Uncovered days before Christmas: Remains of a home in Nazareth that Jesus would have known

Daily Mail UK ^ | December 21, 2009 | Mail Foreign Service

[bogusname]

The remains of the first dwelling in Nazareth that has been dated back to the time of Jesus have been unveiled - just days before Christmas. The find that could shed new light on what the hamlet was like during the period the New Testament says Jesus lived there as a boy, Israeli archaeologists said. The dwelling and older discoveries of nearby tombs in burial caves suggest that Nazareth was an out-of-the-way hamlet of around 50 houses on a patch of about four acres. It was evidently populated by Jews of modest means who kept camouflaged grottos to hide from Roman invaders, said archaeologist Yardena Alexandre, excavations director at the Israel Antiquities Authority, Based on clay and chalk shards found at the site, the dwelling appeared to house a 'simple Jewish family,' Alexandre added, as workers at the site carefully chipped away at mud with small pickaxes to reveal stone walls. Nazareth holds a cherished place in Christianity. It is the town where Christian tradition says Jesus grew up and where an angel told Mary she would bear the child of God. 'This may well have been a place that Jesus and his contemporaries were familiar with,' Alexandre said. A young Jesus may have played around the house with his cousins and friends, she said. 'It's a logical suggestion.' The discovery so close to Christmas has pleased local Christians...

[SunkenCiv]

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[Beowulf9]

This is really interesting. Thanks for posting.

Makes it possible to imagine a little more clearly what it was like back then.

[onedoug]

Long before muhamad. But islamists will come up with some obfuscating lie.

[VairyAngel]

I personally think it was found for a reason~ When I first heard about this my heart leaped with joy..

[magisterium]

Wood was scarce in the area, even in St. Joseph’s day. Houses were generally built of stone or brick. About the only wood you’d find would be the support beams for the roof. This wasn’t northern Europe.

[Verginius Rufus]

Actually, according to Luke, Gabriel was more specific--he told Mary that she would have a son (Lk 1.31), who would be called "son of highest [one]" (hyios hypsistou). Presumably this was spoken in Aramaic but would have made clear that the child would be a boy.

The word used in the Gospels of Jesus' occupation, tekton, although usually translated as "carpenter," was not restricted to workers in wood but could be applied to those who worked in stone, metal, or horn. Given the relative scarcity of wood in the vicinity of Nazareth, Jesus may have done more masonry than carpentry.

[onedoug]

Very like.

[naturalized]

Well, He was the stone the builders rejected. And it is better to fall upon that rock than be crushed by it.

His Word is a hammer that breaks a rock to pieces. He predicted that not one stone would be left upon another in the house that Herod built.

He went to prepare a place for us as living stones in the House He was building for His Father. A place for His Father to dwell, among our praises. Let us not forget the quarry from which we were dug, or the Rock from which we were chiseled.

The Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes! He is good, and His love endures forever!