Place
Names
Where
do the names Nebo and Nasareth come from? From the
Bible obviously, as names for the two chapels. The
first is only to be found in the Old Testament and
the second only in the New Testament. But names for
chapels were not chosen at random.
What
is the connection between a Babilonian god, a mountain
in Jordan and a city on the edge of the desert? The
answer is Nabu, (meaning - highness) or in the English
Bible, Nebo, celestial messenger and god of knowledge
and wisdom. Nebuchadnezzar, Nebusasban, Nebuzaradan,
Nabopalassar and others were named after him.
Nebo
is also the name of a chain of mountains near the
River Jordan, and from one of its peaks, Pisgah,
Moses was permitted to see the Promised Land (Deut.
ch34). According to local tradition, the chapel was
named Nebo by the celebrated Rev. John Jones, Talysarn,
after he preached on that text sometime between 1838
and 1842 in Capel Bach. (But the name Capel y Mynydd
was in regular use up to 1859.)
But
the City of Nebo, on the borders of Judea, was one
of the places where the descendants of Abraham and
his slave dwelt. When Abraham's wife Sarah gave birth
to Isaac, Hagar and her thirteen year old son Ishmael
were sent away into the wilderness. But before they
reached Egypt, they were overcome by hunger and thirst.
Through a miracle, a spring of fresh water appeared
nearby.
According
to one of the legends of the Life of Jesus (as used
by Berlioz in his oratorio 'L'Enfance du Christ'),
the Holy Family fled to Egypt from the wrath of Herod,
but after a dangerous journey through the wilderness
they found no refuge among the Egyptians or Romans,
until they met a forgiving Ishmaelite who gave them
a welcome worthy of his lost family.
The
land where the schoolhouse (later Capel Bach Nebo)
was bought for five guineas by Hugh Robert Ismael
,Glan y Gors, in 1825. He and his family were very
supportive of the Methodist cause on Mynydd Llanllyfni.
Who could say, as in the Bible, that the sons of
Ishmael would be wild men? |
