Matthew 15:39

And he sent away the multitudes, and entered into the boat, and came into the borders of Magadan.

Madagan, or Dalmanutha, as Mark has it (Mark 8:10), is an unknown site. Eusebius, in the fourth century, placed Magadan on the east side of Galilee near Gerasa; but this does not appear correct for two reasons: (1) Christ was already on the east side of lake Galilee,[8] and a crossing to the western shore seems indicated by the text; although it is allowed that he COULD have gone by boat to a location farther south on the eastern shore; and (2) the immediate confrontation with the Pharisees and Sadducees, as soon as they came to land, showed he was then back in their territory, which was the western side.

As for the skeptic's contention that Mark and Matthew accounts are contradictory, the explanation is simple: (1) Christ might easily have gone to both places. The only possibility of finding a contradiction would have to lie in the discovery that one of the gospels had said he did NOT go to one or the other of the two places; and, of course, no such statement exists. (2) It is far more likely that the village, so small as to have been lost to history, actually had two names, Dalmanutha and Magadan! If this appears unreasonable to anyone, the author would like to register the following example of such a case. In the state of Texas, near the city of Eastland, is a small town, widely known under THREE names. The post office is Desdemona; the railroad station bears the name of Jake Hammond; and the roughnecks in the oil fields for a hundred miles in all directions refer to the place as Hogtown! Nor is the habit of multi-naming confined to villages. These words are being written in Lenox Hill, Yorkville, Manhattan, New York City, also known as Gotham! It surely must be a malicious and spiteful heart that has the evil impulse to allege a contradiction in Matthew and Mark on the basis of separate names assigned to an ancient village.