[la$tminutepardon]

Yes, good points. Edersheim's classic The Life and Times of Jesus, the Messiah removes the notion that Christ grew up in a backwater village. The area was rather more of a place like our modern cities, with people coming and going from everywhere. The people were very sophisticated, not the ignorant rustics that so many today believe that they were.

[Paulus Invictus]

Even more interesting, Nazareth was seven miles from Sephoris, a wholly Hellenized city where Koine was the language. One might wonder if Joseph ever did any carpentry work there and did he take Jesus along? Did they speak the language of Sephoris? Intriguing questions.