Gamala (in Decapolis)

Not to be confused with Gamala the vinedresser.

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Gamala.

Gamlā was located in the Decapolis Salton 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.

Here, on the other hand, there are very large oak woods under which the grass is soft and emerald green. Beyond this wooded strip, the mountain rises after a valley, forming a steep and rocky mound on which houses cling, built on rocky terraces. I believe the mountain is one with the constructions, offering its caves for habitation—a mix of troglodyte city and ordinary town. It is characteristic with this terraced ascent whereby the roofs of lower houses are level with the entrances of the ground floor houses of the terrace above. On the sides where the mountain is steeper—so steep as to forbid any construction—there are caves, deep excavations, and fast paths descending to the valley. In the rainy season, these paths must become strange little torrents. Blocks of all kinds, carried down the valley by waters, form a chaotic pedestal at this small mountain so steep and wild, humped and impertinent like a vinedresser who wants at all costs to be respected.

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 quickly, leaving soon the wood where they slept, toward a rocky path beyond a valley that gains elevation as it approaches the bizarre mount on which Gamla is perched. On three sides, to the east, north, and west, only steep slopes are visible. The city is connected to the rest of the region by a single direct road running south to north, traced between two rocky and wild valleys that separate it from the eastern countryside and the oak woods of the west [...] As Gamla draws closer and the road rises, fortified ditches can be seen surrounding the mount like as many fences protecting its sides. It must not have been easy to dig these ditches, especially at certain places almost overhanging. And yet many men are working to restore already existing fortifications or to prepare others, carrying cubes of stone on their bare shoulders that bend the poor souls and leave bloody marks on their backs [...] [The city] looks more like an immense fortress-castle, a sequence of fortresses, so much do the half-walled, half-carved mountain houses present this aspect.

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 (Apostle), 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:

"Here, truly, man prepares humanly, by human forces and human means, and even inhuman means, to defend himself and to prepare for attack, forgetting the words of the prophet who teaches his people how to defend themselves from human misfortunes by spiritual means, the most effective ones. He cries: 'Comfort… comfort my people, says your God.' His captivity is ended, his iniquity is forgiven; for he has received from the hand of the Lord double for all his sins." And after the promise, he specifies how to put it into reality: "Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, every mountain and hill made low; the crooked will become straight, and the rough places smooth. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken." These words were echoed by the man of God, John the Baptist, and only death silenced them on his lips. This is the true defense against the misfortunes of man. It does not consist in raising weapons against weapons, nor is it defense against attack, pride, or ferocity. They are supernatural weapons.

And he continues, speaking of the slaves:

"The prophet also says: 'All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it.' I want you to look today with pity upon these men whom until yesterday you considered as machines bound to work by you. Today that I have placed them, brothers among brothers, poor among you who are rich and happy, you see them for what they are: men. Contempt and indifference have vanished from many hearts and pity has entered. But go deeper, beyond their burdened flesh. They have a soul, a thought, feelings, just as you do. Once, they were like you: healthy, free, happy. Then it was no longer so because if the life of man is like grass that withers, his well-being is still more fragile. Those who are healthy today may be sick tomorrow; those who are free today may be 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, I would say, independent of the Tetrarchy of Philip and of the Tetrarchy of Herod, and because it seems impossible to various Apostles that the Romans would undertake to build fortifications for others that could tomorrow be used against them (EMV 455.8)." Maria Valtorta, in a later vision of Tarichea, locates this Gamala southeast of the lake (EMV 633.3). 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 (10 km east of Bethsaida [coordinates 32°54'20N / 35°44'10E]). 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:

From now on I entrust them (the Apostles) to you, my Mother. Remember these words: I entrust them to you. I give you my inheritance. I have nothing on Earth but a Mother and I offer her to God: Host with the Host; and my Church, and I entrust it to you. Be for her a Nurse. Not long ago, I thought of the many men in whom, over the centuries, the man of Kerioth (Judas) would revive with all his flaws. And I thought that someone who was not Jesus would reject this flawed being. But I will not reject him. I am Jesus. You, during the time you will remain on earth, coming after Peter in the ecclesiastical hierarchy, he Chief and you faithful, but the first before all as Mother of the Church since you bore Me, Head of this Mystic Body, do not reject the many Judas, but help them and teach Peter, the brothers, John, James, Simon, Philip, Bartholomew, Andrew the Apostle, Thomas and Matthew not to reject but to help. Defend me in those who follow me, and defend me against those who want to disperse and dismember the newborn 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 on the Valtorta App map
• 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.

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