Joppa/Jaffa

The ancient port city of Joppa is where my adventure begins...

Historically

From 1500-1450 BCE Joppa was conquered by the army of Pharaoh Thutmose III and is recorded in the royal list of cities in Karnak, Egypt and in the Harris Papyrus. From 1200-1000 BCE there is an Israelite settlement in Joppa (Joshua 19:46) with the Philistines (The Sea Peoples) also making an appearance in the Joppa region. In subsequent centuries it was passed hand to hand and was occupied in turn by Egypt, Babylon, Persia, and Sidon. Joppa lost much of its importance when Herod built a new port in Ceaesarea.
 

Biblically 

The cedar wood for King Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem was brought down from Lebanon on great rafts to the shores of Joppa c.960 BCE (2 Chronicles 2:16). Under Persian rule, the return of the Exiles from Babylon and the restoration of the Temple cedar wood was once again brought down from Lebanon to the shores of Joppa 586-332 BCE (Ezra 3:7).

During the time Alexander the Great campaigned in the Levant 332-331 BCE Joppa became a Greek colony and it is around this time that the Book of Jonah was written. It is also probably the period where the prophet/hero Jonah tries to escape from God's command to go to Nineveh by taking a ship from Joppa to Tarshish (Jonah 1:3)

 St. Peter's Church/House of Simon the Tanner (it is questionable if this is the actual site of Simon's house)

After raising Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas) from the dead, Peter stayed in Joppa at the house of Simon the Tanner where he received the vision which showed him that gentiles/pagans should be admitted in the Church (Acts 9:36-10:23)

Reflection
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