I don't understand how scholarship works sometimes. Everyone is in agreement that we have found the 'Capernaum' of the gospels. Do any of these people who put this forward understand Aramaic? The Aramaic כְּפַר by its very nature means an insignificant village or 'circle.' Jastrow points to Meg. I.3 to explain the term - viz. 'if a place has less (than ten people of leisure) it is considered a kephar.' כְּפַר can be translated as 'village' or 'country place.' The question of course is that how can we be so sure that there was an actual place named 'Capernaum.'
Of course scholars assume that because the gospel was original written in Greek (cough! cough!) an Aramaic reference to a place MUST BE to a 'real place' of that name (i.e. like 'Jerusalem,' 'Jericho' etc.).
I wonder if the name just means 'village of consolation' - a TITLE associated with a village known by another name.
The claim that Josephus makes two references to 'Capernaum' is easily refuted. It is claimed that in battle Josephus' horse fell into a quagmire, and he suffered injury which disabled him for further fighting. His soldiers carried him to the village of Kepharnomon which Niese corrects to Kepharnokon (Vita, 72).
This is not our Capernaum and 'the other reference in Josephus' is even more dubious. As Josephus eulogizes the plain of Gennesaret for its wonderful fruits, and says it is watered by a most fertile fountain which the people of the country call Capharnaum:
Now this lake of Gennesareth is so called from the country adjoining to it. Its breadth is forty furlongs, and its length one hundred and forty; its waters are sweet, and very agreeable for drinking, for they are finer than the thick waters of other fens; the lake is also pure, and on every side ends directly at the shores, and at the sand; it is also of a temperate nature when you draw it up, and of a more gentle nature than river or fountain water, and yet always cooler than one could expect in so diffuse a place as this is. Now when this water is kept in the open air, it is as cold as that snow which the country people are accustomed to make by night in summer. There are several kinds of fish in it, different both to the taste and the sight from those elsewhere. It is divided into two parts by the river Jordan. Now Panium is thought to be the fountain of Jordan, but in reality it is carried thither after an occult manner from the place called Phiala: this place lies as you go up to Trachonitis, and is a hundred and twenty furlongs from Cesarea, and is not far out of the road on the right hand; and indeed it hath its name of Phiala [vial or bowl] very justly, from the roundness of its circumference, as being round like a wheel; its water continues always up to its edges, without either sinking or running over. And as this origin of Jordan was formerly not known, it was discovered so to be when Philip was tetrarch of Trachonitis; for he had chaff thrown into Phiala, and it was found at Paninto, where the ancients thought the fountain-head of the river was, whither it had been therefore carried [by the waters]. As for Panium itself, its natural beauty had been improved by the royal liberality of Agrippa, and adorned at his expenses. Now Jordan's visible stream arises from this cavern, and divides the marshes and fens of the lake Semechonitis; when it hath run another hundred and twenty furlongs, it first passes by the city Julias, and then passes through the middle of the lake Gennesareth; after which it runs a long way over a desert, and then makes its exit into the lake Asphaltitis.
The country also that lies over against this lake hath the same name of Gennesareth; its nature is wonderful as well as its beauty; its soil is so fruitful that all sorts of trees can grow upon it, and the inhabitants accordingly plant all sorts of trees there; for the temper of the air is so well mixed, that it agrees very well with those several sorts, particularly walnuts, which require the coldest air, flourish there in vast plenty; there are palm trees also, which grow best in hot air; fig trees also and olives grow near them, which yet require an air that is more temperate. One may call this place the ambition of nature, where it forces those plants that are naturally enemies to one another to agree together; it is a happy contention of the seasons, as if every one of them laid claim to this country; for it not only nourishes different sorts of autumnal fruit beyond men's expectation, but preserves them a great while; it supplies men with the principal fruits, with grapes and figs continually, during ten months of the year and the rest of the fruits as they become ripe together through the whole year; for besides the good temperature of the air, it is also watered from a most fertile fountain. The people of the country call it Capharnaum. Some have thought it to be a vein of the Nile, because it produces the Coracin fish as well as that lake does which is near to Alexandria. The length of this country extends itself along the banks of this lake that bears the same name for thirty furlongs, and is in breadth twenty, And this is the nature of that place. [BJ iii.7-8]
The reason for the lengthy citation here is TO PROVE THAT THERE IS A TITLE OF A FOUNTAIN not the name of a village. As Jastrow notes כְּפַר comes from כִּכַּר (kikar, “circle”) and refers generally to something that is round.
I am at a loss to find ANY reference outside the gospels to this imaginary town. As I am certain that Nazareth was invented place (thanks Vridar). The Marcionites identified Bethsaida as the locale of Luke 4:16 - 30.
Where do I suspect the real 'village of consolation' was located, the place where Jesus descended from heaven to visit at the beginning of the Marcionite gospel?
Sychar (Aramaic Askar).
I think the 'cover up' was that Jesus first came to visit the Samaritan woman at that place overlooking Mt Gerizim. This was the place where the well which stood on land purchased by Jacob (Genesis 13:18-19).
Don't cite to me the business about 'Capernaum' being a fishing village and that nonsense. That's what the Catholic gospels were made to say - undoubtedly a development of 'Bethsaida' being developed to mean a 'house of fisherman.'
Jesus' disciples weren't 'actual' fisherman. Sheesh.
I will have a real live Samaritan from Israel living in my house for a couple of days in December. We will work all of this out then.
More to follow ...
