(House Of Our Father)

Temple Sheckles are available in the hallway.

Ask the money changer (Beit Aveinu Treasurer, Matt or Assistant Treasurer Jason) for more details.

(House Of Our Father)

A man went to visit his daughter and son-in-law. While there, he asked to borrow a newspaper. The son-in-law snidely said, “Look old man, this is the 21st Century; we don’t waste money on newspapers.

Sabbath Joke

Besides that, we’re saving the trees. Here, get with the times.” Then he handed him his Ipad.

Sabbath Joke

A few minutes later the father-in-law handed back the son-in-law’s Ipad, but it was nearly destroyed and pieces were falling off and he said to his son-in-law, “Amazing technology…

Sabbath Joke

…that fly never knew what hit him!”

Sabbath Joke

Welcome to our visitors! We have visitor cards that you can fill out; then drop into the Tzedika (offering) box when we pass it around. We’d love to stay in touch with you.

“On the morning of the third

day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and there was the sounding of a very loud SHOFAR blast. Everyone in the camp

trembled.”

Please stand for the Shema and face east towards Jerusalem.

Shema Israel Adoni Elohaynu Adoni Echad. Barukh shem k'vod malkhuto l'olam va'ed. (Remain standing for HaTikva)

Hear oh Israel the L-rd our G-d is one L-rd. Blessed be the Name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever.

Because Messiah said it is the greatest Commandment!

Mark 12:28-29

28 And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the greatest

commandment of all?” 29 And Yeshua answered him, “The first of all the commandments is, Hear,

O Israel; The Lord our God is One

Lord:”

We’ll now sing HaTikva (The Hope)

Kol ‘od balleivav penimah Nefesh yehudi homiyah Ul(e)fa’atei mizrach kadimah, ‘Ayin letziyon tzofiyah; ‘Od lo avdah tikvateinu, Hatikvah bat shnot alpayim, Lihyot‘am chofshi be’artzeinu, Eretz-tziyon (v)'Y(e)rushalayim.

Meet new people! Let them see that Messianics truly understand community and brotherly/sisterly love. Say hello to old friends… show that you care!

Shalom upon you, O ministering angels, angels of the Exalted One--from the King Who reigns over kings, the Holy One, Blessed is He. May your coming be for shalom, O angels of shalom, angels of the Exalted One--from the King Who reigns over kings, the Holy One, Blessed is He. Bless me for shalom, O angels of shalom, angels of the Exalted One--from the King Who reigns over kings, the Holy One, Blessed is He. May your departure be to shalom, O angels of shalom, angels of the Exalted One--from the King who reigns over kings, the Holy One, Blessed is He.

• Pray for unsaved loved ones and healings. •Pray for the peace of Jerusalem •Pray for salvation for the Jewish people.

• Pray for our government • Pray for other countries that anti-Semitic laws will not pass.

• Pastors in Wenatchee to see the truth of HaShem’s Torah and forsake paganism.

Prayer for today’s message Pray that the UN will be dismantled. Prayer over our tithes and offerings. Pray for the new congregations in Quincy and Leavenworth.

Pray for our new members and visitors that the Adversary will be hindered when he tries to steal the words of truth they’ve learned during their stay with us. End

This is our opportunity to render unto G-d that which is G-d’s.

Blessing Before The

Reading Of The Torah

Parashat VaYishlach "And he sent" Date: December 1, 2012 (5773 Kislev 17)

Torah Reading: Genesis 32:3 - 36:43 Haftarah Reading: Obadiah 1:1-21

Brit Chadashah Reading: Matthew 26:36-46

Torah Reading: Genesis 28:10-32:2 Haftarah Reading: Hosea 12:11-14:9 Brit Chadashah Reading: John 1:43-51

Parashat VaYetze "And he went out"

Date: November 24 2012 (5773 Kislev 10)

Torah: Genesis 28:10-end of chapter. Haftarah: Hosea 12:11- end of chapter. Brit Chadashah: John 1:43-end of chapter.

