“And when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth” (Luke 2:39)
According to the Bible, the town of Nazareth was situated in Galilee (Matthew 21:11). Located in the dimpled center of a hilly area North of the Esdraelon Valley (the Old Testament Jezreel Valley), it was the place where Joseph and Mary made their home (Luke 2:39). It was the town where Joseph was known as the carpenter (Mark 6:3). Here, the angel Gabriel announced to Mary the coming of Jesus (Luke 1:26). It was where He grew up as a child and a young adult (Luke 2:51). It was where the family participated in Synagogue worship (Luke 4:16). The town was unrecognized amongst the Jewish aristocracy as there is scant information in Jewish literature of its import, but when the people started talking about the prophet, Jesus of Nazareth, that got their attention (Matthew 21:11). After Jesus, Nazareth was no longer unknown.
On December 22nd, 2009, while most of us were doing last minute Christmas shopping or making travel plans for the holidays, the Israel Antiquities Authorities issued a press release regarding the discovery of an ancient house in Nazareth near the edifice known as the Church of the Annunciation. While excavating the foundation for a new structure, archaeologists uncovered several walls and some pottery fragments. These discoveries were dated to the early Roman period and contained several chalk type vessels. Due to Jewish purity restrictions, only certain types of vessels could be reused after they became ritually unclean (Leviticus 11:33, 36). Chalk vessels were among the approved. This discovery archaeologically confirms that Jewish settlers lived in Nazareth at the time of Jesus.
Archaeology had found evidence for the existence of the city of Nazareth prior to its destruction under Assyria around 720 B.C. There have also been archaeological confirmations of the city’s existence during the third and fourth centuries A.D. when it was settled by post Constantinian Christians. However, there was no archaeological evidence of its existence during the early Roman period and the time of Jesus. Moreover, since Jewish literature, including Josephus, made no references to the city, this led some religious skeptics to doubt the existence of the city altogether.
Of course, this news comes as no surprise to Christians who have long known of the existence of the city of Nazareth by means of New Testament revelation. Some atheists, however, will now be redacting their writings to accommodate the new archaeological finds. This discovery provides one more piece in the archaeological puzzle that corroborates the New Testament as being what Christians knew it was all along: God’s truth. The historical claims of Christianity are once again vindicated.