Understanding the Location of
the Feeding of the Five Thousand

Tradition has it that the event known as the Feeding of the Five Thousand took place at Tabgha, south-west of Capernaum, in the region described in the gospels as Gennesaret (now called Ginosar). The Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fish now stands on this site. However this is not consistent with the gospel accounts, which state clearly that the disciples returned to Genessaret after crossing the lake from the site of the miracle (Matt 14:34; Mark 6:53).

The Feeding of the Five Thousand took place just after Jesus’ twelve disciples returned from their itinerant ministry throughout the villages of Israel (Mark 6:30). We are not told where Jesus and his disciples gathered to debrief when they returned (Mark 6:30). It seems likely that it was in or near the town of Capernaum, which Jesus had made his home at the beginning of his ministry (see Matt 4:13). We are told that news had arrived of the beheading of John the Baptist (Matt 14:13) and that the demands of the gathered crowds were disrupting their normal routine (Mark 6:31). So Jesus took the disciples off to a more secluded place.

Matthew and Mark say that they went by boat to a solitary place (Matt 14:13; Mark 6:32). John says that they crossed to the far shore of Galilee (John 6:1). If they started in Capernaum or the Gennesaret region, which were on the north-west side of Galilee, then the far shore would have been on the eastern side of the lake (see Google Maps). Luke says that they withdrew to the town of Bethsaida (Luke 9:10) but then later on he describes them being in a remote place without ready access to food and lodging (Luke 9:12), a point emphasised by both Matthew and Mark (Matt 14:15; Mark 6:35). The town of Bethsaida was not a remote place in this sense, so it seems clear from Luke’s account that the party initially went by boat to Bethsaida, but then seeing that the crowds had followed them along the shoreline they then moved on further.

Bethsaida no longer exists, and there is some uncertainty as to its precise location. However almost all scholars agree that it was located on the east side of the Jordan river, not far where it enters northern Galilee. Its exact distance from the shore of Galilee is disputed, but it is thought to be no more than one and a half miles. That the party moved on from Bethsaida by boat seems clear from Mark’s account, which says that at the end of the day the disciples, without Jesus, returned by boat to Bethsaida initially, and then eventually to Gennesaret (Mark 6:45-53). The place they moved on to from Bethsaida on their outward journey is not clear, other than the fact that where they finally moored gave them ready access to high ground, for John says that the subsequent feeding of the 5000 took place on a mountainside (John 6:3), and Matthew, Mark and John all say that later that evening Jesus retreated to a mountainside alone (Matt 14:23; Mark 6:46; John 6:15). A possible location is at Kursi on the eastern shore of Galilee, where the foothills of the Golan Heights come close to the lake. Kursi is between 4 and 5 miles south-south-west of Bethsaida, and a similar distance from Capernaum across the lake. (Many scholars also believe that Kursi is the place where, on another occasion, the Gadarene swine drowned in the lake.) This location is consistent with John’s statement that the boat party had rowed 3 to 4 miles when Jesus approached them walking on the water (John 6:19). It is noteworthy that John tells us some of the crowd stayed at this place overnight, from which we can infer that the return journey was too far for many of them to attempt that evening (John 6:22).

Whatever the distance travelled by Jesus’ party in the boat it had to be possible for people to follow them on foot. Both Matthew and Mark imply that many people were waiting for them when the disciple’s boat finally anchored (Matt 14:14; Mark 6:33,34). Mark adds that some ran in order to get there first. For those who had started following the boat party in Capernaum the total distance travelled on foot to Kursi would have been over 6 miles. The most likely scenario is that the boat kept close to the shore, and the fastest people on foot kept up with it until it moored. Other people would have walked more slowly, so the total number of people would have grown over time.

Some have expressed reservations about the accuracy of the Gospel writers with regard to the destination of the returning boat. Matthew says that they crossed “to the other side,” and that they landed at Gennesaret (Matt 14:22,34). Mark says that Jesus told them to go to Bethsaida, and also says that they eventually landed at Gennesaret (Mark 6:45,53). John says that they set off for Capernaum, and eventually “reached the shore where they were heading” (John 6:17,21). However these statements are quite consistent with each other when one takes into account that there were 12 people on board who had spent a day away together, and that each one was returning to his usual place of abode. That they would plan to stop off in Bethsaida is to be expected, since this was the home village of Peter, Andrew and Philip (John 1:44). It is also quite possible that Jesus instructed them to drop off the twelve baskets of bread scraps there on their way back, since he was clearly concerned that these should not be wasted (John 6:12,13). The accounts tell us that the wind was against them, which is confirmed by the fact that they were still rowing just before dawn (Mark 6:48; Matt 14:24,25). It is quite understandable therefore that, even if their ultimate destination was Capernaum, the strength of the wind forced them to land further south somewhere on the shore of the plain of Genessaret. Indeed it might even have been at Tabgha itself, where the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fish is now located.