Archaeological Clues to Jesus’ Feeding the Multitude site!

Archaeological Clues to Jesus’ Feeding the Multitude site!

Guys, I’m in one of the most 
beautiful places and important places uh in the Sea of Galilee where the 
northern part of it and as you can see there are million tourists here. 
Look how crowded is the parking place and together with me it’s Jonathan. Jonathan, do 
you feel at home here because it’s a German place? Very much. Why? Why would I feel at home? Cuz you 
know German. I know German, but I know German. Now, it’s beautiful. They renovated it. But I 
want you to see the difference between the two different colors here. Black local stone, basil 
stone, and white, which is more close, let’s say, to Nazareth area. What is that beautiful place? 
Do you want to say something? Yes. So we are at the church of the multiplication of the bread 
and the fish. Hallelujah. It’s one of the most uh astounding and famous miracles of Jesus 
uh described in New Testament where he fed the multitude of people. It said 5,000 uh people 
including women and children. No, not including not including on top of that women and children. 
So more than 5,000 people he fed from two fishes and five loaves of bread. Yes. And the site 
which to which the miracle iscribed is inside the church. And how do we know that it’s happened 
here? Cuz we found something special. Because of Agaria. Gary mentioned that it was here. Then we 
knew that it’s around that area. But I’m sure that you know it. The church. They found Yeah, but they 
found something special in the church. And I’m not sure that I can talk inside the church then. 
Oh, first let’s let me let me show you the map. This is Jesus land. Places that mention in 
the Bible. First of all, you can see a sea of Galibarius. Jesus never been there. But Tabra, 
it’s the place that we are actually visiting now. Corazim, remember you cast that place. Beta, 
we just came from the real Beta. No, this Yeah, this is the one which is a little further 
from the lake and this is the All right. Yeah, you’re right. We found it here now. And 
Capernum. Then this is Jesus land. I must say that I’m including Magdala in that place 
as well. Yeah. And why it’s so important Ah, do you want to show them? Yeah. When we came to their church, I think in the 80s, 
we Yeah. We uh started to excavate. You know what the excavator wants to find? 1932. They discovered 
it. No, they discovered it, but they started to uh excavate here at the 90s. at the 80s. 
They built the new church at the 80s and they excavated before. No, they started excavating 
in 1932. All right. They discovered the mosaic. All right. And basically they discovered the old 
church. All right. And then they covered it with earth so nobody would and then the 80s they built 
a church built in. All right. Then what they found here is that Yeah. Do we need more do we need 
another evidence to I mean this is two two fish the famous mosaic of and four four not five yes 
because where’s the fifth one you are you are the fifth one I’m the fifth one everyone are watching 
that video is the fifth one and it’s still here and the four two churches fourth century church 
and fifth century church and the modern church is on top of it. Um, let’s go into the church. Yeah. 
Yeah. It it might be that we are the only one. No, I can see someone else arriving. It look like 
a tour guide. Then let’s talk about a little bit the atrium and the meaning of it. In 
each church here, you had to find water. It doesn’t running here, but here it is. And 
uh when someone came into the church and say uh I need to drink water then the priest used 
to sit here know next to him and say do you want to hear about the new evidence the truth? 
Then this is the truth. Let’s talk about Jesus. The 1980 church was built on top of the 
fifth century and fourth century church, but they decided to build it with limestones 
to show you what is original and what is not. Let me be as quiet as I can 
if people are praying here. Yes, we talked about it in the previous video. 
But let him go and I will be able to talk. Yeah. Now their church doesn’t look like a Catholic 
church, isn’t it? It is Catholic. It is, but it doesn’t look Yeah, it it look more 
like Yeah. Byzantine. I mean, if you look for uh Catholic symbols, you might see the 14 stations 
in a way, but there are no statues here. The only two Christian items are Greek Orthodox. I think 
what they wanted to to tell us that the first one who converted to Christianity were Jews here and 
as a Jew uh they um uh the Jews used to synagogues which is no no um status at all. Then in that 
case it looked like a synagogue. Christians like Protestant can feel at home here as well. But 
this is exactly like the fifth century church. But the modern church from the 80s. Now we knew about the church. We knew about it uh because of two important painting 
which are at the other side of it. One of them is of the fifth century church. 
The other one is of the fourth century church. They dedicated the church to the to 
Jesus. Uh you can see here now you know what I’m talking about. Two 
fish and uh four loaves of bread. Look at the alabaster windows. Do you 
want to talk about the mosaic floor? Yes, I can spot. Let’s go here. Let’s go. 
Yeah, I love that po part indeed. So, so one of the main tributes of this church 
is the well preserved mosaic floor dating to the fifth century church and um and uh it’s 
well preserved as I said and it depicts a lot of sceneries of birds and of plants which are 
actually more typical to the to the Nile area to Egypt. If you look down here, you see 
birds. You see exactly the birds. Yeah, it looks like it totally not Israel. Yeah, 
there’s a one type of bird catching a snake. So what they think is that during this period of 
the fifth century when they built many churches all around the Mediterranean but also here there 
were a lot of artisans which were came from Egypt and which knew how to make these uh yeah 
it’s like these beautiful mosaics and also the added connection is that tip Egypt was typically a 
symbol of uh of plentiness of lavishness of it’s a lot of there were very very rich life in terms 
of nourishment and so on and and also and the miracle which Jesus performed also was a symbol 
of lavishness and of of plentitude I two things that I want to add here you can see the fifth 
century wall the basel one and um mosaic I know that it’s in it’s a church now but at that time It 
reminds me kind of IKEA. There are few models. You can choose between that and that and that. If you 
go to the other side, you will see something very important that connected to Nile. But beneath 
it, it’s the remains of the 4th century church. Wow. It’s I’m sweating here. 
Yeah. Yeah. It’s unbelievable. All right. The organ is a symbol for the 
Catholic Church. The what? The organ. What? Yeah, I’m sweating. I cannot see. You can see the 
nila mometer the Nile. It actually measure the uh heights of the water of uh the Nile and 
according to that you don’t know if it’s going to be a very good rainy uh very good uh 
here for the agriculture or not. But this is a symbol for of it. Now you can see that we 
repair it the darker part of the oldest one and the new part is more white. Yeah. And it’s 
beautiful that the Germans and Benedicts actually um they could complete that part of the um 
mosaic but decided not to. Love I love it. I love it. Look how beautiful it is. And three 
entrances. It’s a basilic. But let’s face it, a synagogue is actually the same structure, 
but a church is facing to the east. Let’s go from the other side that I don’t like 
to go in and out from the same place. There’s not even a holy water. And I want to show you something 
outside. Oh, the shop is open. This is the to avoid the birds from entering 
into the church. See, it was short and lovely. It’s not the end, but don’t forget to 
subscribe to my channel. I will leave some uh um information about Mr. Jonathan. If 
you want to hire him as as a tour guide, uh you can do that. You don’t need me for 
that. Then it will be at the description. In description, I will add even more information 
about. And what’s that? Hot bath. Is it? Oh, it’s it’s nicer outside than the church. The 
church was so humid. Guys, this is a font. It’s not four chairs. It’s a cross. And uh remember at 
the beginning when the first priests convert the new Christians some of them were children then he 
was standing in the middle and you could pour a little bit of water and bless him baptize him 
in that font. And this is not from this area. How do we know it? First of all because they told 
me secondly it’s limestone. It’s not basil stone. Then that was a short video. Yeah. 
Offse time. Off of offseason time. Oh, there is another car next to our car. Then thank you for being with 
us. See you in our I don’t know, maybe another video. Who knows? Bye-bye.

