{"id":99264,"date":"2023-03-22T12:47:15","date_gmt":"2023-03-22T18:47:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=99264"},"modified":"2023-03-22T12:47:15","modified_gmt":"2023-03-22T18:47:15","slug":"down-on-the-coastal-plain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2023\/03\/down-on-the-coastal-plain.html","title":{"rendered":"Down on the Coastal Plain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Palace<\/a>
Part of the foundation of Herod the Great\u2019s palace at Caesarea Maritima, on the Mediterranean coast of Israel. The apostle Paul was imprisoned in the still-unsubmerged portion of this palace when he was interrogated by Felix and Herod Agrippa. From here, he was sent to Rome.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

An article of mine appeared in Meridian Magazine<\/em> a few hours ago:\u00a0 \u201cUnderstanding the Synagogues of Jesus\u2019 Day.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

We left Jerusalem this morning and drove down to Caesarea Maritima, to the Herodian aqueduct that fed it from the north, and then to Joppa (or Jaffa, or Yafo).\u00a0 Joppa is one of the oldest cities in the Near East, while Tel Aviv , which is far larger, was only established in the twentieth century (by Zionist farmers setting out from Joppa). \u00a0Joppa is also very pretty, situated on a slightly elevated promontory that juts out into the Mediterranean. \u00a0It\u2019s something of an arts center today, shared by both Jews and Arabs.<\/p>\n

It was from Joppa, according to the Old Testament, that the prophet Jonah set out, seeking to escape the Lord\u2019s call for him to preach in Nineveh. \u00a0And it was in Joppa, in the house of Simon the Tanner, that the apostle Peter received his vision of the clean and unclean beasts, which paved the way for taking the Gospel to the gentiles. \u00a0According to Greek mythology, it was also at Joppa that Andromeda<\/a> was chained to a rock as an offering to the sea monster Cetus, from which she was saved by the hero Perseus \u2014 in what is probably one of the earliest surviving \u201cprincess and the dragon\u201d stories.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a relevant column, entitled \u201cLine upon line, the Lord has gradually expanded our vision of his work \u2014 and ours,\u201d\u00a0that I published on 9 May 2013 in the Deseret News<\/em>:<\/p>\n

According to Acts 10, the apostle Peter received a revelation while visiting the town of Joppa in which God commanded him to eat meat considered ritually unclean under Jewish law. Symbolically, this indicated that it was time to take the gospel to the Gentiles \u2014 to non-Jews.<\/span><\/p>\n

The importance of this event for the development of Christianity cannot be overstated. Without it, Christianity would have remained merely a sect of Judaism.<\/span><\/p>\n

Acts tells us that Cornelius \u2014 the Roman centurion stationed in Caesarea some distance up the coast from Joppa \u2014 \u201cfeared God.\u201d In historical context, this suggests that he was among the fairly large number of Gentiles, often termed \u201cGod-fearers\u201d by modern scholars, who deeply admired Jewish ethical monotheism but were unwilling to convert.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jewish dietary and social restrictions would have severed their ties to family and friends, and circumcision understandably intimidated roughly 50 percent of potential proselytes. Soon after Peter\u2019s vision, Christianity would become the \u201cgood parts version\u201d of Judaism for such sympathetic outsiders \u2014 it was, effectively, Judaism for Gentiles.<\/span><\/p>\n

Peter drew the salient lesson from his experience: \u201cOf a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him\u201d (Acts 10:34-35).<\/span><\/p>\n

Appropriately, Peter\u2019s revelation came to him in Joppa, for that small and very ancient peninsular town (also known as \u201cJaffa\u201d and \u201cYafo\u201d) is associated with yet another story illustrating the universality of God\u2019s loving concern. According to the famous tale of Jonah the prophet, Jonah was commanded to preach repentance to Assyrian capital Nineveh, a powerful and threatening superpower at the easternmost extreme of Israel\u2019s world. But instead he took ship at Joppa, heading exactly the opposite way.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tarshish was probably in Spain, the westernmost boundary of ancient Israel\u2019s map. He seems to have imagined that, by leaving Israel\u2019s territorial waters, he could escape the jurisdiction, and notice, of Israel\u2019s God.<\/span><\/p>\n

He was wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n

Subsequently, having preached to the Ninevites, Jonah sat on a hillside and sulked because, in fact, they had repented. And his irritation only increased when a plant died that had shaded him from the intense sun.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThen said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?\u201d (Jonah 4:10-11)<\/span><\/p>\n

Very plainly, the Lord has been gently seeking to extend our vision, to help us grasp the full magnitude of our task. He has done it gradually, so as not to overwhelm us. Our earliest missionaries to Brazil were German-speakers, sent to preach to German emigrants there. Only later did we begin to take the gospel, with remarkable success, to all Brazilians.<\/span><\/p>\n

