“Numerous
stone artifacts found at the site include olive presses and millstones, dishes
and craters (large bowls for mixing wine), and the earliest known
pictorial
representation of the Ark of the Covenant”.
Mike Mason
In my recent article:
Whence
that name, Capernaum?
I suggested, following Charles Boutflower, that the prophet
Isaiah (who is my Nahum), he and his family – a type of the Holy Family – had
fled to Galilee to escape the wrath of king Ahaz of Judah. Instead of
Boutflower’s Nazareth in Galilee, though, I had opted for Capernaum, allowing
for the place to be named after a Nahum, thus Kfar Naḥum (כְּפַר נַחוּם), literally, ‘Nahum’s
village’.
And further,
since (Isaiah) Nahum was also Jonah (cf. Tobit 14:4), I had proceeded to
suggest, in my follow-up article:
Were
any Old Testament prophets from Galilee?
(2) Were any Old
Testament prophets from Galilee?
that Jonah’s
Gath-hepher (2 Kings 14:25) must have been the original name of the place,
before it was re-named after the prophet Nahum (Jonah).
The Hebrew
name, Gath-hepher (גַּת הַחֵפֶר), is apparently
associated with “winepress”, “winepress of the well”, or “winepress of the
digging”:
As we read
above: “Numerous stone artifacts found at the site include olive presses and
millstones, dishes and craters (large bowls for mixing wine) …”.
It would be
an appropriate site to have prompted Jesus to utter (Luke 17:2): ‘It would be
better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around your neck than to
cause one of these little ones to fall into sin’.
And that
leads us seamlessly into this insightful article by Dr. Noel Rabinowitz:
Millstones Made in
Capernaum – Dr. Noel Rabinowitz
- Biblical Insights
- September 1, 2022
Millstones
Made in Capernaum
Bible
interpreters have much to say concerning Yeshua’s [Jesus’s] teaching about the
humble status of children in Matthew 18:1-6 but they usually overlook where
that event takes place – a detail that is actually quite important to the
story. After deflating the disciples’ ambitions for power and prestige in the
Kingdom, Yeshua follows up with a stern warning: “But whoever causes one of
these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have
a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of
the sea” (v.6).
We know from
Matthew 17:24 that Yeshua and his disciples had returned to Capernaum and this
detail enables us to interpret Yeshua’s words here with even greater clarity.
Capernaum is located on the northern shoreline of the Sea of Galilee and sits
on a bed of basalt rock, the remains of a long extinct volcano. Fishing was
obviously the major industry at Capernaum but it wasn’t the only industry – the
basalt provided Capernaum with nutrient-rich farming soil in which to grow high
quality grains. The abundance of basalt, however, made Capernaum home to a
third industry, namely the manufacture of heavy-duty agricultural tools such as
olive presses, household griding tools and industrial millstones.
Excavators
found a large quantity of unfinished tools at Capernaum – many more than the
residents of the village could have possibly needed, indicating that these
tools were manufactured for sale.
Workman made
small household grinding stones as well as industrial millstones which were
much larger and much heavier than the household version.
The bottom
part of the industrial millstone was cone-shaped and sat on the ground,
pointy-end up. The top part, which rested on top of the cone, was shaped like
an hourglass with what looked like a stone belt at the waste of the hourglass.
A wooden log was inserted into the “belt” and turned by a donkey. Grain was
poured into the top and ground as the donkey turned the stone.
English
Bibles typically translate the Greek phrase μύλος ὀνικὸς (mulos onikos) something
along the lines of ‘great millstone” (ESV), “large millstone” (NIV), “heavy
millstone” (NASB); “huge milestone” (NET) or simply “millstone” (KJV). The
Greek phrase, however, literally means “millstone of a donkey.” Yeshua was clearly
referring to the hourglass-shaped – and extremely heavy – upper section of an
industrial millstone.
