Modern day Nazareth looks like any other contemporary Israeli city. As we approached, part of me longed to see what it was like when Jesus lived there. I imagined myself as one of His neighbors...how would it feel to reside near the Light of the world, the Word of God? Was He a people magnet? Probably. Was He highly respected for His outstanding work as a carpenter? Undoubtedly! When He said "good morning" to you, did warmth and love fill your heart? Most certainly. As I rehearsed this scenario in my mind, the bus pulled up to Nazareth village rebuilt to resemble first century structures.
A young, American college student guided us through the museum and out into the village. She was a volunteer spending a semester to study and serve in Israel. Nazareth is located 15 miles west of the Sea of Galilee and 70 miles north of Jerusalem. It is located on three sides of a rocky limestone hill overlooking the Jezreel valley. Climbing the steep, rocky, paths past the terraced gardens was hard work with my high tech walking shoes. The thought of walking the same path in flimsy sandals gave me a new perspective of how much more difficult everyday life was at the time of Christ.
Above - a shepherd tends his sheep in Nazareth village. Note the ancient olive tree on the right side of the picture believed to be around 500 years old! Our guide shared about how much work went into making a small terrace garden place. Building the wall of the terrace, filling it with soil and preparing it for planting
could easily take several months of labor.
There was a natural, rock, wine press (right) where grapes were stomped and the juice would run down from the platform (where girl with the boots is standing) into a hollowed out cistern for short term storage. The amount of time and effort it took to grow a little bit of food made me think they must have eaten much less than we do. The doorways and other artifacts found at different sites suggested the stature of the first century inhabitants were significantly smaller than we are.
While touring a reconstructed home, we learned something about first century "carpenters" I never
heard previously. Carpenters were primarily stone workers as well as wood workers. This new piece of information seemed perfectly logical because the most plentiful building material in Israel is stone and wood is scarce. On the left is a replica of an olive press made of limestone. Olives were placed in the shallow "pan" and the stone was rolled over them to crush the meat and prepare them for the olive press. After the olives were crushed and pits removed, they were tucked in round, flat baskets with a large lip around the outer edge, then stacked on top of each other. Progessive amounts of weight were applied for the first, second and third press. The first press of the olives produced the finest of the oil (extra virgin oil) which was given to the priests for use in the temple. Sounds like a tithe, doesn't it? The next presses are used for cooking, cosmetics and oil lamps.
To the right you can see the dark round basket sitting on the floor which the crushed olives were loaded into. They were stacked on top of each other in preparation for the press. On the right side of the picture are two of the three weights which were applied in progression. Another name for the olive press is gethsemane or the crushing place. It brings to mind the great agony Christ suffered as he prayed and sweat drops of blood the night he was betrayed on the Mount of Olives in the garden of Gethsemane.
The synagogue in Nazareth village was not only a place for the men to gather to pray and discuss scripture but it was also used as a school and meeting place for all the villagers. The roof was made of layers and layers of reeds, rocks and soil which would have taken months to construct in first century. Women in the community were restricted to peering through the windows at the roof line when the men were praying. Stair steps lined three walls of the synagogue and provided graduated seats for participants to settle.
Before Christ, women were often treated like chattel. Jesus is the one who lifted women up to their place as honored and cherished, created beings. After all, it was two women who first received the most important news in history; His glorious resurrection!
If you would like to see a short video on
Nazareth Village check this out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4neHFy0jXQ&feature=related#watch-main-area
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