We’ll read:

10 Ya‘akov went out from Be’er-Sheva and traveled toward Haran. 11 He came to a certain place and stayed the night there, because the sun had set. He took a stone from the place, put it under his head and lay down there to sleep. 12 He dreamt that there before him was a ladder resting on the ground with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of ADONAI were going up and down on it.

Genesis 28:10-end of chapter

13 Then suddenly ADONAI was standing there next to him; and he said, “I am ADONAI, the God of Avraham your [grand]father and the God of Yitz’chak. The land on which you are lying I will give to you and to your descendants. 14 Your descendants will be as numerous as the grains of dust on the earth. You will expand to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. By you and your descendants all the families of the earth will be blessed.


15 Look, I am with you. I will guard you wherever you go, and I will bring you back into this land, because I won’t leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” 16 Ya‘akov awoke from his sleep and said, “Truly, ADONAI is in this place — and I didn’t know it!”


17 Then he became afraid and said, “This place is fearsome! This has to be the house of God! This is the gate of heaven!” 18 Ya‘akov got up early in the morning, took the stone he had put under his head, set it up as a standing-stone, poured olive oil on its top…


19 and named the place Beit-El [house of God]; but the town had originally been called Luz. 20 Ya‘akov took this vow: “If God will be with me and will guard me on this road that I am traveling, giving me bread to eat and clothes to wear,


21 so that I return to my father’s house in peace, then ADONAI will be my God; 22 and this stone, which I have set up as a standing-stone, will be God’s house; and of everything you give me, I will faithfully return one-tenth to you.” (Baruch HaShem)


11 I have spoken to the prophets; it was I who gave vision after vision; through the prophets I gave examples to show what it would all be like.

Hosea 12:11- end of chapter

12 Is Gil‘ad given to iniquity? Yes, they have become worthless. In Gilgal they sacrifice to bulls; therefore their altars are like piles of stones in a plowed field.”


13 Ya‘akov fled to the land of Aram. There Isra’el slaved to win a wife; for a wife he tended sheep. 14 By a prophet ADONAI brought Isra’el up from Egypt, and by a prophet he was protected.


15 Efrayim has given bitter provocation, so the penalty for his bloodshed will be thrown down on him, and his Lord will repay him for his insult. (Baruch HaShem)


43 The next day, having decided to leave for the Galil, Yeshua found Philip and said, “Follow me!” 44 Philip was from Beit-Tzaidah, the town where Andrew and Kefa lived.

John 1:43-end of chapter

45 Philip found Natan’el and told him, “We’ve found the one that Moshe wrote about in the Torah, also the Prophets — it’s Yeshua Ben-Yosef from Natzeret!” 46 Natan’el answered him, “Natzeret? Can anything good come from there?” “Come and see,” Philip said to him.


47 Yeshua saw Natan’el coming toward him and remarked about him, “Here’s a true son of Isra’el — nothing false in him!” 48 Natan’el said to him, “How do you know me?” Yeshua answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”


49 Natan’el said, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Isra’el!” 50 Yeshua answered him, “you believe all this just because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than that!”


51 Then he said to him, “Yes indeed! I tell you that you will see heaven opened and the angels of God going up and coming down on the Son of Man!” (Baruch HaShem)


Baruch atah Adonay Eloheynu melech ha'olam, asher bachar-banu mikol ha'amim, venatan-lanu et torah-to. Baruch atah Adonay, noten hatorah.

Blessed are You, LORD our God, king of the universe, who chose us from all the peoples and gave to us His Torah. Blessed are You, LORD, giver of the Torah.

•Children are dismissed • Turn on cameras

The Nazerenes Part 2 By Rabbi Stanley

Today we’re going to look at the name of the Nazarenes: where it came from, who used it and what it should mean to us today. In doing so we will be discussing at length Nazareth and the Galilee region.

The earliest documentary evidence we have to the word “Nazarene” in referring to a person is in the Brit Chadasha (Renewed Covenant/New Testament).

This reference concerns Yeshua and we see it used quite a few times. For example in Matt 2:23, 26:71; Luke 18:37; John 18:5,7, 19:19; Acts 2:22, 3:6, 4:10, 6:14.

So if the word is used this many times… shouldn’t we know what it means? Yet in most churches today, they have no clue what the word means and that’s a real shame.

