Something About Biblical Proportions

Very much in the beginning.

Just as Lewis Barnavelt is thrown into a new location, so too are readers, and there are more than a few Biblical allusions in the names in the mix (The House with a Clock in its Walls).

In the Bible, Zebedee ("gift of God") was a Hebrew fisherman and the father of James and John, two of the Apostles of Jesus in Mark 3:17. His wife is said to have been Salome, one of the women who beheld Christ's crucifixion and brought offerings to his tomb.

Capernaum was a fishing village located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee[1].  Its name means "Nahum's village" and had a population of about 1,500.  The town is cited in all four gospels where it was reported to have been near the hometown of the apostles Simon Peter, Andrew, and the previously mentioned James and John, as well as the tax collector Matthew. Jesus taught in the synagogue in Capernaum and healed a man who was possessed by an unclean spirit [Luke 4:31].

"And leaving the city Nazareth, Jesus came and dwelt in Capharnaum on the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and of Nephthalim [Matthew 4:13]."

The name Zabulon brings to mind the name Zebulon, the name of one of the sons of Jacob and also Zebulon Windrow – but we’ll cross that bridge later.