Joppa
“Beauty or beautiful”
Summary
The ancient Mediterranean seaport serving Jerusalem, famous in Old Testament times as the landing place for Temple timber and as Jonah's departure point, and in the New Testament as the city where Peter raised Dorcas and received his vision of Gentile inclusion.
☩Geography and Ancient History
Joppa (Hebrew Japho, meaning 'beauty') was situated on a rocky promontory 116 feet high on Palestine's Mediterranean coast, about 35 miles northwest of Jerusalem. Built on a ridge of rocks providing a small but dangerous harbor, it was the only serviceable port on the entire Israelite coastline. The city claimed antediluvian antiquity; classical writers associated it with the myth of Perseus and Andromeda, even claiming to show the chains and bones of the sea-monster—traditions likely derived from the Phoenicians who originally held the city. It was assigned to the tribe of Dan but apparently never effectively occupied by Israel in early times.
☩Old Testament References
Joppa served as Jerusalem's port when David's son Solomon built the Temple. Hiram of Tyre floated cedar and pine logs from Lebanon down the coast to Joppa, from where Solomon's servants transported them overland to Jerusalem. The same route was used centuries later when Cyrus permitted the returning exiles to rebuild the Temple under Zerubbabel. Most famously, Joppa was the port from which Jonah embarked on a ship bound for Tarshish, attempting to flee from God's call to preach at Nineveh.
☩New Testament Events
In New Testament times, Joppa became the scene of two momentous events in the early church. When the beloved disciple Tabitha (Dorcas), known for her charitable works, died, Peter was summoned from nearby Lydda and raised her from the dead, causing many to believe. Peter then stayed in Joppa with Simon the tanner, and there on the rooftop, in full view of the Mediterranean Sea washing Gentile shores, he received the revolutionary vision of the sheet from heaven declaring all foods—and by implication all peoples—clean. This prepared him to go to Cornelius the centurion at Caesarea, opening the gospel to the Gentiles.
Related Verses15 mentions
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Joppa," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. IV (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.James Orr (ed.), "Joppa," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. III (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 3.George Morrish, "Joppa," in Morrish's Concise Bible Dictionary (George Morrish, 1898).