The route of Joseph

Robert Frost wrote a poem “The Road Less Traveled.”  In a sense Joseph and Mary go down the road less traveled according to many Bible scholars.  I do this because of the evidence (found in John 4) that Joseph actually took this road and traveled this road with his family every year at Passover and other harvest festivals.

Many Sunday School scholars would have Joseph travel through Jezreel to the Jordan River and then up a riverbed to Jerusalem.  They do this because by their assumption (partially correct) Pharisees wanted no contact with the “half-breed” gentile Samaritans.  Joseph was not a Pharisee, but a carpenter who possibly worked in a gentile city.  Joseph had no qualms with the gentiles, and probably no problems with Samaritans.  

We see this in his son Jesus also.  In the New Testament Jesus is at times critical of the legalistic Pharisees, especially when their legalisms cause hardship on the innocent poor people of the land.  Jesus has great concern for all people, including Samaritans.  He calls the Pharisees out on their prejudices.

Those who are more familiar with the topography of Israel place the journey of Joseph and Mary through Samaria.  In order to prepare the journals in Advent Journeys I followed Israel Roue 60.  This road is the shortest route between Nazareth and Bethlehem.  And until recent times this road was safe and a much used interior route.

I found the route interesting because it was a major highway in Biblical times.  Many Biblical events happened in the rich farmland of Jezreel Valley.  Joseph was placed in a pit and sold to Midianite traders near Dothan Pass.  Both King Ahab and King Herod built a places at Samaria.  Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and many other Biblical heroes followed the Central Ridge Road north from Jerusalem.  

I learned a great deal about Palestinian-Israeli issues along my journey.  I visited facebook pages and other sites which described the villages along Highway 60 today.  The stories on these pages are of hardship and isolation from both Palestinians and Israeli settlers.  There are also pictures which show the beauty of the route and the beauty of Israel. If you want to go beyond the book, you can visit communities in the West Bank via computer.  Through facebook and community pages you will learn of the conflicts and struggles of people in this region.  The struggles between people groups of this region reminded us of the struggles between the ancient peoples: Hebrews, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hittites, and Hivites who lived in these same hills.