Click here for a supplemental article on this location |
 |
Location and Setting
- The small bay, known by some as "The Sowers 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.

Historical and Biblical Significance
- 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 "Sowers 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.
Bibliography
- Pixner, Bargil. With Jesus through Galilee According to the Fifth Gospel. Rosh
Pina: Corazin Publishing, 1992.
|