A little city called Joppa.
It has gone by several different names through the centuries. Joppa, Jopha, Ioppa, Ioppe, Jaffa, Yafo. Currently it is called The Old City of Jaffa and is a suburb of Tel-Aviv. In bible times, it was Joppa.
Joppa has the claim of being the oldest functioning seaport in the world. Its antiquity comes from its natural formation of rocks off the coast. As many times as it has been destroyed, it remains. The Rabbis say it was first built by Japheth, the eldest son of Noah. Although they take that opinion by looking at the similarities of the names, it’s not a terrible idea. Japheth’s descendants did sail to settle on places like Cyprus and Greece.
The city itself is located on a 40 meter high ridge, with a road ascending to the city gates. In this way, it mirrors the city of Jerusalem, as many people have noticed.
While historians don’t quite know when Joppa was first built, the latest date is the 18th century BC. It was ruled by the Canaanites until the 1400s BC, when it was conquered by the Egyptians, in a manner similar to the city of Troy. It predates the tale of Troy by about 200 years.
Joppa is mentioned by Joshua as the border next to the territory given to the tribe of Dan. The Israelites never did drive out the Philistines from Joppa. However, David and Solomon did conquer the seaport and used it to bring down cedars from Lebanon, to build the first temple. It was later governed by the Assyrians, the Babylonians, and then the Persians. During this time, the prophet Jonah was trying to run away from God and so he went down to Joppa, to sail for Tarshish, which is Spain.
Next, the Greeks conquered it. One of their storytellers set the tale of Andromeda and Perseus in Joppa. They kept the city until it was taken over by the Maccabees. Under Israelite rule, Herod used the port to bring cedars from Lebanon to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem.
When Peter began traveling around Judea, he went to visit the Lord’s people in Lydda. While there, he received an urgent message from Joppa that Tabitha had become very sick and just died. Peter raced to Joppa and when he came to the house he put out all the mourners and went to see Tabitha alone. He prayed and Tabitha came back to life. He then stayed with a man named Simon, who was a Tanner by the Sea.
During the Jewish-Roman war, Cestius Gallus captured the city. General Vespasian came in and completely destroyed the city, building a citadel and leaving a Roman Garrison there. It stayed in Roman hands until the Arab conquest in the 600s AD. It then was conquered by the Crusaders, the Arabs, the Egyptians, the Ottomans and the British Mandate.
On May 14, 1948, when Israel became a nation again, those left in Jaffa surrendered to the Haganah. The City of Tel Aviv grew and surrounded Jaffa, making it one of its neighborhoods.
If you visit Jaffa today, there is a house with a sign that says The House of Simon the Tanner. Being that the city has been destroyed and rebuilt many times, it’s obviously not the original house. But the memory of Tabitha’s resurrection remains. A church to St Peter was later built as well. Have a look online, you will find out just how beautiful Jaffa is.
