Gath-hepher

Biblical Text

Gath-hepher appears twice in the Old Testament.

• Joshua 19:13: The town is named in the passage describing the boundaries of the land allotted to the tribe of Zebulun, one of the twelve tribes of Israel. The boundary is said to pass eastward through Gath-hepher to Eth-kazin, which shows that the town lay within Zebulun's territory.
• 2 Kings 14:25: This verse records that Jeroboam II, king of northern Israel, restored Israel's territory from the entrance of Hamath to the sea of the plain. Scripture states that this came about "according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gathhepher."

Jonah 1:1 likewise introduces Jonah as "the son of Amittai," so the two are generally understood to be the same person. Gath-hepher is therefore known as the hometown of the prophet Jonah.

Background

Name and distinction. In Hebrew, gath means "winepress," the vat used for pressing grapes. The meaning of hepher has been explained in several ways and is difficult to determine with certainty. Gath, one of the five Philistine cities and the hometown of Goliath, lay in the lowlands to the southwest. Gath-hepher was a separate town in Galilee to the north. The two places share only part of their names.

Location. The church father Jerome, writing in his commentary on Jonah around the fifth century, stated that the town lay on the road from Sepphoris (Zippori) to Tiberias and that Jonah's tomb was traditionally shown there. Many scholars today identify Gath-hepher with an archaeological site a few kilometers northeast of Nazareth or with the area around the nearby Arab village of Mashhad. The site's identification, however, has not been fully settled.

Broader Biblical Significance

Gath-hepher indicates that Jonah was a prophet from northern Israel. Jonah prophesied the restoration of Israel, yet he was also the one sent to Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, Israel's enemy.

In the New Testament, Jesus spoke of "the sign of the prophet Jonas" (Matthew 12:39–41). In John 7:52, the Pharisees declare, "out of Galilee ariseth no prophet." A number of commentators point out that, given Jonah's origin in Gath-hepher of Galilee, this claim does not accord with Scripture.

Interpretation and Issues

• The nature of the Book of Jonah. Views differ on whether the Book of Jonah should be read as actual history. Conservative evangelicals read it as a historical record, while some scholars regard it as a didactic narrative. Both sides, however, note that 2 Kings 14:25 presents Jonah as a real person who lived during the reign of Jeroboam II.
• Traditions of Jonah's tomb. Jonah's tomb is traditionally located not only near Gath-hepher in Galilee but also at several other places, including Mosul in Iraq, the site of the ruins of Nineveh. These tomb traditions arose later and do not appear in the biblical text.