In Greek, the word is pronounced Nazoraios. But that doesn’t do much for us because it’s a transliteration from the Hebrew word Notzereem.

Now in this day and age you’ll see it transliterated and pronounced different ways. Some say N’tzereem; some say Notzreem; but it’s all the same word in Hebrew.

So what does it mean? To answer that particular question we have to look at Luke 2:39, that’s the real key verse that will give us some answers.

It’s talking about Yosef (Joseph) and Miriam (Mary) and it says… “When Yosef and Miryam had finished doing everything required by the Torah of ADONAI, they returned to the Galil (Galilee), to their town Natzeret (Nazareth).”

The word Nazarene comes from this word Nazareth so we now need to know what Nazareth means. So we’re going to study today a bit about Nazareth the town

Nazareth is usually painted as some kind of dump only fit for shepherds and peasants but I’m going to show you a very different picture. I’m going to show that first century Nazareth was one of the best places to live in all of Israel.

Just to give you an idea of what’s commonly taught, let’s look at what Bible commentators teach concerning Nazareth…

Mathew Henry… “Nazareth was a place held in bad esteem, and Christ was crucified with this accusation, Jesus the Nazarene.”

The IVP (InterVarsity Press) Commentary says “Nazareth was humanly insignificant”. Another prolific writer, James Snowden, writes… “Thus the first hostile judgment that fell upon Jesus was that of prejudice against His origin…

An obscure hill town up in a provincial district was no fit place for a prophet to come from. The village was not even mentioned in the Old Testament, and would all the glowing visions of the prophets and great hopes of the nation…

find their fulfillment in so obscure and despised a place?” Another writer says… Although the reasons are not entirely clear, the New Testament bears witness that Nazareth and the Galilee region in general were not looked upon

favorably by Jews outside the area. Nazareth was despised by many Jews.”

It may seem like I go off on a rabbit trail here as I go into some detail concerning the region, but you’ll see it’s imperative to understand Nazareth and that area so we can understand the word Nazarene. So let’s talk about Nazareth.

What we do know is that it was a fairly small town. I’ve been there many times and the (archeological) digs there suggest that it wasn’t as big as many of the other towns in Israel.

But we have to be careful when reading various commentaries concerning it when they use such verbiage as “a small, uncultured unimportant village with a bad reputation” or

“a tiny insignificant hamlet in the first century.” HarperCollins Bible Dictionary describes Nazareth as “an insignificant agricultural village.”

True, it wasn’t a large town, but it was far from insignificant, uncultured, or suffering from a bad reputation.

The first thing we need to know is that Nazareth was on two major trade routes and within walking distance of one of the most booming cities in all of Israel at that time.

Nazareth was and is a beautiful place; it overlooks the Plain of Esdraelon. It’s a magnificent area.

It was beautiful in the first century as well. You may know the plain of Esdraelon by the name “Jezreel Valley”. This is where Gideon fought against the Midianites and the Amalekites. You remember when Gideon went to fight with them and G-d told Gideon he had too many men.

He originally had 32,000 men, but ended up with 300 men to go and fight the opposing armies. Then G-d told Gideon to circle the Midianites and the Amalekites and have his men all blow their Shofars at the same time.

They did that and the Amalekites and the Midianites woke up startled and G-d gave the enemy a spirit of confusion and they started killing each other. They all panicked and fled. Now, back to Nazareth…

Even though commentators say such terrible things about Nazareth, and make it out to be a dump, Nazareth is actually one of the most beautiful places in all of Israel.

bible-history.com is correct when it says, “The little town of Nazareth was one of the most beautiful places in all of Galilee.”

Nazareth

Like I said, Nazareth was also close to some major trade routes. Caravans passed through as they traveled to the south and to the east. Just outside of Nazareth was the main road from Egypt to Damascus, a road over which even the Roman legions frequently traveled.

This road was also called the Via Maris (The Way of the Sea). It’s a very famous trade route. Let me show it to you on a map…

Map of Israel

So you could see on this map all those ancient main roads (the Via Maris goes back to the Bronze Age) and these roads went by very close to Nazareth and through Galilee to the various nations.

