Steven Avery
Administrator
Luke 4:29 (AV)
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.
This is the first clear scripture verse that simply does not line up with modern Nazareth being the Bible city.
There is no synagogue by a steep hill, and there is no steep hill that really qualifies.
There are all sorts of hills that have been called the "Cliff of Precipitation".
Errancy Wiki
https://web.archive.org/web/20240225021230/http://www.errancywiki.com/index.php?title=Luke_4:29
Go ye forth unto the land of Google.com, in the country of Earth therein, that be at: http://earth.google.com, and download unto the the tablet of code that be called “Google Earth.” Installeth thee that tablet of code into thine computer which hath the Windows of the Firmament of Redmond, then causeth thou it to run. Thou shalt check the “Terrain” checkbox, that the hills might be plainly visible. Setteth thee the Options that the Terrain Exaggeration be set unto one, not unto three nor two nor any other number, that thou mayest see the hills as they do actually be.
Firstly searcheth thou for “San Francisco, CA”, and tilteth thou the angle of the camera, and rotate it round about, that thou might plainly see that the Tablet of the Earth of Google canst indeed show unto thee such hills as do truly exist.
Now pointeth thou the tablet of code towards “Nazareth, Israel”, and likewise tilteth thou the angle of the camera, and rotate it round about, that thou shalt see all the hills that be within and nearby Nazareth. Rememberest thou that Luke sayest of the hill that it hath a brow tall and steep enough that they that liveth there didst honestly believe that any man hurled therefrom wouldst surely die. Rememberest also that Luke sayest that, while they didst take Him outside the city, of the hill he didst say, “upon which their city was built.” This meaneth that at least part of the hill must needs lie within the ancient city limits of Nazareth.
And yet, seest thou any such hill, even within the much larger modern city limits which completely containeth the ancient? Nay, no such hill canst be found, neither in the Earth of Google, nor in any topographic maps available from any source, nor even in the aereal photographs of Nazareth that canst be found in the flyers and brochures made by the merchants of Bible tours sold to they who follow Christ, that they mayest Walk Where Jesus Walked (for a price of many shekels)! Surely, they that selleth such tours wouldst have reason to show such a hill, if indeed such a hill existed. And yet, none such hill hath ever been found, even though hundreds of learned and wise men hath searched for many centuries.
From A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to St. Luke by Alfred Plummer located here [2]
29. Tradition makes the scene of this attempt to be a precipice, varying from 80 to 300 feet in height, which exists some distance off to the S.E. of the town ; and we read that " they cast Him out of the town and led Him as far as the brow," etc. But modern writers think that a much smaller precipice close at hand is the spot. Van der Velde conjectures that it has crumbled away ; Conder, that it is hidden under some of the houses. Stanley says that Nazareth " is built ' upon,1 that is, on the side of, 'a mountain' ; but the 'brow' is not beneath, but over the town, and such a cliff as is here implied is to be found, as all modern travellers describe, in the abrupt face of the limestone rock, about 30 or 40 feet high, overhanging the Maronite Convent at the S.W. comer of the town"...Both AV. and RV. have "the brow of the hill whereon," which might easily be misunderstood. The town is on the hill, but not on the brow of it: the brow above the modern village.
International Critical Commentary
https://books.google.com/books?id=SGw4AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA129
Best
80 to 300 feet in height, which exists some distance off to the S.E. of the town ; and we read that " they cast Him out of the town and led Him as far as the brow," etc. But modern writers think that a much smaller precipice close at hand is the spot.
Van der Velde conjectures that it has crumbled away ;
Conder, that it is hidden under some of the houses.
Stanley says that Nazareth " is built ' upon,1 that is, on the side of, 'a mountain' ; but the 'brow' is not beneath, but over the town, and such a cliff as is here implied is to be found, as all modern travellers describe, in the abrupt face of the limestone rock, about 30 or 40 feet high, overhanging the Maronite Convent at the S.W. comer of the town" (Sin. & Pal. p. 367).
So also
Robinson (Res. in Psa_2. PP. 325, 330),
Hacket (D.B. ii. P. 470), and
Schulz in Herzog Proverbs 2:10. P. 447).
The ἐφʼ οὖ, of course, refers to τοῦ ὄρους not to ὀφρύος Both AV. and RV., have “the brow of the hill whereon,” which might easily be misunderstood. The town is on the hill, but not on the brow of it: the brow is above the modern village. Nowhere else in N.T. does ὀφρύς occur. Comp. Hom. il xx. 151; and ὀφρυόεις, Il. xxii. 411, and Hdt. v. 92. 10, with other instances in Wetst. Supercilium is similarly used: Virg. Georg. i. 108; Liv. xxvii. 18, xxxiv. 29
============
It was the fact that the New Testament does not line up with the purported Nazareth that led Kevin Kluetz to look for the real Nazareth.
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.
This is the first clear scripture verse that simply does not line up with modern Nazareth being the Bible city.
There is no synagogue by a steep hill, and there is no steep hill that really qualifies.
There are all sorts of hills that have been called the "Cliff of Precipitation".
Errancy Wiki
https://web.archive.org/web/20240225021230/http://www.errancywiki.com/index.php?title=Luke_4:29
Go ye forth unto the land of Google.com, in the country of Earth therein, that be at: http://earth.google.com, and download unto the the tablet of code that be called “Google Earth.” Installeth thee that tablet of code into thine computer which hath the Windows of the Firmament of Redmond, then causeth thou it to run. Thou shalt check the “Terrain” checkbox, that the hills might be plainly visible. Setteth thee the Options that the Terrain Exaggeration be set unto one, not unto three nor two nor any other number, that thou mayest see the hills as they do actually be.
