Chorazin
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Chorazin was a village in northern Galilee, two and a half miles from Capernaum and the Sea of Galilee. The site is an excavated ruin today, but was inhabited starting in the 1st century. It is associated with modern day Kerazeh.
The majority of the structures are made from black basalt, a volcanic rock found locally. The main settlement dates to the 3rd and 4th centuries. A significant feature is a 3rd century synagogue that was destroyed in the 4th century and rebuilt in the 5th. A mikvah, or ritual bath, was also found at the site. The handful of olive millstones used in olive oil extraction found suggest a reliance on the olive for economic purposes, like a number of other villages in ancient Galilee.
Chorazin, along with Bethsaida and Capernaum, was named in the New Testament gospels of Matthew and Luke as "cities" (more likely just villages) in which Jesus performed "mighty works". However, because these towns rejected his work ("they had not changed their ways" -Matt11:20SV), they were subsequently cursed (Matthew 11:20-24; Luke 10:13-15). Biblical scholars who accept the two-source hypothesis state that this story originally came from the Q document. Despite this textual evidence, archaeologists have not yet been successful in finding a settlement dating to the 1st century.
In addition to the reference in the gospels, Chorazin is mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud, (Menahot, 85a) as town known for its grain.
Due to the condemnation of Jesus, some early Medieval writers believed that the Antichrist would be born in Chorazin, an idea which was referenced by MR James in his story "Count Magnus."
[edit] External links
- Strong's G5523
- Chorazin from bibleplaces.com
- Pictures of Chorazin
- The Ancient Synagogue of Chorazin from a Jewish tourism site
- Chorazin University of Notre Dame, New Testament Professor David E. Aune
- Korazin Christian tourism site
- Ancient Chorazin Comes Back to Life by Ze’ev Yeivin of the Biblical Archaeology Society.
