Joppa #47

Joppa is an ancient harbor city on the Mediterranean coast of Israel, about thirty-five miles northwest of Jerusalem. Today it is Jaffa, the old port district of Tel Aviv-Yafo. Because the coast has few natural harbors, Joppa served as the principal seaport for Jerusalem and Judea, and the Bible connects it with shipbuilding materials, a fleeing prophet, and a turning point in the early church.

Biblical Significance

In the book of Joshua, Joppa lies at the edge of the territory of the tribe of Dan (Joshua 19:46). When Solomon prepared to build the temple, Hiram of Tyre floated cedar and other timber down the coast to Joppa in rafts so that it could be carried up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 2:16). The same route was used again when the temple was rebuilt after the exile (Ezra 3:7). The prophet Jonah came to Joppa to escape God’s call to Nineveh, found a ship, and set sail for Tarshish (Jonah 1:3).

In the New Testament, Joppa is the setting for two important episodes in Acts. A disciple named Tabitha, or Dorcas, who was known for her good works and charity to the poor, fell ill and died. Peter was summoned from nearby Lydda, sent the mourners out, prayed, and told her to rise, and she opened her eyes and sat up, to the astonishment of the widows who had been weeping over her (Acts 9:36-43).

Peter stayed on in Joppa for many days with Simon, a tanner, whose house was by the sea (Acts 9:43; 10:6). While praying on the roof at midday, he saw a sheet lowered from heaven containing all kinds of animals and heard a voice tell him not to call unclean what God had made clean (Acts 10:9-16). At that moment men sent by the centurion Cornelius of Caesarea arrived at the door, and Peter went with them, an event that led to the first Gentile household receiving the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:17-23; 11:4-18). The rooftop vision in Joppa therefore stands at the center of the church’s move from a mainly Jewish movement to one that included the nations.

Today

Jaffa is a living port town with a picturesque old city on a rocky headland. Excavations there have uncovered layers of settlement reaching back to the Bronze Age, including a Late Bronze Age Egyptian gateway. A house near the harbor is pointed out to visitors as the home of Simon the tanner, and the neighboring Church of St. Peter recalls the apostle’s stay. The identification of the specific house is a matter of tradition rather than archaeological proof. The ancient identity of the city as Joppa, however, is not in question, and the name Yafo survives in its modern Hebrew and Arabic forms.