The apostle Paul noted that God often chooses the lowly to accomplish his will and humble the great (1 Corinthians 1:26-31). This was never more evident than when God selected Nazareth as the town where Jesus would grow up. At this time, the tiny village of Nazareth was so insignificant that, besides the New Testament, it was not referenced in any ancient writings until about 200 years after Jesus’ birth. Even the disciple Nathanael, upon hearing of Jesus’ hometown, retorted, “Can anything good come from there?” (John 1:46). Yet it was in this small town that God placed his Son, the Messiah, to grow and mature before launching his public ministry. Nazareth was perched atop one of the low lying hills of Lower Galilee overlooking the great Esdraelon (Jezreel) Valley, the scene of so many momentous battles throughout Israel’s history (Judges 4-7; 1 Samuel 28-31; 2 Kings 23:29-30; 2 Chronicles 35:20-27). Nazareth lay about three miles (5 km) southwest of Gath-hepher, the hometown of the prophet Jonah (2 Kings 14:25), and about the same distance southeast of Sepphoris, a sizeable administrative center during Jesus’ time. When the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would give birth to the Messiah (Luke 1:26-38; 2:4), Mary and Joseph were living in Nazareth, and then they traveled south to Bethlehem of Judea, their ancestral town, for a census. There Mary gave birth to Jesus (Luke 2:1-7). After fleeing to Egypt for a time to escape Herod’s soldiers, Joseph, Mary, and Jesus eventually returned to Nazareth, where they could find safety in the town’s relative obscurity (Matthew 2). After Jesus grew up, he performed his first miracle at a wedding in the village of Cana (John 2:1-12) about 8 miles (13 km) north of Nazareth, and he raised a widow’s son from the dead in the village of Nain (Luke 7:11-17) about 6 miles (9 km) across the valley from Nazareth.
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Jesus Is Born in Bethlehem
Luke 1-2
Joseph and Mary were living in Nazareth when the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would soon give birth to the Messiah. Then a census was decreed by Caesar Augustus, which required Joseph and Mary to travel about 70 miles (110 km) to Bethlehem, the town of their ancestor David, to be registered. There Mary gave birth to Jesus and laid him in a manger. Nearby shepherds were living in the fields with their sheep, and an angel of the Lord appeared to them and announced that the Messiah had been born in Bethlehem. They went and found Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus just as the angel had said, and they went and spread the news about what they saw. Then the shepherds returned to their fields, glorifying and praising God. Eight days after Jesus was born, Joseph and Mary took Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem to be circumcised, in keeping with Genesis 17:1-14. A few weeks later Joseph and Mary went back to the Temple a second time with Jesus so that Mary could undergo the purification rites for childbirth and Jesus could be consecrated to the Lord with a sacrifice for the firstborn son (Exodus 13:1-13; Leviticus 12). While they were there a righteous and devout man named Simeon was moved by the Spirit to come into the Temple courts, and he took Jesus into his arms during the consecration ceremony and praised God for sending the Messiah to save his people. Immediately after this a prophet named Anna, who had lived in the Temple ever since her husband had died decades earlier, came up to Joseph and Mary and gave thanks to God, and she spoke about Jesus to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. Sometime later, after Joseph and Mary had done all that was required in the law, they returned with Jesus to their hometown of Nazareth in Galilee.
