Capernaum was “home” for Jesus for a good bit of his ministry here on this earth. Many think he more or less lived there for a period of 18 months, and it seems likely that he used Peter’s House as a home base. Capernaum was a fishing village and was likely where Peter and Andrew lived, as well as John and James.

The Synagogue is Caperaum is fascinating. It is actually TWO of them one on top of the other. The one folks can see clearly today is the one built after the Temple period. The 1st century one, where Jesus would have preached and taught, is actually under the old one.

Here is some homework by the way. What were the key differences between the Synagogue system during the Temple period, and how they were used in the post Temple period? It’s pretty fascinating history actually, and explains many things.

Here are some pictures of the Capernaum Synagogue.

This one in particular is interesting. It’s a cut out and if you look closely you can see the place where the new post Temple Synagogue was built on top of the one Jesus would have preached in. The darker stones are the original Synagogue.

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You can’t see this clearly in the photo, but what a great example of putting names with places to reinforce the truth of what we see and read in the Bible. One of these stones has a reference to a fellow named Zebedee. His name on decorations in the Synagogue would indicate a certain level of his success in this fishing village. He likely had sons in his business. Hmm?

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Of final note in Capernaum is this. There is a church there now, but the church was built in such a way as to expose to view what is underneath it. This is Peter the fisherman’s house, and from what I understand is a A or B type of site. It seems likely this was in fact where Peter and his family lived. Our Lord likely lived there also. How might we know this? Does anybody remember Jesus healing Peter’s mother in law? In those days, not must any male would have been allowed in the women’s quarters in that house to do such a thing; only a man who was a regular member of a household would have had that kind of access. There have been several churches built on this site over the centuries, and some of the remains of those can be seen in this as well.

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