Subject:
Christ Jesus
December 18 - 24, 2006
Bethlehem:
[E]
house of bread. A city in the "hill country" of Judah.
It was originally called Ephrath (Genesis 35:16,19; 48:7; Ruth
4:11). It was also called Beth-lehem Ephratah (Micah 5:2), Beth-lehem-judah
(1 Samuel 17:12), and "the city of David" (Luke
2:4). It is first noticed in Scripture as the place where Rachel
died and was buried "by the wayside," directly to the
north of the city (Genesis 48:7). The valley to the east was the
scene of the story of Ruth the Moabitess. There are the fields
in which she gleaned, and the path by which she and Naomi returned
to the town. Here was David's birth-place, and here also, in after
years, he was anointed as king by Samuel (1 Samuel 16:4-13);
and it was from the well of Bethlehem that three of his heroes
brought water for him at the risk of their lives when he was in
the cave of Adullam (2 Samuel 23:13-17). But it was distinguished
above every other city as the birth-place of "Him whose goings
forth have been of old" (Matthew 2:6; Compare Micah 5:2).
Afterwards Herod, "when he saw that he was mocked of the
wise men," sent and slew "all the children that were
in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old
and under" (Matthew 2:16,18; Jeremiah 31:15).
[S]
(house of bread). One of the oldest towns in Palestine,
already in existence at the time of Jacob’s return to the
country. Its earliest name was EPHRATH or EPHRATAH. See (Genesis
35:16,19; 48:7) After the conquest Bethlehem appears under its
own name, BETHLEHEM-JUDAH. (Judges 17:7; 1 Samuel 17:12;
Ruth 1:1,2) The book of Ruth is a page from the domestic history
of Bethlehem. It was the home of Ruth, (Ruth 1:19) and of David.
(1 Samuel 17:12) It was fortified by Rehoboam. (2 Chronicles
11:6) It was here that our Lord was born, (Matthew 2:1) and here
that he was visited by the shepherds, (Luke 2:15-17) and the Magi.
Matt 2. The modern town of Beit-lahm lies to the east of the main
road from Jerusalem to Hebron, six miles from the former. It covers
the east and northeast parts of the ridge of a long gray hill
of Jura limestone, which stands nearly due east and west, and
is about a mile in length. The hill has a deep valley on the north
and another on the south. On the top lies the village in a kind
of irregular triangle. The population is about 3000 souls, entirely
Christians. The Church of the Nativity, built by the empress Helena
A.D. 330, is the oldest Christian church in existence. It is built
over the grotto where Christ is supposed to have been born.
Additional
references:
Jerusalem:
[E]
called
also Salem, Ariel, Jebus, the "city of God," the "holy
city;" by the modern Arabs el-Khuds, meaning "the holy;"
once "the city of Judah" (2 Chronicles 25:28).
This name is in the original in the dual form, and means "possession
of peace," or "foundation of peace." The dual form
probably refers to the two mountains on which it was built, viz.,
Zion and Moriah; or, as some suppose, to the two parts of the
city, the "upper" and the "lower city." Jerusalem
is a "mountain city enthroned on a mountain fastness"
(Compare Psalms 68:15,16; 87:1; 125:2; 76:1,2; 122:3). It stands
on the edge of one of the highest table-lands in Palestine, and
is surrounded on the south-eastern, the southern, and the western
sides by deep and precipitous ravines. Click
here for the rest of the article...
[S]
(the habitation of peace), Jerusalem stands in latitude 31 degrees
46’ 35" north and longitude 35 degrees 18’ 30"
east of Greenwich. It is 32 miles distant from the sea and 18
from the Jordan, 20 from Hebron and 36 from Samaria. "In
several respects," says Dean Stanley, "its situation
is singular among the cities of Palestine. Its elevation is remarkable;
occasioned not from its being on the summit of one of the numerous
hills of Judea, like most of the towns and villages, but because
it is on the edge of one of the highest table-lands of the country.
Hebron indeed is higher still by some hundred feet, and from the
south, accordingly (even from Bethlehem), the approach to Jerusalem
is by a slight descent. But from any other side the ascent is
perpetual; and to the traveller approaching the city from the
east or west it must always have presented the appearance beyond
any other capital of the then known world --we may say beyond
any important city that has ever existed on the earth --of a mountain
city; breathing, as compared with the sultry plains of Jordan,
a mountain air; enthroned, as compared with jericho or Damascus,
Gaza or Tyre, on a mountain fastness." --S. & P. 170.
Additional
references:
Judaea:
[S]
(from Judah), a territorial division which succeeded
to the overthrow of the ancient landmarks of the tribes of Israel
and Judah in their respective captivities. The word first occurs
(Daniel 5:13) Authorized Version "Jewry," and the first
mention of the "province of Judea" is in the book of
Ezra, (Ezra 5:8) It is alluded to in (Nehemiah 11:3) (Authorized
Version "Judah"). In the apocryphal books the word "province"
is dropped, and throughout them and the New Testament the expressions
are "the land of Judea," "Judea." In a wide
and more improper sense, the term Judea was sometimes extended
to the whole country of the Canaanites, its ancient inhabitants;
and even in the Gospels we read of the coasts of Judea "beyond
Jordan." (Matthew 19:1; Mark 10:1) Judea was, in strict language,
the name of the third district, west of the Jordan and south of
Samaria. It was made a portion of the Roman province of Syria
upon the deposition of Archelaus, the ethnarch of Judea, in A.D.
