June 1st: Nazareth

“He [Jesus] went to Nazareth, where He had been brought up.” (Luke 4:16)

On Tuesday, June 1st, we continued on our five-day trip through the northern part of Israel. As always, we made several stops. But the key stop of the day was Nazareth, the town where Jesus grew up. The first thing one notices about Nazareth is that there is one high mountain in the city that is very prominent. You can’t miss it. It is called the Mount of Precipice, and it was our first stop in the town.

The first photo is of a sign at the Mount of Precipice. I was surprised that it alludes to a tradition that Jesus jumped off of this precipice to get away from the crowds. What actually happened here is the episode in Luke 4:28-30. Jesus had been preaching in his hometown, and the folks did not like His message. So, they led Him to the “brow of the hill,” to throw Him over. Jesus, however, “walked right through the crowd” and left. When you are in Nazareth and look around the city, you can see that the Mount of Precipice is the only place where this episode could have happened. As for the sign, I don’t know why it does not directly correspond to the Luke passage. I will say that while in Israel, I noted several instances where “tradition” trumped what the Bible actually says. Good thing that doesn’t happen in our Baptist churches in America.


This is a photo of the modern city of Nazareth from the Mount of Precipice. In the middle ground, you can see two structures with green domes. This is the site of the Church of the Annunciation, the supposed site where the angel visited Mary to announce the birth of Jesus through her. Again, scholars don’t know if this is the precise site, but it was likely in this vicinity. We later visited this church.


Here is another photo from the Mount of Precipice showing the other side of Nazareth, which is the Jezreel Valley (the only consistently flat part of Israel that I saw). I think this picture does a pretty good job of depicting how steep the Mount of Precipice is.


This photo is of the city of Nazareth from outside the Church of the Annunciation. It was pretty, and, it was the only place on the whole three-week trip where I got lost. For some reason I missed the call for my group to return to the bus (several blocks away). I didn’t panic, but at the same time, it’s a little scary to be looking around for twenty minutes and not seeing anyone you know, with no idea of how to get to the bus. Fortunately, our professor came back to get me.


Later we went to a first-century Nazareth village. Here you see a replica of an olive press, an extremely valuable tool in the ancient world, as olive oil was used for many purposes (lighting lamps, cooking, anointing, etc.)


After our visit to Nazareth, we proceeded to the region of Galilee. To get there, we traveled through the Arbel Pass, a very narrow, imposing ravine. It was a dangerous route in ancient times, however it was a key connecting point in the roads of the day, so it was widely traveled. We went to the top of one of the sides of the ravine, which was perhaps two thousand feet high. My photo does not do it justice, but if you were to take one step over these rocks, you would take an unpleasant fall of a few thousand feet. I found it interesting that there were no safety rails up there, no warning signs, nothing of what you would see in America. You were on your own to be smart enough not to get too close to the edge.


We ended the day by checking into a very nice hotel/resort right on the Sea of Galilee, where we would spend three nights. What an incredible treat this was! Here is a picture of the sun setting on the Sea of Galilee on June 1st.


When I say we were staying “right on the Sea of Galilee,” I’m not kidding. This picture is taken from the back porch of my room (How about that? Our rooms had porches!). It was about fifty yards from the water. I can remember looking around and shaking my head in disbelief. “Am I really at a resort sleeping fifty yards from the Sea of Galilee?” I still can’t believe it.