Genesareth

GENESARETH (Hebrew Kinnereth). - A Canaanite city (Kinnereth in the list of Thutmose III) assigned by Joshua to the tribe of Naphtali (Josh. 19:35) and which from antiquity gave its name to the lake (Yam Kinnereth: Num. 34:11; Josh. 15:27). It is identified with Tell el-'Orejmeh, 11 km north of Tiberias, on the northwest shore of the lake.

The archaeological exploration of 1929-30 revealed its occupation from 1600 to 800 B.C., the small Roman military port of the 1st century, and the strategic importance it had from the earliest times in defense of the Via maris. There were found a fragment of a stele and a scarab of Thutmose III, another scarab of Queen Tiy, wife of Amenophis III, and a sherd of a cultic vessel from the time of Ramses II.

After the exile, the plain, so greatly extolled by Flavius Josephus (Bell. Jud., III, 10, 7) for its fertility, which extends from Tell el-'Orejmeh as far as Megdel (= Magdala), was called Genesar (gan haš-šar "garden of the prince") and the lake also bore this name (1 Macc. 11:67).

In the "land of Genesar" (Mt. 14:34) or "of Genesareth" (Mk. 6:53) Jesus landed with his disciples after the first multiplication of the loaves; but it remains uncertain whether in the Gospel, rather than the plain of G., what is meant is not a village that succeeded at the foot of ancient Kinnereth with the Hellenized name of Genesar (comm. Genesareth), which would have given its name both to the plain and

"in the beginning." The Germans often call it the 1st book of Moses, in relation to the other books of the Pentateuch.

The questions that the book of Gen. presents are extremely difficult and extremely weighty.

I. CONTENT

The general idea of the book is well expressed by its very name, Genesis. It deals with the origin of the universe and in particular of the human race, both according to nature and according to the supernatural economy. The natural origin of man is described in chapters 1 to 2, while the supernatural plan has a more complex development. There is the elevation to the supernatural order, as is understood in the light of the New Testament, immediately in the description of the first events, then the collapse of everything with sin. At this precise point the divine plan of restoration manifests itself. At chapter 3:15 there is the primitive promise, then the fulfillment of this plan from that moment when God, by choosing Abraham, making the messianic promises to him, and repeating them to his descendants Isaac and Jacob, gives origin to the chosen people from whom the Messiah will be born. From this point of view the book can be divided into two great parts: the his-

(ist. Enc. Cett.)

GENESIS

Gen. 1, 1 in the rabbinic Bible, ed. J. Buxtorf, Basel 1620. Hebrew text and Targum of 'Chuséba. Below the two texts: concordance. On the right: commentary of Rall (v.). On the left: commentary of 'Abhrábam Ibn 'Ezra' (v.). Frames on the right and left: commentary of the decisor (v. DECISION) the 'aqābah ben 'Ašet ba'el hat-tārīm (1209-1343) - Rome, copy of the Pont. Biblical Institute.

to the lake, as later happened with the creation of Tiberias (v.).

Donato Baldi