Nazareth

The village of Nazareth was the boyhood home of Jesus.  Today, it is a small city that I am sure would be unrecognizable by Jesus, or his parents Joseph and Mary. We stopped at Mount Precipice, where the people of Nazareth tried to throw Jesus off the cliff, but he just passed right through the crowd.

All of my photos for this segment come from the top on Mount Precipice (known as Neot Kedumim in Hebrew), which is on the southern edge of Nazareth and overlooks the Jezreel Valley.  See each photo for additional notes.

The City of Nazareth, as viewed from Tel Megiddo (see an earlier post), on the southern side of the Jezreel Valley

Looking south into the Jezreel Valley.  The mountaintop way off in the distance is Tel Megiddo.

The Jezreel Valley with Route 60 coming up the hill

Mount Gilboa.  This is where King Saul led the Israelite army against the Philistines and lost.  And lost his life!  The town in the center of the picture, at the base of Mount Gilboa, is where historians believe the ancient village of Endor was, where Saul consulted a medium about what to do about the Philistines.

The Arab suburb of Nazareth, Iksal, with Mount Tabor in the background.

Mount Tabor - this is where the prophetess Deborah, Judge of Israel at the time, went with Barack, the commander of Israel's army and defeated Sisera and the Canaanite army.

A view of Nazareth from Mount Precipice

The conical shaped roof in the center of the photo is the Catholic Church of the Annunciation.  According to Catholic tradition, the church is built over the spot where the Virgin Mary was living when the angel Gabriel appeared to her and announced that she would conceive and bear the son of God, Jesus.  

In the center of the photo, at the top of the hill, is the Nebi Saeem mosque.  To the left of it is the Basilica of Jesus the Adolescent, a Catholic church affiliated with the Society of St. Francis of Sales, and built on the hill where Jesus supposedly spent his youth.

A little rock monument near the top of Mount Precipice.