(Israel)—On the east side of the Sea of Galilee is the site of an ancient Jewish fishing village that used to be called Kursi. It is in an area known as Geshur, or the "Land of the Gadarenes" where Jesus cast demons out of a demoniac, into a herd of swine. The village disappeared around the sixth century A.D., replaced by the largest monastery known in Israel, the remains of which were reportedly discovered when the eastern Kinneret road was constructed after the Six Day War.

Notes reporter Stephen G. Rosenberg, senior fellow of the W.F. Albright Institute of Archeological Research in Jerusalem: "The suicidal flight of the 'Gerasene swine' into the lake fits the hilly topography of Kursi pretty well, which no doubt persuaded the early Christian pilgrims to come to this place to celebrate the miracle performed by Jesus. It was in the third century that the pilgrims started coming...for worship and spiritual contemplation."

As for the site of the miracle itself, adds Rosenberg, "the excavators found a ruined chapel and tower on a hill 200 meters southeast of the monastery. Both are built around a huge pillar of natural rock with the chapel behind it, partly in a cave and partly hewn into the rock...This chapel may have been built before the monastery and it supports the location of the miracle at this site, as from here the incline of the mountain could indeed be the slope down which the swine were [cast] into their headlong suicidal flight." (Photo: Stephen G. Rosenberg/JPost.com)

Interestingly, Geshur is mentioned in the Old Testament as well. As reported in the Jerusalem Post, "King David married Maacah, the princess of Geshur, in the early years of his reign." The beauty of their daughter Tamar attracted Tamar's half-brother Amnon, "and when Absalom heard that Amnon had raped his sister, he took Amnon's life and, to escape justice, he fled to his mother's homeland, Geshur, until David's wrath should subside."

Used by permission www.breakingchristiannews.com / Stephen G. Rosenberg - The Jerusalem Post
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