Mount Precipice
Slopes of Mount Precipice. Photo © BibleWalks.
View from Mount Precipice to Mount Tabor, traditional site of the
Transfiguration. Photo © BibleWalks.
Satellite map of Mount Precipice. For a larger view, see our
Footsteps of Jesus Map or Google Earth download.
Mount Precipice (or Mount Kedumim) is a mountain just outside of Nazareth in northern Israel, where tradition has it an angry mob attempted to throw Jesus off the cliff (Luke 4:16-30).
In the Bible
He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. ...
Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
... "I tell you the truth," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown. I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian."
All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way. (Luke 4:16-30)
What to See
The hilltop site provides sweeping views of the Jezreel Valley, Mount Tabor, and other Galilean sights.
The western slopes are home to a cave in which 13 Neanderthal skeletons were found during modern excavations. The cave was used by Christian hermit monks in the 6th century. It is unfortunately not open to the public. Some tombs, cisterns, and a large mosaic were found on the peak of the hill.
On a hill just north of Mount Precipice is the Church of Our Lady of the Fright, which tradition says stands on the spot from which Mary watched in horror as her son was led to the edge of the cliff.
Getting There
By car, follow signs for "Mt Precipice" on the highway that bypasses Nazareth towards Jewish Natzeret Illit.
Sources
- Mount Precipice, Nazareth - BibleWalks
