battle-field of Israel. Appropriately, it is shut in as between mountain- walls. That along
the north of the plain is formed by the mountains of Lower Galilee, cleft about the middle
by a valley that widens, till, after an hour's journey, we stand within an enclosure which
seems almost one of Nature's own sanctuaries. As in an amphitheatre, fifteen hill-tops
rise around. That to the west is the highest - about 500 feet. On its lower s lopes nestles a
little town, its narrow streets ranged like terraces. This is Nazareth, probably the ancient
Sarid (or En-Sarid), which, in the time of Joshua, marked the northern boundary of
Zebulun.3 4
3. Josh. xix. 10, 11.
4. The name Nazareth may best be regarded as the equivalent of τρε(εν: 'watch' or
'watcheress.' The name does not occur in the Talmud, nor in those Midrashim which have
been preserved. But the elegy of Eleazar ha Kallir - written before the close of the
Talmud - in which Nazareth is mentioned as a Priestcentre, is bas ed upon an ancient
Midrash, now lost (comp. Neubauer, Geogr. du Talmud, p. 117, note 5). It is, however,
possible, as Dr. Neubauer suggests (u.s. p. 190, note 5), that the name ηνξ(ν in Midr. on
Eccl. ii. 8 should read ηνρ(ν and refers to Nazareth.
Climbing this steep hill, fragrant with aromatic plants, and bright with rich-coloured
flowers, a view almost unsurpassed opens before us. For, the Galilee of the time of Jesus
was not only of the richest fertility, cultivated to the utmost, and thickly covered with
populous towns and villages, but the centre of every known industry, and the busy road
of the world's commerce. Northward the eye would sweep over a rich plain; rest here and
there on white towns, glittering in the sunlight; then quickly travel over t he romantic hills
and glens which form the scenes of Solomon's Song, till, passing beyond Safed (the
Tsephath of the Rabbis - the 'city set on a hill'), the view is bounded by that giant of the
far-off mountain-chain, snow-tipped Hermon. Westward stretched a like scene of beauty
and wealth - a land not lonely, but wedded; not desolate, but teeming with life; while, on
the edge of the horizon, lay purple Carmel; beyond it a fringe of silver sand, and then the
dazzling sheen of the Great Sea. In the farthest distance, white sails, like wings outspread
towards the ends of the world; nearer, busy ports; then, centres of industry; and close by,
travelled roads, all bright in the pure Eastern air and rich glow of the sun. But if you
turned eastwards, the eye would soon be arrested by the wooded height of Tabor, yet not
before attention had been riveted by the long, narrow string of fantastic caravans, and
curiosity roused by the motley figures, of all nationalities and in all costumes, busy
binding the East to the West by that line of commerce that passed along the route winding
around Tabor. And when, weary with the gaze, you looked once more down on little
Nazareth nestling on the breast of the mountain, the eye would rest on a scene of tranquil,
homely beauty. Just outside the town, in the north-west, bubbled the spring or well, the
trysting-spot of townspeople, and welcome resting-place of travellers. Beyond it stretched
lines of houses, each with its flat roof standing out distinctly against the clear sky;
watered, terraced gardens, gnarled wide-spreading figtrees, graceful feathery palms,
scented oranges, silvery olive-trees, thick hedges, rich pasture- land, then the bounding
hills to the south; and beyond, the seemingly unbounded expanse of the wide plain of
Esdraelon!