It’s quite easy to call Galilee, the Galilee of the nations, with these major trade routes going through it to various nations. Now think back to the teaching we did on the de-Judahfication of the Galilee and we looked at Matt 4:15 which says..

“The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.” The word for Gentiles in Hebrew is goyim. That passage should be translated as Galilee of the Nations. It should not be translated Galilee of the Gentiles.

Do you see it starting to come together a little for you? There was no “Galilee of the Gentiles”; there was a Galilee of the nations. (The word for “nations” and “gentiles” is the same in Hebrew… goyim.

That passage in Mathew is quoted from Isaiah 9:1 which says…

“Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea,

beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations. See, it was translated correctly in the Old Testament! Most translators change it in the New Testament in order to make it more Gentilic so it will better fit their own personal theology.

Because of that simple mistranslation of the word goyim, we ended up with a whole bunch of writers incorrectly believing that the Galilee region was populated with Gentiles when it wasn’t.

Many people from various nations caravanned through it, but they didn’t live there. We want to remember this as we learn more about Nazareth

Now keep these trade routes in mind as we go on… Two miles from Nazareth was a city named Sepphoris. In Hebrew it was called Tzipori which means “birds” because it had many varieties of beautiful birds in that area.

These birds all came to the Sea of Galilee from Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan and all over the region. The Sea of Galilee is a fresh water lake. It’s not salt water; so the birds all made it a stop-over on their migrations.

So these wonderful, exotic birds, some coming clear up from Africa, were all over the place. Just imagine how beautiful that would be.

Sepphoris was a major city. In fact, Herod Antipas made it the capital. He fortified it and it was considered “the ornament of all Galilee”.

It was quite large….

As the caravans came though the two major trade routes, they all stopped in Sepphoris and sold their wares and spices, and no doubt shared stories of what was going on in the parts of the world they had just come from.

Also being only two miles from Nazareth, Sepphoris would’ve been the best place for Yosef, Yeshua and His brothers to go buy supplies and to find employment.

There were lots of wealthy Jews in Sepphoris; we know this because the digs there have turned up many houses with Mikvas (baptismals) in them which was a sign of the affluent.

How many houses with Mikvas? One excavator said this… “We have houses, each with its own private ritual bath.” There were a lot of Mikvas there and thus, a lot of wealthy Jews.

Only the wealthy could afford to have a Mikva right in their own home and we see many such houses in Sepphoris. Again, that whole area is beautiful and very attractive. The Talmud Yesrushalami says…

"Sixteen miles all around Sepphoris is a land flowing with milk and honey" – Jerusalem Talmud.

That would include Nazareth just 2 miles from it wouldn’t it? How about that? Maybe Nazareth wasn’t all that bad a place to live after all. Let’s continue to learn some more about Sepphoris, this grand city just 2 miles from Nazareth.

PBS Frontline wrote this… “Sepphoris was known as the jewel of the Galilee. It was one of the capital cities of the Galilee and it's the first capital of Herod's son, who was an independent client king of Rome during the lifetime of Jesus....

Sepphoris is a beautiful, wealthy city. It's a Jewish city. But like most wealthy Jewish cities in the Greco-Roman period, it's architectural statements are done in Greco-Roman idiom.

That doesn't mean that they embraced Greco-Roman culture no more than we would think that Thomas Jefferson was a Greek because Monticello has elements of Greek architecture.”

This is two miles from Nazareth. With all this building going on, what a perfect place for a builder to find work. We’ll talk about that shortly.

So Sepphoris was full of Jews yet it had some Greco-Roman culture as well. It wasn’t void of other cultures. When one went to the palaces or courthouses etc., they would see some of the most beautiful paintings and mosaics that Greco-Roman culture had to offer.

One of the mosaics there is today called “The Mona Lisa of the Galilee”. This is a picture of it…

One writer tells of it in these words… “the artistry that depicts it in stone is so delicate, so exquisite and so painterly.” The entire mosaic included 1.5 million stones in 28 colors.

The city also had it’s own colonnade (a colonnade denotes a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature.)