In earlier days, some of us imagined it sufficient \u2014 in order to check India off our list \u2014 to preach a sermon on the quay in Bombay. Now we know better. Taking the gospel to \u201call nations\u201d is a bigger assignment than we had understood \u2014 bigger than we could have managed.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the LDS Church\u2019s early decades, faithful Saints lacking access to the records of their ancestors were sealed by adoption to other prominent members to whom they were unrelated. This seemed manageable. In 1894, however, President Wilford Woodruff announced by revelation that the Saints were obliged to search out and be sealed to their own ancestors, as far back as possible. Also that year, the Genealogical Society of Utah was established to make this feasible.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have.\u201d (2 Nephi 28:30)<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

By the way, a new discovery was made just a short while ago at Caesarea Maritima, during fairly routine construction.\u00a0 They found a Roman-period archway and tunnel that may actually be the place where the apostle Paul was imprisoned for approximately two years (see Acts 23:23-Acts 26:32).\u00a0 This was the first time that I had seen the new excavation; it wasn\u2019t there when we last visited in November.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
Posted from Bat Yam, Israel<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 An article of mine appeared in Meridian Magazine a few hours ago:\u00a0 \u201cUnderstanding the Synagogues of Jesus\u2019 Day.\u201d \u00a0 *** \u00a0 We left Jerusalem this morning and drove down to Caesarea Maritima, to the Herodian aqueduct that fed it from the north, and then to Joppa (or Jaffa, or Yafo).\u00a0 Joppa is one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":33234,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1821,35169,35178,20290,21443,3646,35160,35184,35163,3778,3781,18902,1369,4189,18899,35175,1579,6189,3343,35166,6099,35181,35172,18896,9388,18905],"class_list":["post-99264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-apostle","tag-aqueduct","tag-assyria","tag-assyrian","tag-assyrians","tag-caesarea","tag-caesarea-maritima","tag-christ-israel","tag-cornelius","tag-god-fearer","tag-god-fearers","tag-jaffa","tag-jesus","tag-jonah","tag-joppa","tag-nineveh","tag-palestine","tag-paul","tag-peter","tag-simon-the-tanner","tag-synagogue","tag-synagogues","tag-tarshish","tag-tel-aviv","tag-wilford-woodruff","tag-yafo"],"yoast_head":"\nDown on the Coastal Plain<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    An article of mine appeared in Meridian Magazine a few hours ago:\u00a0 "Understanding the Synagogues of Jesus\u2019 Day."   ***   We left\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2023\/03\/down-on-the-coastal-plain.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Down on the Coastal Plain\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"    An article of mine appeared in Meridian Magazine a few hours ago:\u00a0 "Understanding the Synagogues of Jesus\u2019 Day."   ***   We left\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2023\/03\/down-on-the-coastal-plain.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-22T18:47:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2016\/05\/800px-20140801-IMG_0352.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2023\/03\/down-on-the-coastal-plain.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2023\/03\/down-on-the-coastal-plain.html\",\"name\":\"Down on the Coastal Plain\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-22T18:47:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-22T18:47:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\"    An article of mine appeared in Meridian Magazine a few hours ago:\u00a0 \\\"Understanding the Synagogues of Jesus\u2019 Day.\\\"   ***   We left\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2023\/03\/down-on-the-coastal-plain.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2023\/03\/down-on-the-coastal-plain.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2023\/03\/down-on-the-coastal-plain.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Down on the Coastal Plain\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Down on the Coastal Plain","description":"    An article of mine appeared in Meridian Magazine a few hours ago:\u00a0 \"Understanding the Synagogues of Jesus\u2019 Day.\"   ***   We left","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2023\/03\/down-on-the-coastal-plain.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Down on the Coastal Plain","og_description":"    An article of mine appeared in Meridian Magazine a few hours ago:\u00a0 \"Understanding the Synagogues of Jesus\u2019 Day.\"   ***   We left","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2023\/03\/down-on-the-coastal-plain.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2023-03-22T18:47:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":512,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2016\/05\/800px-20140801-IMG_0352.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2023\/03\/down-on-the-coastal-plain.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2023\/03\/down-on-the-coastal-plain.html","name":"Down on the Coastal Plain","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-03-22T18:47:15+00:00","dateModified":"2023-03-22T18:47:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":"    An article of mine appeared in Meridian Magazine a few hours ago:\u00a0 \"Understanding the Synagogues of Jesus\u2019 Day.\"   ***   We left","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2023\/03\/down-on-the-coastal-plain.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2023\/03\/down-on-the-coastal-plain.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2023\/03\/down-on-the-coastal-plain.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Down on the Coastal Plain"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}