The Mount of Beatitudes ( he, הר האושר, ''Har HaOsher'') is a hill in northern

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, in the

Korazim Plateau The Korazim Plateau ( he, רמת כורזים, ''Ramat Korazim'', also spelled Corazim), is a volcanic plateau, located in northern Israel. The plateau is bounded between by the Hula Valley in the north, Sea of Galilee in the south, the mountai ...

. It is the traditional site of

Jesus' Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

Sermon on the Mount The Sermon on the Mount (anglicized from the Matthean Vulgate Latin section title: ) is a collection of sayings attributed to Jesus of Nazareth found in the Gospel of Matthew (chapters 5, 6, and 7). that emphasizes his moral teachings. It is ...

Location

The site known as the Mount of Beatitudes is on the northwestern shore of the

Sea of Galilee The Sea of Galilee ( he, יָם כִּנֶּרֶת, Judeo-Aramaic: יַמּא דטבריא, גִּנֵּיסַר, ar, بحيرة طبريا), also called Lake Tiberias, Kinneret or Kinnereth, is a freshwater lake in Israel. It is the lowest ...

, between

Capernaum Capernaum ( ; he, כְּפַר נַחוּם, Kfar Naḥum, Nahum's village; ar, كفر ناحوم, Kafr Nāḥūm) was a fishing village established during the time of the Hasmoneans, located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. It ...

and the archeological site of

Gennesaret Kinneret () is the name of an important Bronze and Iron Age city situated on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee, mentioned in the 14th century BC Aqhat Epic of Ugarit, and in the Old Testament and New Testament. Older Bible translations ...

(

Ginosar Ginosar ( he, גִּנּוֹסַר) is a kibbutz in the Plain of Ginosar on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee in Israel. Located north of Tiberias on Highway 90, it falls under the jurisdiction of Emek HaYarden Regional Council. In it ha ...

), on the southern slopes of the

. Its negative altitude (around 25 metres below sea level, nearly 200 metres above the Sea of Galilee) makes it one of the lowest summits of the world. This site, very near

Tabgha Tabgha ( ar, الطابغة, ''al-Tabigha''; he, עין שבע, ''Ein Sheva'' which means "spring of seven") is an area situated on the north-western shore of the Sea of Galilee in Israel and a depopulated Palestinian village. It is traditiona ...

and also known as Mount Eremos, has been commemorated for more than 1600 years. Other suggested locations for the Jesus' Sermon on the Mount have included the nearby

Mount Arbel Mount Arbel ( he, הר ארבל, ''Har Arbel'') is a mountain in The Lower Galilee near Tiberias in Israel, with high cliffs, views of Mount Hermon and the Golan Heights, a cave-fortress, and ruins of an ancient synagogue. Mount Arbel sits across ...

, or even the

Horns of Hattin The Horns of Hattin ( he, קרני חיטין, Karnei Hittin ar, قرون حطين, Qurûn Hattîn) is an extinct volcano with twin peaks overlooking the plains of Hattin in the Lower Galilee, Israel. Kurûn Hattîn is believed to be the site ...

Lac de Tiberiade vu du mont des Beatitudes

Churches

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

church was erected lower down the slope from the current site in the 4th century, and it was used until the 7th century. Remains of a

cistern A cistern (Middle English ', from Latin ', from ', "box", from Greek ', "basket") is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by t ...

and a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

are still visible. The current Roman Catholic Franciscan chapel was built in 1937-38 following plans by Italian architect

Antonio Barluzzi Antonio Barluzzi (26 September 1884 – 14 December 1960) was an Italian architect who became known as the "Architect of the Holy Land" by creating, among many others, the pilgrimage churches at the Garden of Gethsemane, on Mount Tabor (considere ...

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

celebrated a

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

at this site in March 2000. The

Jesus Trail The Jesus Trail ( he, שביל ישו, ''Sh'víl Yeshú'') is a hiking and pilgrimage route in the Galilee region of Israel that traces the route Jesus may have walked, connecting many sites from his life and ministry. The main part of the tra ...

pilgrimage route connects the Mount to other sites traditionally associated with the life of Jesus.

Significance

However, the issue is not so much locating the biblically unidentified site of the Sermon on the Mount or identifying the churches built on the location throughout history but determining whether or not such a "sermon" by Jesus of Nazareth actually occurred. The consensus of mainline scholars is that the "sermon" is a literary construct by the writer of the Gospel of Matthew drawn from the sayings and teachings of Jesus scattered throughout the Gospel of Mark and from the non-Markan material that Matthew has in common with Luke (Q), along with Matthew's own, unique source or sources (M). If, as is likely the case, there was no such "sermon," any debate or discussion concerning its geographical location or its place in the chronology of Jesus' career is superfluous.

References

* ''Macmillan Bible Atlas'', * ''Oxford Archaeological Guide: The Holy Land'' (paperback, fourth edition (1998)), pg 279.

External links

{{Authority control Land of Israel

Beatitudes The Beatitudes are sayings attributed to Jesus, and in particular eight blessings recounted by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew, and four in the Sermon on the Plain in the Gospel of Luke, followed by four woes which mirr ...

Sermon on the Mount

Location

Churches

Significance

See also

References

External links