Colonnade

(slide)

Josephus wrote that “Herod also built a wall about Sepphoris (which is the security of all Galilee), and made it the metropolis of the country.” (Ant. 18.02.27)

In another of his works Josephus speaks of Sepphoris as one of “the greatest cities of Galilee” (Life 346),

So you can see it was a city full of beauty and culture and which would’ve employed only the best craftsmen. Even though much of it was done in Greco-Roman motif, the vast majority of builders were indeed Jews from the area: Jews like Yoseph (Joseph) and Yeshua.

Let’s talk about what kind of work Yosef and Yeshua did. They weren’t lowly carpenters. That’s a gross misrepresentation of who they really were. There was very little wood in Israel then as now.

The houses were made of stone not wood. And the word they translated in the New Testament as “carpenter” is “tekton” in Greek. Tekton in Greek can also mean “general contractor or architect”.

The Greek word tekton, translated ‘carpenter’ has the root meaning of ‘artisan,’ that is, a skilled worker who works on hard materials such as wood or stone or even horn or ivory. A metal smith also could be described as a tekton.

But the tekton in First Century Israel was more then just an artisan. They had to wear many hats. These skilled workers in today’s world would be considered general contractors and many were even architects. Even in the KJV Greek lexicon it says this…

Definition a worker in wood, a carpenter, joiner, builder, a ship builder; any craftsman, or workman; the art of poetry, maker of songs; a planner, contriver, plotter; an author.

To just translate it as “carpenter” leaves a lot to be desired. We have to remember that Yosef was a prince of the House of David and we’ll explain that in a bit. We have to remember that Yeshua attended yeshiva to become a Rabbi.

In the Talmud 101 series, we go over how a Rabbi wasn’t someone who only mastered theology. He also had to master science, art, literature, and music if he wanted to be a cantor.

A rabbi wouldn’t have even selected Yeshua for a yeshiva if Yeshua wasn’t a student of promise. Rabbi Hillel, one of the greatest rabbis of all time, picked Yeshua personally to come and study at his Yeshiva.

Rabbi Hillel knew of this young man. You know how I know that? Matt 2: After Yeshua was born in Beit-Lechem in the land of Y'hudah during the time when Herod was king, Magi from the east came to Yerushalayim…

and asked, "Where is the newborn King of the Jews? For we saw his star in the east and have come to worship him." When King Herod heard of this he became very agitated, and so did everyone else in Yerushalayim.

He called together all the head cohanim and Torah-teachers of the people and asked them, "Where will the Messiah be born?" "In Beit Lechem of Y'hudah," they replied, "because the prophet wrote,

`And you, Beit-Lechem in the land of Y'hudah, are by no means the least among the rulers of Y'hudah; for from you will come a Ruler who will shepherd my people Isra'el.'"

You can bet that Hillel was there! Yeshua didn’t just appear at Hillel’s Yeshiva. Ancient writings tell us that each boy was hand picked by the rabbi himself.

Hillel went on to become the head of the Sanhedrin, thr ultimate place of power within all of Israel and the Diaspora to the Jewish people. A very smart man. Of course he picked Yeshua! What if this boy wasn’t just a child of promise but THE Child of Promise?

I think He knew!!! Remember… one of Rabbi Hillel’s best students, Rabbi Gamaliel defended Yeshua’s Disciples in Acts 5 saying…

Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God."

I tend to think Gamaliel knew too. A rabbi and his talmidim were very close. They shared a lot of intimate ideas and thoughts. I would bet you, if I were a betting man, that Hillel shared his suspicions with his talmid Gamaliel.

Think about this…Hillel worked with Yeshua for years in his Yeshiva, you think he didn’t have suspicions??? You think he didn’t see something special? We know that Yeshua showed a remarkable aptitude for study when He was young.

There’s a story of him at the temple when he was a little boy stunning the Rabbis of Jerusalem with His understanding of Scripture. I suspect Hillel even told his good friend, Rabbi Shammai about this lad.

Not only were he and Rabbi Shammai good friends, Rabbi Shammai was his vice president of the Sanhedrin.

