2. Bethlehem of Judah (mm- "3 Jg 17'- ", Ru !'• = etc.) or Judffia (Mt 2', Lk..'2^). This town (the modern Beit Lahm) is situated about 6 miles S.S.W. of Jerusalem, lying high up on a grey limestone ridge running from east to west, and
occupying the projecting summits at each end, with a sort of saddle between. The ridge rises to a height of 2550 ft. above sea-level, and falls away in terraced slopes on all sides, the descent to the north and east being specially steep. The terraces, as they sweep in graceful curves round the ridge from top to bottom, give to the little town the ap- pearance of an amphitheatre, and serve to make to the approaching traveller a picture which closer acquaintance does not wholly disappoint. The names by which it has been known for millenniums, and is still known, are expressive of the fertility of the place — Beth-lehcm, 'house of bread,' and Beit Lahm, ' house of flesh.' The hillsides around, merging into the hill country of Judaea, though they look bare to the eye at a distance, afford pastures for flocks of sheep and goats. The valleys below and the fields lying to the east produce crops of wheat and barley, as in the days when Rutli gleaned in the fields of Boaz ; and the terraced slopes, under diligent cultivation, bear olives, almonds, pomegranates, figs, and vines. Wine and honey are named among the most notable of its natural products, and the wine of Bethlehem is said to be preferable to that of Jerusalem.
The modern to^^^l is highly picturesque. There is just one main street or thoroughfare, extending about half a mile, and largely occupied by work- shops, which are little better than arches open to the street. The population is differently given as from 4000 to 8000 souls. Palmer ('Das jetzige Bethlehem' in ZDPV xvii. 90), writing in 1893, and founding upon personally ascertained figures, gives 8035 as the population, which he classifies in respect of religion as follows : Latins, 3827 ; Greeks, 3662; Moslems, 260; Armenians, 185; Protestants, 54 ; Copts and Syrians, 47. The small number of Moslems is said to be due to the severity of Ibrahim Pasha, who drove out the Moslem inhabitants and demolished their houses in the insurrection of 1834. It will be observed from the above enumeration that Bethlehem does not con- tain a single Jew. As in Nazareth so in Beth- lehem, the associations with Jesus make residence repugnant to the Jews, and they have accordingly no desire to settle in the Christian Holy Places. They are, in fact, tolerated only as temporary visitors, but not as residents. ' In the cradle of his royal race,' says Canon Tristram (Bible Places, p. 72), ' the Jew is even more a stranger than in any other spot of his own land ; and during the Middle Ages neither Crusader nor Saracen suffered him to settle there.' The inhabitants of Beth- lehem are of superior physique and comeliness. The men have a character for energy and even turbulence ; the women are noticeable for their graceful carriage and becoming attire. In the crowds which throng the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem at the Easter services, the women of Bethlehem, wearing a light veil descend- ing on each side of the face, and closed across the bosom, with a low but handsome headdress com- posed of strings of silver coins plaited in among the hair and hanging down below the chin as a sort of necklace, — are easily recognizable, and make a favourable impression. The industries of Bethlehem, apart from the cultivation of the soil, are intimately associated with the Nativity, con- sisting of memorial relics and souvenirs manufac- tured for sale to the thousands of pilgrims and tourists who visit Jerusalem and Bethlehem every year. Models of the cave of the Nativity, figures of Christ and the Virgin, apostles and saints, are in great demand. Olive wood, and mother-of-pearl obtained from the Red Sea, with basaltic stone from the neighbourhood of the Dead Sea, are carved and wrought into useful and ornamental articles with no small degree of skill and taste.
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bethlehe:m
BETHLEHEM
Palmer mentions {I.e. p. 91) that an increasing number of the inhabitants go abroad with their products, — their mother-of-pearl carvings and other wares, — and, especially in America, find a good return for their enterprise.
Bethlehem, notwithstanding its royal associa- tions and its renown as the birthplace of the world's Redeemer, has never been, and is never likely to be, more in the eye of the world tlian 'little among the thousands of Judah' (Mic 5=). ' In spite,' says Palmer, ' of the numerous visits of strangers ana pilgrims, which are year by year on the increase, and in spite of the market-place which Bethlehem affords for the whole neighbour- hood, and especially for the Bedawtn, who come from long distances from the southern end of the Dead Sea to make their purchases of clothing, tools, and weapons, and to leave the produce of their harvest and their pastures, Bethlehem ap- pears likely to remain, unencumbered by trade and progress, what it has been for many years bygone— a shrunken, untidy village.' Even so, it can never be deprived of its associations witli the Messianic King of Israel, ' whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting' (Mic 5-), associations which exalt it to the loftiest eminence, and surround it with a glory that cannot fade. These associations in their salient features are now to be set forth.