Nazareth’ s influence on Jesus’ life is interesting to consider.
A small town at the time of Jesus’ . . . conception, Nazareth probably housed between 200-400 people, according to archaelogists.
Nestled on a hill above the south end of the Jezreel Valley, the town looks over the future site of Armaggedon.
(Interesting that the Savior’s life in the womb began so close to the valley that will see his final return.)
But no one thought of that in AD 1, give or take a few years.
For whatever reason, when Herod died, an angel directed Joseph and his family back to Nazareth, not to Bethlehem.
What was everyday life like during Jesus’ boyhood?
Dating is imprecise around Jesus’ life. All we know is when Herod the Great died, Joseph felt it was safe for his family to return to Israel.
(Wikimedia Commons)
He and Mary may have thought they should raise Jesus near the religious center of Israel: Jerusalem. But, an angel warned Joseph in a dream not to return to Bethlehem.
So they turned north instead.
No one in Nazareth had seen them since they left prior to Jesus’ birth (so no one knew the exact date when the baby was born–much less Jesus’ sex).
One assumes Jesus was five or so years old when the family returned from Egypt. He must have grown up and remained in the town working with his family.
Nazareth’s water source up on the hillside was one spring–so the town could only support 400 people or less.
The people spoke Aramaic, farmed, and raised livestock.
Joseph, of course, was a carpenter–though that may have meant a stone mason.
Sepporis, the capital of the Galilean region was several miles away and had many beautiful stone structures. Joseph, and later his sons, may very well have worked there.
Historian Howard Clarke supports this idea:
Sepphoris had been largely destroyed in the violence following the death of Herod the Great, and was being rebuilt by Herod Antipas. Clarke speculated that this could have been seen as a good source of employment by Joseph, a carpenter.
The Gospel of Matthew and its Readers: A Historical Introduction to the First Gospel, quoted here
Some believe that Catholic nuns found the actual family home. (Eric Metaxas describes the story in Is Atheism Dead?)
The Church of the Annunciation features a crypt where they believe Mary met the Angel Gabriel.
A church now sits over what Nazarites believe was the site of Joseph’s workshop.
Jewish influences
While Nazareth today is one of the largest Palestinian towns in Israel, at that time only Jewish families lived there.
God chose Joseph and Mary to raise his son. Given their experiences with angels and God working in unusual ways, they knew their God well.
No surprise, their children studied the Hebrew Scriptures and worshipped the one true God.
All Jewish boys learned to read and write in their synagogue school. (The Jewish Queen Salome Alexandra made it compulsory 100 years before!). Jewish tradition required boys to read the Torah to celebrate their bar mitvah at age 12-13.
Note that age. That’s how old Jesus was when, on his family’s annual visit to Jerusalem, he spent several days in the Temple impressing the priests.
His synagogue obviously prepared him well.
(Then again, Jesus was the Word of God himself!)
Nazareth’s influence–a negative one?
Remember Nathanael’s response to Philip about hearing of Jesus for the first time?
“Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
“Philip said, “Come and see.”
John 1:46 NKJV
Nathanael was from the area. So, what was the problem?
Nazareth is not mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament).
800 years before, however, the prophet Jonah came from the nearby “inconsiderable village” of Gittah-hepher (It’s 5 kms north).
Jonah prophetic abilities were such that he ended up in the court of King Jeroboam I of Samaria.
Some from that area might have considered Jonah a traitor.
Nazareth’s influence would not have impressed people looking for the Messiah.
Scripture said the Messiah would come from Bethlehem.
That’s why Nathanael dismissed Jesus–until he went to see.
God wanted Jesus to grow up far from the corruption of religious power in Jerusalem at the time.
A small town tucked 70 miles away, turned out to be the right place for Jesus to grow up.
But they who knew him well, did not recognize him as their Messiah when he returned to read the Torah as an adult.
When he reached adulthood and left his home village, he settled in Capernaum 43 miles east on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee.
And then everyone in Israel learned about the Son of God.
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