Meraba
City near Nazareth on the road to Mount Carmel and Sicaminon.
Description
Jesus, leaving Nazareth, leads his followers towards Bethlehem in Galilee, along the Esdraelon Plain."During the hottest Hours, we will stop on the mountain overlooking Merala," Jesus decides. "The march resumes with the ascent of a hill that blocks the valley (…) They reach the summit (…) they enjoy a charming view, for the panorama (Judea) is wonderful with the Carmel range (…) Where it ends, it is the shimmering sea…"[1].The description is so precise that it is possible to pinpoint the location of this pause to within a few meters. Another time, it is again at the foot of the Merala hill that Jesus gathers the peasants of GioCana (Yokhanan),
"under a grove of evergreen oaks on the first slopes of the hill where Sephoris rises. The Esdraelon Plain is no longer visible because it is beyond the hill where they are. But there is a much smaller plain between this hill and those in the Nazareth region"[2].
Its name
Merala, Maralah, Meraba. Today Nahalal, mentioned in the Bible[3]. This town was rebuilt in the plain at the foot of hills where the town of Timrat and the vineyards of Shimron, a wooded hill, are located.
Where is it mentioned in the work?
GRM 247. GRM 432.
Learn more about this place
Village assigned to the tribe of Zebulon[3] Called Mahalal in the time of the Talmud and Mishna. Identified with Ma'lûl, southwest of Nazareth. The description of the panorama (Judea) from the summit of the Merala hill is rigorously accurate. Today, the hill is still covered with oaks. From the eastern slope, there is a view of Japhia and the hills of Nazareth, and from the southern slope, of the Esdraelon Plain, Carmel, and the Mediterranean Sea.
Explore
- 32° 42’ 10’’ N / 35° 13’ 34’’ E /
- +250m
Notes and references
Note: Quotations from the work of Maria Valtorta on this page currently use machine-translated text and will gradually be replaced by the official English translation. Until then, the official translation may be consulted through the reference link provided with each quotation.
Article partially written from the Geographical Dictionary of the Gospel by Jean-François Lavère.- ↑ GRM 247.1-3.
- ↑ GRM 432.1.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Joshua 19:15; Judges 1:30.