Tiberias

In the Bible

In the New Testament, Tiberias appears three times, all in the Gospel of John.

• John 6:1: The phrase "over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias" introduces the setting of the feeding of the five thousand.
• John 6:23: The text records that boats from Tiberias came "nigh unto the place where they did eat bread." This verse refers to Tiberias as a city.
• John 21:1: The risen Jesus appears to His disciples at "the sea of Tiberias." The passage that follows describes the great catch of fish and the conversation in which Jesus tells Peter, "Feed my sheep" (John 21:15–17).

The Gospels contain no record of Jesus entering the city of Tiberias.

Background

Tiberias is generally understood to have been founded around AD 20 by Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee. Its name comes from Tiberius, the Roman emperor of the time (mentioned in Luke 3:1). Antipas made the city the center of his rule over Galilee. The Jewish historian Josephus records that the city was built on the site of a cemetery and reports that, for this reason, Jews who observed the ritual purity laws of the Mosaic Law were reluctant to live there.

The city's name soon came to be applied to the lake as well. The Old Testament calls the same body of water the sea of Chinnereth (Numbers 34:11), and Luke calls it the lake of Gennesaret (Luke 5:1).

After the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, Tiberias became a center of Jewish learning. In the early medieval period, scholars there systematized the vowel-pointing system of the Hebrew Bible, which became the basis of today's Masoretic Text. The modern Israeli city of Tiberias stands on the same site.

Interpretation and Issues

• Why only John uses the name: The other Gospels speak only of the "sea of Galilee." One view holds that John added the name familiar throughout the Roman world of the time for the sake of readers outside Palestine. Another view holds that its use indicates the Gospel was written at a time when the name had come into wide use.
• Jesus' absence from Tiberias: It is commonly said that Jesus deliberately avoided the city because of Herod Antipas or because of the impurity of the cemetery site. Since the text gives no reason, however, this explanation remains a matter of inference.
• The location in John 21: Pilgrimage tradition places the site where the risen Jesus appeared to His disciples in the area of Tabgha, north of Tiberias. This location rests on tradition; the text does not identify a specific spot.

In the Korean Church

In the Korean church, the name "Tiberias" is used mainly in sermons on John 21, in the phrase "the shore of Tiberias." The passage is frequently preached as the scene in which Jesus restores Peter after his failure. On pilgrimages to Israel, Tiberias is often included in itineraries as a base for touring the Galilee region.