Bethlehem

Brief History of Bethlehem

The original settlement in Bethlehem was only possible after humans learned how to dig wells because there was no water source here or in the nearby mountains. Likely the first community was established during the Bronze Age when the Canaanite people dwelled in the Land.

In the Amarna letters from the 14th century BC, Bethlehem is called Bit Ilu Lakhme, which possibly refers to a Canaanite goddess. When translated directly from Hebrew, the name Beit Lekhem means the house of bread (Beit - house, lekhem - bread).

Significantly, Jesus Christ called Himself the living bread in one of his sermons.

“I am the bread of life. Whosoever comes to Me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35).

The first Biblical reference to Bethlehem is found in Genesis.

"So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrathah (that is Bethlehem). Over her tomb Jacob set up a pillar and to this day that pillar marks Rachel's tomb" (Genesis 35:19-20).

To this day, both Arabs and Jews venerate the tomb of their Matriarch, Rachel, in Bethlehem.

According to the Hebrew Holy Scripture, the famous and iconic king and the prototype of the later expected Messiah was born in Bethlehem. His name was David which means God's beloved. The prophets expected the Messiah to come from the same city,

"But you, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from old, from everlasting" (Micah 5:2).

Jerusalem and all of Judea were destroyed during the Babylonian conquest of the 6th century BC then restored over 70 years, only to be conquered again and reclaimed by the famous Maccabee rebels in the 2nd century BC. David's descendant was expected to come and rule over them in the perfect Messianic kingdom, where everyone would be free and happy. And they did not wait in vain, as the Gospel writer tells us:

"The angel told them: today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you, He is the Messiah, the Lord" (Luke 2:11).

The New Testament begins with the Gospel of Matthew, giving us "the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah (Christ), the son of David, the son of Abraham" (Luke 1:1).

The Gospel writers give us two accounts of the birth of Jesus, penned by Matthew and Luke:

"After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, 'Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw His star when it rose and have come to worship Him.' When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 'In Bethlehem in Judea, 'they replied, 'for this is what the prophet has written:

But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;

for out of you will come a ruler

who will shepherd my people Israel.’

Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, 'Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find Him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship Him.'

After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the Child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with His mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped Him.

Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route" (Matthew 2:1-12).

“In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world (This was the first census that took place while. Quirinius was governor of Syria). And everyone went to their own town to register. So, Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.

While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger’.

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,'Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom His favor rests'.

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, 'Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about'. So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.

But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before He was conceived” (Luke 2:1-21).

In this passage, Luke refers to a census that took place during the reign of Publius Quirinius, ordered by a decree of Caesar Augustus. A census of "the whole world" probably meant the Roman Empire. There is no historical evidence for such a census during the reign of Augustus, despite the abundance of material describing this period. In the case of a census of this magnitude, when people were required to register in the lands of their ancestors, massive migrations would have occurred. An event of this magnitude should have been described in other sources.

Finally, from the sources of historians of that period such as Josephus Flavius and Tacitus, one can conclude that Quirinius was not the ruler of Syria during the reign of Herod the Great in Judea. Quirinius was appointed ruler in 6 AD. The population census associated with him is mentioned by Josephus Flavius (Antiquities of the Jews, 18).

Despite this, it is suggested by some scholars, that Publius Quirinius ruled Judea for two cadences. In each of them, he established a census.

Some researchers believe that the discovered inscription Lapis Tiburtinus means that Quirinius was twice the ruler of Judea. And maybe he supervised two censuses. The first is mentioned in the Gospel of Luke, and the second - in the Acts of the Apostles (5:37).

It is no accident that the Luke writes that "this was the first census" (2: 2).

The sameauthor in his Book of Acts (5:37) speaks of a census during the revolt of a certain Judas of Galilean, who protested against the census of Quirinius. This event took place no earlier than 6 AD.

After the events recorded in the Gospel, Bethlehem remained a small and insignificant town, although during Pontius Pilate’s reign over Judea, an aqueduct was built to provide a source of water for the residents. Christian tradition holds that a cave at the place of Jesus’ birth was venerated since the dawn of Christian era in the 1st century AD.

