02.14. Hope out of Galilee

Hope out of Galilee

After Israel’s original settlement of Canaan, the extent of the land from north to south was designated ‘from Dan to Beersheba’. Dan was chief city of Israel’s northernmost tribe, which, along with the tribes of Naphtali, Issachar, Zebulun and Asher, constituted the region known as Galilee. The Old Testament rarely uses the name Galilee, preferring to refer to places and events according to the tribes or towns concerned.¹

Much of this northern region was fertile and hilly, though it was separated from the mountains to the south by the Plain of Esdraelon and its associated Valley of Jezreel. Guarding this strategic area was the town of Megiddo, which stood at the point where the main north-south and east-west highways crossed. King Solomon made the town into an administrative centre and fortified it as a military stronghold. It was the scene of many battles, and in the symbolism of Revelation becomes the scene of the last great battle.²

Galilee is chiefly remembered as the place where Jesus grew up and carried out much of his public ministry. His hometown of Nazareth, which was ridiculed by other Jews of his time,³ is today the largest town of the Galilean hills. And the Galilean Jews, who were despised by other Jews of Jesus’ time because of Galilee’s mixed population,⁴ are today better off than some other Jews; for Galilee is entirely within Israel proper, whereas the Palestinian areas are only ‘occupied’ by Israel. Neither shame nor privilege lasts indefinitely.

Though brought up in Nazareth, Jesus conducted much of his ministry in the area around the Sea of Galilee. Capernaum, the north-shore fishing village that became his Galilean base, now has little to show except some ruins. The chief lakeside town today is Tiberias, on the western shore, a region that features only occasionally in the Gospel narratives.⁵ 1. 1 Samuel 3:20; Joshua 20:7; Isaiah 9:1

2. 1 Kings 4:12; 1 Kings 9:15; 2 Kings 9:27; 2 Kings 23:29; Revelation 16:16. ‘Armageddon means ‘hill of Megiddo’

3. John 1:46; cf. Acts 24:5 4. Matthew 4:15; John 7:52 5. Matthew 4:13; John 6:1; John 6:17; John 6:23

Solomon’s stables, Megiddo