Gamala (in Decapolis)

Not to be confused with Gamala the vinedresser.

---

Gamala.

Gamlā was located in the Decapolis According to Maria Valtorta. It has a namesake in the Tetrarchy of Philip with which it is often confused. The Decapolis was a league of ten cities, including Hippos and Gadara. It was Greek-speaking. These cities, which derived their wealth mainly from trade, also held a strategic position, which justifies the two major episodes reported by Maria Valtorta.

What Maria Valtorta says

Location sketch of Gamala drawn by Maria Valtorta. Subtitled in French.

Maria Valtorta places Gamala between Hippos and Gadara (as shown on several old maps), 4 km southeast of Kefar Haruv. She provides a precise sketch of it in her manuscript.

Thursday, March 16, 28

During the second year of public life, Jesus and the Apostles cross the Sea of Galilee in the Decapolis. On the way to Gamala, they cross a herd of pigs, something possible in pagan Decapolis but a horror to the Apostles. The place is wild, and they arrive in view of Gamala.

"Up here, instead, there are woods of very tall oak trees, under which the grass is soft and emerald-green, and beyond this strip of woods, on the other side of a large valley, the mountain climbs again, forming a very steep rocky summit, on which houses rise built on terraces. I think that the mountain side and the walls of the houses are all one, for its caves are used as dwellings, in a mixture of a troglodyte and ordinary village. It is a village characteristic of structures on large rising terraces, so that the roof of the house on the terrace below is at the height of the ground entrance of the terrace above it. On the sides where the mountain is very steep, so steep that no house can be built there, there are caves, deep crevices and descents dropping down to the valley. In the season of downpours the descents must become like many whimsical little torrents. All kinds of blocks, which the floods have rolled down to the valley, form a chaotic pedestal for the little mountain which is so wild and steep, hunchbacked and overbearing that it looks like a squire who wants to be respected at all costs."

It is from these caves that the possessed emerge, from whom Jesus casts out demons.

Wednesday, August 8, 29

Sixteen months later, Jesus returns to Gamlā and enters the city this time.

"They walk fast and are soon out of the wood in which they slept, along a stoney path running beyond a little valley that grows wider the more they approach the bizarre mountain to which Gamala clings and which is very steep on three sides, that is, to the east, north and west and is linked to the remaining area only by this road which runs straight from south to north, and is elevated between two wild stoney valleys that separate it from the country on the eastern side and from woods of oak-trees on the western side. [...]

As they draw closer to the mountain and the road begins to climb, they can see fortified ditches surrounding the mountain like rings fastened to its sides. It must be a difficult task to dig out those works, particularly in certain spots which are almost sheer. And yet many men are working to repair existing fortifications, to build new ones and are carrying on their bare shoulders stone cubes which bend the poor wretches and leave bleeding wounds on their naked shoulders. [...]

The town is cool because of the way it is built, high up, and with streets which protect from the hot sun. It looks more like a huge castle than a town, a chain of fortresses, because the houses, half brickwork and half dug in the mountain, seem forts."

Its name

• גמלא (Gamlā) in Hebrew and Γάμαλα (Gamala) in Greek. Its name means "the camel" by analogy with the promontory on which the city is built, "this small mountain so steep and so wild, humped and impertinent".
• Not to be confused with Gamala of Judea, the habitual residence of Gamaliel, nor with its historical namesake near Giscala on the Golan.

Remarkable points

Geographical dictionary of the Gospel, according to Maria Valtorta - Jean-François Lavère.

Discourse on True Protection and Mercy

Gamala was the refuge place for one night of Simon the Zealot, who was then a wanted activist.

Jesus finds there a large construction site of ramparts. A group of slaves is busy under the whip of Roman overseers. It is the occasion for a teaching which the population still shocked by the episode of demons expelled into the herd of pigs listens to attentively. Jesus brings a meal for the hungry slaves and all listen to him:

"In actual fact they have acted here in a human way, with human power and human means, at times also inhuman, to defend themselves and prepare means of offence, unmindful of the words of the Prophet, who teaches his people how it is possible to defend oneself from human misfortunes through superhuman means, the most valid ones. He cries: “Console my people… comfort Jerusalem, because her slavery is ended, her sin is atoned for, because she has received from the hand of the Lord double punishment for all her crimes”. And after the promise he explains the way to make it become real: “Prepare the ways of the Lord, make straight the ways of God across the desert. Every valley will be filled in, every mountain will be laid low, the winding way will become straight, the hard one will become comfortable. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all men, without any exception, shall see it, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken”. Those words were taken up by the man of God, John the Baptist, and death only silenced them on his lips. That is, O men, the true defence against the misfortunes of mankind. Not weapon against weapon, defence against offence, not pride, not fierceness. But supernatural weapons [...]"

