1 Tradition is in its favor, but facts and probabilities are against it. It is useless to deny that there is much force in a tradition regarding a locality (more than it would have in the case of a historical fact), which can be traced up to a period not remote from that of the event commemorated ; and this event was so im- portant as to make the scene of it a point of such un- remitting attention, that the knowledge of that spot was not likely to be lost. This view would be greatly strengthened if it could be satisfactorily proved that Adrian, to cast odium upon the mysteries of the Chris- tian religion, not only erected statues of Jupiter and Venus over the holy sepulchre and on Calvary, but placed one of Adonis over the spot of the Nativit}' at Bethlehem. But against tradition, whatever may be its value, we have in the present case to place the utter improbability that a subterranean cavern like this, with a steep descent, should ever have been used as a stable for cattle, and, what is more, for the stable of a khan or caravanserai, which doubtless the "inn" of Luke ii, 7 was. Although, therefore, it is true that cattle are, and always have been, stabled in caverns in the East,
j yet certainly not in such caverns as this, which appears to have been originally a tomb. Old empty tombs often, it is argued, afford shelter to man and cattle; but such was not the case among the Jews, who held themselves ceremonially defiled by contact with sepul- chres. Besides, the circumstance of Christ's having been born in a cave would not have been less remark- able than his being laid in a manger, and was more likely to have been noticed by the evangelist, if it had occurred ; and it is also to be observed that the present grotto is at some distance from the town, whereas Christ appears to have been born in the town; and, whatever may be the case in the open country, it has never been usual in towns to employ caverns as stables for cattle. To this we may add the suspicion which arises from the fact that the local traditions seem to connect with caverns almost even' interesting event recorded in Scripture, as if the ancient Jews had been a nation of troglodytes. See Cave. All that can be said about the "holy places" of Bethlehem has been well said by Lord Nugent (i, 13-21), and Mr. Stanley (p. 438-442). (See also, though interspersed with mu< h irrelevant matter, Stewart, p. 246, 334 sq.) Of the ar- chitecture of the church very little is known ; for a resume of that little, see Fergusson's Handbook <f Ar- chitecture, p. 524 ; also Salzmann's Photographs and the Etude accompanying them (p. 72). Mr. Stanley states that the present roof is constructed from English oak given to the church by Edward IV {Sin. and Pal. p. Ill, 439). Tobler, p. 104 note, adduces the authority of Eutychius that the present church is the work of Jus- tinian, who destroyed that of Constantino as not suf- ficiently magnificent. One fact is associated with a portion of the crypt of this church, namely, that here, "beside what he believed to be the cradle of the Chris- tian faith," St. Jerome lived for more than 30 years, leaving a lasting monument of his sojourn (as is ccm-
BETHLEHEM
783
BETHLEIIEMITES
mnnlv believed) in the Vulgate translation of the Bi- ble (Werner. Be Bethl. op. Bieron, Stade, 1769).
On the north-east side of the town is a deep valley, alleged to be that in which the angels appeared to the shepherds announcing the birtli of the Saviour (Luke ii, 8). It is situated in the plain below and east of the convent, about a mile from the walls ; and adjacent is a very small, poor village, called Beit-Sahur, to the east of which are the unimportant remains of a Greek church. These buildings and ruins are surrounded by olive trees (Seetzen, ii, 41, 42). Here, in Arculf 's time, " by the tower of Ader," was a church dedicated to the three shepherds, and containing their monuments (Arculf, p. 6). But this plain is too rich ever to have been al- lowed to lie in pasturage, and it is more likely to have been then occupied, as it is now, and as it doubtless was in the days of Kuth, by corn-fields, and the sheep to have been kept on the hills. — Smith, s. v.; Kitto, s.v. In the same valley is a fountain, said to be that for the water of which David longed, and which three of his mighty men procured for him at the hazard of their lives (2 Sam. xxiii, 15-18). Dr. Clarke stopped and drank of the delicious water of this fountain, and from its correspondence with the intimations of the sacred historian and of Josephus {Ant. vii, 12, -J), as well as from the permanency of natural fountains, he con- cludes that there can be no doubt of its identity. (See Hackett's Illustra. of Script, p. 294-300.) Others find the traditional well of David in a group of three cis- terns, more than half a mile away from the present town, on the other side of the wady on the north. A few yards from the western end of the village are two apertures, which have the appearance of -wells ; but they are merely openings to a cistern connected with the aqueduct below, and, according to Dr. Robinson {Researches, ii, 158), "there is now no well of living water in or near the town." See Well.