In 135 AD, Emperor Hadrian expelled the Jews from their land after suppressing the Bar Cokhba revolt. A pagan shrine was built and dedicated to Adonis at the cave of the Nativity (or Canaanite Tammuz). Later, Constantine the Great built one of the first churches in Christian history, the Basilica of Nativity (326 AD), later destroyed, likely during the Samaritan revolt of the 6th century. The present church was rebuilt by the mighty Emperor Justinian (527-565 AD).

The Persians invaded Palestine in 614 AD, assisted by the oppressed local minorities (Jews and Samaritans). In 628 AD, Greek Emperor Heraclius recovered the land for the Byzantine Empire for a short time. By 634-638, the Arabs, inspired by the new rising religion of Islam in their midst, begin a series of military campaigns and conquered the Eastern provinces of the Byzantine Empire, including Palestine, which is the Holy Land. According to a Sunna narrative, Caliph Umar came to Jerusalem in person. He visited Bethlehem as well and prayed in the southern apse of the church. Later, he gave the Christian leaders a written document which guaranteed the integrity of Basilica of Nativity.

Tancred was a young Crusader officer of Arab and Norman ancestry who liberated Bethlehem from the Moslems in 1099. Since then, the Normans and Scottish have had a special connection to Bethlehem and during Christmas processions one can still see local Christians dressed in traditional Scottish garments to commemorate the event.

The first king of Jerusalem, Baldwin the First, was crowned in Bethlehem in 1101, because he refused to receive the crown in the city where Christ had been crowned with thorns. The second King, Baldwin the Second, was also crowned in Bethlehem in 1122.

Restoration of the church was initiated by the Crusader rulers in 1158. An Anglo-Norman Bishop, Raoul (1155-1174), played a significant role in the preservation and renovation of the Basilica of Nativity. Saladin (Salah al-Din ibn Ayyub) recovered Palestine for the Moslem Arabs in 1187. The Crusaders were finally expelled from the Land in 1291 by the new Moslem dynasty, the Mamluks.

Originally, the Mamluks were military slave recruits from different parts of the world of Slavic, Kipchaq Turk or Circassian origin. They rebelled against the ruling Ayyubid dynasty in Egypt and formed their own dynasty. One of the most strong and famous of them was the fourth sultan, Baybars, who pursued the Crusaders without mercy until their destruction and the period of religious tolerance ended in the Land.

By the 14th century, Bethlehem had lost its stature and was merely a village with a few homes and the Franciscans were allowed to reside there.

The Turkish Ottoman Empire rose to power in the 16th century and defeated the Mamluks in 1516, led by sultan Selim the Grim and Palestine was ruled for 400 years.

Historically, the Franciscans were protected by the power of Venice, but this declined in the 17th century and the Greek Orthodox Church increased its influence in the Holy places.

Late in the 17th century, France assumed more power over the Holy sites in Palestine and beginning in the 18th century, Russia secure the right to protect the Orthodox Christian sites.

In 1850, an especially important moment in the history of The Land occurred when the Ambassador of Austria in Istanbul, on behalf of Austria, Belgium, France, Sardinia and Spain demanded the return of all the Holy sites that had been possessed by the Franciscans in the past. Along with other causes, the demand contributed to the start of the Crimean War (1853-1856).

An agreement called the Status Quo Ante Bellum (translated “the state that exists before the war”) was reached in the 19th century which defined the rights of different Christian communities in the holy places.

After the end of the World War I, Britain was given a mandate over Palestine from the League of Nations which was terminated in 1948. War broke out between the new State of Israel and neighboring Arab states which resulted in the division of Palestine between Israel and Jordan. Bethlehem was controlled by Jordan until 1967 when the territory was obtained in the Six Day War. Since then, the State of Israel maintains and safeguards the holy places in the Land, including Bethlehem.

The Basilica of The Nativity

Nativity Church's central altar (Catholicon)

The original site over the Nativity Grotto was ordered to be built over by St.Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine, in 326-331 AD.

Original portions of it remain underground. After major destruction of the site, the Basilica of the Nativity was rebuilt in the mid-6th century by Roman emperor, Justinian I.

In 2012, it was designated as a UNESCO heritage site.

Care and management of the Basilica of the Nativity is shared by members of the Greek Orthodox Church, the Catholic Franciscan Order, proclaimed custodians of the Holy Land and the Armenian Apostolic Church, under the provision of the Status Quo of the Holy Places, established by the Treaty of Berlin in 1878.

