Israel in a Day, Part 2

June 29, 2013  Saturday

Now we're back on the road, heading east toward Galilee.  Next stop is Nazareth.  When the family of Jesus lived there, Nazareth was a tiny village down by the spring.  How things have changed!

We saw several kite vendors like this one:

We skipped the Basilica of the Annunciation, which is apparently always clogged with tourists, and went straight to Nazareth Village.  James told us to expect something like Colonial Williamsburg, with local people dressed in period costume and historically accurate reconstructions.

Hey, those are really great costumes!

The creators of Nazareth Village have constructed the buildings using known methods from ancient times.  That is, they used no plywood, chickenwire, screws, or any modern material or method.  The village is on a hillside just above Nazareth, which itself has occupied the same site since before the time of Jesus.  Nazareth is now the largest Arab city in northern Israel, but those Arabs are mostly Christian.

This is the synagogue.

Wish we'd taken more photos of the synagogue interior.

Energetic college students head up the hill, followed by less energetic old lady using a cane.

We pause to look around us.  Directly below us is the modern city (and location of ancient Nazareth).  Across the valley is the "brow of a hill" mentioned in Luke 4:

"And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.  And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

   And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son? And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;  But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.  And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.  And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,  And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.  But he passing through the midst of them went his way,..."

A home of 2,000 years ago would have a small enclosed courtyard area used for cooking and gathering.  One of our dig team members is testing a potential cane.

There might be space for family meals.  From what we understand, they used plates and small dishes but no utensils such as forks and spoons.  More about the food later!

Salad, anyone?

The tiny sleeping spaces are nothing like our modern bedrooms.  The children would be together in a space like this.  Note the sleeping loft -- bunk beds!  We're peeking into the parents' room at the back.

The parents might have a little privacy here -- but not much!

Even though it was a hot, humid day, this little house was actually quite cool thanks to those stone walls.  There are food storage niches:

Here's a close-up of the amphora.  These jugs with tapered, almost pointy, ends have been widely used for millennia.  We've been finding lots and lots of amphora pieces at our dig.  The pointed end allowed the jug to be stuck into the dirt, which was actually more stable than setting a flat-bottomed container onto an uneven surface or in an area where it could be knocked over.

There were several demonstration stops.  This one kind of fits our traditional image of Joseph.
 

However, there was/is very little wood in the region around Nazareth.  This is an area for stone quarries, and the biggest construction project of the early first century was taking place very nearby at Sepphoris.  The word that is translated "carpenter" in the Bible is tekton, a Greek word that actually means craftsman or builder, and can include stone masons as well as carpenters.  I can think of lots of stone references among the parables and sayings of Jesus, but only one that has to do with wood (mote/beam).  Even Paul uses stone imagery exclusively.  Something to think about ...

We saw a millstone, olive press, and winepress, all very similar to those on display at the BYU Center in Jerusalem.  Too many photos to post ...

This lady demonstrated how wool could be transformed to fabric.

She showed us which plants and other materials could be used to dye to wool.  I think this stone basin is a dying vat.

One method of threshing grain is demonstrated here.

The highlight of the visit to Nazareth Village was our 1st-century meal.

Our meal was completely vegetarian, so we did not have BBQ chicken!

This is only part of the group.  We were 35 people, counting our driver.

This was a fabulous meal!

Dessert was juicy red watermelon.  This is the best meal we've had so far!

Next stop:  Galilee!
We've had poor internet service, so it's been hard to stay caught up.