homevideosguided toursarticleslocation profilespicturesiPIX

		Kursi Photos Scriptures ref.

Kursi - location profile

Click here for a supplemental article on this location

Location and Setting

• Kursi is located on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee on the south bank of the Wadi Samak, where the stream enters the lake. The name of the wadi is ancient, coming from the Aramaic and Ugaritic word for fish. The valley leading down to the lake is only about two miles long and a half-mile wide, but it served as an important corridor up to the Golan heights and on to Damascus. This valley has been inhabited from very ancient times. In Jesus’ day it marked the boundary between the Tetrarchy of Philip on the north and the Decapolis on the south. The mouth of Wadi Samak was known as the best fishing ground for the Kinneret sardine, the opsarion Jesus used in feeding the multitudes and, later, the disciples at breakfast (John 6:9; 21:13).
• The name Kursi means "chair" in Semitic languages, a probable reference to the configuration of the hill behind the city that is wide, and rather rectangular and closed at the back like a chair.
• In an attempt to reconcile the traditional identification of the site with that of the delivering of the two demoniacs, some have concluded that the name Kursi is a variant of the Gergesa mentioned in Mark and Luke. Linguistically, however, this is virtually impossible. Others have placed Kursi in the region of Gadara, again to seek to identify it with the demoniac incident. This proposal does not take into account the fact that the region of the important Decapolis city-state of Hippus lay between Gadara and Kursi.
• Another reason proposed for identifying Kursi as the site of the demoniac restoration is the fact that behind the city and continuing to the south, a high ridge would ideally suit the descent of the pigs into the lake. This is not determinative, however, because suitable cliffs exist all the way along the eastern shore of the lake, extending to the area where the territory of Gadara reaches it.
• Although the remains of a Byzantine church (fourth or fifth century A.D.) and other structures have been discovered at Kursi, there is no evidence that these were intended to memorialize Kursi as the exact place where the demoniac event occurred. Positive archaeological evidence for such an event at Kursi is lacking.

Historical and Biblical Significance

• Based on the above considerations, the traditional view that Kursi was the site of the deliverance of the two demoniacs and the subsequent descent and demise of the pigs lacks creditable support. (See also Gadara.)
• It is possible that Jesus fed the four thousand near Kursi (Mark 7:31-37; 8:1-9). Jesus had traveled from Tyre and Sidon on the Mediterranean coast apparently by a circuitous route, passing though the Tetrarchy of Philip southward to the Decapolis region. Mark records that "He came to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of the Decapolis" (7:31). To reach this area, He would have had to cross the Wadi Samak, the border between these regions. The wording suggests that He ministered in the narrow plain along the shore, below the cliffs along the eastern side of the lake. There would be no reason for Him to proceed any significant distance to the south, especially since the swine farmers of Gadara at the southern end of the lake had recently chased Him and His disciples from their area. These factors, then, would seem to place Jesus at or near Kursi for the feeding of the four thousand.

Bibliography

1. Bimson, John J., ed. Baker Encyclopedia of Bible Places. Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 1995.
2. Nun, Mendel. Gergesa (Kursi). Kibbutz Ein Gev: Tourist Department and Kinnereth Sailing Co., 1989.
3. Rousseau, John J. and Rami Arav. Jesus and His World: An Archaeological and Cultural Dictionary. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1995.