Where is Joppa?

Yaffa Seawall with Tel Aviv in the Far Distance

...they traveled by a circuitous route toward Joppa, and endeavored to gain a passage into Ethiopia...

So, where is Joppa?

An Answer

As Freemasons, we hear of this city, as a destination by three villains, but we are never told where Joppa is, only that it is a "seaport" town, which from context, must be relatively near Jerusalem. As far as historical records, we read that "The gate of Joppa" are noted in the Tell el-Amarna Letters as guarded by an Egyptian officer in the service of the Pharoah Amenhotep IV(1). Relative to the temple of Solomon, Jonathas, the Chronicler reports that the cedars of Lebanon were brought in on floats, where they were transported to Jerusalem by the workmen of the king of Tyre.(2)

In The image above, Yaffa is on the bottom far right and Tel Aviv
at the far left top. The Traffic circle is the downtown.

Joppa, today called Yaffa (Jafa), is a suburb of Tel Aviv, 32.8 miles as the crow flies from Jerusalem. It is written that the pillars of the Temple could be seen from Tel Aviv, due to the Temple Mount raising the structure above the line of sight of the hills between there and the coast. Modern Yafa is built on a rocky mound, 116 ft. high, at the edge of the sea.

A reef of rocks runs parallel to the shore a short distance out and affords a certain amount of protection from weather and the sea. There is a gap in the reef through which the boats pass, though during a storm the passage is dangerous even today. On one of these rocks Perseus is said to have rescued the chained Andromeda from the dragon.

Yafa is a prosperous town, profiting much by the annual streams of pilgrims who pass through it on their way to visit the holy places. Trade passes through the port to this day, with ships arriving from Egypt, Syria and Constantinople.

Yaffa is the seaport on the left and Jerusalem on the far Right

So now you know where Joppa is.

1. Wikipedia
2. II Chronicles 2:16