Matthew 4:13

Matthew 4:13. Leaving Nazareth Namely, when they had rejected his word, and even attempted to kill him, as is described Luke 4:29: he came and dwelt in Capernaum, upon the sea-coast “Capernaum is nowhere mentioned in the Old Testament, either by its own name or by any other. Probably it was one of those towns which the Jews built after their return from Babylon. Its exact situation has not, as yet, been determined with certainty by geographers: only, from its being on the confines of the two tribes, Reland and others conjecture that it stood somewhere on the north- west shore of the lake of Gennesareth. According to Josephus, Bell., 3:18, the length of this lake was one hundred furlongs, or twelve miles and a half, and its breadth forty furlongs, or five miles. Pliny says it was sixteen miles long, and six broad. Anciently, the lake of Gennesareth was called the sea of Chinneroth, Numbers 34:11; but in later times, it was named the sea of Galilee, because that country formed part of its shore, and the sea of Tiberias: from the city Tiberias, lying on the south-west coast thereof. Its bottom is gravel, which gives its waters both a good colour and taste. The river Jordan runs through the middle of it, and stocks it with a variety of excellent fish. In the countries round this lake, our Lord spent a great part of the two former years of his public life; and though he afterward enlarged the compass of his journeys, yet they always enjoyed a considerable share of his blessed company and divine instructions.” Macknight.