl.iin — showing that the boats, to have held .such a multi- tude, must have been of considerable size. Josephus .speaks of 'climbing up into the ships' ( ir</i'.<. III. X. .')). which implies <juite a different craft than would be meant had he said • they stepi)ed from the shore into their boat.s.' In Jn 21* is found a reference to the small boat (TrXoidpioi') which always accompanies, being frequently towed after, a large ship the same as now. From all that we can learn of the facts, we certainly have a right to iiietiire the Sea of Galilee in Christ's time as dotted with white sails, just as we know that the shore wa.s lined with cities and the whole bsusin full of life. Between its i)resi'nt state and il.s former prosperity the contrast is extremely painful.
The Sea of (ialilee was jiraised by the Homans and w.as the pride of the Jews, but it appeals to the Christian far more strongly than it could possibly have done to them, because of its connexion with Jesus of Xazaivth. It is He that has made it immortal. Everywhere about this lake we trace His footsteps, ami at every point locate some act of His liles.sed ministry. The memories of His lifn linger here as nowhere else in I'alestine. He made one of it.s beautiful cities (Caperiuium) His home
104
GALILEE, SEA OF
GALL
(Mt 4'^). Here lie called the fishermen Peter, Andrew, James, and John to be tishers of men (Mt 4'-'*---), also for the same purpose Matthew was called from the receipt of custom (Mk 2"-'"). Here 'multitudes' came to Him 'to be healed of their diseases,' and ' he healed them all ' (Lk (i''-">). Out (if the large number of such cases we readily recall that of the nobleman's son (Jn 4*'"*), the cen- turion's servant (Mt 8^'''), the raising of Jairus' daughter (Mt i)'*-*'), the paralytic who was let down through the uncovered roof (Mk 2'-'-), the demoniac in the synagogue at Capernaum (Mk 1-'-^), the demoniac of Gadara on the eastern shore (Lk S^*-*"), the blind man at Betlisaida (Mk H----'>), and the curing of Peter's wife's mother of the fever (Mt 8'^-''). Of another class of incidents which illustrate our Lord's character and Ilis life in Galilee, a few may be mentioned, as His walking on the water and stilling the tempest (Mt 14--*'), and His feeding of the five thousand (Mt 14'3--i). Still another illustrative class comes under the lu'ad of conversations, lessons, and warnings. In the leaven of the I'harisees hypocrisy was rebuked (Lk 12'); in the innocence of childhood humility w;ts inculcated (Lk it**-"*); the feast with Levi showed that social courtesies are to be observed (Mk 2'5) ; that both patriotism and religion have their claims upon the individual is made clear in the paying of the tribute money (Mt 17-'-^) ; the signs in the sky as well as the sower in the field teach valuable truths (Jit 13'-'' and eh. Ki); and it was here in Galilee that the foundation principles of the New Religion were first promulgated and the nature of the Bread of Life tmfolded (Mt 5'--*, Jn 0). It is to some or all of these facts that Christ Himself alludes as ' mighty works ' (Mt 11 -'"-2<), which would have moved the people of Tyre, or even those of Sodom, could they have witnessed them.