The ancient Migdal-el in the border of Naphtali, Jos 19:38; now a small Turkish village called Medjel. It lay near the shore of the Sea of Galilee, at its most westerly point, three miles northwest of Tiberias; in the southern part of a small plain on which stood also Capernaum at the other end, and Dalmanutha in its immediate vicinity, Mt 15:39; Mr 8:10. Mary Magdalene was born, or resided, at Magdala; and it was the seat of a Jewish school after Jerusalem was destroyed.

a tower, a town in Galilee, mentioned only in Mt 15:39. In the parallel passage in Mr 8:10 this place is called Dalmanutha. It was the birthplace of Mary called the Magdalen, or Mary Magdalene. It was on the west shore of the Lake of Tiberias, and is now probably the small obscure village called el-Mejdel, about 3 miles north-west of Tiberias. In the Talmud this city is called "the city of colour," and a particular district of it was called "the tower of dyers." The indigo plant was much cultivated here.

Illustration: Magdala

In Sinaiticus and Vaticanus manuscripts (Mt 15:39)" Magadan" is the reading. A town or region to which our Lord came after feeding the 4,000. "Dalmanutha" is in Mark's Gospel (Mr 8:10). The name Mary "Magdalene" shows there was a "Magdala" probably a later form of Migdol, "a tower." El Mejdel on the western border of the lake of Galilee, an hour's journey N. of Tiberius, now represents Magdala, and is about the position where our Lord is thought to have been after the miracle, it is near a beautiful plain and a hill rising about 400 ft., with overhanging limestone rock honeycombed with caves. The Jews used "Magdala" to denote a person with twisted or platted hair; a usage of women of loose character.

Mag'dala

City on the west of the Lake of Tiberias. Only once mentioned (Mt 15:39, where some MSS read Magadan), except as the birth-place of Mary Magdalene. Identified with el Mejdel, 32 50' N, 35 31' E.

Mag'dala

(a tower). The chief MSS. and versions exhibit the name as MAGADAN, as in the Revised Version. Into the limits of Magadan Christ came by boat, over the Lake of Gennesareth after his miracle of feeding the four thousand on the Mountain of the eastern side,

See Magadan

Mt 15:39

and from thence he returned in the same boat to the opposite shore. In the parallel narrative of St. Mark, ch.

Mr 8:10

we find the "parts of Dalmanutha," on the western edge of the Lake of Gennesareth. The Magdala, which conferred her name on "Mary the Magdalene one of the numerous migdols, i.e. towers, which stood in Palestine, was probably the place of that name which is mentioned in the Jerusalem Talmud as near Tiberias, and this again is as probably the modern el-Mejdel, a miserable little Muslim village, of twenty huts on the water's edge at the southeast corner of the plain of Gennesareth. It is now the only inhabited place on this plain.

MAGDALA, a city on the west side of the sea of Galilee, near Dalmanutha; Jesus, after the miracle of the seven loaves, being said by St. Matthew to have gone by ship to the coasts of Magdala, Mt 15:39; and by St. Mark, to "the parts of Dalmanutha," Mr 8:10. Mr. Buckingham came to a small village in this situation called Migdal, close to the edge of the lake, beneath a range of high cliffs, in which small grottoes are seen, with the remains of an old square tower, and some larger buildings, of rude construction, apparently of great antiquity. Migdol implies a tower, or fortress; and this place, from having this name particularly applied to it, was doubtless, like the Egyptian Migdol, one of considerable importance; and may be considered as the site of the Migdal of the Naphtalites, as well as the Magdala of the New Testament.