What we can know is that Yeshua had the best education that the Jews had to offer. He was Yeshua,the royal Son of David. He was skilled and educated.

That’s what Yeshua and Yosef were; they weren’t just carpenters. And because they sometimes did have to work with stone, they were probably quite strong. Not this weak, wimpy looking Jesus we see in all the paintings. Yeshua was buff. He probably wasn’t very tall, He was a Jew, but He was a stocky Jew.

When Yeshua was growing up, all the work they needed was only 2 miles away. The vast construction project in Sepphoris that Herod Antipas launched lasted throughout the entire lifetime of Yeshua.

That’s how much building was going on there. It was just starting when He was a baby. It was a great place to settle down for a contractor. Matt 2:22 says…

However, when he heard that Archelaus had succeeded his father Herod as king of Y'hudah, he was afraid to go there. Warned in a dream, he withdrew to the Galil and settled in a town called Natzeret, so that what had been spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he will be called a Natzrati.

While in Sepphoris, Yeshua would’ve been exposed to all the various caravans coming though and selling their wares and spices.

He not only would’ve learned about the cultures of the various caravans that came through as those in Jerusalem eventually did, he’d have learned it first, before those in Jerusalem did. He was in the know before the others were in Judea.

Various Rabbis from other countries in the north would come to teach as well as study in Jerusalem. All the latest teachings would’ve come down from Tarsus or Damascus, huge learning centers then.

Yeshua would’ve heard them taught at the synagogue in Sepphoris before they reached Jerusalem. It was only two miles from His house.

Living in Nazareth, he didn’t have to deal with the big city life all the time either. He could retreat to His home tucked away in the peace and quiet of His quaint town.

Kind of like Wenatchee. We’re close enough to the big city of Seattle if we want anything, but we’re far enough away that we don’t have to deal with the problems of big city life.

Nazareth was the Wenatchee of Israel! And where did this town, Nazereth come from? Nazereth, Natzereth… the word itself means “offshoot”. Like the offshoot of a branch from a tree.

Is 11:1 says… A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. This is a well known Messianic prophecy. Jesse was the father of King David whose line would produce the Messiah.

I would suggest to you that Nazareth, the town, was named by Yeshua’s family. Yosef and Miriam (Mary) were of the royal line, Yosef a Prince and Miriyam a Princess with hopes of being related to the Messiah of Israel. Little did they know, it’d be their son.

I would suggest that Nazereth was their own little area with just family. Not even really a town, but more of an area designated for royalty of their caliber.

This would explain the lack of the name Nazareth in Josephus’ records where he names all the towns of Galilee but Nazareth is nowhere to be found in that list. Or, this would explain why it wasn’t in the Old Testament; it was a new town.

Skeptics say it wasn’t on that list because Nazareth didn’t exist in the First Century. I believe the Gospel accounts are true and it did exist; it just wasn’t the same as a town, it was more of a place for the “royal family” to settle.

There was enough extended family there to have enough men for a synagogue. You need ten men to have a minyan. There was a synagogue there and Yeshua taught in it just as the Brit Hadasha recounts.

Nazareth did grow a little later on. We know by the time of the Bar Kochba revolt in AD132 that some of the priestly families became displaced.

Both the Mishna and a marble inscription found at Caesarea Maritima says the 24 priestly families were absorbed.

And one of those places is named as Nazareth where the family “Happitsets” was settled.

In order to be a place for the priestly family to reside, it had to be a place of wealth and influence. You can read more about that in the Israel Exploration Journal, 1963, by Michael Avi Yonah

Some of you may know some of Avi Yonah’s work in the…

So Nazareth is mentioned in the Mishna and on an inscription in marble and yet these critics say it never even existed. Not only did it exist, it was a place of beauty.

One commentator in another work described Nazareth as a “rat hole”. How much would you like to bet me that that commentator has never stepped foot in Israel? I’m absolutely sure of it.

Many a myth can be dispelled if you have lived in the land. If a commentator has NOT lived there you can understand how their ideas can be wayyyy off.

Their theology can be downright absurd. A two week tour isn’t going to tell you everything. But it’ll sure help…

Even after the 19 years I lived there, I was only scratching the surface. There’s so much to know and learn in Israel.

