Bethlehem.
This town is situated about five miles and a half southeast of Jerusalem. There is no doubt that the village called by the Arabs Beit Lahen, which means “House of Flesh,” is the same as the ancient Bethlehem, which the Jews called “House of Bread.”
The present inhabitants of Bethlehem are all Christians, and they amount to three thousand souls. The town has gates at some of the principal streets; the houses are solidly built, but are not large. There are many olive gardens, fig orchards and vineyards round about, and the adjacent fields, though stony and rough, produce, nevertheless, good crops of grain. Here was the scene of the beautiful narrative of Ruth gleaning in the field of Boaz, after his reapers. The inhabitants, besides their agriculture, employ themselves in carving beads, crucifixes, and models of the holy sepulchre and other similar articles in olive wood and mother-of-pearls. Indeed, the neatest and most skilfully wrought specimens of these articles come from Bethlehem.
About thirty rods from the village stands a large convent, occupied by Greeks, Latins, and Armenians. It encloses the church built by the empress Helena, over the spot where, according to tradition, our Savior was born. Vast numbers of pilgrims come to view the place, especially at Easter, when such multitudes assemble, that the church is often crowded to suffocation, and contests frequently ensue between the different sects. On one occasion, the privilege of saying mass at the altar on Easter day was fought for at the door of the sanctuary itself, with drawn swords.
The pretended place of the nativity is a grotto or cave beneath the church, very splendidly ornamented with a marble pavement, recesses decorated with sculpture and painting, and massy silver lamps of exquisite workmanship. Just beneath the marble altar, upon the pavement, is a star, formed of inlaid stones, which marks the spot of the Savior’s birth, and is said to be placed immediately underneath the point where the star of the East became fixed, to direct the wise men in the object of their search.
This cave is not the only celebrated spot within the precincts of the church. One grotto is pointed out as the tomb of the Innocents; another possesses some interest as having been the abode of St. Jerome for many years. Another is shown as the spot where Joseph sat during the birth of Christ, and another is said to be the place where the Virgin Mary hid herself and her son from the fury of Herod.
The most remarkable spot in the neighborhood of Bethlehem is the reservoir called Solomon’s pools. There are three of them, of great magnitude, the waters of which are discharged from one to another, and conveyed by an aqueduct to Jerusalem.
Bethlehem is celebrated in the Old Testament as the birthplace and city of David; and in the New as that of David’s greater Son, Christ, the Savior of the world. For 1800 years the earth has renewed her carpet of verdure, and seen it again decay; yet the skies and the fields, the rocks and the hills, and the valleys around remain unchanged, and are still the same as when the glory of the Lord shone about the shepherds, and the song of a multitude of the heavenly host resounded among the hills, proclaiming, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, good-will toward men!”
To preserve a friend, three things are required—to honor him, present; to praise him, absent; and assist him in his necessity.