The Pulpit Commentary — Mark — Volume 1 — Section 75

the metropolis and university of Judaism. Near this place are steep rocks ancl a moun- tain npproaching the water's edge. Further north we reach Magdala, now a miserahle village called Mejdel, where Mary Magdalene had her home. It is situated at the southern extremity of the plain of Gennesaret, now called El Ghuweir, "the little hollow." Here again the mountains recede, and this plain on the north-western shore of the lake is formed ; its extent is two miles and a. half long and one mile broad. It is now covered with brushwood and some patches of corn, though once so celebrated for fertility and beauty. The description of it by Josephus has been often quoted; it is as follows:-" One may call this place the ambition of nature, when it forces those plants that are naturally enemies to one another to agree together. It is a happy contention of the seasons, as if every one of them laid claim to this country; for it not only nourishes different sorts of autumnal fruits beyond man's expectation, bu• preserves them a great while. It supplies man with its principal fruits, with grapes and figs continually during ten months of the year, and the rest of the fruits, as they become ripe together, through the whole year; for besides the good temperature of the air, it is watered from a most fertile fountain." The abundant waters that irrigate this plain proceed from a Jorge round basin of antique structure, called Ain-el-Medawara., or Round Fountain; or according to others, from the fountain called Ain-et-Tabiga.. At the other or northern extremity of the plain are the ruins of Khan Minyeh, marking, perhaps, the site of ancient Chinnereth, but wrongly identified by some with Capernaurn Close to this is the Fountain of the Fig Tree, called Ain-et-Tin, with its rather indifferent water; and a quarter of an hour further in the same direction brings us to the little bay and great spring of Tabiga, supposed, as we have seen, by some to be that of which Josephus speaks as watering the plain of Gennesaret. A mile and a half further northward we find the ruins of Tell Hum, rightly identified, as we think, with the ancient Capernaum, Kefr-na-hum being changed into Tell Hum by abridging the termination into hum, and substituting for Kifr, a village, l'ell, a. heap, when a heap of rubbish was all that remained of it. If Tell Hum be in reality Capernaum, then Kerazeh, two miles and a. half from the lake, and about two miles north from Tell Hum, is Chorazin. Two miles further onward bring us to mounds and heaps of stones called Abu Zany, at the northern mouth of the Jordan, identified by the author of the ' Land and the Book' with Bethsaida of Galilee-the native place of Andrew and Peter and Philip; while on the opposite bank are ruins which the same writer considers to be Bethsa.ida. Julias. With the east side of the lake we have less to do, and the very few spots on that side of any importance have less interest for us. There is the very fertile and well-watered plain of Rutaiha. along the north-east shore of the lake, which bears a. close resemblance to the plain of Gennesaret on the north-west shore. There are besides the ruins of Khersa, the ancient Gergesa, on the left bank of the W ady Semakh ; the remains of Gamala, on a hill near the W ady Fik; and the ruins of Um, Keis, the ancient Gadara, a long way southward. 4. State of matters at present. In the days of our Lord and his disciples the fisheries yielded a profitable revenue, while one, perhaps two, of the villages on its shores, viz. Western and Eastern Bethsaida, "house of fish," got their names therefrom. 'l'he white sails of vessels, amounting to some thousands, were seen in its waters, from the ship of war or merchantman down to the fishing-smack or pleasure-boat. Its surface was astir with life and energy and joy. Now a single miserable bark is all that furrows its waves, and even that is sometimes difficult to procure. The noise and bustle and activities of numerous villages and towns are hushed in unbroken silence. 5. The sacredness of this di,;trict. Here indeed is holy ground. "Five little towns," says Renan, "of which humanity will speak for ever as much as of Rome and of Athens, were, at the time of our Lord, scattered over the space that extends from the village of Mejdcl to 'fell Hum;" the towns he refers to are Magdala, Dalmanutha, Capernaum, Ilethsaida, and Cuorazin. Elsewhere he says," We have a. fifth Gospel, lacerated, but still legible (laciri, mais lisible encore)," in the harmony of the gospel narrative with the places therein described. It was here Jesus ea.lied his first disciples; it was here he entered into a. ship, and sat in the sea; It was here from its deck he taught the pressing crowds that lined the shore; it was here he walked upon the waters; it was here he stilled the storm ; it was here, after his resurrection, he was known to the disciples by the great draught of fishe,;; it was here he directed them to bring of the fish thus caught and" come and dine." "What,"  72 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK. [cH, :..1-45,