Jesus' Hometown

This was the view outside of our friend’s house this morning.  There are 77,000 people who live in Nazareth now, compared to the 400 or so that lived here during Jesus’ time.  Half of the city are Arabs and half of the city are Jews.  They live in two separate parts of the town but do intermingle and work together in many establishments.  Most stores display items in both Hebrew, Arabic, and sometimes English. A café we went to today had a menu in English we could look at to order from.  Last night we went to a little vendor down the street and ate Shwarma, which is meat piled into a pita with various veggies and dressings.  It is layers of beef piles onto a spit  which rotates and they shave the meat off.  We also tried falafel, which is mashed up chickpeas that have been rolled into a ball and then deep fried… both very good.  Everyone here is really into the World Cup right now and everywhere you go there are flags in cars and windows and stores depending on the favorite teams. So far those seem to be a lot of Brazil.  The streets are very narrow and I am very thankful that I do not have to be the one driving! The bread here has a sweet flavor to it and tasted mildly different than in the US.

Today we went to a reproduction 1^st century village here in Nazareth. Apparently they found a wine press and some pottery from the first century that gave evidence that there was a vineyard and working farm, so they built a village surrounding this that you can walk through with people dressed as they would have been in the 1^st century acting out parts.  It was very cool. 

This is Cynthia the donkey. 1^st Century Nazareth was built around donkey paths because they were easier to navigate. This is why the roads and all the buildings are built in a series of switchbacks and they are so close together.

Olive trees grow everywhere in Israel. They are a symbol of peace and hope to the Israeli people. They can grow to be thousands of years old. This one pictured is 400 years old

This is the threshing floor. The donkey would have pulled a sled behind it with a big rock on top of it at the end.  The under side has holes with rocks lodged into it. This would have broken up the grain and allowed for someone to throw it all up into the air to separate the chaff from the wheat.

"As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12"His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." Matthew 3:11-12

There were lots of sheep and goats with a shepherd. I only took a picture of this baby goat because I thought he was cute. There were many shepherds with these animals in Jesus day. He talks about separating the sheep from the goats when he returns.

³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.” Matthew 25:31-33

This was a rebuilt tomb. People would have had around 4 holes hewn inside of the tomb for bodies to lay in when they died. After about a year, the bones would be gathered and cleaned and then placed in a small box and returned to the tomb to make the long tombs available for other members of the family if necessary. They would have had large stones that could be moved for this purpose covering the entrance.  Many Old Testament talk about when people die, that they are returning to be with their fathers. Perhaps this is because they are literally being buried with all of the generations of their family before them.

The wine press was formed in the rock with a channel chipped into the rock to funnel the wine down into a basin that they would fill the jugs with to take back to another location to make into wine.  Randy is inspecting the work to make sure it is legit. There was an old watchtower that they rebuilt as well that would have been in place to keep watch over things to protect from animals and thieves. 

33“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who PLANTED A VINEYARD AND PUT A WALL AROUND IT AND DUG A WINE PRESS IN IT, AND BUILT A TOWER, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey. 34“When the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his produce. 35“The vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third. 36“Again he sent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing to them. 37“But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38“But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ 39“They took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40“Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?” 41They said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons.” Matthew 21:33-41

This is a reproduction olive press like the one they would have used in Jesus’ day. Unlike grapes, the olives along with the pits would have been crushed first under the large circular stone pulled by a donkey.  Olive pits are very flavorful and therefore included in the process. Then the olives are placed in a shallow basket with a hole in the center. It is place underneath this press and this system of levers and  would push the oil out of the olive into a shaft below. The first press would be the extra virgin oil and a portion was given back to the Lord as it was the “first fruits”. It was also used for medicinal purposes. The second press was used for medicine and food. The third press was very dirty and not too pure so it was used for the oil lamps. Olives are very important to the Israelite people. Jesus was a first fruit like the olive. He was pressed and given to the Lord. In the Mount of Olives he is under such pressure when praying a third time that he sweats blood. The parallels are overwhelming.

39Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. 40On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” 41He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 42“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” 43An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 44And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.^c  Luke 22:39-44

This was a weavers room. The woman, named Hannah, was hand spinning wool and let Rachel have a try. We also had her take a picture with our own Hannah as well.

This was a reproduction synagogue. It was designed with the windows at the top to help circulate the warm air out and cooler air in. It was amazingly cool. This would have been similar to the synagogue that Jesus would have grown up going to, and where He also went to read Isaiah 61 during his ministry. He affirmed that this particular scripture was referring to him and the crowd was stunned. He then told two stories that indicated to the people that he was not just there for them, but for the gentiles as well… for people like the Romans who were their enemies. They then became angry and took him to a cliff in order to stone Him.

14Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.

16He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

18“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind,

to set the oppressed free,

19to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”^f

20Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

22All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.

23Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’ ”

24“Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27And there were many in Israel with leprosy^g in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”

28All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. 30But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way. Luke 4:14-29

The Precipice – over looks the Jezreel Valley or Megiddo, or Armageddon. The Israelite people believe that this valley is the location of the final battle. There a lot of people who also believe this to be the place where the Jews from the synagogue where Jesus recited Isaiah 61 and they then took Him to this cliff in order to throw Him down and stone Him. Traditionally though, they would throw people head first from a height that was double the body height of the person. They would then stone them if they didn’t die from the fall ( and they usually hoped they didn’t). Jesus’ only miracle in Nazareth was escaping from the clutches of the people.

This is Mary's well. It is the only well that was in Nazareth and many scholars and Rabbis believe that this may have been where the Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary to tell her of Jesus. They believe this because it may have been the only times when she was alone - when she went to get water. Families all lived together and there was not much privacy. Be that as it may, it is not much to look at any more... but it is the original 1st century Nazareth well. Which is pretty cool.

²⁶ In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, ²⁷ to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

²⁹ Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.³⁰ But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. ³¹ You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David,³³ and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

³⁴ “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

³⁵ The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called^[a] the Son of God. ³⁶ Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. ³⁷ For no word from God will ever fail.”

³⁸ “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her. Luke 1:26-38

 Everywhere we go here we stop and open the Scriptures and read many that pertain to the site that we are visiting. It makes it come alive and gives most of us, especially my girls, a connection point with Jesus. I am so grateful for this opportunity to be here and to experience these places and these cultures. It has been very hard to blog as it take so long and the internet here makes this hard to download everything... so I'm sorry it has taken so long and is not very pretty! Until tomorrow....