Escaping from these places we inquire for that synagogue in which Jesus received instruction when a youth, and “stood up to read” on a memorable occasion after he had become a public teacher. But there are no Jews in Nazareth, and so there is no need of a synagogue now. The Greek Catholics, indeed, tell us that their chapel, in the main street, occupies the very site of the synagogue; but we find no remains of synagogue architecture. It occurs to us that there is one site, at all events, the features of which could hardly be destroyed or altered, namely, the “brow of the hill on which the city stood,” and from which the Nazarenes intended to precipitate the great Teacher after that scene in the Synagogue. But when we have been guided to the “brow,” although we see before us a fearful descent of about 1000 feet--which old Maundeville calls “the Leap of the Lord”--we observe that it is 2 miles from the town; and we cannot understand how it can be the brow of the hill on which the city stood.
In this general uncertainty of things are our explorers able to do anything for us? Yes, some little, for they are men who use their eyes, and they point out that high up above the present town are numerous old cisterns and tombs. The cisterns would certainly be in close proximity to the dwellings of the people, the ancient Nazareth must therefore have stood higher on the slope; and so the “brow of the hill” was probably one of the cliffs now above the town.
Conder also points out that the Virgin’s Fountain of Nazareth--also called the Fountain of the Annunciation--should be one of the most surely identified places. There is but one spring in the town, and Mary must necessarily have drawn water from it like other women. The Greeks have built their church at the place, and declare it to be the scene of the Annunciation. Their church is dedicated to St Gabriel, and even the Latins admit that it stands on the site where the angel first became visible. “As in the eighth century, so now, the spring is under the floor of the church, which is itself half subterranean. The water is led to the left of the high altar, past a well-mouth, by which it is drawn up for pilgrims, and so by a channel to the masonry fountain, where it comes out through metal spouts under an arched recess broad enough for fifteen women to stand side by side. A pool is formed below at the trough, and here the constant succession of the Nazareth women may be seen all day filling their great earthenware jars, standing ankle-deep in water, their pink or green-striped baggy trousers tucked between their knees; their heads are covered, if Moslems with the moon-shaped tire, if Christians with a gay handkerchief or the hair plaited in long tails. A negress in blue here and there mingles with the crowd, which is chattering, screaming, gossiping, and sometimes fighting.