Why did the revelators tell us so much
about the boats Jesus built and designed on the Sea of Galilee?
Did they foresee that we would uncover one of those boats in the
near future, and put two and two together? by Saskia Raevouri
JESUS THE BOATBUILDER
[In January of A.D. 21 Jesus] passed on
successively through Magdala and Bethsaida to Capernaum, where he
stopped to pay a visit to his father's friend Zebedee.
Zebedee's sons were
fishermen; he himself was a boatbuilder. Jesus of Nazareth was an
expert in both designing and building; he was a master at working
with wood; and Zebedee had long known of the skill of the Nazareth
craftsman. For a long time Zebedee had contemplated making improved
boats; he now laid his plans before Jesus and invited the visiting
carpenter to join him in the enterprise, and Jesus readily
consented.
Jesus worked with Zebedee only a little more
than one year, but during that time he created a new style of boat
and established entirely new methods of boatmaking. By superior
technique and greatly improved methods of steaming the boards, Jesus
and Zebedee began to build boats of a very superior type, craft
which were far more safe for sailing the lake than were the older
types. For several years Zebedee had more work, turning out these
new-style boats, than his small establishment could handle; in less
than five years practically all the craft on the lake had been built
in the shop of Zebedee at Capernaum. Jesus became well known to the
Galilean fisherfolk as the designer of the new boats. [1419]
WHEN UB-reader Joy Brandt
and I visited Israel in 1998, we stayed on the Sea of Galilee in
a kibbutz called Nof Ginosar. In the Urantia Book, this
region south of Capernaum is called Gennesaret. Capernaum is
where the boat-making establishment of John Zebedee was located,
where Jesus worked for more than a year.
In 1986,
during a drought that drastically lowered the level of the Sea
of Galilee, an ancient boat was discovered in the waters off the
shore south of the kibbutz.
Experts called to the
scene agreed it was indeed an ancient boat and excavations were
begun immediately, conducted by the Israel Department of
Antiquities and Museums assisted by archaeologists and
volunteers.
Brittle and spongy, the boat was
carefully cleared of the mud that had protected it from
deterioration over the centuries, "packaged" in polyurethane foam,
floated up the shore and moved to a conservation pool in the
Yigal Allon center, a museum on the grounds of the kibbutz. The
excavation took eleven days. Here, supported by fiberglass frames,
the boat sat for nine and a half years undergoing treatment
consisting of impregnation with a special wax material. In 1995 the
pool was emptied and the boat revealed. A slow drying process
followed but it was viewable behind a glass wall.
After careful study of the methods
used in its construction, according to the official booklet from
which I gathered this information, experts came to agree that "it
was built by a master craftsman or boat builder. The design—a deep,
rounded stern and fine bow known as the “shell-first” method—is
different than anything previously unearthed, though similar vessels
have been represented artistically. The builder followed a common
Mediterranean practice with many deviations.
"Frames provided support made from
naturally curved tree branches. The shape of the frames and
planks are unlike anything thus far recorded for seafaring craft,
and indicate either a shortage of good timber or a type of
construction adapted specifically to this relatively calm,
freshwater lake.
"... during that time he created a
new style of boat and established entirely new methods of
boatmaking."
"Its planks were
assembled with mortise and tenon joints locked in place with tapered
wood pegs, and then nailed to the frames with straight iron nails. The
nails, some with square, round or octagonal shafts, seem more suited
to domestic carpentry, as does the style of their application."
Carpentry nails used.
Mortise and tenon construction
Red tags identify parts of the stern, white outlines the planks
"Twelve different kinds of wood have
been identified, the most common being oak and cedar, indicating
that the builder made use of whatever materials were available
locally. Measuring 26.5 long by 7.5 wide by 4.5 feet deep, the boat
could carry 15 persons and may have had a mast
"The boat was repaired many times.
The differences between the workmanship of the repairs and that of
the original construction suggest that the work was done by
different workmen or even perhaps by different generations of
workmen.
"Based on a study of construction
techniques, Carbon-14 analysis and ceramic chronology, the
boat is dated to the period covering the first century BC until the
first century AD, a period when the lakeside communities witnessed
the ministry of Jesus and his disciples. The vessel,
evidently used for fishing and transport, provides a major
contribution to the study of water transport and the history of the
Galilee area. Today the boat rests on a specially designed steel
cradle in the new wing of the museum."
* * *
Joy said, "I think the Jesus
boat was one of the highlights of our trip, and that many Urantia Book
readers would be interested in it. One of the fascinating things is that
in “The Draught of Fishes" section in the Jesus papers, it goes into a
couple sentences of detail about the boat that Jesus was standing on:
On Friday morning of this same week,
when Jesus was teaching by the seaside, the people
crowded him so near the water's edge that he signaled to
some fishermen occupying a near-by boat to come to his
rescue. Entering the boat, he continued to teach the
assembled multitude for more than two hours. This boat
was named "Simon"; it was the former fishing vessel of
Simon Peter and had been built by Jesus' own hands.
[1628]
Joy continues, "If
you look up the comparable story about the "Draught of Fishes" in the
Bible, you'll find that it took place in Genneseret (Ginosar), which is
the name of the kibbutz and thus the location where the ancient boat was
found. I think the Urantia Book tells us a little about this boat on
which Jesus stood because the midwayers figured that we'd uncover the
boat sooner or later."
Another fascinating
item mentioned the booklet: "Slightly
to the northeast were found fragments of wood which appear to be waste
from shipbuilding activities, as well as
the remains of two other smaller boats from later periods, indicating
that this site may have been a place where boats were built and stored."
As we Urantia Book readers know, Zebedee's boatshop was located
northeast of Gennesaret, in the very area described.
Did Jesus have a
hand in building this boat? Who else but Jesus would have been this
"master craftsman"?
[left] An artistic rendering of the ancient
boat; [right] a mosaic from the first century AD.