Information about the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes in Jerusalem itself will be provided after this announcement.

Due to the current situation and the ongoing war, I haven’t been able to guide tours in person as usual. However, I’m eager to continue sharing the rich and sacred history of the Holy Land through my videos.

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Thank you so much for joining me on this journey.
With gratitude,
Your tour guide,
Zahi Shaked

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Jonathan Tannhauser
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The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes – Faith, History, and the Stones That Remember

One of the most well-known and beloved miracles in the New Testament is the Feeding of the Multitude – when Jesus took a few loaves and fish, gave thanks, and fed thousands.

According to the Gospels (Matthew 14, Mark 6, Luke 9, John 6), this miraculous event took place near the Sea of Galilee. As a tour guide in the Holy Land, I’ve stood in those hills where the wind still moves through the grass, where pilgrims come seeking not only evidence but presence – a spiritual connection to the moment when compassion met divine power.

But what do we really know about the site?

Tradition places the event near Tabgha, on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee. This area has been honored since at least the 4th century as the place of the miracle. The Church of the Multiplication now stands there, built over earlier Byzantine foundations. Inside, a striking mosaic from the 5th century shows a basket of loaves and two fish – a rare artistic reminder of how early Christians preserved memory in stone.

Just steps away from the church is the shoreline where the crowds may have sat, hungry not only for food, but for meaning. And perhaps that’s the deeper miracle – that people from every background continue to gather here, centuries later, still seeking the bread of hope.

Archaeologically, the church’s mosaic and structure offer strong evidence that early believers identified this site as sacred. No tombs, no battlefield – but a quiet slope by the lake, where the divine was revealed in the ordinary: bread, fish, people.

Is this the place? Can we be certain?

Maybe not in the scientific sense. But in the language of tradition, worship, and continuity, the answer is clear. The stones testify. The mosaic remains. And the faith lives on.

If you’ve ever stood at Tabgha, or wish to, you’ll understand: it’s not just a place on the map. It’s a space in the heart.

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