a city whose name in Hebrew imports a place of fishing or of
hunting, and for both of these exercises it was well situated. As it
belonged to the tribe of Naphtali, it was in a country remarkable for
plenty of deer; and as it lay on the north end of the lake Gennesareth,
just where the river Jordan runs into it, it became the residence of
fishermen. Three of the Apostles, Philip, Andrew, and Peter, were born
in this city. It is not mentioned in the Old Testament, though it
frequently occurs in the New: the reason is, that it was but a village,
as Josephus tells us, till Philip the tetrarch enlarged it, making it a
magnificent city, and gave it the name of Julias, out of respect to
Julia, the daughter of Augustus Cæsar.
The evangelists speak of Bethsaida; and yet it then possessed that name
no longer: it was enlarged and beautified nearly at the same time as
Cæsarea, and called Julias. Thus was it called in the days of our Lord,
and so would the sacred historians have been accustomed to call it. But
if they knew nothing of this, what shall we say of their age? In other
respects they evince the most accurate knowledge of the circumstances of
the time. The solution is, that, though Philip had exalted it to the
rank of a city, to which he gave the name of Julias, yet, not long
afterward, this Julia, in whose honour the city received its name, was
banished from the country by her own father. The deeply wounded honour
of Augustus was even anxious that the world might forget that she was
his daughter. Tiberius, whose wife she had been, consigned the
unfortunate princess, after the death of Augustus, to the most abject
poverty, under which she sank without assistance. Thus adulation must
under two reigns have suppressed a name, from which otherwise the city
might have wished to derive benefit to itself; and for some time it was
called by its ancient name Bethsaida instead of Julias. At a later
period this name again came into circulation, and appears in the
catalogue of Jewish cities by Pliny. By such incidents, which are so
easily overlooked, and the knowledge of which is afterward lost, do
those who are really acquainted with an age disclose their authenticity.
“But it is strange,” some one will say, “that John reckons this
Bethsaida, or Julias, where he was born, in Galilee, John xii, 21.
Should he not know to what province his birthplace belonged?” Philip
only governed the eastern districts by the sea of Tiberias; but Galilee
was the portion of his brother Antipas. Bethsaida or Julias could
therefore not have been built by Philip, as the case is; or it did not
belong to Galilee, as John alleges. In fact, such an error were
sufficient to prove that this Gospel was not written by John. Julias,
however, was situated in Gaulonitis, which district was, for deep
political reasons, divided from Galilee; but the ordinary language of
the time asserted its own opinion, and still reckoned the Gaulonitish
province in Galilee. When, therefore, John does the same, he proves,
that the peculiarity of those days was not unknown to him; for he
expresses himself after the ordinary manner of the period. Thus Josephus
informs us of Judas the Gaulonite from Gamala, and also calls him in the
following chapters, the Galilean; and then in another work he applies
the same expression to him; from whence we may be convinced that the
custom of those days paid respect to a more ancient division of the
country, and bade defiance, in the present case, to the then existing
political geography. Is it possible that historians who, as it is
evident from such examples, discover throughout so nice a knowledge of
geographical arrangements and local and even temporary circumstances,
should have written at a time when the theatre of events was unknown to
them, when not only their native country was destroyed, but their nation
scattered, and the national existence of the Jews extinguished and
extirpated? On the contrary, all this is in proof that they wrote at the
very period which they profess, and it also proves the usual antiquity
assigned to the Gospels.
hunting, and for both of these exercises it was well situated. As it
belonged to the tribe of Naphtali, it was in a country remarkable for
plenty of deer; and as it lay on the north end of the lake Gennesareth,
just where the river Jordan runs into it, it became the residence of
fishermen. Three of the Apostles, Philip, Andrew, and Peter, were born
in this city. It is not mentioned in the Old Testament, though it
frequently occurs in the New: the reason is, that it was but a village,
as Josephus tells us, till Philip the tetrarch enlarged it, making it a
magnificent city, and gave it the name of Julias, out of respect to
Julia, the daughter of Augustus Cæsar.
The evangelists speak of Bethsaida; and yet it then possessed that name
no longer: it was enlarged and beautified nearly at the same time as
Cæsarea, and called Julias. Thus was it called in the days of our Lord,
and so would the sacred historians have been accustomed to call it. But
if they knew nothing of this, what shall we say of their age? In other
respects they evince the most accurate knowledge of the circumstances of
the time. The solution is, that, though Philip had exalted it to the
rank of a city, to which he gave the name of Julias, yet, not long
afterward, this Julia, in whose honour the city received its name, was
banished from the country by her own father. The deeply wounded honour
of Augustus was even anxious that the world might forget that she was
his daughter. Tiberius, whose wife she had been, consigned the
unfortunate princess, after the death of Augustus, to the most abject
poverty, under which she sank without assistance. Thus adulation must
under two reigns have suppressed a name, from which otherwise the city
might have wished to derive benefit to itself; and for some time it was
called by its ancient name Bethsaida instead of Julias. At a later
period this name again came into circulation, and appears in the
catalogue of Jewish cities by Pliny. By such incidents, which are so
easily overlooked, and the knowledge of which is afterward lost, do
those who are really acquainted with an age disclose their authenticity.
“But it is strange,” some one will say, “that John reckons this
Bethsaida, or Julias, where he was born, in Galilee, John xii, 21.
Should he not know to what province his birthplace belonged?” Philip
only governed the eastern districts by the sea of Tiberias; but Galilee
was the portion of his brother Antipas. Bethsaida or Julias could
therefore not have been built by Philip, as the case is; or it did not
belong to Galilee, as John alleges. In fact, such an error were
sufficient to prove that this Gospel was not written by John. Julias,
however, was situated in Gaulonitis, which district was, for deep
political reasons, divided from Galilee; but the ordinary language of
the time asserted its own opinion, and still reckoned the Gaulonitish
province in Galilee. When, therefore, John does the same, he proves,
that the peculiarity of those days was not unknown to him; for he
expresses himself after the ordinary manner of the period. Thus Josephus
informs us of Judas the Gaulonite from Gamala, and also calls him in the
following chapters, the Galilean; and then in another work he applies
the same expression to him; from whence we may be convinced that the
custom of those days paid respect to a more ancient division of the
country, and bade defiance, in the present case, to the then existing
political geography. Is it possible that historians who, as it is
evident from such examples, discover throughout so nice a knowledge of
geographical arrangements and local and even temporary circumstances,
should have written at a time when the theatre of events was unknown to
them, when not only their native country was destroyed, but their nation
scattered, and the national existence of the Jews extinguished and
extirpated? On the contrary, all this is in proof that they wrote at the
very period which they profess, and it also proves the usual antiquity
assigned to the Gospels.