And he continues, speaking of the slaves:

"The Prophet goes on saying: “All flesh is grass and all its glory is like a wild flower. The grass withers, the flower fades as soon as the breath of the Lord blows on them”. Today, by My will, you are looking at these men with pity, whereas up to yesterday you had looked at them like machines compelled to work for you. Today, because I put them, brothers among brothers, amid you, who are rich and happy, today you see them for what they are: men. Contempt or indifference have disappeared from many hearts and pity has replaced them. But consider them more intimately, beyond their oppressed flesh. In it, in them, there is a soul, a thought, feelings as in you. Once they were like you: healthy, free, happy. Later they were no longer so. Because if the life of man is like grass which withers, his well-being is even more fragile. Those who are healthy today, may be taken ill tomorrow, those who are free today, may become slaves tomorrow, those who are happy today, may be unhappy tomorrow."

Characters

Mark of Josias, the possessed from Gerasa – Demetrius of Sidon, the other possessed – Titus and Publius Corfinius, the overseers.

Points of debate

Which Gamala?

The very numerous details provided by Maria Valtorta (such as the north-south oriented valley) appear compatible with the coordinates indicated at the start of this article, southeast of the Sea of Galilee and not northeast like the historical Gamala of the Tetrarch. In particular, the statement that "Gamala is, so to say, independent of the Tetrarchy of Philip and of that of Herod, and because it seems impossible to some of the apostles that the Romans should busy themselves in building in foreign countries fortifications which in the future might be used against them."

Maria Valtorta, in a later vision of Tarichea, locates this Gamala southeast of the lake. Moreover, in the Tetrarchy of Philip, Jewish law prevailed and it classifies pigs among impure animals. However, the descriptions of the city, its fortifications, and its fate of destruction, as provided by the seer, also seem compatible with the archaeological excavations that began in 1967 on remains located 15 km further north. This site corresponds to the "historical" Gamala described by Flavius Josephus, on "a very difficult peak." In October 68, after a seven-month siege, this city in the Golan was conquered by Vespasian. Only two daughters survived, while 4000 fighters were killed and 5000 threw themselves from their cliffs, which earned Gamala its nickname "Masada of the north." What happened to the Gamala of the Decapolis, the one we speak of here? The excavations in this steep and wooded place may one day reveal the key to the mystery.

The Church entrusted to Mary: the Holy Office's objection

It is at Gamala, during a morning interview, that Jesus entrusts his Church to Mary:

"Mother, I entrust them [the apostles] to You as from this moment. Remember these words of Mine: I entrust them to You. I give You My inheritance. I have nothing upon the Earth, except a Mother, and I offer Her to God: Victim with the Victim; and My Church, and I entrust it to You. Be her Nurse. A short time ago I was wondering in how many people, in the future, the man of Kerioth will be reviving with all his faults. And I was thinking that anyone, who were not Jesus, would reject that faulty being. But I will not reject him. I am Jesus. During the time that You will remain on the Earth, and You are second to Peter with regards to ecclesiastical hierarchy, he being the Head and You a believer, but first as Mother of the Church having given birth to Me, Who am the Head of this mystical Body, do not reject the many Judases, but assist and teach Peter, My brothers, John, James, Simon, Philip, Bartholomew, Andrew, Thomas and Matthew not to reject, but to assist. Defend Me in My followers, and defend Me from those who want to disperse and dismember the dawning Church."

This statement is one of four theological criticisms made by the censors at the time of the Indexing. In the Osservatore Romano of January 6, 1960, they present it as follows:

"Finally, note another strange and imprecise statement, in which it is said of the Madonna: 'You, during the time you will remain on Earth, will assist Peter as ecclesiastical hierarchy.' (Italics are ours. Editor's note)."

The original Italian sentence in Maria Valtorta is:

"Tu, nel tempo che resterai sulla Terra, seconda a Pietro come gerarchia ecclesiastica"

translated in the new edition as:

"You, during the time you will remain on earth, be subject to Peter regarding ecclesiastical hierarchy".

It is difficult to recognize, in the censors' interpretation, the validity of such a criticism, as the text becomes clear when the omitted phrase is added: "him as Chief and you as faithful."

It is therefore impossible that the censors did not understand the statement.

For theological aspects, one should refer to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, §§ 963 to 972, published thirty years after the Indexing of the work. It extensively references the dogmatic constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, chapter 8, The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God in the Mystery of Christ and the Church. This fundamental text was promulgated four years after the censors’ remark. This supports the hypothesis that the hostility of the Holy Office towards the case of Maria Valtorta was not unrelated to the tensions prevailing in the corridors of the Council between Cardinal Ottaviani, head of the Holy Office, and the new cardinal Bea, rising star of the Council and supporter of Maria Valtorta.

It is targeted by this jab from the Osservatore Romano: "despite the illustrious personalities (whose unquestionable good faith was surprising) who supported publication, the Holy Office felt it necessary to place it on the Index of Prohibited Books." This cardinal, accused of naivety, had been confessor to Pius XII! This also supports Maria Valtorta's inspiration who could not herself formulate the content of a dogmatic constitution on such a subject.

For further reading

• Locate the episode on Carlos Martinez's infographic.
• Search in the Valtorta Index.
• Discuss on the Maria Valtorta Forum.

Explorer

32° 43’ 14’’ N / 35° 40’ 88’’ E ? /

+250m.

Loading...

Kilometres. 1 km = 0.621 miles. 1 mile = 1.609 km.

In-depth research on God, faith, religious Doctrine.

Solemn document of the pope or a council defining essential points of the Catholic faith.