Today, it is one of the oldest Christian churches in daily use. Since medieval times, additions have been made and now it is surrounded by the Catholic St. Catherine's Church to the north, the Armenian Orthodox monastery to the south and the adjacent Franciscan Hospice the Casa Nova (or a new house in Latin). Further east is the Greek Orthodox monastery.

In front of the Basilica, there is a courtyard and plaza named by the Moslems after Caliph Umar. The door of the facade is purposely low and shortened many times throughout history to prevent horsemen from riding in and thus desecrating the holy site.

According to local tradition, the doorway is called the Gate of Humility because visitors must bow to enter the Church. The gate in the narthex is a piece of art presented to the Church in 1227 by two Armenian Christians. There are two inscriptions which are still visible today. On the left side, the text is written in the Armenian language and translated,

"The door of the Blessed Mother of God was made in the year 676 by the hands of Father Abraham and Father Arakel in the time of Hethum, son of Constantine, King of Armenia. God have mercy on their souls."

In Arabic, there is text on the right side, and translated,

"This door was finished with the help of God - may He be exalted! In the days of our Lord Sultan al-Malik al-Mu'azzam un the month of Muharram in the year 624."

The church itself has a long nave (the central part of the church building) with two aisles on each side. There are 44 columns made of local pink limestone resembling marble which are divided into 4 rows. The columns are adorned by 44 identical silver gilt lamps (owned by the Greek Orthodox Church) and restored oil paintings depicting the saints of the Byzantine period.

In the southern aisle, there is an ancient octagonal stone from the times of the 6th century church. There are crosses on the sides of the stone and an inscription which says:

"For remembrance, rest and remission of sins of those whose names the Lord knows".

It is commonly thought that this stone once served for a baptism of infants and was located in the Grotto of Nativity.

In different areas of the floor of the church, there are wooden trap doors which allow visitors to see original portions of the mosaic floor from the 4th century. One of the largest section contains the famous Greek abbreviation, ICHTHUS, which is the word for fish. The initials mean,

"Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour."

The floor mosaics from the 4th century church

In the northern apse, there are two Armenian altars. One is dedicated to the virgin Mary and the other to the Magi.

According to an ancient legend, the Magi were kings of distant kingdoms and the altar is called the Altar of the Kings. This tradition is probably linked to the references in the Holy Scriptures. Only the Gospel of Matthew (2:1-2) mentions the Magi (wisemen) from the East. There are three of them depicted on the painting although the Gospel does not specify their number. The suggestion is based on their number of gifts,

"they presented to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh" (Matthew 2:9).

Another suggestion that they had been kings is based on the prophecy of Isaiah,

"Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn," (Isaiah 60:3)

"...they shall bring gold and frankincense" (Isaiah 60:6).

The Armenian church believes the altar commemorates the place where the Magi tethered their camels and then went down into the grotto where the Infant laid.

The southern apse is dedicated to the circumcision of Christ.

According to the agreement called the Status Quo of the Church of the Nativity, the church is divided between the Armenian Apostolic, the Greek and Coptic Orthodox denominations. The Anglican Church has the sole right to sing traditional Christmas carols on Christmas Eve.

The Basilica of nativity Wall Mosaics

The original mosaics fell into poor condition over time but have undergone major restoration and renovation since the church was proclaimed a UNESCO world's heritage site in 2012.

The walls of the Basilica were adorned with mosaics by the monk, Ephraim, in the 12th century. The western wall mosaic is called the "Tree of Jesse" which shows the ancestry lineage of Christ through Joseph recorded in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke,

"And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who was called Christ" (Matthew 1:16).

"Jesus... the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, which was the son of Heli..." (Luke 3:23).

The Church fathers, beginning with John of Damascus and including John Wesley, argued Heli was a maternal grandfather of Jesus and a father-in-law of Joseph and thus Luke's genealogy should be considered through Mary.

The ancestors of Christ according to Matthew’s Gospel are depicted on the southern wall with the ancestry according to Luke’s Gospel found on the northern wall.

There are also seven Israelite prophets depicted on the walls.

On the southern wall, there is a symbolic representation of the Seven General of Ecumenical Councils accepted by all Christian denominations. Depiction of the assembly of bishops represent the Councils.

