Article March 28, 1942 Issue

Bible Notes

[The Biblical citations given in the Christian Science Quarterly are from the Authorized King James Version. The Bible Notes in these columns can be used, if deemed necessary, to elucidate some of the words or passages contained in the Bible Lessons. The Notes in this issue are related to the Lesson-Sermon designated to be read in Christian Science churches on April 5, 1942.]

"Jesus ... sat by the sea side" (Matt. 13:1)—It is sufficiently evident from the context that the "sea" in question was not the Mediterranean, but rather the Sea of Galilee, otherwise known as "the Sea of Tiberias," which might more exactly be described as a "lake."

"He went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore" (Matt. 13:2)—The site of this "sermon from the boat," as it is often called, is thought to have been a sheltered cove on the western shore of the Galilean lake, between Bethsaida and Capernaum, where the shore, rising somewhat at this point, forms a natural amphitheater where the acoustics are perfect. To this day, if one stands on the shore and reads this thirteenth chapter of Matthew, it can be readily heard from any part of the "amphitheater."

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