<h2>The Angel Visits Nazareth</h2><div class="chaptertitle">CHAPTER 4</div>
<div class='cap'>FOR OUR next story we visit Nazareth, a village
in Galilee, nearly seventy miles north of Jerusalem.
Galilee, as we have seen, was the northern
province or division of the land, lying between the river
Jordan and the Great Sea. The lower part of Galilee
is a great plain, called "the plain of Esdraelon," or "the
plain of Jezreel," where many battles have been fought
in past times. The upper part of Galilee is everywhere
mountains and valleys, with villages perched on the
mountain tops or clinging to their sides, and sometimes
nestled in the valleys. Just where the plain ends and
the mountains begin, we find a long range of steep hills.
If we climb to the top of this range, on one side we
see the plain stretched out, and far in the distance the
Mediterranean Sea; and on the other, or northern slope
of the hills, we come to the city of Nazareth. There
the mother of Jesus lived as a young girl before her
son was born, and there Jesus lived during most of
his life.</div>
<p>Nazareth is there still, although many of the old
towns in that land have passed away; and now it is
quite a city, but in the time of which we are telling
it was only a village. All around it are hills. One
can stand in the town and count fifteen hills and mountains,
all in sight.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus-046.jpg" width-obs="600" height-obs="409" alt="photo" /> <span class="caption">Nazareth from the road to Cana</span></div>
<p>Its narrow streets climb the hills between rows of
one-story white houses, many of them having a little
dome on the roof. Around each roof in those times of
which we are telling was a rail with posts on the corners,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</SPAN></span>
to prevent any one on the roof from falling off, for the
flat roof was used as a place of visiting and of rest, since
the house inside was dark, having no glass windows, but
instead only one small hole in the wall. None of these
houses had a door opening upon the street. Beside
the road was a high wall, and in it a gate leading to
an open court, at one end of which stood the house.</p>
<p>In the village was one fountain, to which all the
women went for water. There were no wells or pumps
or pipes with water in the houses; and around the fountain
might be seen in the morning a crowd of women
bringing water-jars empty, and carrying them home full
of water, balanced on their heads. No one often saw
a man carrying a jar of water, for this was looked upon
as a woman's work.</p>
<p>In one of those small white houses of Nazareth
lived a young Jewish girl named Mary. We do not
know how she looked, for although many artists have
made pictures of her, all have drawn or painted her
as they imagined her to be, not as she was. All that
we really know of Mary, we read in two of the four
gospels, Matthew and Luke; and neither of these tell
us anything about her early life or her family. It has
been said that her father's name was Joachim and her
mother's was Anna; but this is not found in either of
the gospels, and we do not know whether it is true.</p>
<p>We do know, however, that she was a pure-hearted,
lovely girl, who served the God of Israel with all her
heart and lived a holy life. She knew her Bible well,
we are sure, for its words came readily to her lips; and
she was a girl who thought much and talked but little.
In those years she might have been seen often going
with the other girls of the village to the fountain for
water, or sitting in the women's gallery in the church,
listening thoughtfully to the reading from the Bible,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</SPAN></span>
and with her rich young voice joining in the chanting
of David's psalms.</p>
<p>In that land girls are promised in marriage while
very young, and Mary was at this time promised to
be married to a man named Joseph, who was a carpenter,
or, as he is called in the gospels, a worker in
wood. The two families, Joseph's and Mary's, were
not rich. They belonged to the working class of people,
but they were not like many, wretchedly poor. They
were just plain, honest, working people, able to earn a
comfortable living.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus-048.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="400" alt="photo" /> <span class="caption">The well of the Virgin Mary, at Nazareth</span></div>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus-049.jpg" width-obs="407" height-obs="600" alt="painting" /> <span class="caption">Mary beheld the angel Gabriel suddenly beaming upon her.</span></div>
<p>Although Joseph and Mary were of the common
people, they came from the noblest blood in all the
land. Both were sprung from the royal line of David,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</SPAN></span>
the greatest of the kings of Israel, and the singer of
many beautiful psalms. They lived in little one-room
houses, and their hands were hard from work, but they
could trace their line back to the palace where David
the founder of their family dwelt.</p>
<p>On one day Mary was alone. It may have been
in her own little home, or upon its roof, where she
often went for prayer, or perhaps under a tree on the
hillside near the village. Just as Zacharias a few months
before had seen a heavenly, gloriously-shining being in
the Temple, so now Mary beheld the same angel Gabriel
suddenly beaming upon her. In a sweet voice he said:</p>
<p>"Peace be with you, Mary! You are in high favor
and love, for the Lord is with you!"</p>
<p>The voice was gentle, but the sight of this shining
form filled the young girl with alarm. She knew not
what to think, nor why this glorious being had come
to her. But after a moment the angel went on speaking,
and said:</p>
<p>"Do not be afraid, Mary, for God has chosen you
among all women for his special favor. You shall have
a son; and you shall give him the name Jesus, because
he shall save his people from their sins. He shall be
great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest God.
God shall give to him the throne and the kingdom of
his father David. He shall reign forever over the people
of Israel, and of his kingdom there shall be no end."</p>
<p>The angel paused and Mary found words to speak,
tremblingly and with fear:</p>
<p>"How can all this come to me? I do not understand
what it all means!"</p>
<p>Then the angel spoke again to the troubled and
frightened girl:</p>
<p>"The Holy Spirit of God shall come to you, and
the power of God shall be upon you; and therefore<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</SPAN></span>
that holy child that is to be given you shall be called
'The Son of God.' Also, let me tell you that your
cousin Elizabeth is soon to have a son in her old age.
This may seem strange to you; but no word of God is
without power. Every promise of God shall surely
come to pass."</p>
<p>Then Mary said:</p>
<p>"I am the Lord's servant, and I can trust him.
Let it be to me as you have spoken. I will rest without
fear in the will of the Lord."</p>
<p>Then, as suddenly as he had come, the angel vanished
out of sight, and Mary was left alone. She was
filled with wonder at what she had seen and heard.
Any young Jewish girl to whom came the news that
the words of the prophets in the Bible were now to
come true, that the long-promised King of Israel was
soon to be born, and that she should be his mother,
would be amazed and perhaps alarmed at the message.</p>
<p>Some girls would have talked about it, and might
even be proud at such an expectation. But Mary's
was a quiet nature, not apt to speak of her deepest
thoughts. She felt in some way that there was no one
in her home or in her village with whom she could speak
of these things. She hid them silently in her heart,
but thought about them day and night.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</SPAN></span></p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus-052.jpg" width-obs="404" height-obs="600" alt="painting" /> <span class="caption">Elizabeth greeting Mary: "Blessed, most blessed are you among women!"</span></div>
<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</SPAN></span></p>
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