Tent Work in Palestine: A Record of Discovery and AdventureConder, C. R. (Claude Reignier)
History
Tent Work in Palestine: A Record of Discovery and Adventure
Conder, C. R. (Claude Reignier)
Palestine -- Description and travel
As regards the name, the word Cana, as spelt in the Greek, seems
undoubtedly to represent Kanah as spelt in Hebrew with the “Koph,” a
name occurring in the Book of Joshua as that of a town near Sidon (now
Kânah) and that of a valley south of Shechem. Kenna spelt with the “Caf”
is quite a different word; the root of Kanah has the meaning “reedy,”
and this applies well to Khŭrbet Kânah, situate above a large marsh;
the root of Kenna signifies “roofed,” and would be spelt properly in
Greek with the X, not the K.
As regards position, it seems far more probable that Kenna, on the road
to Tiberias, would be the place twice visited by Christ, than the remote
Kânah, which is on no main line of travel. The objections also that the
word Kefr has to be accounted for, and that no signs of antiquity are
found at Kefr Kenna, were removed by the Survey, for we found an old
ruin called Kenna near the beautiful spring west of the village of Kefr
Kenna.
There is, however, another place which has never, I believe, been
noticed, and which fits better than either with the early Christian site
noticed by Willibald. The little village of Reineh is on the road
north-east of Nazareth, and only a mile and a half away; from it a main
road leads to Tabor, and by this road is a fine spring called ’Ain
Kânah, spelt as the Greek leads us to suppose the Hebrew form of Cana
must have been. In the absence of more definite indications, it seems to
me that this third site may well rank with either of the others before
mentioned.
The Crusaders, then, believed Cana to be north of the Buttauf Plain, the
early Christians placed it south. In the seventeenth century both sites
were known, but finally ecclesiastical sanction was given to Kefr Kenna;
thus the northern site presents now only ruined walls and dry wells in
the rock on the slope of the rugged mountain which is also named Kânah,
whilst the southern place is a flourishing Christian village of
flat-roofed huts standing above the beautiful gardens and orchards which
surround its spring. Like many others of the New Testament towns, Ænon,
Bethabara, or Nazareth, there is nothing in the Gospel definitely to fix
the position of the place; Josephus and the Talmud give us no aid, and
the question appears to me destined to remain always unsettled from want
of any evidence sufficiently conclusive.
The survey of the country round Cana and Nazareth, as far west as
Kishon, and north to the beautiful valley called Wâdy el Malak, occupied
seven weeks from the 20th of October to the 10th of December. It was a
period of constantly recurring difficulties, caused partly by the
fanaticism of the Moslems, partly by the unhealthy season. The
adventures of the party were far from pleasant, and the anxiety was
considerable; all, however, was in the end successfully carried through,
and Christmas found us safely housed in Haifa.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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