Joppa or "yoffa"

I've been trying to learn Hebrew and it's not easy.  P's are F's and B's are V's.....but not all the time.  There are no J's, only Y's.  In trying to understand some of these words or places, it is always interesting to see how language has developed or been altered.

Joppa (as we read in the bible) is where Jonah tried to escape YHVH.  He knew he was supposed to go to Ninevah but he did not want his assignment.  I think in hindsight, he might have chosen differently.

This ancient city (4000 years old) sits right next to Tel Aviv.  It is a quaint little village now, filled with restaurants, artist's wares, little souvenir shops and flea markets.

This is also the city where Peter was staying when he had his vision.  YHVH showed Peter that his man-made law is wrong.  No man is "unclean" but that all should hear the gospel and be given a choice just as YHVH had declared long ago.  Peter then traveled with 3 men who came to find him, up the coast to Caesarea where Cornelius, a gentile lived.  And thus we have a whole household of gentiles who became "Israel" and grafted in as scripture declares.

Eph 2:11  Therefore remember that formerly, you who are gentiles by birth12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.13 But now in Messiah Yeshua you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Messiah.


Rom 11:17 you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root.

Num 15:15 The community is to have the same rules for you and for the gentile residing among you; this is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You and the gentile shall be the same before YHVH:16 The same laws and regulations will apply both to you and to the gentile residing among you.