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Plain of Gennesaret - location profile

Location and Setting

• The Plain of Gennesaret is a fertile, crescent-shaped plain on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee. It is approximately one mile wide from east to west and about five miles from north to south.
• The plain is bordered on the south by the town of Magdala and on the north by the site of the ancient town of Gennesaret.
• The plain is well watered from the hills that surround its western side.
• Rabbis described this plain as a "paradise," calling it the "Garden of God."
• The Jewish historian Josephus, described the Plain of Gennesaret as a land that "not only nourishes different sorts of autumnal fruits beyond men’s expectation, but preserves them a great while. It supplies men with the principal fruits, grapes, and figs continually during ten months, and the rest of the fruits, as they ripen together through the whole year."
• The major trade route connecting Damascus with the port of Acco on the Mediterranean Sea passed through the Plain of Gennesaret. Damascus preferred using the port at Acco because the route connecting them did not pass over the extreme elevation changes as did the route to the Phoenician ports of Tyre and Sidon. This route brought considerable international trade and commercial traffic along the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee.
• The International Coastal Highway between Egypt and Mesopotamia also passed through this plain, entering it from the west through the Valley of the Doves.

Historical and Biblical Significance

• After the incident involving Jesus and Peter walking on the water of the lake, they entered the boat with the other disciples. They completed their crossing of the Sea of Galilee, coming to the "land of Gennesaret" (Matt 14:34; Mark 6:53).
• The Plain of Gennesaret is clearly visible from the Sower’s Cove, where Jesus told the parable of the sower. Of all the areas surrounding the Sea of Galilee, this small plain was the most fertile, giving rise to the possibility that Jesus may have been referring to it as an example of the "good soil" in His parable (Matt 13:3-8; Mark 4:3-9; Luke 8:5-8).

Bibliography

1. De Young, J.C. "Gennesaret" The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible. Ed. Merrill C. Tenney. 5 vols. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1976.
2. Lockyer, Sr., Herbert, ed. Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1986.
3. Smith, George Adam. The Historical Geography of the Holy Land. London: Collins Clear-Type Press, 1966.
4. Smith, William. The New Smith’s Bible Dictionary. Garden City: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1966.