Community Bible Study -- Isaiah

Photos for Lesson 19, Isa 61:1-11

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Jesus inagurated his formal ministry by quoting Isa 61:1-2 about Himself:

“(Jesus) went to Nazareth . . . and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue . . . and he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. (He read): "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor" . . . . (Jesus) began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." (Lu 4:16-21)

The people of Nazareth took him outside the city and tried to throw him off the "brow of the hill" (below left).

The synagogue of Nazareth is long gone, but it probably looked something like the recently excavated 1st century synagogue in nearby Korazin (above right): relatively modest, but the central and largest building in a modest village.