Israel Lower Galilee

Location and Setting

• Sepphoris has been rightly called "The Forgotten City." Although commentaries and geography texts give attention to nearby Nazareth and Cana, Sepphoris has been virtually ignored. Like Gamala, it is one of those cities in Galilee which, although not mentioned in Scripture, was very influential in configuring the political, social and economic context in which Jesus lived and ministered. Recent excavations (the site is now a National Park) have revealed a cosmopolitan city of great wealth and beauty, the largest and most important city in all Galilee. Even after Herod built Tiberias and moved his capital and residence there, Sepphoris continued to be a prominent and influential city.
• Sepphoris was "perched like a bird" on a four hundred-foot hill overlooking the Bet Netofa Valley. Its Hebrew name, Zippori, "bird," reflects its lofty location. The city commanded a panoramic view of Lower Galilee, including the towns of Cana, five miles across the Bet Netofa Valley on the northeast and Nazareth, four miles to the south. The historian Josephus called it "the ornament of Galilee."
• Sepphoris was located about midway between the Mediterranean coast and the Sea of Galilee. It was situated on the well-traveled highway that connected the port of Ptolemais, seventeen miles to the northwest, and the Sea of Galilee. This road ran past Sepphoris, through the Turan Valley to Tiberias.
• Sepphoris boasted a 4,000-seat amphitheater, built into the eastern side of the hill, probably while Jesus was a teenager. Its stage was 156 feet wide and 27 feet from front to back. Herod’s rebuilt city included his palace, an upper city and a lower city, a new city wall, a large market place, synagogues, a colonnaded street, and a residential area. Several large cisterns, one holding a thousand gallons, supplied water for the city.

Historical and Biblical Significance

• The importance of this city for our study of the Gospels lies in the fact that it was located only four miles from Nazareth. During Jesus’ early years, Herod Antipas was restoring, developing and fortifying Sepphoris. It served as his principle residence and the administrative center of Galilee, until he built Tiberias in A.D. 18-20.
• Jesus and His legal father, Joseph, were identified by the word tekton, "builder" (inaccurately translated "carpenter" (Matt 13:55; Mark 6:3). This would mean that they were construction craftsmen, skilled in wood and stone work. Since it was the practice of a father to teach his son his trade or skill, we can assume that Joseph trained Jesus for this vocation.
• Nazareth was a small village, presumably lacking in the kind of construction projects that would provide sufficient work for skilled builders. With extensive building in progress an hour’s walk away, it is likely that on some occasions, Joseph and Jesus would have been employed in Sepphoris.
• According to tradition, Sepphoris was the home of Joachim and Anna, the parents of Mary, the mother of Jesus. If true, this would mean that Jesus’ one set of true grandparents lived in this cosmopolitan city, and this would have been the place where His mother grew up. It could also mean that Joseph, a craftsman from Nazareth, perhaps while working on a building in Sepphoris, met the mid-teenager Mary and took her back to Nazareth as his bride.
• Whether or not Jesus worked in Sepphoris for any length of time, there is reason to believe that He was well acquainted with its predominantly Greek and Roman culture. When He used the word "hypocrite," for instance, as He often did, He may have been thinking of the meaning the word had in the theater at Sepphoris, "one acting under a mask," the practice in dramatic productions of the time.
• After the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, Sepphoris became the seat of the Sanhedrin. About A.D. 200, it was at Sepphoris that Judah Hanassi ("the Prince") codified the Mishnah. It incorporated the tradition of the elders that Jesus had challenged in His ministry.