Bethsaida- Woe to you - Chorazin!

  The following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip and said to him, "Follow Me." Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.  John 1:43-44.

Bethsaida means- "house of fish".

It used to be believed that this village was quite a distance from the Sea of Galilee and would have required quite a walk in a daily commute. Our guide,Yossi, stated that new excavations in Bethsaida, actually portray this village as very near the water.

It is now thought that the Sea of Galilee has retreated from its proximity to this site.  Perhaps as much as a three mile retreat.

Though Byzantine believers mistook the feeding of the Five Thousand near Tabgha and built their church to commemorate this event there, Luke 9:10-17 places this event in Bethsaida.

 "Then He took them and went aside privately into a deserted place belonging to the city of Bethsaida."  The story unfolds about Jesus teaching about the kingdom of heaven, 
healing many, and then feeding them.

The City Gate of the Old Testament city-Geshur
This was the city of Absalom's mother.

The Sacrificial High Place
Leviticus 11

The plateau of Chorazin

Woe to you, Chorazin!
Matthew 11:20-24

One of the significant places in this pilgrimage 
was this spot. Where Jesus cursed the impenitent
 cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum.
Capernaum- you will be brought down to Hades.
 It will be worse for you
 on judgment day than what was done in Sodom.
For you have seen the mighty works

 and not repented.

Nothing has flourished here in the last 2000 years. 
Even on a warm day, I left with a chill from this place.
When Jesus says- Woe! to you!- He means Woe!

And so- the task remains of bringing the Gospel news 
to those who have not heard…. 
and to continue to bring light to those 
 who have heard and yet have not believed.