DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4641#0076
GENERAL VIEW OF NAZARETH.
The man must be insensible to the highest recollections of our being who can look on Nazareth
without reverence for the might and mercy that once dwelt there. Generations pass away, and the
noblest monuments of the hand of man follow them; but the hills, the valley, and the stream exist, on
which the eye of the Lord of all gazed; the soil on which his sacred footsteps trod; the magnificent
landscape in the midst of which he lived, working miracles, subduing the stubborn hearts of the
multitude, and pronouncing to the Earth that " The Kingdom was at hand."
The view from the hill above Nazareth is one of the most striking in Palestine. Beneath it lies
the chief part of the noble Plain of Esdraelon. To the left is seen the summit of Mount Tabor, over
intervening hills ; with portions of the Little Hermon, Gilboa, and the opposite mountains of Samaria.
The long line of Carmel is visible, stretching to the sea, with the Convent of Elias on its northern
promontory, and the town of Caifa at its foot. In the West spreads the Mediterranean, always lovely,
and reflecting every colour of the morning and evening sky. On the North opens out a verdant and
beautiful plain, now called El-Buttauf. Beyond this plain, long ridges of hills, extending East and
West, are overtopped by the mountains of Safed, crowned with that city. Towards the right is " a sea
of hills and mountains," backed by the still higher ridge beyond the Lake of Tiberias, and on the N.E.
by "the majestic Hermon, with its icy crown."1
The town of Nazareth (in Arabic En-Nasirah) lies on the western side of a narrow, oblong basin,
extending from S.S.W. to N.N.E. twenty minutes in length and ten in breadth. The houses stand on
the lower slope of the western hill, which rises steep and high above them: the dwellings are in
general well built, and of stone; they have flat, terraced roofs, without the domes so common in
Southern Palestine. The population is about three thousand souls, of which the Mahometans compose
120 families ; the rest are Greek, Latin, and Maronite.2
The Monks have been as active, and as unfortunate, as usual, in assigning scriptural events to
localities in Nazareth and the adjoining country. The "Mount of Precipitation"—"the brow of the
hill," to which the people led Jesus, " that they might cast him down headlong," as narrated by
St. Luke—is fixed by them at a precipice overlooking the Plain of Esdraelon, and nearly two miles
from the town. But the improbability that a violent populace would have been content to lead the
object of their indignation to so great a distance, when they might have cast him down from any of
the surrounding cliffs, has induced the monks to move their imaginary Nazareth to the same hill.
As no mention of miracle is made by the Evangelist in the rescue of our Lord, it has been doubted
whether any divine interposition was wrought. Yet it is difficult to conceive by what human means he
could have escaped from the hands of a people who had been infuriated to the degree of forcing him
to the edge of the precipice. " He, passing through the midst of them, went his way," seems the
language of innate power. We hear of no argument or remonstrance from our Lord. He allows the
popular rage to act, up to the precise moment when it appeared irresistible; and then convinces his
enemies at once of his divine authority and of their crime, by calmly returning through them, now
consciously unable to arrest his steps, and leaving them behind, in astonishment and awe. It is also
observable, that the twofold clearance of the Temple, at the beginning and the close of our Lord's
ministry, is an example of silence on the subject of miracle, though both must have been acts of
miraculous will; for what individual means could have driven out the whole multitude of money-
changers, and the sturdy peasantry and cattle-dealers of Judea, from the court of the Temple ? or what
other rebuker would not have been trampled or slain by that furious multitude ?
1 Biblical Researches, iii. 183. i Narrative of a Mission to the Jews, ii. 72.
The man must be insensible to the highest recollections of our being who can look on Nazareth
without reverence for the might and mercy that once dwelt there. Generations pass away, and the
noblest monuments of the hand of man follow them; but the hills, the valley, and the stream exist, on
which the eye of the Lord of all gazed; the soil on which his sacred footsteps trod; the magnificent
landscape in the midst of which he lived, working miracles, subduing the stubborn hearts of the
multitude, and pronouncing to the Earth that " The Kingdom was at hand."
The view from the hill above Nazareth is one of the most striking in Palestine. Beneath it lies
the chief part of the noble Plain of Esdraelon. To the left is seen the summit of Mount Tabor, over
intervening hills ; with portions of the Little Hermon, Gilboa, and the opposite mountains of Samaria.
The long line of Carmel is visible, stretching to the sea, with the Convent of Elias on its northern
promontory, and the town of Caifa at its foot. In the West spreads the Mediterranean, always lovely,
and reflecting every colour of the morning and evening sky. On the North opens out a verdant and
beautiful plain, now called El-Buttauf. Beyond this plain, long ridges of hills, extending East and
West, are overtopped by the mountains of Safed, crowned with that city. Towards the right is " a sea
of hills and mountains," backed by the still higher ridge beyond the Lake of Tiberias, and on the N.E.
by "the majestic Hermon, with its icy crown."1
The town of Nazareth (in Arabic En-Nasirah) lies on the western side of a narrow, oblong basin,
extending from S.S.W. to N.N.E. twenty minutes in length and ten in breadth. The houses stand on
the lower slope of the western hill, which rises steep and high above them: the dwellings are in
general well built, and of stone; they have flat, terraced roofs, without the domes so common in
Southern Palestine. The population is about three thousand souls, of which the Mahometans compose
120 families ; the rest are Greek, Latin, and Maronite.2
The Monks have been as active, and as unfortunate, as usual, in assigning scriptural events to
localities in Nazareth and the adjoining country. The "Mount of Precipitation"—"the brow of the
hill," to which the people led Jesus, " that they might cast him down headlong," as narrated by
St. Luke—is fixed by them at a precipice overlooking the Plain of Esdraelon, and nearly two miles
from the town. But the improbability that a violent populace would have been content to lead the
object of their indignation to so great a distance, when they might have cast him down from any of
the surrounding cliffs, has induced the monks to move their imaginary Nazareth to the same hill.
As no mention of miracle is made by the Evangelist in the rescue of our Lord, it has been doubted
whether any divine interposition was wrought. Yet it is difficult to conceive by what human means he
could have escaped from the hands of a people who had been infuriated to the degree of forcing him
to the edge of the precipice. " He, passing through the midst of them, went his way," seems the
language of innate power. We hear of no argument or remonstrance from our Lord. He allows the
popular rage to act, up to the precise moment when it appeared irresistible; and then convinces his
enemies at once of his divine authority and of their crime, by calmly returning through them, now
consciously unable to arrest his steps, and leaving them behind, in astonishment and awe. It is also
observable, that the twofold clearance of the Temple, at the beginning and the close of our Lord's
ministry, is an example of silence on the subject of miracle, though both must have been acts of
miraculous will; for what individual means could have driven out the whole multitude of money-
changers, and the sturdy peasantry and cattle-dealers of Judea, from the court of the Temple ? or what
other rebuker would not have been trampled or slain by that furious multitude ?
1 Biblical Researches, iii. 183. i Narrative of a Mission to the Jews, ii. 72.