Now,
Yeshua’s warning becomes extraordinarily vivid! He and his disciples were in
Capernaum with the Sea of Galilee in plain view. Perhaps they were even
standing along the lake’s shoreline when Yeshua made this statement. And they
had no doubt walked past the millstone factory many times. It wasn’t hard for
them to visualize the horrific death of someone with an industrial-grade basalt
grinder tied around his neck sinking to the bottom of the lake. The fate of
those who cause one of Yeshua’s disciples to sin is intended as a warning for
us all.
Capernaum (Chapter 18 of
Jesus: His Story In Stone)
Capernaum (Chapter 18 of
Jesus: His Story In Stone)
Posted on August
31, 2015 by Mike Mason
Leaving Nazareth, He went
to live in Capernaum. –Mt 4:13
The ancient village of
Capernaum (which means town of Nahum) was located on the north
shore of the Sea of Galilee, some three miles west of where the upper Jordan
River flows into the lake from the northern mountains.
In Jesus’ day its
population was about 1500, small compared to several much larger cities on the
lake. But Capernaum was strategically important for being on a primary trade
route known as the Via Maris (Way of the Sea) that carried traffic from the
interior along the top of the lake toward the Mediterranean coast. In Capernaum
Jesus called five of His disciples: the four fishermen Peter, Andrew, James and
John, and the tax collector Matthew. In fact there were “many tax collectors”
stationed here, showing that this was a significant financial center, as well
as hosting a detachment of Roman soldiers (Mt 8:5-13).
Ruins
of Capernaum
Discovered by the explorer
Edward Robinson in 1838, the ruins of this village reveal a network of
adjoining houses built of undressed and unmortared basalt blocks, reinforced
with stones and mud. A typical single-story house, accomodating two or more kindred
families, consisted of small rooms with cobbled floors arranged around an open
courtyard, with stone steps leading up to a roof made of light wooden beams,
thatch, and packed dirt.
Numerous stone artifacts
found at the site include olive presses and millstones, dishes and craters
(large bowls for mixing wine), and the earliest known pictorial representation
of the Ark of the Covenant. The second photograph shows another interesting
discovery, the so-called Zebedee inscription which, though it dates from the
fourth century, mentions the family name of the father of James and John, “the
sons of Zebedee” (Mk 10:35).
The full inscription
reads: “Alphaeus the son of Zebedee the son of John made this column. May it be
for him a blessing ...”.
The
Zebedee Pillar
It was here in Capernaum
that Jesus chose to establish headquarters for the early part of His ministry.
Matthew refers to it as Jesus’ “own town” (9:1) and many chapters of the
gospels are set here. Outstanding miracles of healing were performed in Capernaum,
including that of the man with a shriveled hand (Mk 3:1-6), the centurion’s
servant (Mt 8:5-13), a demonized man (Mk 1:21-89), and a paralytic (Mk 2:1-12).
Regarding the latter story, the photograph shows how easy it would have been
for the paralytic’s four friends to escape the crowds by climbing over the
rooftops of the abutting houses, digging through the light thatch, and lowering
their friend directly into the courtyard of the house where Jesus was teaching.
Note that all these
miracles contain important elements beyond the miracle itself. In the case of
the paralytic, Jesus made a public demonstration of forgiving his sins, thus
drawing the accusation of blasphemy from the teachers of the law. Similarly, the
man with a shriveled hand was healed on the sabbath, again rousing his
opponents’ ire. As for the demonized man, when the demon testified loudly to
knowing who Jesus was —“the Holy One of God!”— Jesus told him sternly to be
quiet. In each case, it seems, the real point was not the miracle, amazing
though it was, but the explosive secret of Jesus’ true identity. As the
Pharisees complained, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mk 2:7)
In the end, despite such
tremendous works of power, and despite the amazing blessing of having the Son
of God living in their midst, Capernaum rejected its famous rabbi, compelling
Jesus in turn to reject the town: “And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to
the skies? No, you will go down to the depths…. It will be more bearable for
Sodom on the day of judgment than for you” (Mt 11:23-4).
(Photos by Karen Mason)
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