The Precipice
Some critics of Christianity cite that there was no area around Nazareth that could have been the reference to which Jesus was going to be thrown over the side of the mountain; however, they would be mistaken.
The problem arises, though, with an investigation of the traditional site of the “Mount of the Precipitation.” Most locations in Israel have three names, one in English, one in Hebrew, and one in Arabic. Occasionally in archaeology there is a fourth name, one in Greek. As is the custom in Israel, the same peak is called Jebel el Qafsah in Arabic, the “mount of the leap.” The Hebrew name for the mountain is Mount Kedumim meaning “the ancient place” as there are ancient caves in the area containing up to eighteen stratagraphic layers.
Traditional teachings of this site maintain that the steps of Jesus may still be seen in the rock.
Since Nazareth sits in a bowl-shaped depression on the Southern side of the mountain, there is a beautiful view from the Mount of Precipitation.
The problem associated with this site is its location to ancient Nazareth as it is two kilometers from the village of Nazareth. Additionally the Gospel of Luke identifies that the precipice was adjacent to Nazareth.
Luke 4:29-30
29 And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
30 But he passing through the midst of them went his way
Two words are used here which are noteworthy concerning ancient Nazareth. The first is city, or in Greek, the word is polis (city). In Roman times, the word city was used for a substantial size settlement, and would not be used for the backwards village of Nazareth as depicted by most scholars. Luke’s use of “polis” to describe Nazareth identifies the location as larger than a town or village.
The second word is translated as brow, but in Greek the word is opruoß meaning the prominent point, and it is the only use of the word in the New Testament. This is where the confusion in locations lies.
However, in looking from the Mount of Precipice back towards the city of Nazareth, there is a ridge which does fit the description provided by Luke.
J.W. McGarvey , an early pilgrim from the 19th century, describes this location. It is a long, but worthy read, and I quote from J.W. McGarvey (McGarvey: 1900)
“There is only one object at Nazareth which I was especially anxious to see, and this is the precipice down which the Nazarenes attempted to cast Jesus. The tradition-mongers, with their usual disregard of Scripture statements, have located this incident near the steep hill mentioned above, which we climbed in coming to Nazareth; but this is more than two miles from the town, while the Scripture states that "they led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
"The hill on which the city is built," then, is the one on which we must look for the place in question; and if it cannot be found there, honesty must compel us to admit that it cannot be found at all. Some writers have come so near making this admission that I felt quite solicitous on the subject, and I searched that hill from top to bottom, from side to side, and from end to end. I did so, not because all this was necessary to find a place suited to the event, but because I desired to know all the places where it could have occurred, and to speak on the subject with full assurance. I found only two such places.
“One is near the northeastern end of the town, and about one-third the way up the hill. It is a perpendicular precipice sixty feet high, made by the falling in of the roof of a deep cavern which once extended along the face of the hill at this point, and part of which still exists close by the precipice. I think, however, from the appearance of the rock, that this precipice has been formed in comparatively recent times; and for this reason I do not suppose that the attempt at precipitation occurred here. But near the opposite end of the town, and at about the same elevation up the hill, the same ledge of rock forms a natural precipice, which has every appearance of having existed from time immemorial. Its perpendicular height is now about forty feet, abundantly sufficient to kill a man if dashed headlong from its top. It is high enough up the hill to justify the Scripture statement that it was on "the brow of the hill;" and it was probably outside the ancient city. Lieutenant Conder thinks, from the appearance of ruins higher up, that the ancient city was situated, like most of the towns of Palestine, near the top of the hill. If this supposition is correct, then the Nazarenes, in taking Jesus out of the town, took him down hill to the precipice below the town, and this precipice constituted the brow of the hill as seen from the valley below. I am entirely satisfied that here is where the awful attempt was made; but I know not how to realize the feelings of Jesus, when his own neighbors, former friends and lifelong companions, thus attempted to take his life.”
While McGarvey has several interesting comments in his travels concerning Nazareth, there is one of his comments which still apply today to all of Israel.
“...if you will give enough buckshish I think they will show you any place you can call for connected with the life of Jesus.”
Excavations at Nazareth Village have recovered pottery and other artifacts that support the fact that the city of Nazareth did extend further up the hillside as McGarvey identifies 100 years ago. Nazareth Village is a site that has been excavated and the project included building a reconstruction of buildings and culture in first-century Nazareth.
