Chinnereth

by Wayne Blank

Chinnereth, meaning shaped like a harp (or Lyre), was the name of a city near the northwest shore of The Sea Of Galilee (which is shaped like a harp, or lyre, hence the name), not far from Capernaum where Jesus Christ lived after He left Nazareth. Chinnereth is the singular form of the word which is also found in The Bible in its plural form, Chinneroth, which applied to the district around Chinnereth. The Sea of Galilee was also known in Bible History as the Sea of Chinnereth, or the Sea of Chinneroth, as well as the Lake of Gennesaret or Sea of Tiberias (see Bible Places)

Chinnereth was part of the God-commanded eastern border of The Promised Land:

"The Lord said to Moses ... You shall mark out your eastern boundary from Hazarenan to Shepham; and the boundary shall go down from Shepham to Riblah on the east side of Ain; and the boundary shall go down, and reach to the shoulder of the sea of Chinnereth on the east; and the boundary shall go down to The Jordan, and its end shall be at The Salt Sea. This shall be your land with its boundaries all round." (Numbers 34:1,10-12 RSV)

Chinnereth marked the border of the tribal lands of Gad, while the city itself was given to the tribe of Naphtali (see Tribal Lands and Children of Jacob):

"And Moses gave an inheritance also to the tribe of the Gadites, according to their families. Their territory was Jazer, and all the cities of Gilead, and half the land of the Ammonites, to Aroer, which is east of Rabbah, and from Heshbon to Ramathmizpeh and Betonim, and from Mahanaim to the territory of Debir, and in the valley Bethharam, Bethnimrah, Succoth, and Zaphon, the rest of the kingdom of Sihon king of Heshbon, having the Jordan as a boundary, to the lower end of the Sea of Chinnereth, eastward beyond the Jordan. This is the inheritance of the Gadites according to their families, with their cities and villages." (Joshua 13:24-28 RSV)
"The sixth lot came out for the tribe of Naphtali, for the tribe of Naphtali, according to its families. And its boundary ran from Heleph, from the oak in Zaanannim, and Adaminekeb, and Jabneel, as far as Lakkum; and it ended at the Jordan; then the boundary turns westward to Aznothtabor, and goes from there to Hukkok, touching Zebulun at the south, and Asher on the west, and Judah on the east at the Jordan. The fortified cities are Ziddim, Zer, Hammath, Rakkath, Chinnereth" (Joshua 19:32-35 RSV)

Fact Finder: What city just south of Chinnereth was the home town of the first human to see Jesus Christ after His resurrection?
See Magdala

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