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Typical 1st Century Israelite Home
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Life in Nazareth
Life in Nazareth
Jesus was a Nazarene. He lived most of his life in the town of Nazareth within the province of Galilee. Although a small village, Nazareth was close to the metropolitan centres of Tiberias and Sepphoris. Unlike those predominantly Gentile (non-Jewish) cities, Nazareth was a Jewish enclave. It was also relatively poor and overpopulated; there was a scarcity of natural resources such as water and fertile soil. In such a situation, there tended to be a fair amount of sickness and disease. Nonetheless, Nazareth could not be called destitute. Jesus came from a family of craftsmen or carpenters which suggests a reasonable socio-economic standard of living.
Education was a priority for Jewish people. Jesus would have learnt the Bible at the village school (until the age of twelve) and at the local synagogue. This accounts for Jesus' knowledge of Hebrew (the language of the Bible) and Aramaic (the language in which religious discussion was held). It was also the custom of the time for young adults to attach themselves to a local teacher or sage. Although we know little of Jesus' young adult life, we do know that he eventually chose to be a baptized by John the Baptist. Certainly, by the time of his 'public ministry', Jesus was well versed in the Scriptures and the Jewish tradition. This suggests that he spent many years learning and discussing his Jewish faith and heritage.
Jesus though he was the all-knowing Son of God and divine, allowed himself to grow and learn from others. The unique and altogether singular event of the Incarnation of the Son of God does not mean that Jesus Christ is part God and part man, nor does it imply that he is the result of a confused mixture of the divine and the human. He became truly man while remaining truly God. Jesus Christ is true God and true man. CCC 464
The Son of God. . . worked with human hands; he thought with a human mind. He acted with a human will, and with a human heart he loved. Born of the Virgin Mary, he has truly been made one of us, like to us in all things except sin. CCC 470
Christ in the House of His Parents (1849–50) is a painting by John Everett Millais depicting the Holy Family in Saint Joseph's carpentry workshop.
Jesus was a carpenter
Jesus was a carpenter
(Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary..? Mk 6:3)
(Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary..? Mk 6:3)
A carpenter in Bible times has been some what idealized. Carpentry was a rough, tough job that demanded a great deal of physical strength and endurance as well as great skill. There were two aspects to the carpenter's work: firstly building and secondly the making of smaller objects that included furniture.
Until the Romans invented the arched roof, roofs were constructed by laying timber beams from wall to wall and filling in the gaps with matting that was plastered down with mud. The carpenter had to cut down trees and square up the logs so that they could be used as beams. This was done either with a hand adz (axe-like tool used primarily for shaping wood) or by sawing the length with a primitive saw. Either way was hard physical work. Axe heads were made of bronze (later of iron) and were lashed to a shaft. The bluntness of the edge and relatively insecure fastening ensured that the head fairly regularly came off the shaft. This happening was given as an example of manslaughter tin Deuteronomy 19:5. If the head was lost it was a disaster because of the cost of replacement (2 Kings 6:5). Saw blades were initially made from ribbon flints set in a wooden frame, and it took two men working either side to saw through a tree trunk. Later, metal blades were used, and the teeth arranged so that they cut on the "pull" stroke. The saw is mentioned in Isaiah 41:15 alongside the axe.
The carpenter also undertook many smaller jobs, working on the ground outside his dwelling; benches were not used until Roman times. Doors, door frames, window lattices, and locks were made for buildings, and stools, low tables, and chests for inside the home. Agricultural implements such as Yokes, plows, and shovels were also part of the carpenter's work. The fact that tools were relatively crude meant that a good finish was an extremely skilled task. The hammer (Judges 5:26) was normally a piece of stone. The nails used to fasten together pieces of wood (Jeremiah 10:4) were made first of bronze and later of iron. Holes were bored with an awl, although its use in the Bible is confined to making holes in earlobes (Exodus 21:6; Deuteronomy 15:17).
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