Where they tried to throw Jesus off a cliff

After I don't know how many trips to Nazareth in the past year, I finally got to go to Mount Precipice, which is where tradition says the people of Nazareth tried to throw Jesus off the cliff after He read from the Isaiah scroll in Luke 4. 

After watching this portrayed in last week's episode of The Chosen, I was even more excited to go!

What I didn't realize, until watching the aftershow and Rabbi Jason Sobel's breakdown of the story, is  how capital punishment was almost unheard of in ancient Israel, and so what happened here was extreme, almost unheard of because of the value and respect placed on life. Sobel pointed out that there was no recorded trial of Jesus for this punishment, which was a violation of Torah Law, which shows just how high those emotions ran at His "heretical" comments.

He also mentioned that is that Mount Precipice is 2.5 miles from the synagogue where Jesus read from the Isaiah scroll. That is a REALLY long way to be pushed/carried by an angry mob. Talk about really strong emotion and conviction! 

Although one of the names of the mountain is "The Mountain where the Lord Leapt", but the Biblical account doesn't say anything about Jesus jumping from the mountain. Instead, it says He turned and walked back through the crowd. 

Wow, can you imagine meeting His eyes as He walked past? 

If you are a Chosen fan, I highly recommend that episode, because it was amazing. 

And, going to Mount Precipice is definitely worth it, because LOOK AT THAT VIEW!!!

This is Mount Tabor

The Jezreel Valley is turning green from the winter rains! Afula is across and to the right...

Beautiful!

Was this where they tried to throw Jesus from the cliff? It's likely. This is the closest one to the ancient synagogue. Today, it's free and easy to visit. I 100% recommend it if you are ever spending a day in Nazareth!

Where Jesus Read the Isaiah Scroll

Happy New Year!

I never get tired of walking the streets of ancient Nazareth. Each time I learn something new! And, I planned to share this as my first post for 2023 a while ago, having no idea that The Chosen's Season 3 Episode 3 would feature the events that took place here, and the location for this week's posts. 

AMAZING!

This time, I got to visit a completely new (for me) place: a church built over the synagogue where Jesus read from the Isaiah scroll in Luke 4:

Like we talked about a lot on this blog, in Israel things are built on top of the original buildings, which is why you can often see ancient foundations at sites. An excellent example of this is the synagogue at Capernaum, whose white synagogue is from 4th century AD, but is built in the same location as the original synagogue. So tradition holds that this is the location where Jesus read those words, but not the same building. It's beautiful to see, even on a rainy day:

Can you just see it it happening here? "The Spirit of the sovereign Lord is upon me..."

Of course, because of this, the townspeople tried to drag Him out of the town and throw Him off Mount Precipice.... but that's Wednesday's post!

Stay tuned...

Zippori: The Jewel of the Galilee

During the time of Herod the Great, Zippori (Tzipori/Sepphoris), located not far from Nazareth, was the capital of the Galilee.

It was a city of great wealth, surrounded by the fertile fields of the lower Galilee. It got its name from a bird that perches on top of a mountain, because that's what it looked it. While ownership of the city passed back and forth from the Greeks to the Romans to the Jews, it was back in the hands of the Romans by the time of Constantine, and in 363 AD, was completely destroyed in an earthquake.

But let's back up a minute. In 47 BC, Herod the Great became the governor of the Galilee and took Zippori by force. After his death in 4 BC, the Jews there revolted. The Roman army burned the city to the ground, put out the rebellion, and sold the Jews into slavery. Then Herod's son, Antipas, rebuilt and fortified Zippori, or, as it is better known in the Bible, Sepphoris. 

This is significant because Zippori is only a few miles from Nazareth, and after a city has been burned to the ground, the need for skilled craftsmen like carpenters and stone masons would be great. A famous carpenter/stone mason and his son from Nazareth likely came and worked there: Joseph of Nazareth and Yeshua, or, Jesus. So while there's no actual story putting Jesus in Sepphoris in the New Testament, it's very likely Jesus physically walked these streets and worked on some of the buildings (perhaps under the layer that is exposed today). It's also believed in church tradition that Mary, the mother of Jesus was actually from Zippori, and her family lived here.

Zippori in 2022 is an active archeological site, but it is open as a state park to visitors, where they can explore the streets, public buildings, private dwellings, a market, a bath house, a fortress, aqueduct system, church, ancient synagogue, and even a theater! Throughout the site are incredible, intricate mosaics that speak to the wealth and culture of the city during the Byzantine period.

Are you ready to explore? Let's go!

Can you see yourself strolling alongside this ancient city? The expanse of it was incredible! And then to walk up to these mosaics... gorgeous! There are more than 40 that have been discovered. Many of them are in the Nile house, but some are out in the open, like here:

The walk up to the fortress. Yikes!!!

The fortress, built during the Crusader period.

The view from the top was incredible! No wonder this city was named after a bird! You can even see the aerostat, the world's largest unmanned airship, in the distance just above the mountains (around right center). 

Look! My first ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERY- a cherry jolly rancher!!!! (Thanks to my friend who left it for me to find when I turned my back, haha).

Dwellings from the first century BC (Hasmonean period): 

Now, the theater:

And the synagogue:

Which, by the way, had images from pagan mythology in it: the zodiac. Why was this allowed into the synagogue?

Unfortunately, we had to leave before we could explore the water system... and the church wasn't open to visitors. Which just means, I'll need to go back! It was a beautiful day walking through this ancient city, and I know I only just scratched the surface learning about it. 