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The Ministry of John the Baptist
Many Bible readers will recall that John the Baptist ate locusts, wore camel’s hair, and baptized Jesus, but far fewer are aware of just how significant John’s ministry really was and where it all took place. All four Gospels and the book of Acts mention John’s ministry, since it was virtually inseparable from Jesus’ own ministry (Acts 1:21-22), and twenty years after John’s ministry believers in Ephesus over 600 miles (990 km) from Jerusalem knew of John’s baptism but did not know of Jesus’ baptism (Acts 19:1-7). John was born to the priest Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth in the hill country of Judea (Luke 1:5-25, 57), and church tradition places his birth specifically at a town called Ein Kerem 4 miles (6 km) west of Jerusalem. Jesus’ mother Mary was related to John’s mother Elizabeth and traveled from Nazareth to visit her during their pregnancies (Luke 1:36-56). When John grew up, he lived in the wilderness of Judea (Matthew 3:1; Mark 1:1-8; Luke 1:80) and was likely familiar with the religious community at Qumran. As the new Elijah (Malachi 4:5; Matthew 11:14) and “a voice of one calling in the wilderness” (Isaiah 40:3; Mark 1:3), John called people to “repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near”–the very same message Jesus himself later preached at the start of his ministry (Matthew 4:17). Another hallmark of John’s ministry was his practice of baptizing people as a sign of their repentance (Matthew 3:6), and Jesus himself chose to be baptized by John (Matthew 3:13-17; Luke 3:21). John initially baptized at Bethany beyond the Jordan River (John 1:28; 10:40), likely across from Jericho. Later he moved his ministry to Aenon across the Jordan River (John 3:22-26) and further north. John called out sin wherever he saw it and even rebuked Herod Antipas for marrying Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. For this, Antipas imprisoned John (Matthew 14:3-4; Luke 3:1-20) at the fortress of Machaerus across the Dead Sea. While John was in prison, he sent his disciples to Galilee to ask Jesus if he was indeed the Messiah. Jesus affirmed that he was by pointing to what he was doing and preaching (Matthew 11:1-19). Later, Herodias schemed to have John put to death, and his disciples took his body and buried it (Matthew 14:5-12).
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Southern Arabah Valley
Throughout ancient times the southern extreme of the Arabah Valley was–and still is–a very desolate region, yet this land was home to two extremely productive wealth generators for King Solomon’s lucrative domain. Solomon had inherited the southern Arabah from his father David, who had subdued Edom during his reign and gained control over the region (2 Samuel 8:13-14). Solomon then capitalized on his unfettered access to the Red Sea by launching a fleet of trading ships from Ezion-geber. These ships would return every few years loaded with immense riches and exotic goods from faraway lands (1 Kings 9:26-28; 2 Chronicles 8:17-18; 9:21). Later King Jehoshaphat attempted to do the same, but his ships met with disaster before they were ever able to set sail (1 Kings 22:48-49; 2 Chronicles 20:35-37). Likewise, recent archaeology has concluded that the great copper mines of Timna, located about 17 miles (28 km) north of the Red Sea, likely produced vast wealth for Solomon during his long reign. Originally controlled and worked by Egypt for over a thousand years, this sprawling mining center eventually came under the control of Solomon, who also controlled the highly productive copper mines at Punon further north in the Arabah. Over 10,000 mine shafts and tunnels have been found throughout the Timna region, and research suggests that Solomon’s reign marked the peak era of Timna’s productivity. While the mines were still under Egyptian control a temple was built on the site to honor Hathor, the Egyptian goddess of love and patron goddess of miners. Timna has also been suggested as a possible location where the Israelites crossed the Red Sea immediately after their exodus from Egypt.
The Near East during the Time of the Maccabees
After Alexander the Great died in 323 B.C., his empire was divided among his generals, including Ptolemy and Seleucus. Initially the land of Israel came under the rule of Ptolemy, but by 200 B.C. it had fallen under Seleucid control. The Seleucid Empire originally controlled all of Alexander’s domain east of the Mediterranean coast except for Israel, but over time the Parthians broke away and established their own empire. At the same time the Roman Empire was expanding its rule across the Mediterranean world as well. These increasing threats surrounding the Seleucid Empire led Antiochus IV Epiphanes to impose a strict policy of hellenization through his empire, likely in an effort to solidify power over his diverse domain. Non-hellenistic religious practices such as circumcision and Sabbath observance were forbidden, pagan practices such as sacrificing swine and eating pork were mandated, and copies of the Hebrew scriptures were banned and destroyed (1 Maccabees 1; 2 Maccabees 6-7). Eventually the harsh policies of Antiochus IV fomented open rebellion by faithful Jews under the leadership of Mattathias Maccabeus and his sons in 167 B.C., who established a largely independent kingdom over the land of Israel (1 Maccabees 2; 2 Maccabees 8). The Romans eventually affirmed an alliance with the Maccabean leaders and encouraged other nations in the region to do the same. The map shown here displays this complex political world of the Near East around 90 B.C., shortly before the Romans absorbed the Seleucid Empire and the Maccabean Kingdom in 63 B.C.