So, now that we know that Nazareth was beautiful, we can dispel any false beliefs that are taught that Nazareth or someone from Nazareth, a Nazarene, would be a word that could be used as a disparaging remark.

Encyclopedia Biblica says this… “The term Nazarene is a term of contempt and Jesus of Nazareth was a contemptuous title”.

I disagree on both counts. Yet you find this negative attitude towards the terms pervasive in Christian literature. You can even go online and Google “Nazarene disparaging term” and you see all kinds of misinformation.

While we’re talking about the internet btw, I’m sure everyone knows this, but just in case… unless you’re enrolled or participating in a Messianic Yeshiva or Messianic classes online…

the internet is a great tool for studying theology (you can get various commentaries and so forth on the net), but it should never, never be your theological education. It can NOT substitute for a good education.

If you’ve gotten or are getting your Messianic education from the internet other then from a good school, your theology is going to be very distorted. I just wanted to put that out there.

There is more proof of the existence of a first century Nazareth. You see, we have to prove a Nazareth existed in the First Century or there’s no Jesus the Nazarene.

If there’s no Jesus the Nazarene there’s no sect of the Nazarenes, you see where I’m going with this?

In 2004, in Nazareth, under the house of Elias Shama, a Roman style bath house was discovered and was dated by Jewish archeologists to of all time periods… the First Century.

See, there is ample proof of the existence of Nazareth from outside sources and extra-Biblical works.

So why do so many teach that Nazareth was some kind of hole in the wall? Most of it stems from one comment in the New Testament. John 1:46 Natan'el answered him, "Natzeret? Can anything good come from there?" "Come and see," Philip said to him.

Well, it must be a terrible place then. If you’re one who doesn’t believe in taking various things into consideration like Biblical archeology, history and the geography of Israel then yeah, it could seem like Nazareth is a terrible place if you only take a few words into account and nothing else.

I often times hear people tell me, “If it’s not in the Bible, then I don’t believe it”. My response to that is, “Okay, then you don’t believe in plastic, modern surgery or the automobile. None of those things are in the Scriptures.”

Sometimes they’ll snap back, “I’m talking about things in the Word of God.” “Okay, then explain to me what a ‘legion’ is without stepping outside of Biblical reference. The word ‘legion’ is in the New Testament. Explain to me what it is. You can’t! You have to use outside sources sometimes.

Sometimes I reference the Talmud and people will say to me, “I don’t believe anything in the Talmud”. Well that’s too bad. The Talmud tells us of rooms in the Temple that we wouldn’t have known even existed without it. Parts of the Talmud were written by eyewitnesses in the First Century.

There’s a resource you shouldn’t throw away. Back to Nazareth. So why did Natanel say that nothing good came from Nazareth. Could have been a number of reasons. He might have had a bad experience there.

Maybe there was some family rivalry? Natanel was from Cana…

There could’ve been many reasons why he didn’t like it. Could’ve been personal taste…Some people love California; some people hate it.

Natanel could’ve simply been jealous because he wasn’t allowed to live there. He might have thought the royal family to be too hoity-toity. Who knows…

But the anti-Semitic commentators have tried to connect Nathaniel's statement to a disdain not only for Nazareth but of all of the Galilee region which as we’ve seen in the teaching on the de-Judaizing of the Galilee is completely unsubstantiated.

So the name Nazarene came from the town of Nazareth which meant an “offshoot” referring to the Messianic prophecy that the Messiah would be an offshoot of Jesse, the father of King David.

Yeshua became known as the Nazarene: Matt 2:23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.

So, which was spoken by the prophets… someone please tell me in which of the prophetical books is that a quote from?

Oh that’s right, nowhere in the prophets does it say that. In fact the word “Nazarene” is nowhere in the Old Testament at all. If it was written in another prophetical book, we don’t have it.

Some people ask me, “Doesn’t the word Nazarene come from the word Nazorite?” No, it’s spelled differently in Hebrew and doesn’t even come from the same root word. Nazorite means:

“one who has taken a vow”. A Nazorite is someone who has taken a vow. So that’s why they are called Nazorites.

