First Light – Week 5: The Lake as the World

Jesus’ ministry is conducted almost exclusively in the small towns and hamlets around the Sea of Galilee. In the years of Herod the Great, prior to the birth of Jesus, the lake world was only minimally impacted by the empire of Rome. Herod focused on construction activities primarily in Judea and Samaria. His largest project was the great port of Sebastos in the new city of Caesarea. Herod also built a large, elaborate plaza around the Temple in Jerusalem.

Change came to the lake when Herod Antipus arrived as tetrarch. Antipus badly wanted to impress Rome and, like Herod the Great before him, become monarch over all the Jewish territories. Antipus first rebuilt Sephoris and encouraged the commercialization of agriculture to provide a growing tax base. Eventually, Antipus focused on the world of the lake. On the Sea of Galilee, Anitpus built Tiberias as the new capital city of Galilee. Commercialization of the fishing trade followed naturally. The disruption in the long-standing economy of the lake forced many peasants into poverty. Like the peasant farmers in the country, the fishermen of Galilee suddenly found their world turned upside down.