Galilee

the northernmost division of Palestine. It lay on the east shore of the Lake of Gennesaret, or Sea of Galilee. It joined Samaria on the south. It now belongs to Turkey. The Sea of Galilee is about thirteen miles long and something less than seven miles in breadth. It is really a widening of the River Jordan on its way to the Dead Sea. Its surface is higher than that of the Dead Sea, but is still 680 feet below that of the Mediterranean. Its waters are wholesome and abound in fish. Its shores were thickly peopled in the time of Christ. Nine cities and towns, now in ruins, stood on its coast. Numerous large villages dotted the neighboring plains. "Like Jerusalem, the Sea of Gennesaret is enshrined in the heart from childhood. The home of Christ--'His own city'--Capernaum, lay on its shores; many of His miracles were performed around and upon it; He taught the multitudes that followed Him on the heights over it, along its pebbly beach, and from a boat on its surface; most of the apostles were fishermen, who here gained their daily bread; and one of Christ's last earthly interviews with them, after the crucifixion, was on that occasion when, driven probably by necessity, they had temporarily resumed their old occupation, and had toiled a long night without success." See Palestine; Jordan; Dead Sea