If Yeshua had been called Yeshua the Nazorite, He hardly could’ve said in Luke 7:34, “The Son of man came eating and drinking.” Neither could He have drunk wine at Passover or drank anything with grapes. During His ministry, He wasn’t a Nazorite.

Again, we have to understand the importance in Judaism in the First Century concerning the word Notzereem. Even though Notzereem doesn’t appear in the Old Testament, the root of the word does. As we mentioned a quote from Isaiah 11:1

A shoot (netzer) will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. So like I said, it was a popular Messianic word used even way before Yeshua was born. We do see in Rev 5:5 the term “Root of David” used to designate Yeshua

Then one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David. This is specifically talking about Yeshua.

But so far we’ve only seen the word “Nazarene” used to designate Yeshua and not used to designate a group. It’s not until we get to Acts 24:5 that we see it used for people other then Yeshua Himself.

And this is when Tertullus comes on the scene. Tertullus was a lawyer and makes some accusations against Rabbi Shaul (Paul) and he then tells the court who Rabbi Shaul is: he’s a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.

The exact words are… 5 "We have found this man to be a troublemaker, stirring up riots among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the Nazarene sect.

Right away Paul is then given the stage and he doesn’t refute being a ringleader of the Nazarene sect, so we can safely assume that it’s true. Otherwise he’d have said, “What? No, I’m not a part of this sect!”.

We also want to take notice that Tertullus is acting in an official manner and speaking to the governor and he doesn’t even explain who the sect of the Nazarenes are. The governor was in fact already familiar with this term.

There is zero explanation given as to who they were by Tertullus and yet we’re given the minutiae of this conversation. The term “Nazarene” wasn’t unknown or meaningless to the governer. We know this to be true because we read in verse 22…

“Then Felix, who was well acquainted with The Way, adjourned the proceedings.“ This is very important. Because of this verse, we now know that The Way and the Nazarenes are one in the same. It ties it up very nicely for us.

These were not derogatory names called us by outsiders. Yeshua was called “the offshoot of Jesse” (Nazarene). It was a name that the very first believers gave Him. Then “Nazarenes” was a name they called themselves.

There is something to being the one to define who you are as opposed to allowing the ungodly to define who you are.

So all the first believers were called the people of “The Way” and later on they were called the sect of the Nazarenes. For a time these were even interchangeable as we saw in this passage in Acts.

One last point concerning their name…Is today’s Church of the Nazarene denomination a descendant of the original Nazarene Church? No, it’s not. The Church of the Nazarene is an Evangelical Christian organization started in 1908.

The Church of the Nazarene is generally Wesleyan in thought, because they follow the teachings of John Wesley, having emerged from what is called the “holiness movement”. The Pentecostal movement also traces it’s origin to the “holiness movement”.

Let’s summarize the main points. 1. The word “Nazarene” comes

from the word “Nazareth”, one of the most beautiful and cultured places in all of Israel.

2. Nazareth was on two major trade routes and within walking distance to one of the most booming cities in all of Israel at that time. That’s why it was called the “Galilee of the Nations” (goyim).

3. Sepphoris was a wealthy Jewish area where Yosef and Yeshua probably worked as skilled general contractors because of their outstanding education.

4. Rabbi Hillel was probably there when Herod called for all the Torah teachers when the wise men asked for Yeshua. Hillel also probably knew who Yeshua was when he hand picked Him to be his “talmid.”

5. There is both historical and archeological proof that Nazareth did indeed exist in the First Century.

(slide) 6. Nathaniel’s comment is not enough to cast a negative image on the Galilee or Nazareth.

7. The followers of “The Way” and the “Sect of the Nazarenes” are one in the same people.

Next week, we’ll see what the New Testament actually says about the sect; we’ll examine what some of the Early Church step-fathers had to say about us;

we’ll look at their migration to Pella after the Bar Kochba War and some ancient Nazarene commentary.

We will also take a look at a prayer said to this day in most synagogues that is said as a curse to the Sect of the Nazarenes. All that and more next week. Let’s stand for the benediction.

(House Of Our Father)

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