Secret City #3 - Part 2 of 4 Parts

The Bible is  never wrong, but we can ask the wrong questions of it. Three different cities may be found in the Gospels identifying the kinds of people that Jesus met after he caused a huge herd of pigs to hurdle into the sea. So here's the wrong question again: "Which city did Jesus visit, when he sent the herd of pigs crashing into the Sea of Galilee?" Let's take another look at the Bible, looking into the best and most ancient texts of the Gospel of Matthew:

Matthew 8:28 - "Jesus came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes." 

Ruins of the City of Gadara

Not the Gerasenes, as found in Mark and Luke. Why would that be? Gerasa is identified closely by its following of the Roman way of life. In Jesus' day, Gadara also had Roman features, including large horse stables (above) and the requisite stadium (below).

The Stadium in Gadara

But Gadara also had a strong Hellenist (Greek) background. In the centuries before Jesus, the region around Gadara passed in and out of the control of the kings of Syria and the kings of Egypt, both of them Hellenist in culture. Gadara was famed for its Hellenist poets and philosophers, and was once called the City of Philosophers. 

In 63 BC, when the Roman general Pompey placed the region under Roman control, he rebuilt Gadara and made it one of the semi-autonomous cities of the Roman Decapolis (Ten Towns), and fortified it to guard against Arab expansion. Then the city was given to Herod the Great, and after Herod's death in 4 BC it became part of the Roman province of Syria.

That is how we find it in Jesus' day, but was that where the stampeding pigs came from? An aerial view of the land will be helpful.

The See of Galilee abutting the Golan Heights

Gadara lays six miles from the Sea of Galilee, and south of the Golan Heights. Let's see what that looks like from Gadara.

The Sea of Galilee as Seen From Gadara

As we can see, the Sea of Galilee lays on the other side of the valley of the Yarmouk River from Gadara. This doesn't seem like a good place for a six-mile stampede from Gadara to the Sea.

But remember, Matthew is referring to the kinds of people that live in the region. And he may have picked Gadara as a centerpiece based on his extensive knowledge of Israeli history, as read in the Hebrew Scriptures.

You see, Matthew knows that the name "Gadara" is descended from the city of Gad, a possession of the tribe of Gad as assigned by God. And he knows that this region, stretching from the Golan to Damascus, will be restored to its rightful owner -- the tribe of Gad -- when Jesus comes on the Day of the Lord to put all things right. Matthew has used Gadara as his regional identifier for theological reasons.

So where exactly did Jesus set off the stampede of pigs? We have we have one more place name to examine, before we come to the answer that I believe locates the actual physical place where Jesus came ashore. 

Stay tuned for next week, Part 3  of 4 Parts!

Lastw