McGarvey, J.W., Lands of the Bible, Part 3, letter 13, The Standard Publishing Company, 1900.
The problem arises, though, with an investigation of the traditional site of the “Mount of the Precipitation.” Most locations in Israel have three names, one in English, one in Hebrew, and one in Arabic. Occasionally in archaeology there is a fourth name, one in Greek. As is the custom in Israel, the same peak is called Jebel el Qafsah in Arabic, the “mount of the leap.” The Hebrew name for the mountain is Mount Kedumim meaning “the ancient place” as there are ancient caves in the area containing up to eighteen stratagraphic layers.
Traditional teachings of this site maintain that the steps of Jesus may still be seen in the rock.
Since Nazareth sits in a bowl-shaped depression on the Southern side of the mountain, there is a beautiful view from the Mount of Precipitation.
The problem associated with this site is its location to ancient Nazareth as it is two kilometers from the village of Nazareth. Additionally the Gospel of Luke identifies that the precipice was adjacent to Nazareth.
Luke 4:29-30
29 And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
30 But he passing through the midst of them went his way
Two words are used here which are noteworthy concerning ancient Nazareth. The first is city, or in Greek, the word is polis (city). In Roman times, the word city was used for a substantial size settlement, and would not be used for the backwards village of Nazareth as depicted by most scholars. Luke’s use of “polis” to describe Nazareth identifies the location as larger than a town or village.
The second word is translated as brow, but in Greek the word is opruoß meaning the prominent point, and it is the only use of the word in the New Testament. This is where the confusion in locations lies.
However, in looking from the Mount of Precipice back towards the city of Nazareth, there is a ridge which does fit the description provided by Luke.
J.W. McGarvey , an early pilgrim from the 19th century, describes this location. It is a long, but worthy read, and I quote from J.W. McGarvey (McGarvey: 1900)
“There is only one object at Nazareth which I was especially anxious to see, and this is the precipice down which the Nazarenes attempted to cast Jesus. The tradition-mongers, with their usual disregard of Scripture statements, have located this incident near the steep hill mentioned above, which we climbed in coming to Nazareth; but this is more than two miles from the town, while the Scripture states that "they led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
"The hill on which the city is built," then, is the one on which we must look for the place in question; and if it cannot be found there, honesty must compel us to admit that it cannot be found at all. Some writers have come so near making this admission that I felt quite solicitous on the subject, and I searched that hill from top to bottom, from side to side, and from end to end. I did so, not because all this was necessary to find a place suited to the event, but because I desired to know all the places where it could have occurred, and to speak on the subject with full assurance. I found only two such places.
“One is near the northeastern end of the town, and about one-third the way up the hill. It is a perpendicular precipice sixty feet high, made by the falling in of the roof of a deep cavern which once extended along the face of the hill at this point, and part of which still exists close by the precipice. I think, however, from the appearance of the rock, that this precipice has been formed in comparatively recent times; and for this reason I do not suppose that the attempt at precipitation occurred here. But near the opposite end of the town, and at about the same elevation up the hill, the same ledge of rock forms a natural precipice, which has every appearance of having existed from time immemorial. Its perpendicular height is now about forty feet, abundantly sufficient to kill a man if dashed headlong from its top. It is high enough up the hill to justify the Scripture statement that it was on "the brow of the hill;" and it was probably outside the ancient city. Lieutenant Conder thinks, from the appearance of ruins higher up, that the ancient city was situated, like most of the towns of Palestine, near the top of the hill. If this supposition is correct, then the Nazarenes, in taking Jesus out of the town, took him down hill to the precipice below the town, and this precipice constituted the brow of the hill as seen from the valley below. I am entirely satisfied that here is where the awful attempt was made; but I know not how to realize the feelings of Jesus, when his own neighbors, former friends and lifelong companions, thus attempted to take his life.”
While McGarvey has several interesting comments in his travels concerning Nazareth, there is one of his comments which still apply today to all of Israel.
“...if you will give enough buckshish I think they will show you any place you can call for connected with the life of Jesus.”
Excavations at Nazareth Village have recovered pottery and other artifacts that support the fact that the city of Nazareth did extend further up the hillside as McGarvey identifies 100 years ago. Nazareth Village is a site that has been excavated and the project included building a reconstruction of buildings and culture in first-century Nazareth.
McGarvey, J.W., Lands of the Bible, Part 3, letter 13, The Standard Publishing Company, 1900.
posted by ~serapha~ at 1:26 AM
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