Firstly searcheth thou for “San Francisco, CA”, and tilteth thou the angle of the camera, and rotate it round about, that thou might plainly see that the Tablet of the Earth of Google canst indeed show unto thee such hills as do truly exist.
Now pointeth thou the tablet of code towards “Nazareth, Israel”, and likewise tilteth thou the angle of the camera, and rotate it round about, that thou shalt see all the hills that be within and nearby Nazareth. Rememberest thou that Luke sayest of the hill that it hath a brow tall and steep enough that they that liveth there didst honestly believe that any man hurled therefrom wouldst surely die. Rememberest also that Luke sayest that, while they didst take Him outside the city, of the hill he didst say, “upon which their city was built.” This meaneth that at least part of the hill must needs lie within the ancient city limits of Nazareth.
And yet, seest thou any such hill, even within the much larger modern city limits which completely containeth the ancient? Nay, no such hill canst be found, neither in the Earth of Google, nor in any topographic maps available from any source, nor even in the aereal photographs of Nazareth that canst be found in the flyers and brochures made by the merchants of Bible tours sold to they who follow Christ, that they mayest Walk Where Jesus Walked (for a price of many shekels)! Surely, they that selleth such tours wouldst have reason to show such a hill, if indeed such a hill existed. And yet, none such hill hath ever been found, even though hundreds of learned and wise men hath searched for many centuries.
From A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to St. Luke by Alfred Plummer located here [2]
29. Tradition makes the scene of this attempt to be a precipice, varying from 80 to 300 feet in height, which exists some distance off to the S.E. of the town ; and we read that " they cast Him out of the town and led Him as far as the brow," etc. But modern writers think that a much smaller precipice close at hand is the spot. Van der Velde conjectures that it has crumbled away ; Conder, that it is hidden under some of the houses. Stanley says that Nazareth " is built ' upon,1 that is, on the side of, 'a mountain' ; but the 'brow' is not beneath, but over the town, and such a cliff as is here implied is to be found, as all modern travellers describe, in the abrupt face of the limestone rock, about 30 or 40 feet high, overhanging the Maronite Convent at the S.W. comer of the town"...Both AV. and RV. have "the brow of the hill whereon," which might easily be misunderstood. The town is on the hill, but not on the brow of it: the brow above the modern village.
International Critical Commentary
https://books.google.com/books?id=SGw4AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA129
Best
80 to 300 feet in height, which exists some distance off to the S.E. of the town ; and we read that " they cast Him out of the town and led Him as far as the brow," etc. But modern writers think that a much smaller precipice close at hand is the spot.
Van der Velde conjectures that it has crumbled away ;
Conder, that it is hidden under some of the houses.
Stanley says that Nazareth " is built ' upon,1 that is, on the side of, 'a mountain' ; but the 'brow' is not beneath, but over the town, and such a cliff as is here implied is to be found, as all modern travellers describe, in the abrupt face of the limestone rock, about 30 or 40 feet high, overhanging the Maronite Convent at the S.W. comer of the town" (Sin. & Pal. p. 367).
So also
Robinson (Res. in Psa_2. PP. 325, 330),
Hacket (D.B. ii. P. 470), and
Schulz in Herzog Proverbs 2:10. P. 447).
The ἐφʼ οὖ, of course, refers to τοῦ ὄρους not to ὀφρύος Both AV. and RV., have “the brow of the hill whereon,” which might easily be misunderstood. The town is on the hill, but not on the brow of it: the brow is above the modern village. Nowhere else in N.T. does ὀφρύς occur. Comp. Hom. il xx. 151; and ὀφρυόεις, Il. xxii. 411, and Hdt. v. 92. 10, with other instances in Wetst. Supercilium is similarly used: Virg. Georg. i. 108; Liv. xxvii. 18, xxxiv. 29
============
It was the fact that the New Testament does not line up with the purported Nazareth that led Kevin Kluetz to look for the real Nazareth.
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but in vain: no rock adapted to such an object appears. At the foot of the hill is a modest simple plain, surrounded by low hills, reaching in length nearly a mile: in breadth, near the city, a hundred and fifty yards; but farther on, about four hundred yards. On this plain plain there are a few olive-trees and fig-trees, sufficient, or rather scarcely sufficient, to make the spot picturesque. Then follows a ravine, which gradually grows deeper and narrower, till, after walking about another mile, you find yourself in an immense chasm with steep rocks on either side, from whence you behold, as it were beneath your feet, and before you, the noble Plain of Esdraelon. Nothing can be finer than the apparently immeasurable prospect of this plain, bounded to the south by the mountains of Samaria. The elevation of the hills on which the spectator stands in this ravine is very great; and the whole scene, when we saw it, was clothed in the most rich mountainblue colour that can be conceived. At this spot, on the right hand of the ravine, is shown the rock to which the men of Nazareth are supposed to have conducted our Lord, for the purpose of throwing him down. With the Testament in our hands, we endeavoured to examine the probabilities of the spot: and I confess there is nothing in it which excites a scruple of incredulity in my mind. The rock here is perpendicular for about fifty feet, down which space it would be easy to hurl a person who should be unawares brought to the summit; and his perishing would be a very certain consequence. That the spot might be at a considerable distance from the city is an idea not inconsistent with St. Luke's account; for the expression 'thrusting' Jesus 'out of the city, and leading him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, gives fair scope for imagining, that, in their rage and debate, the Nazarenes might, without originally intending his murder, press upon him for a considerable distance after they had quitted the synagogue. The distance, as already noticed, from modern Nazareth to this spot is scarcely two miles-a space which, in the fury of persecution, might soon be passed over. Or should this appear too considerable, it is by no means certain but that Nazareth may at that time have extended through the principal part of the plain, which lies before the modern town:
