! as a person — the wife of Caleb and mother of Hur (~!in) (ii, 19, 51 ; iv, 4); the title of "father of Beth- lehem" being bestowed both on Hur (iv, 4) and on Sal-
' ma, the son of Hur (ii, 51, 54). The name of Salma
I recalls a very similar name intimately connected with Bethlehem, namely, the father of Boaz, Salmah
j (-Tcbr, Ruth iv, 20; Auth. Vers. "Salmon") or Sal- mon CjiTOPtt), ver. 21). Hur is also named inExod. xxxi, 2, and 1 Chron. ii, 20, as the father of Uri, the father of Bezaleel. In the East a trade or calling re- mains fixed in one family for generations, and if there is any foundation for the tradition of the Targum that Jesse, the father of David, was "a weaver of the veils of the sanctuary" (Tare). Jonathan on 2 Sam. xxi, 19),
j he may have inherited the accomplishments and the
I profession of his art from his forefather, who was "fill-
| ed with the Spirit of God," "to work all manner of works," and among them that of the embroiderer and the weaver (Exod. xxv, 35). At the date of the visit
. of Benjamin of Tudela there were still "twelve Jews,
I dyers by profession, living at Beth-lehem" (Benj. of Tudela, ed. Asher, i, 7i>). The above tradition may possibly elucidate the allusions to the "weaver's
j beam" (whatever the "beam" may be) which occur in the accounts of giants or mighty men slain by Da- vid or his heroes, but not in any unconnected with him. After the conquest Bethlehem fell within the terri- tory of Judah (Judg. xvii, 7 ; 1 Sam. xvii, 12 ; Ruth i, 1, 2). As the Hebrew text now stands, however, it is omitted altogether from the list of the towns of Judi.h in Joshua xv, though retained by the Sept. in the elev- en names which that version inserts between verses £9 and 60. Among these it occurs between Theko (Te- koa), Qikco (comp. 1 Chron. iv, 4, 5), and Phagor (? Peor, <t>aywp). This omission from the Hebrew text is certainly remarkable, but it is quite in keep-
! ing with the obscurity in which Bethlehem remains throughout the whole of the sacred history. Not to speak of the nativity, which has made the name of Bethlehem so familiar to the whole Christian and Mus- sulman world, it was, as the birthplace of David, a place of the most important consequence to ancient Israel. And yet, from some cause or other, it never rose to any eminence, nor ever became the theatre of any action or business. It is difficult to say why Hebron and Jeru- salem, with no special associations in their favor, were tixed on as capitals, while the place in which the great ideal king, the hero and poet of the nation, drew his first breath and spent his youth remained an ' ' ordinary Judsean village." No doubt this is in part owing to what will lie noticed presently — the isolated nature of its position ; but that circumstance did not prevent
BETII-LEIIEM
781
BETH-LEHEM
Gibeon, Ramah, and many other places situated on eminences from becoming famous, and is not sufficient to account entirely for such silence respecting a place so strong by nature, commanding one of the main roads, and the excellence of which as a military posi- tion may be safely inferred from the fact that at one time it was occupied by the Philistines as a garrison (2 Sam. xxiii, 14; 1 Chron. xi, 1G). Though not named as a Levitical city, it was apparently a residence of Levites, for from it came the young man Jonathan, the son of Gershom, who became the lirst priest of the Danites at their new northern settlement (J udg. xvii, 7 ; xviii, 30), and from it also came the concubine of the other Levite, whose death at Gibeah caused the de- struction of the tribe of Benjamin (xix, 1-9). The Book of Buth is a page from the domestic history of Bethlehem ; the names, almost the very persons of the Bethlehemites are there brought before us ; wo are al- lowed to assist at their most peculiar customs, and to wit- ness the very springs of those events which have con- ferred immortality on the name of the place. Many of these customs were doubtless common to Israel in gener- al, but one thing must have been peculiar to Bethlehem. "What most strikes the view, after the charm of the general picture has lost its first hold on us, is the inti- mate connection of the place with Moab. Of the ori- gin of this connection no record exists, no hint of it has yet been discovered; but it continued in force for at least a century after the arrival of Buth, till the time when her great-grandson could find no more se- cure retreat for his parents from the fury of Saul than the house of the King of Moab at Mizpeh (1 Sam. xxii, 3, 4). But, whatever its origin, here we find the con- nection in full vigor. When the famine occurs, the natural resource is to go to the country of Moab and " continue there ;" the surprise of the city is occasion- ed, not at Naomi's going, but at her return. Buth was " not like" the handmaidens of Boaz : some difference of feature or complexion there was, doubtless, which distinguished the "children of Lot" from the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ; but yet she gleans after the reapers in the field without molestation or remark ; and when Boaz, in the most public manner possible, proclaims his intention of taking the stranger to be his wife, no voice of remonstrance is raised, but loud con- gratulations are expressed; the parallel in the life of Jacob occurs at once to all. and a blessing is invoked on the head of Buth the Moabitess, that she may be like the two daughters of the Mesopotamian Nahor, " like Rachel and like Leah, who did build the house of Israel." This, in the face of the strong denuncia- tions of Moab contained in the law, is, to say the least, very remarkable (see Thomson, Land and Book, ii, ,500 sq.). Moab appears elsewhere in connection with a place in Judah, .fas/nib -\ehem (1 Chr. iv, 22). We might bo tempted to believe the name merely another form of 7)V//)-lehem, if the context — the mention of Ma- reshah and Chozeba, places on the extreme west of the tribe — (lid not forbid it.