Wow! Pretty cool, huh? What did you think about our trip around Zippori? I 100% recommend taking a few hours to explore this incredible place!

Celebrating Hanukkah, Christmas, and New Year's in Israel (Part 2)

After Hanukkah, came my favorite season: Advent and Christmas! 

I had assumed that, since Christmas isn't a Jewish holiday, it wouldn't be celebrated here, and I was trying to brace myself for a very different Christmas.

Well, I was both right and wrong. It was a very different kind of Christmas, but it turns out that in towns like Nazareth, Haifa, Bethlehem, and even Jerusalem, there are areas of Christmas (or other holiday) festivals and celebrations! The weather also took a turn and became a lot cooler, as rainy season (winter) is here. So for this Georgia girl, it actually felt like Christmas!

The entire month of December, I got to enjoy these festivals, which was so fun. And then for the weekend of Christmas, I had the most different Christmas of all: spending it in Jerusalem, and actually spending Christmas Day in Bethlehem!

It was an incredible weekend, and it was also bit of a juggling game because late Christmas Even and most of Christmas Day were on Shabbat. So my friends and I had to make sure to get there before things closed, and that's why we decided to go to Bethlehem on Saturday. Besides, spending Christmas in Bethlehem... how many people actually get to do that?

And since the borders are currently closed to foreign tourists, thanks to Omicron, that meant there were only local tourists there—a very different from past years. I kept having pinch myself for how amazing it was!

On Christmas Eve, we got to Jerusalem in time to go to the Western Wall before Shabbat began, and then also went to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the Armenian Quarter after an amazing late lunch/early dinner. 

Christmas day, we took a bus from outside the Damascus Gate to Bethlehem. Our bus driver could have qualified for the Fast and the Furious! There was one point where I even closed my eyes, haha. But we made it, then walked to the Church of the Nativity, said to be over the cave that Jesus was born in. The line to see the cave was so long that we just walked around and then started walking to our other destination in Bethlehem: the Shepherds' Fields, also known as the fields of Boaz and Ruth. That was a long walk, so on the way back, I was so thankful to find a taxi!

The day after Christmas, time was short for us. We checked out of our Airbnb, went back to the Temple Mount, and this time we also walked up to the mosque above. That was my first time being up there. I didn't realize how big the area was up top! There's an amazing view of the Mount of Olives too. Leaving the Old City, we went to a busy shuk for spices and then headed out, stopping at the top of the Mount of Olives for a photo of the city. 

What an incredible weekend!!!

And honestly, after all of that excitement, and because the week after New Year's Eve is the week of finals in my Hebrew class, I kept the day much lower key—staying in my room, being a happy introvert, haha. So that might be a little bit of a let down to anyone who isn't an introvert, but I loved it. All I needed was my poodle, Annie, snoozing on my ankles. So, just for fun, here's a picture of her from last New Year's Eve:

We are just over a week in, so I'll say it again: Happy New Year!

What was it like for Jesus and the disciples to sail on the Sea of Galilee?

The Sea of Galilee is 17 miles long and 7 miles wide. It's said that when the wind comes from a certain direction, the waves pick up and act like an ocean in a storm.

The morning we sailed along it was calm, thankfully, but my tour guide told us a story of getting caught in such a storm years ago. He said he really thought he was going to die.

This is the same lake where the disciples fished with their fathers. This is where Jesus fed the 5000. Nazareth is nearby, as are Capernaum, the mount where Jesus gave His famous sermon, and many other important cities.

1n 1986, there was a big drought in the Galilee area. The water level receded to a new level, and suddenly, the ruins of a boat were visible. It is 27 feet long and 7.5 feet wide, and has been tested to be from 2000 years ago. It's likely this was the style of boat Jesus and the disciples sailed in!

Nazareth: Jesus' hometown

Nazareth, the childhood hometown of Jesus, sits high up on a mountain. In ancient times, it was very difficult to get in and out of Nazareth, because of its inaccessibility. The town itself backs up to a cliff over the Sea of Galilee- the same cliff the townspeople wanted to through Jesus over in Luke 4.

That's why they said, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"—because it was so isolated.

Today, it's filled with Arab inhabitants. On top of the house where it is believed Jesus lived sits a church. Behind the altar are a set of stairs leading up into what was believed to be Joseph's workshop.

The church itself is simple, in a Byzantine style. Where the original walls end, newer walls were added on top, and adorned throughout are works of art donated from Catholic churches from around the world.

Old and New

There are so many old buildings in Israel that have been torn down or fallen down, whether from natural disasters like earthquakes, decay over time, or destruction from war.

There's a law in Israel that says the old places can't be torn down. So what they do instead is they continue building with new material where the old building still stand.

The lines in the walls of Masada below clearly show where the original walls of Masada end and the recent additions begin. This way, visitors still get a feel for what it could have been like in their original state, without compromising the integrity of the structure and damaging valuable historical landmarks.

Fun fact- the above room had a mural, and you can still see some of the original colors!

Inside the church of the Annunciation in Nazareth, where you can clearly see the old and the new:

below - from an early church near where Jesus fed the 5000

Sailing on the Sea of Galilee

The Sea of Galilee.

Stretching 17 miles long and 7 miles wide, this is where Jesus did His early ministry (the land in the distance) and also things like the miracle with the overflowing nets, calming the sea and the storm - and walking on water.

#vacationstatus #israel