Chorazin, Israel
(Jesus said) “Woe to you Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.” Matthew 11:21
The archeological site identified as Chorazin is at the north end of the Sea of Galilee, a few miles from Capernaum; the north corner of the “Evangelical Triangle” where Jesus and his disciples spent most of their ministry. Excavation at this site has mainly uncovered 2nd to 6th century AD structures. The synagogue dates to the late 3rd century but there is evidence that it was ruined in an earthquake in the 4th century and then rebuilt in the 6th century. In the synagogue, a “seat of Moses” was found that is now in the Israel Museum - but there is a replica on site. This was an honorific place for the teacher to sit when reading from the Torah. The inscription remembers the benefactor who paid for or made the seat.
Other structures at the site include a mikvah, olive presses, homes and cisterns. We were there on a cloudy day and the building material here is also dark - basalt stone that is native to the area. It is a quiet and peaceful place and easy to image a relatively small, likely agricultural, community living here at the time of Jesus earthly ministry.
Decorative elements that were over the entrance to the synagogue at Chorazin
