Steep Slope Above the East Lake Shore

View to the south of Kursi Christian Church and Noqeib, July 2006

The point of land at Noqeib is where the shore is steepest and the closest to the lake in this part of Galilee, however the drop off from the bank to the bottom of the lake is steeper below Kursi where the Wadi Semakh empties into the lake.  See Israel Photos IV -- http://dqhall59.com/israelphotosIV/kursi.htm

View of Noqeib ridge above beach - 2005, looking back north to Kursi to right of peninsula

This steep slope between Kursi and En Gev may have appeared different two thousand years ago, as soil has washed down the slope in the meantime. 

Photos of Noqeib (July 2006)

Warning sign on the cliff above lake with wind patterns visible on lake (April 2005)

Sign near Susita Beach, April 2005

On April 19, 2005 I had left my room in Tiberias just after sunrise and drove down the south shore of the lake then turned north toward Kibbutz En Gev.  I arrived at the Shittim Beach area and saw the wind was bending over the branches of bushes and the tall reeds that grew in the shallow bottom of the lake.  The wind was making a howling noise, I recorded the noise with my camcorder and played it back after I was back in the States.  It was a loud moaning wind.  A piece of trash crossed my camcorder view at a high rate of speed.  I could not tell how fast the winds were as I had no anemometer.  The wind raised up some waves near shore not more than what seemed to be few hundred yards out, there was no way to measure their height as I was on land.  This howling wind was only sweeping the area around Shittim Beach and dissipated alot as it reached further out into the lake.

In Matt. 8:23-27, Mark 4:35-41, and Luke 8:22-25 Jesus was teaching the crowd and he gave orders for his disciples to set out for the other side of the lake.  They encountered a windstorm while he was asleep in the boat.  They woke him and he calmed the winds.  Then they reached the other side of the lake.  That is where Jesus met the demoniac.  Matthew indicated two demoniacs, this seems to be a scribal plurality error. 

As a boy, my father told me about lemmings.  These were a type of rat that sometimes were stampeding themselves into the water drowning in mass hysteria.  I compared this to the testimony about the demon possessed man who explained he had a legion of demons within himself when Jesus asked him who he was.  A legion was several thousand soldiers.  The man was being tormented, a madman who had been restrained and had broken out of his captivity.   He had been reduced to homeless wandering living in open spaces or tombs as shelter from the wind and cold of the predawn morning.  Jesus healed the man.  According to the story the demons left the man and forced or frightened the pigs to run into the lake.  The Gospel account signified the existence of evil powers in the world and the perseverance of God to overcome the evil and to give hope to sinners.  I doubt the testimony about the demon possessed man and the pigs. Some mentally ill have been restored to sanity is true.  I do not understand the meaning of the demons leaving one creature and doing damage in another.   

In 2005 there was a news report of five deer jumping off the top level of a parking garage in West Virginia and not surviving.  It did not make any sense, but it happened.  There were also reports of pet dogs committing suicide off of a bridge at Overtoun House, Dumbarton, England in 2005.  A google search including the terms "animal suicide" might reveal more instances of this type of behavior. 

Not all parts of the Bible can be easily understood, some of these parts were false and some of these parts were true. I found the geography of the area might be true to the setting.  There are crazy homeless people who scare people to this day.  Strange animal behavior is not unheard of and there is some influence of people on animals, else dogs would not fight in dog fighting rings.  I will have to put this Gospel account in the difficult to understand category.  Sometimes whales beached themselves.  Occasionally cattle in cattle drives of yesteryears stampeded in wild fear.  They moved as a group in unison and fled in unison.  Some people testified as to the existence of spirits, gods, one god, or demons.  Some thought themselves in communication with a spirit or spirits and attributed their bad actions to such.  Animals may exhibit similar behavior, but cannot testify of such.      

Parable of the Mustard Seed
     A Mustard Field Along Highway 87-North Shore of Galilee
     Mustard Seeds in the Palm of a Hand
     A Branching Mustard Plant Near the Jordan River/Bethsaida
     Mustard Field March 1999
     Mustard Flowers
     Chukar Partridges
The Fig Tree
     Mt of Olives Fig Tree April 12-13, 2005
     Fig and Pomegranate trees below Siloam in Jerusalem
     Israel Photos II fig tree page
     Sycomore Fig Tree
The Good Shepherd
The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats
     Goat Herder
Camels
Ritual Cleansing
Shechem
     The Olive Harvest of Samaria
     Mt. Ebal
     Olive Tree
Pearl of Great Price
A First Century Synagogue at Gamala
     View from the Vulture Overlook
     Overview of Gamala
     Roman Artillery Replica
A First Century Boat on Display at Kibbutz Ginosaur
     Modern Galilee Fishing Boats
Kursi
     Caves and/or tombs
     Steep Slope near the Lake
     Kursi South Slope
Hippos
Feeding the 5,000
     On the Mountain
     Walking on Water
Mt. Hermon
The Pool(s) of Bethesda in Jerusalem
     Healing Pools
     Southern Pool
     Crusader Chapel and St. Ann Church
The Pool of Siloam in Jerusalem
     Gihon Spring
     Hezekiah's Tunnel
     Overlook of  Siloam
Tower of Siloam
A Watch Tower in a Vineyard/Olive Grove
     Grape Vines at Beth Horan
     Towers
Mt. Precipice
     South Face
     Summit
     Over the edge
     Measuring Line
     View of Nazareth from near Megiddo
Nazareth
     The Basilica of the Annunciation
Capernaum
Healing a Paralytic in Capernaum
Bethsaida      
First Century Artifacts from Qumran and Masada
     Qumran -- 1st century pottery
     Masada -- 1st century glassware
     Masada -- 1st century pottery
     Masada -- 1st century stoneware
Waterskins and Wineskins
The Fish and the Coin
A Denarius
The Road to Jericho
     Old Roman Road
     Wilderness Above Jericho
Western Wall
Gethsemane and the Cave of Gethsemane
Rolling Stone Tombs - Jerusalem
     Other Rolling Stone Tombs
Tiberias
Solar Power in Israel
Salt of the earth
Chorazin

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