What most of us have heard about Jesus growing up in the relative isolation of a small village of 400 people in the remote hills of Galilee is completely different than the actual burgeoning Greco-Roman metropolis of 30,000 residents where He experienced all there was to experience in those days.

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Show Notes:

 
Four miles from Nazareth where Yeshua (Jesus) was raised was the largest and most influential city of the region, Sepphoris. Joseph and Yeshua are both described in the Gospels as carpenters and may have worked on the extensive construction in this rapidly growing urban center. As Yeshua grew up, He probably visited this beautiful cosmopolitan city constantly. If He was working there, He likely went there daily. For thirty years He was immersed in the different cultures and languages of the Jews, Arabs, Greeks, and Romans who lived there.

This explains why the teachings of Yeshua were so comprehensive. He was educated about the issues of His day and had a firsthand knowledge of the culture that surrounded Him. There is evidence of a strong Jewish enclave in Sepphoris, filled with priests and scholars who undoubtedly contributed to Yeshua’s knowledge of Judaism and the Law.

As God was raising up the Messiah, He used Sepphoris to help prepare Yeshua for the great work He was sent to do.

References:

Hargrave Ministries 2021 Israel Tour
November 7 – 22, 2021
hargraveministries.org/tours

Jesus and the Forgotten City by Richard A. Batey
CenturyOne Media (c) 2000

Jesus: A New Biography by Shirley Jackson Case
University of Chicago Press (c) 1928

Jesus and the Poor by Richard A. Batey
Harper & Row (c) 1972

Key Verses:

• Mark 6:3. “Is this not the carpenter?”
• Romans 11:17–24. “… for God is able to graft them in again.”
• Isaiah 2:2. “And all the nations will stream to it.”
• Matthew 6:1–2. “… as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets.”
• Luke 1:5–23. “A priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah.”

Quotes:

• “It is extremely important to know who Yeshua was in the days of his flesh, because as somebody who is living in the flesh in this earth, I see His life as a pattern for how I should live and how I can walk with the Father as He walked with the Father.”
• “One of my favorite sites to visit when we go to Israel is the city of Sepphoris, where we see evidence that Jesus lived a life that challenges traditional assumptions about his life and ministry.”

Takeaways:

1. Integrate what you have been previously taught about the life of Yeshua with what the evidence shows His life must have been like—the way He was raised, what He was exposed to, and what influenced Him—that came alive in his teaching.
2. Find a way to experience Israel. Visit the land. It will change your life. If you go with the desire to know Yeshua, the Messiah, it will transform your relationship with your Savior, with the Father, with the Jewish people, and with the land itself.