IN our last paper, treating of Capernaum I and its district, we spoke of the contrast which exists between its past prosperity and its present desolation. The language which was used may very well be extended to apply to the whole of Galilee, and especially to the cities and villages which stood upon the borders of its lake. That part of the Holy Land was emphatically its manufacturing district. It was, in the time of the Lord, the most densely peopled region in all Palestine. “No less than nine cities stood on the very shores of the lake, while numerous large villages dotted the plains and hillsides around.” The intimations of the gospels, as well as the fuller descriptions of other records, point to its past prosperity. The famous Jewish historian says (probably with some exaggeration) that the least village contained 15,000 inhabitants. It was in the midst of the bustle and stir of such a district that the Lord Jesus spent the greater part of His active life; it was from these cities that the thousands poured out to hear Him, and were fed by Him in the desert places close at hand. Here so many were coming and going that the disciples had no leisure so much as to eat.
It is difficult to realize that this district was the scene of so much human activity, for the traveler now in those parts is oppressed by “a mournful and solitary silence. Seven out of the nine cities above referred to are now uninhabited ruins; one, Magdala, is occupied by half a dozen mud hovels; and Tiberias alone retains a wretched remnant of its former prosperity.” A few years ago “one crazy little boat” was the sole representative of the fleets of white-sailed vessels, which had covered the bosom of the Lake in New Testament times.
On sea and on land the same tale of desolation is told, and well may those, who love that once “pleasant land,” look forward to the time when it shall no more be called Desolate but Zinn shall hp railed Hephzibah, and its land Beulah, for the Lord shall delight in her, and her land shall be married. At present the solemn threatening to Israel, in case of their disobedience, is being fulfilled: “Ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it.” God brought His people into that goodly and, and established them there; but when He sent His servants for fruit, it was refused; and when, last of all, He sent His “one Son, His Well-beloved,” they took Him, and killed Him, and cast Him out of the vineyard. Now the husbandmen are destroyed, and the vineyard is given to others.
With reference to the only two surviving cities on the borders of the lake, it is not a little significant that we do not read of the Lord Jesus entering either Magdala or Tiberias. It is most probable that He never visited the latter at all; it was so thoroughly Gentile in its origin and elements, that He, who was not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, may well have avoided it, though it lay at no great distance from His home. It was built by Herod Antipas, and named by him after Tiberias Claudius Nero. Herod resided the greater part of his time in this city, and Greeks and Romans were so numerous as to give a strong foreign tinge to the customs of the place, to the great scandal of the stricter Jews. The only mention we have of Magdala is, that the Lord Jesus, having fed four thousand men, besides women and children, on the other (the eastern) side of the lake, sent them away, and crossed by boat into the borders of Magdala. Possibly, then, these cities never heard the words of the Lord, and thus never refused them, as did Bethsaida and Capernaum. Who will say that their survival, feeble as it is, while others have passed away, has no connection with this fact?
Magdala is situate at the south-east corner of the plain of Gennesaret, about an hour’s journey—say, three miles—from Tiberias, traveling northward along the shore of the lake. It is by some supposed to be the same city as the Migdal-el of the Book of Joshua, situate in the possession of Naphtali, in which case it is an extremely ancient place, though a modern travelerhas described it as “a miserable little Muslim village, looking much like a ruin, but exhibiting no marks of antiquity.” To which Dr. Wilsons adds: “The houses are certainly mean enough, but we observed among them some indications of ancient ruins, both of walls and foundations.” The ruins of a watch-tower, from which Magdala received its by no means uncommon name―(it is a Greek form of the Old Testament “Migdol,” tower)―and which guarded the entrance of the plain, appear to remain. It was a thriving place; celebrated for its dye works and its manufactories (of which eighty were said to exist) of fine woolen textures; famous also for its three hundred shops for the sale of turtle-doves and pigeons for purifications.
The “Valley of Doves” (Wady Hamâm) is a name still found, applied to a valley of honey-combed rocks, situate about twenty minutes’ walk to the north of Magdala. From thence were brought the sacrificial birds. It was very wealthy, and its contributions to Jerusalem were so large that they had to be conveyed thither in wagons. Several Rabbis are also known to Jewish tradition as “of Magdala”; but Jewish evidence itself asserts that the place was morally very corrupt. The dye works and the traffic have passed away, but springs and rivulets abound, which render the place very suitable for such occupations, and the lake gives a plentiful supply of shell fish, which might have furnished some of the dyes.
What chiefly interests us in Magdala is the fact that from thence came the devoted woman, “Mary, the Magdalene,” as she is almost uniformly called in the gospels. She is introduced to our notice in Luke’s Gospel. The Lord went throughout every city and village (that is, of Galilee), and Mary was one of certain women who ministered to the Lord of their goods. We need hardly say that there is not a shadow of evidence in the Scriptures for identifying her with the “woman who was a sinner,” spoken of in the previous chapter. Mark, in a brief sentence, states the fact of the Lord’s appearance, after His resurrection, first to Mary the Magdalene, and adds (what Luke also mentions) that out of her the Lord had cast seven devils. This accounts for the devotedness of her love, shown so blessedly as she stood and watched the cross of her Lord, or, with others, carried out the last customs of those days in embalming the body, when taken down from the cross. Her love took her to the sepulcher while it was yet dark, to find, however, that the stone was rolled away, though she knew not that the Lord had risen. We need not dwell upon the Lord’s appearance to the weeping woman, nor upon the precious revelation of the Father, which she, before all others, received; few of our readers can be unacquainted with these facts. She shares with Mary of Bethany this Honor―that wheresoever in the whole world the gospel is preached, the story of her love to Christ is told, for a memorial of her. Jr.