6, and was governed by a procurator, who was subject to the governor
of Syria.
Additional
references:
Nazareth:
[E]
separated,
generally supposed to be the Greek form of the Hebrew netser ,
a "shoot" or "sprout." Some, however, think
that the name of the city must be connected with the name of the
hill behind it, from which one of the finest prospects in Palestine
is obtained, and accordingly they derive it from the Hebrew notserah
, i.e., one guarding or watching, thus designating the hill which
overlooks and thus guards an extensive region.
This city
is not mentioned in the Old Testament. It was the home of Joseph
and Mary (Luke 2:39), and here the angel announced to the Virgin
the birth of the Messiah (1:26-28). Here Jesus grew up from his
infancy to manhood (4:16); and here he began his public ministry
in the synagogue (Matthew 13:54), at which the people were so
offended that they sought to cast him down from the precipice
whereon their city was built (Luke 4:29). Twice they expelled
him from their borders (4:16-29; Matthew 13:54-58); and he finally
retired from the city, where he did not many mighty works because
of their unbelief (Matthew 13:58), and took up his residence in
Capernaum.
Nazareth
is situated among the southern ridges of Lebanon, on the steep
slope of a hill, about 14 miles from the Sea of Galilee and about
6 west from Mount Tabor. It is identified with the modern village
en-Nazirah, of six or ten thousand inhabitants. It lies "as
in a hollow cup" lower down upon the hill than the ancient
city. The main road for traffic between Egypt and the interior
of Asia passed by Nazareth near the foot of Tabor, and thence
northward to Damascus.
It is supposed
from the words of Nathanael in John 1:46 that the city of Nazareth
was held in great disrepute, either because, it is said, the people
of Galilee were a rude and less cultivated class, and were largely
influenced by the Gentiles who mingled with them, or because of
their lower type of moral and religious character. But there seems
to be no sufficient reason for these suppositions. The Jews believed
that, according to Micah 5:2, the birth of the Messiah would take
place at Bethlehem, and nowhere else. Nathanael held the same
opinion as his countrymen, and believed that the great "good"
which they were all expecting could not come from Nazareth. This
is probably what Nathanael meant. Moreover, there does not seem
to be any evidence that the inhabitants of Galilee were in any
respect inferior, or that a Galilean was held in contempt, in
the time of our Lord. (See Dr. Merrill's Galilee in the Time of
Christ.)
"The
so-called 'Holy House' is a cave under the Latin church, which
appears to have been originally a tank. The 'brow of the hill',
site of the attempted precipitation, is probably the northern
cliff: the traditional site has been shown since the middle ages
at some distance to the south. None of the traditional sites are
traceable very early, and they have no authority. The name Nazareth
perhaps means 'a watch tower' (now en-Nasrah), but is connected
in the New Testament with Netzer, 'a branch' (Isaiah 4:2; Jeremiah
23:5; Zechariah 3:8; 6:12; Matthew 2:23), Nazarene being quite
a different word from Nazarite."
[S]
(the guarded one ) the ordinary residence of our Saviour, is not
mentioned in the Old Testament, but occurs first in (Matthew 2:23)
It derives its celebrity from its connection with the history
of Christ, and in that respect has a hold on the imagination and
feelings of men which it shares only with Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
It is situated among the hills which constitute the south ridges
of Lebanon,just before they sink down into the plain of Esdraelon,
(Mr. Merrill, in "Galilee in the Time of Christ" (1881),
represents Nazareth in Christ’s time as a city (so always
called in the New Testament) of 15,000 to 20,000 inhabitants,
of some importance and considerable antiquity, and not so insignificant
and mean as has been represented. --ED.) Of the identification
of the ancient site there can be no doubt. The name of the present
village is en-Nazirah the same, therefore, as of old it is formed
on a hill or mountain, (Luke 4:29) it is within the limits of
the province of Galilee, (Mark 1:9) it is near Cana, according
to the implication in (John 2:1,2,11) a precipice exists in the
neighborhood. (Luke 4:29) The modern Nazareth belongs to the better
class of eastern villages. It has a population of 3000 or 4000;
a few are Mohammadans, the rest Latin and Greek Christians. (Near
this town Napoleon once encamped (1799), after the battle of Mount
Tabor.) The origin of the disrepute in which Nazareth stood, (John
1:47) is not certainly known. All the inhabitants of Galilee were
looked upon with contempt by the people of Judea because they
spoke a ruder dialect, were less cultivated and were more exposed
by their position to contact with the heathen. But Nazareth labored
under a special opprobrium, for it was a Galilean and not a southern
Jew who asked the reproachful question whether "any good
thing" could come from that source. Above the town are several
rocky ledges, over which a person could not be thrown without
almost certain destruction. There is one very remarkable precipice,
almost perpendicular and forty or fifty near the Maronite church,
which may well be supposed to be the identical one over which
his infuriated fellow townsmen attempted to hurl Jesus.
Additional
references:
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