Region
Gennesaret
geh-NESS-uh-ret · Modern Ginosar plain, Israel · Also called Land of Gennesaret, Plain of Gennesaret
Gennesaret is a region of the biblical world, known today as Ginosar plain, Israel.
What is known
- The name attaches to two different things in the Gospels, and the distinction is easy to miss: the LAND of Gennesaret is this plain (Matthew 14:34; Mark 6:53), while the LAKE of Gennesaret is the Sea of Galilee itself (Luke 5:1)
- Josephus devotes a well-known passage of his Jewish War to the plain's fertility, describing a soil and climate that let walnuts, palms, figs and olives — trees that normally demand different conditions — grow side by side, and fruit ripen across most of the year
- Jesus and the disciples land here after the crossing during which he walks on the water, and the crowds recognise him immediately (Mark 6:53-56)
- The 1st-century fishing boat recovered from the lake bed in 1986 during a drought, popularly called the 'Jesus Boat,' was found off this shore near Kibbutz Ginosar and is displayed there
History
- Founded
- A small, exceptionally fertile crescent of plain on the north-west shore of the Sea of Galilee, between Magdala and Capernaum
- Industry
- Intensive agriculture — the most productive farmland in Galilee
- Coordinates
- 32.8450° N, 35.5200° E
Scripture references
- Matthew 14:34 — Jesus and the disciples come to the land of Gennesaret
- Mark 6:53-56 — They moor at Gennesaret and the sick are brought to him
- Luke 5:1 — The 'lake of Gennesaret' — the Sea of Galilee, not this plain
On a modern map
Further reading
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