Nazareth

Over 70 miles to the north is Nazareth, where Jesus was brought up.  Nazareth, which is in the part of Palestine called Galilee, is also built on a hill.  Beyond the town is one of the finest views in the country.  Jesus must often have gone there and looked down on the main roads in the distance along which might be seen marching columns of Roman troops, or pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem, or caravans laden with the merchandise of Egypt.

In Nazareth there is a modern fountain (Mary’s Well) built over the site of an ancient well, fed by a spring called Mary’s Spring. (2)  Until fairly recently, this was the only water supply in Nazareth and so it seems likely that Mary would have drawn water there, often, no doubt in the company of her young Son.

Sea of Galilee

About 15 miles north-east of Nazareth is the freshwater Sea or Lake of Galilee.  This is about 13 miles long and 7 miles wide.  Through it, from north to south, flows the River Jordan which rises in the snow-capped mountain range of Hermon 50 miles to the north.

In those days there were several large towns on its shores in one of which, Capernaum, Jesus used to stay.  Except in bad weather there was usually a large number of boats on the Lake.  Some took passengers or goods across but most of them were used for fishing.  A good deal of the fish was salted and sent to various parts of the world.  A few years later a man counted 230 boats of different sizes at one end alone (3), so we can imagine how busy the Lake must have been, with white sails dotted everywhere on the blue water, and, beyond, those same brown hills that stand there today.

It is known that there were 16 thriving ports on the Lake and it has been estimated that there must have been hundreds, maybe thousands of boats on it.  Yet despite this, there was no archaeological evidence of any of them – until January 24th 1986 when two fisherman brothers discovered an ancient boat.  A long drought had lowered the level of water in the Lake and revealed the boat. (4) You can see a picture of it here.

The dilapidated boat is 26 feet long and eight feet wide.  It was originally made from timbers salvaged from other boats and inferior local woods, such as pine and willow which warp in the water.  When eventually the boat could no longer be patched up, its owners stripped it of its sail and anchor and anything that could be reused (e.g. nails and cedar wood, which is hard) and pushed it out to sink. (5)