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Friday, December 07, 2007

Nazareth

Yesterday's post was about Bethlehem.

I decided to follow it up with a post on Nazareth. The Wikipedia article is here. It indicates that Nazareth is currently an important city, with a population of about 180,000, and is the capital of the Northern District of Israel. It also says that the city has a long history, going back to about 7000 B. C. Nazareth is about 25 kilometers/15 miles from the Sea of Galilee.

The first Biblical references to Nazareth are in the story of Jesus, in the gospels, although it is possible that it is referred to by some other name or names in the Old Testament. Except for the gospels, all other references in the New Testament are in the phrase, "Jesus of Nazareth," as in, for example, Peter's sermon on Pentecost, in Acts 2.

According to Paul, in Acts 22, even Jesus Himself gave His name as "Jesus of Nazareth," when He appeared to Paul on the way to Damascus. (This story is told in Acts 9, which does not use that phrase, but just "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting . . .")

I don't have any profound insight from this brief study. No doubt there are some such. Feel free to comment, and tell me about them.

Thanks for reading!

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