How the biblical text portrays Jaffo as a practical coastal hub rather than a center of power
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| Anglo-Palestine Bank Branch in Jaffa - ca. 1904-1910 |
Jaffo, known today as Jaffa or Yafo, is one of the oldest port cities on the Mediterranean coast. While later history would turn it into a strategic, cultural, and urban center, its role in the Hebrew Bible is far more restrained. Biblical references to Jaffo consistently depict it not as a seat of power or worship, but as a functional point of contact between land and sea.
The earliest mention of Jaffo appears in the Book of Joshua, where it is used as a geographic marker. In the description of the tribal inheritance of Dan, Jaffo defines the western edge of the territory:
“On the west the boundary ended at the sea at Jaffo.”
(Joshua 19:46)
Here, Jaffo functions purely as a boundary reference - a coastal endpoint that helps delineate the land of Israel.
Beyond marking borders, Jaffo emerges in biblical narratives as an active port. During the reign of King Solomon, it served as the maritime entry point for cedar wood imported from Lebanon for the construction of the First Temple in Jerusalem. According to the Book of Chronicles, the logs were floated by sea to Jaffo and then transported inland:
“They brought them in rafts by sea to Jaffo, and I will have them carried up to Jerusalem.”
(2 Chronicles 2:16)
Centuries later, the same logistical route reappears during the rebuilding of the Temple after the Babylonian exile. The Book of Ezra records that cedar wood once again arrived by sea at Jaffo, under authorization from the Persian king Cyrus:
“And they brought the cedar wood from Lebanon to the sea, to Jaffo.”
(Ezra 3:7)
These passages establish Jaffo as a functioning harbor integrated into large-scale construction and supply networks.
Jaffo’s most famous biblical appearance occurs in the opening of the Book of Jonah. Fleeing his divine mission, Jonah travels to Jaffo, where he boards a ship bound for Tarshish:
“Jonah went down to Jaffo and found a ship going to Tarshish.”
(Jonah 1:3)
Once again, the city serves as a point of departure - a threshold between the known land and the uncertain sea.
Taken together, these brief but consistent references shape a clear picture. In the Bible, Jaffo is neither a capital nor a cultic center. It is a working city, defined by movement: of borders, of goods, and of people. Its significance lies not in what happens within it, but in where it leads.
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| Jaffa sea coast 1900-1920 |
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