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Jaffa is also known as Joppa, a port city on the Mediterranean Sea. After Joshua conquered the new land, Joppa became part of the tribe of Dan. King Solomon used Joppa as a port to bring in timber from Lebanon for the construction of the Temple. The prophet Jonah sailed from Joppa on a ship going to Tarshish, but ended up in Nineveh.
Jaffa is claimed by some to be the oldest port in the world, said to have been founded by Japhet, the son of Noah. Today, there is no clear distinction between Jaffa and Tel Aviv. You would be hard pressed to determine where Jaffa ends and Tel Aviv begins.
Mark Coppenger, professor of Christian apologetics at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, has noted:
“When we think of biblical locations associated with gospel outreach to the Gentiles, we may well think first to Jerusalem, where Peter’s preaching at Pentecost was heard by people of many nations … (Acts 2), and where the Jerusalem Council determined that non-Jewish converts would not need to be circumcised … (Acts 15). Or perhaps we might turn to Paul’s Macedonian call, which came to him in western ‘Turkey,’ whereby the Lord led him for the first time into Gentile ‘Europe.’ Or maybe to Antioch, described as a multi-ethnic, missionary-sending church in Acts 11 and 13. But … Jaffa is front and center in this connection, the site of two events which revealed God’s love for all of humankind. … it was here Jonah defied God’s call to missions [Jonah 1.1-3] and Peter argued with God over the status of Gentiles [Acts 9.36-10.48].”
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