
	Sower's Cove Photos Scriptures ref. The Parables of the Kingdom

Sower's Cove - location profile

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Location and Setting

The small bay, known by some as "The Sower’s Cove," is located on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee between Tabgha and Capernaum. It lies at the foot of the traditional site of the Sermon on the Mount (The Mount of Beatitudes).

A Roman road, following one of the routes of the International Coastal Highway between Egypt and the east, passed just above the cove.

The gradual slope of the hill, which rises from the shore of the lake, forms a natural amphitheater. Acoustical research has demonstrated that 8,000 to 10,000 people could be accommodated within hearing distance of a speaker at the shore. It has been demonstrated that the voice of a person standing on a rock in the water or in a boat would be easily audible.

This cove is located in one of the most beautiful places along the shoreline of the lake. From it, Jesus? followers could look westward and see the Arbel Cliff jutting into the sky above the Valley of the Doves. To the northwest, the hills of northern Galilee rise behind the Plain of Gennesaret and the tortuous Wadi Amud. The whole length of the lake would have been visible, with the Decapolis ridge on the southeast and the new city of Tiberias on the western shore, some five miles away. Fishing boats would have been pulled up on the shore nearby, their owners, probably known to Peter and Andrew and the Zebedee brothers, mending nets.

This cove, with its unique acoustics, would have provided an excellent site for Jesus to give His Parables of the Kingdom. (The bay is also known as "The Cove of the Parables.") Several considerations support this view: (1) It would fit the setting as recorded by Mark (and also Matthew). "And He began to teach again by the sea. And such a very great multitude gathered to Him that He got into a boat in the sea and sat down, and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land. And He was teaching many things to them in parables…"(Mark 4:1-2). (2) Mark records the events that followed His teaching, "And on that day, when evening had come, He said to them, ‘Let us go over to the other side.’ And leaving the multitude, they took Him along with them, just as He was, in the boat…" (Mark 4:35-36).

Given the fact that a large multitude was present and that Jesus taught them from a boat at the shore, it would be difficult to find another site where this event could have occurred. The "Sower’s Cove" alone seems to provide the physical and acoustical context in which Jesus could have given this important teaching.

This event occurred on the same day that the Pharisees had charged Him with casting out a demon by the power of Satan. From Capernaum, where this event took place, it would have been only a short walk to this little bay, that Jesus and the local citizens would have passed many times. Seeing that the crowd had grown and desiring to give them this teaching, Jesus may have led them to this choice place to meet with them.

On an earlier occasion, just before He gave the Sermon on the Mount, He had also anticipated dealing with a large crowd. "And He told His disciples that a boat should stand ready for Him because of the multitude, in order that they might not crowd him" (Matt 3:9). This same precaution may have preceded His ministry from a boat as He gave the Parables of the Kingdom.

In the parable of the sower, Jesus cited four kinds of soil to illustrate the four possible heart conditions that characterize reception of His teaching. Examples of each kind of soil He mentioned would have been evident around this cove. His audience would readily understand these familiar images, if not their spiritual meaning.

Pixner, Bargil. With Jesus through Galilee According to the Fifth Gospel. Rosh Pina: Corazin Publishing, 1992.