Joppa

Joppa in the Bible

• Joshua 19:46: In the allotment of land among the twelve tribes, the border of the inheritance of the tribe of Dan is described as extending "before Japho."
• 2 Chronicles 2:16: Huram, king of Tyre, promises Solomon that he will send timber from Lebanon in floats by sea to Joppa. Joppa was the port through which building materials for the Temple in Jerusalem arrived.
• Ezra 3:7: After the return from exile, during the rebuilding of the Temple, cedar was likewise brought from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa, in accordance with the grant of Cyrus.
• Jonah 1:3: Seeking to escape the command to go to Nineveh, Jonah went down to Joppa and boarded a ship bound for Tarshish.
• Acts 9:36–43: When Tabitha (Dorcas), a disciple in Joppa, died, Peter, who was in nearby Lydda, came and prayed, and she was restored to life. As a result, many believed in the Lord. Peter then stayed many days in Joppa at the house of Simon, a tanner.
• Acts 10–11: While praying on a housetop in Joppa, Peter saw a vision of a sheet containing all kinds of animals and heard a voice saying, "What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common" (Acts 10:15). At that time, men sent by Cornelius, a centurion of Caesarea, arrived, and Peter went with them to Caesarea.

Background

Joppa lies on the Mediterranean coast, about 50 km (31 miles) northwest of Jerusalem. It served as a gateway linking inland Jerusalem to the sea, and its site is identified with Jaffa in present-day Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. The Hebrew name Yafo is often explained by connecting it with a word meaning "beautiful." Joppa is known to be an ancient city whose name also appears in ancient Egyptian records outside the Bible.

Significance Across Scripture

In the Old Testament, Joppa was the gateway through which materials for building the Temple entered, and it was also the point of departure for one who fled by sea from God's call. In the New Testament, it becomes the starting point from which the gospel moves beyond the Jews to the Gentiles. The vision Peter received there led to the conversion of Cornelius's household. Peter reported these events to the church in Jerusalem (Acts 11:1–18), and his report later formed part of the background to the deliberations of the Council of Jerusalem.

Interpretation and Debate

From the same city of Joppa, Jonah departed to escape the command to go to a Gentile city, while Peter answered the call to go to the Gentiles. This contrast is frequently drawn in preaching. Some interpreters also note that Peter was called "Simon Barjona," that is, son of Jonah (Matthew 16:17). Such connections, however, are not made by the text itself; they are reflections added by interpreters.

It is also commonly said that tanning, because it involved handling the carcasses of animals, was an occupation shunned in Jewish society. On this basis, some read Peter's stay in a tanner's house as already a boundary-crossing act, though the text itself offers no comment on the matter.

Interpretations of the vision of the sheet differ. Some see it as extending to the abolition of the dietary laws, while others hold that the central point of the passage is that people are not to be treated with partiality. Commemorative sites in present-day Jaffa, such as the "House of Simon," rest on later tradition. Scholars also differ on the location of Tarshish.

In the Korean Church

In sermons on missions drawn from the Book of Jonah and Acts 10, Joppa is often used as a symbol of "the place where one stands before God's call." A visit to Jaffa is frequently included in the itineraries of Holy Land pilgrimages to Israel.