Caper'naiim (Kavtpvaovfi ; Lachm. [with Codex B] Ka0apvaov/i, as if Q^na ^fiS, '* village of Nahum" [from some unknown person of that name] ; Syriac, Cnretonian Kaaphar Nachum^ Peshito Kaphar No- chum ; Vulg. Caphamaum\ the name of a Galilaean city familiar as that of the scene of many acts and in- cidents in the life of Christ (see Stuart, Capernaum cu the Scene of Christ's Miracles, 2d ed. London, 1864). There is no mention of Capernaum in the O. T. or Apocrypha, but the passage Isa. ix, 1 [viii, 28] is ap- plied to it by Matthew. The word Caphar in the name perhaps indicates that the place was of late foun- dation. See Caphar-. There is named, however, by the rabbins (Midrash, Koheleth, fol. 89, col. 4) a place called Kephar-Nachum (Qin5 *iB3), which Reland (Palopst. p. 689) presumes to be the Capernaum of tho Gospels (see Otho, Lex. Rahb. p. 118). Josephus also mentions a remarkable fountain, called by the na- tives Capihamaum (Katfkapvaovfi), watering the fertile " plain of Gennesareth" (^War, iii, 10, 8); as also a vil- lage by the name of Cephamome (Knpapvufirf) in the same region (Life, 72). Ptolemy aleo (v, 16, 4) calls it Capamaum (Kairapvaovfi). Another Capernaum is menti(«ied by William of Tyre (De BeUo 8acr. x, 26) on the Kishon, six leagues from Cssarea. *
After the expulsion of Jesus from Nazareth (Luke iv, 16-31 ; Matt, iv, 13-16), where he was " brought up," Capernaum became emphatically his " own city ;'* it was when he returned thither that he is said to have been " at home" (Mark ii, 1 ; such is the force of iv oUf — ^A. V. "in the house'*). Here he chose the evangelist Matthew or Levi (Matt, ix, 9). The broth- ers Simon-Peter and Andrew belonged to Capernaum (Mark i, 29), and it is perhaps allowable to imagine that it was on the sea-beach near the town (for, doubt- less, like true Orientals, these two fishermen kept close to home), while Jesus was ** walking" there, before "great multitudes" had learned to "gather together unto him," that they heard the quiet call which was to make them forsake all and follow him (Mark i, 16, 17; comp. 28). It was here that Christ worked the mira- cle on th^ centurion's servant (Matt, viii, 5 ; Luke vii, 1), on Simon's wife's mother (Matt, viii, 14; Mark i, 80; Luke iv, 88), the paralytic (Matt, ix, 1; Mark ii, 1 ; Luke v, 18), and the man afiiicted with an unclean spirit (Mark i, 88 ; Luke iv, 88). The son of the noble- man (John iv, 46) was, though resident at Capernaum, healed by words which appear to have been spoken in Cana of Galilee. At Capernaum occurred the emblem-
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•ticalinddmit ofthe chad (Mark ix, 88 ; Mattzyiii, 1 ; oomp. xrii, 24) ; and in the synagogue there was apoken the remarkable disooarse of John vi (see yerse 69). The infidelity and impenitence of the inhabitants of this place, after the evidence giren to them by our Sariour hhnself of the truth of his mission, brought upon them this heayy denunciation: *'And thou, Ca- pernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell ; for if the mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in Sodom, it would have remained unto this day,'* etc. (Matt, xi, 28). See Oalileb, Sba of.
According to the notices of its situation in the N. T. Capernaum was on the western shore of the Sea of Oalilee (ttjv irapaBakatrtTiav, Matt, iv, 18 ; comp. John vi, 24), and, if recent discoveries are to be trusted (Cureton*s Nitrian Bee. John vi, 17), was of sufficient importance to give to that sea, in whole or in part, the
- name of the ** Lake of Capernaum." (This was the case also with Tiberias, at the other extremity of the lake. Comp. John vi« 1, '* the Sea of Galilee— of Tibe- rias.'*) It was in or near the *'land of Grennesaret" (Matt, xiv, 84, compared with John vi, 17, 21, 24), that is, the rich, busy plain on the west shore of the lake, which we know firom the descriptions of Josephus and fh>m other sources to have been at that time one of the most prosperous and crowded districts in all Palestine. See Gbnnbsabbth. Yet it was not far from the en- trance of the Upper Jordan into the lake (Lightfoot, Hot, Hebr. p. 1^). Being on the shore, Capernaum was lower than Nazareth and Cana of Galilee, from which the road to it was one of descent (John ii, 12; Luke iv, SIX & it^oAn of speech which would apply to the general level of the spot, even if our Loid's ex- pression, "exalted unto heaven" (vt//<tf0a(ra. Matt xi, 28), had any reference to height of position in the town itself. It was of sufficient size to be always called a "city" (iraXic, Matt ix, 1 ; Mark i, 88) ; had its own •3^iu^S0gue, in which our Lord ft^nently taught (John Vi, 59; Mark i, 21; Luke iv, 88, 88)— a synagogue built by the centurion of the detachment of Roman sol diers which appears to have been quartered in the place (Luke vii, 1; comp. 8; Matt viii, 8). But be- sides tiie garrison there was also a customs station, where the dues were gathered both by stationary (Matt, ix, 9; Mark ii, 14; Luke v, 27) and by itiner- ant (Matt, xvii, 24) officers (though the latter passage probably refers rather to the ecclesiastical or temple tax than to the Roman or secular one). If the " way