In the northern transept, there is a mosaic of Christ answering the doubts of Thomas, the Ascension to heaven, in the southern transept - a depiction of the Entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. The Greek inscription on the southern wall most likely reveals the author of the mosaics:

"The present work was completed by the hand of Ephraim the Monk, painter and mosaicist... in the year 6677” (From Creation, corresponds to 1169 AD).

The Paintings on the Columns

The Basilica has 44 columns which are arranged in four rows of 11. Of these, 30 are adorned with portraits of the saints, painted in the 12th century by a monk named Basilius. The columns are constructed of pink limestone which is native to the Bethlehem mountains.

The Basilica of Nativity has one of the most complete collection of oil paintings from the Crusader Period in the world. Although many of them have worn away over time, now there is an extensive restoration process in progress to preserve these important artifacts.

Counting from the first row from the church entrance on the right, the columns depict:

1. St. James the Greater with St. James of Compostela

2. Apostle Bartholomew

3. Mary and the Child

4. St. Biase, bishop of Sebaste (316 AD)

5. St. Anne, mother of Virgin Mary

6. Pope Leo the Great (440-461 AD)

7. St. Margaret (St. Marina),4th century martyr

8. Mary and the Child (Hodegetria - iconographic form of Mary pointing to the Child)

9. St. Theodosius (buried in the nearby St. Theodosius monastery)

10. St. Sabas, the "Old Man", (founder of many convents, buried in the nearby Mar-Saba monastery)

11. Apostle Stephen, the First Martyr.

12. St. Canute, King of England and Norway (1017 -1035)

13. St. Olaf, King of Norway (1016-1029)

14. St. Vincent of Saragossa, protomartyr, (+304 AD)

15. St. John the Baptist

16. Prophet Elijah with two ravens

17. St. Onuphrius, "The Naked"

18. St. Fsca, "A Virgin", (+250 AD)

19. St. Margaret ( St. Marina)

20. St. Macarius the Great, a founder of monasticism

21. St. Antony, " Father of the monks"

22. St. Euthymius, a founder of monasticism in Judean desert

23. St. George, patron saint of Bethlehem, Moscow, England and Georgia (buried in Lod (Lydda)

24. St. Leonard, patron saint of prisoners (perhaps of Limoges)

25 & 26. St. Cosmas and Damian, Arab brothers and physicians (+287 AD)

27. St. Catald, an Irish pilgrim (7 th AD)

28. Nursing Madonna (Galaktotrophousa in Greek)

29. St.John the Evangelist

30. The Crucifixion and the women

There are three paintings of "Our Lady and the Infant" and two of St. Margaret.

(the information of G.S.P. Freeman-Grenville has been used)

The Grotto of The Nativity

During his time, Justin the Martyr (AD 153) claimed the lists of the same census that mentioned the birth of Jesus could still be seen in Bethlehem (Apology 1:34); however, neither he nor the evangelists of the Gospel describe the grotto in their accounts although it is venerated today as the location of Jesus’ Nativity.

The apocryphal Protoevangelium of James (150 AD) mentions the cave as the place where the baby was born and Origen (216 AD) confirms this narrative line.

In 385 A.D. the famous ascetic and saint of the Western Church, Blessed Jerome, settled in Bethlehem and recorded,

"From the time of Hadrian to Constantine, on the site of the grove of Tamuz (Adonis) in Bethlehem, a basilica was built over the cave (grotto) of the Nativity.”

Jerome recorded the presence of pagan temples on the sites of future famous churches, the Nativity in Bethlehem and the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. Archaeological excavations confirmed his writings and in 1979, the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem excavated the site of Golgotha (Calvary) where remains of a Roman altar were found.

The Grotto of Nativity can be entered from two sides of the churches transepts. There is another entrance from the underground grottos of adjacent St. Catherine's Church but it is kept always locked. The Grotto itself is of an oval form cut in the original bedrock, in some parts made of masonry.

It is called the Lord's Manger, where the Infant was laid after the birth. The actual place of birth is by the manger and is indicated by the 14-corner silver star placed there by the Franciscans. The star reminds the story of the Gospel of Matthew,

"And behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was..." (Matthew 2:9).

The star has 14 corners signifying 14 stations of the Way of the Cross and the genealogy of Christ given by Matthew,

"Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile of Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ" (Matthew 1:17).