Visiting Nazareth and Mount Precipice / Overthrow

At the tail end of my trip to Israel and Palestine, I visited Nazareth and nearby Mount Overthrow. Nazareth is often considered to be the third most significant area of the Holy Land. 

The first stop logically was the picturesque Orthodox Church of the Archangel Gabriel which features a Holy Spring above the source of over where the Virgin Mary came for water.

This church was under heavy construction on its outside, but inside it was packed with tourists and pilgrims.

Below are photos of the Holy Spring -- a source of water that is said to have been consistently flowing for more than two thousand years:

As is often the case (for some odd reason) with historical monuments and areas of significance that contain water, tourists throw coins into the area -- this is an erroneous action that is discouraged in scripture. Specifically, as noted in the Gospel of Matthew (21:22) Jesus Purifies the Temple, it is said: Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He said, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.'

Jesus cleansed the temple which pointed to a necessity that the Church be kept free from earthly pursuits.

In Nazareth there are two ancient temples dedicated to the Annunciation. The second is Catholic and was built in the late 1960s:

Next, I drove over to nearby Mount Precipice -- a mountain that is mentioned in the Gospel of Luke (4:28-30) in the story of Christ's first sermon in the synagogue of Nazareth.

The preaching of Christ infuriated many Jews in the synagogue which led them to attempt to stone him. This stoning procedure was said to have first required throwing Christ off a mountain or a high place, and then using stones. Therefore, the Jews led Christ out of the city, "to the top of the mountain on which their city was built, to overthrow it." These words gave the name to the mountain - the mountain of the Overthrow of the Lord (characteristically, the Jews call it "Har Ha-Kvitsa", literally from Hebrew - "Mountain of the Jump").

The mountain is quite high (about 400 meters above sea level) and rises above the village of Iksal, the gentle side faces Nazareth, and its steep slope descends into the Jezreel Valley. The mountain offers an excellent panorama: in the distance you can see the top of Mount Carmel, below in front of you is the verdant Jezreel Valley, to the east is Mount Tabor.

Many believe that this mountain could have become Golgotha...

It was on top of this mountain that a miracle occurred. The embittered inhabitants of Nazareth could not harm Christ: "He, having passed in the midst of them, departed." How exactly the Lord "withdrew" from the angry crowd is not reported in the Gospel, but there exists a legend that states the Lord Himself jumped from a high cliff and landed unharmed in the valley. 

Jesus Christ was not recognized in his hometown, which is why he settled in Capernaum and never returned to Nazareth. This mountain has been revered by Christians since ancient times, as evidenced by the remains of an ancient monastery found on the top.