7/31/2019 2012.06 Hike the Bible 2 - Nazareth
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Section A22 JUNE 2012
Hike the Bible 2 Nazareth
Lets explore Galilee the wayJesus did on oot. Thismonth we begin
a virtual hikealong the 40-mile Jesus Trailrom Nazareth to
Capernaum.It re-creates a route Jesus prob-ably walked many
times.
Nazareth
Our hike begins in Nazareth, about16 miles directly west o the
Sea oGalilees southern tip. Driving wouldbe 26 miles.
Nazareth is Galilees largest cityand the largest Arab metropolis
in
Israel. Metro-Nazareth has a popu-lation o 210,000, 60% Arabs
and40% Jews.
Nazareths most amous son isJesus, the most prominent person
ohistory.
Nazareth is where the angelGabriel announced Jesus birth toMary.
Beginning with His returnrom Egypt as a child, it was Hishome until
about the age o 30. Al-though born in Bethlehem, Jesusgrew up in
Nazareth.
He was known throughout Hislie as Jesus of Nazareth or Jesus
the
Nazarene. The New Testament has
16 reerences like this.Even Pontius Pilate
put Jesus the Nazarene, theKing of the Jews above thecross in
Hebrew, Latin andGreek.
Ater the Resurrection,the angel addressing the
women at the tomb identi-fed Him asJesus the Naza-rene(Mark
16:1-8).
The risen Christ intro-duced Himsel to Paul asJesus the Nazarene
on the Damas-cus road.
Why emphasize His Nazareth
heritage? Why was it so important?First, Nazareth roots Jesus
in
space-time history. He was a realman who grew up in a real town
inthe land o Israel 2,000 years ago.
ment o someones imagination.Second, Nazareth was a hum-
ble, even despised, place o origin.Nathaniel sneered, Can any
goodthing come out of Nazareth?
when Phil ip told him Jesuso Nazareth was the proph-esied
Messiah (John 1:45-46). This fts the humble
servant prophesied in Isa-iah 53 who grew up like aroot out of
parched ground...despised and forsaken of men.
Third, it connects Jesusdirectly with Old Testa-ment prophecy.
Matthew
wrote that He grew up inNazareth to ulfll what wasspoken through
the proph-ets: He shall be called a Naz-arene. (Matthew
2:19-23)
Matthew was probablyreerring to this messian-ic prophecy: A
shoot willspring from the stem of Jesse,
and a branch from his rootswill bear fruit. The Spirit of the
LORD will rest on Him,the spirit of wisdom and un-derstanding, the
spirit of
counsel and strength, thespirit of knowledge and the
fear of the LORD.(Isaiah11:1-2)
Isaiah said the Mes-siah was to be a shoot(Hebrew: netzer).
Thename Nazarene was adual description in that
Jesus was rom Nazarethas well as a netzer(shootor branch) rom
the stem
o Jesse.Nazareth, where Jesus grew up,
was in the territory allot ted to thetribe o Zebulun. Capernaum,
Hisministry hub, lay within the regionallotted to the tribe o
Naphtali.
Both are in Galilee. This ulflledIsaiah 9:1-2; Jesus was the
light oGalilee that shone on the lands oZebulun and Naphtali.
Nazareths synagogue is whereJesus announced His mission
and,implicitly, His identity as Messiah.Listeners were so enraged
at His
words that they sought to throwHim o a nearby cli.
Later Jesus was not well receivedin Nazareth; townspeople
wereskeptical. Because o their unbelie,He did no miracles there
except ora ew healings.
SepphoriS
Five miles north o Nazareth is Zip-pori (Hebrew) or Sepphoris
(Ro-
man). It was the capital o Galileeunder Herod and the Romans,
due to
and proximity to trade routes. Romansoldiers substantially
destroyed it in 4B.C. Sepphoris was rebuilt during thelietime o
Jesus but is not mentionedin the New Testament.
Joseph was a builder. Perhapshe was employed on construction
projects at Sepphoris. Tradition saysthat Marys parents were
Joachimthe scribe and wie Anna who livedin Sepphoris. Did Joseph
meetMary in Sepphoris on a job? Did
Jesus work alongside Joseph at Sep-phoris? Possibly.
Sepphoris did not join the Jewishrevolt o A.D. 70, so it was
spared
when Jerusalem was destroyed. Fol-lowing the Temples
destruction,Sepphoris became the Jewish center
o learning. Even the Sanhedrin re-located to Sepphoris.Today the
site is a national park.
It was frst excavated in 1931 andthen later rom 1983 to 2003.
Manyarchaeological ruins like Romanstreets, mosaics, residential
oun-
and a Crusader ortress are visible.
MaShhad
Heading east rom Seppho-ris toward Cana, you passthrough
Mashhad. It claimsto be the birthplace o theprophet Jonah.
Jonah was rom Gath-hepher in Zebuluns terri-tory in Galilee. The
Phari-sees were thus mistaken insaying, No prophet arises outof
Galilee. (John 7:45-52)
Mashhad is within Ze-bulun and may be bibli-cal Gath-hepher,
Jonahshometown.
Jonahs narrative is oneo the most ridiculed ac-counts in the Old
Testa-ment. Thrown overboardinto a raging sea, Jonah wasswallowed
by a great sea
monster. Three days andthree nights later, the crea-ture
regurgitated him alive.Can anyone believe such aantastic story?
Jesus defnitely believed it! Heequated His burial and
resurrec-tion to Jonahs burial inside thesea monster and
re-emergence threedays later. Jesus said, An evil andadulterous
generation craves for a sign;
yet no sign shall be given to it but thesign of Jonah the
prophet; forjust as Jo-nah was three days and three nights in
the belly of the sea monster,soshall the Son of Man be threedays
and three nights in theheart of the earth. (Matthew12:39-40)
Jesus clear ly believedJonahs experience was ahistorical act,
since Hebased teaching about HisResurrection on it.
Christ went on to say,The men of Nineveh shallstand up with this
generation
at the judgment, and shall condemn it be-cause they repented at
the preaching of Jo-nah; and behold, something greater than
Jonah is here.Jesus viewed the repentance othe Ninevites as a
historical act.He said those Ninevites would con-demn His listeners
at the judgment,a real event.
When Jesus indicated Himselas greater than Jonah, He was
tes-tiying to Jonahs historicity. I Jo-nah never existed, the claim
to begreater than a non-existent Jonah is
vacuous.Isnt it interesting how Jesus
picked some o the most disbelievedevents in the Old Testament to
usein His teaching? He used events like
Creation, Noahs Flood, Sodom andGomorrah, the Bronze Serpent,
and
Jonah and the Great Sea Monster toexplain aspects o His identity
andmission.
Jesus upheld Old Testamentevents as the literal truth. Many
oc-curred where Jesus walked lands
where p ilgrims hike today.Jesus ol lowers should adopt His
opinion about these events as theirown.
Soli Deo Gloria.
E-mail Dr. Pelletier [email protected].
Read the Bible-Science Guy blog
athttp://BibleScienceGuy.wordpress.comand follow him at
http://twitter.com/BibleScienceGuy.
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PhotocouRtesywikiPedia
WilliaM T.
tHE bIbLE aND sCIENCE by WilliaM T. PelleTier, Ph.d. [woodside
news COLUMNIST]
2012 William T. Pelletier
Hes not a myth, a legend, or a fg-
availability o spring water, ertile soil,
dations, Roman theater, synagogue,
PelleTier, Ph.d.
