The picture of Jesus’ life that most of us from Christian Sunday schools inherited was one of Jesus growing up in a gentle pastoral society of shepherds, “the meek” inheritors of the earth. Twentieth century archaeology proved it to be a culturally biased and incorrect portrait. A Greco-Roman city, Sepphoris, discovered just a few miles north of Nazareth, was only partially excavated in 1931 by Leroy Waterman of the University of Michigan. This first dig closed after one season, after uncovering the Greco-Roman theater, known from the literature, just a decade before final reception of The Urantia Book in 1942(?).
Sepphoris, from Tzippori, the Hebrew word for bird, was called “The Forgotten City,” in Archaeologist/Professor Richard Batey’s book (1992). Neither the Old nor the New Testaments refer to it. However, it is mentioned 22 times in The Urantia Book (The UB). Many of us know The UB authors’ comments on their disclosures of lost history, “… new developments we even now foresee, but we are forbidden to include such humanly undiscovered facts in the revelatory records.” (101:4.2)
The facts of the archaeological site of Sepphoris were already known even though the general public had heard nothing about them in 1955 when The UB was published. Although not actually disclosing new information, The Urantia Book certainly revealed the city’s importance in the history of Jesus’ life long before our scientists made their discoveries publicly known.
We knew of the city from the rabbinic literature, and from the history, Wars of the Jews by Josephus, who described it as “the ornament of all Galilee.” Herod Antipas rebuilt it in 4 B.C. after its destruction in a rebellion crushed by the Romans. Reza Aslan describes it in his recent book, Zealot, (2013) “Rich, cosmopolitan, deeply influenced by Greek culture, and surrounded by a panoply of races and religions, the Jews of Sepphoris were the product of the Herodian social revolution - the nouveaux riches who rose to prominence after Herod's massacre of the old priestly aristocracy.”
Batey of Rhodes College, and James Strange of The University of South Florida led a second, more thorough expedition in1983. Eventually other institutions joined the dig. New building foundations and many beautiful mosaics were brought to light. The UB published its information long before Strange and Batey gathered their data for publication in 1992.
“The ruins of the palace, colonnades, forum, theater, and villas at Sepphoris show that the Galilean culture affecting Jesus was far more sophisticated and urban than was previously thought possible." (Jesus & the Forgotten City, Richard A. Batey, 1992)
Just four or five miles from Nazareth, we were now presented with physical evidence of a flowering of Jewish culture influenced by Greco-Roman culture (the Mediterranean world was ruled by the Greeks and then the Romans.) The city was under construction during Jesus lifetime, “but its connection to Jesus and Joseph of Nazareth was never known.” Batey goes on to tell us, “Both Jesus and his father were “builders” (the Greek word tekton in Mark 6:3 is more accurately translated as craftsman).”
Scholars who are non-readers of the UB speculate on Jesus’ involvement with the city and have produced good research from close readings of biblical texts, supplemented by midrash records. They now believe that Joseph, his father, and Jesus were both probably employed at Herod’s Sepphoris restoration project.
“The latter part of this year, when carpenter work was slack about Nazareth, Jesus left James in charge of the repair shop and Joseph [his brother] at the home bench while he went over to Sepphoris to work with a smith. He worked six months with metals and acquired considerable skill at the anvil.” (The UB, 128:2.3)
As a young man in his twenty-second year, before he began his ministry, Jesus found the moral standards of the city “far below those of even the caravan city of Nazareth,” which was also corrupted by the Greco-Roman influence. ”But most of all was his sense of propriety outraged by the sight of the frivolous courtesans parading about within this precinct of the temple, just such painted women as he had so recently seen when on a visit to Sepphoris.” (125:1.2)
“After six months sojourn at Sepphoris, Jesus was not averse to find an excuse for returning to Nazareth,” (128:2.6). Biblical scholars speculate that Jesus did not seek out this sort of environment during his ministry, and The UB confirms it. “Jesus talked over many things of importance to the coming kingdom with his newly chosen associates … He also advised them to avoid the cities of Sepphoris and Tiberias in their future work.” (137:5.1)
Some believe Jesus only spoke Aramaic and Hebrew but the discovery of Sepphoris makes it far less credible. “Though the New Testament Gospels do not tell us whether Jesus spoke Greek or not, they do describe situations in which it’s likely that Greek was used. In Matthew 8:5-13, for example, Jesus entered into dialogue with a Roman centurion. The centurion almost certainly spoke in Greek.” (Mark D. Roberts) http://www.patheos.com/blogs/markdroberts
As we learn from The UB, Jesus' family was presented with, "a complete copy of the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures," (The UB, 123:0.3) when he was a baby, and it became one of their treasured possessions. Jesus spoke to the Greeks in Jerusalem, (174:5). He had the apostles minister to “well-nigh exclusive gatherings of gentiles—Greeks, Romans, and Syrians,” (143:1.1.) at the Greek city of Archelais. So at home was he with these cultured and cosmopolitan groups that he was able to train his associates to be effective ministers who would eventually win over the unbelieving gentiles.
