Bethlehem
A town in the hill country of Judah, a few kilometres south of Jerusalem. It is the setting of the book of Ruth and the home of David, and Matthew and Luke name it as the birthplace of Jesus.
Bethlehem lies in the Judean hills a few kilometres south of Jerusalem. Genesis also calls it Ephrath and places Rachel’s grave on the road to it (Genesis 35:19). It is the home of Naomi and Boaz in the book of Ruth (Ruth 1:1–2; 2:4) and of Jesse, whose youngest son David was anointed there by Samuel (1 Samuel 16:1–13). Micah looked for a ruler of Israel to come from “Bethlehem Ephrathah” (Micah 5:2).
Matthew and Luke both say that Jesus was born at Bethlehem, and Matthew quotes Micah’s words (Matthew 2:1–6) (Luke 2:4–7). Eusebius, who lived at the time, reports that Helena, the mother of the emperor Constantine, dedicated a church at the cave shown there as the place of the birth (Eusebius, Life of Constantine 3.41–43).
What happened here
- about 1100 BC, traditional dateRuth and Boaz
A Moabite widow follows her mother-in-law Naomi to Bethlehem, gleans in the fields of Boaz and marries him. Their son Obed is the grandfather of David, and Matthew names Ruth in the genealogy of Jesus.
- about 1025 BC, traditional dateDavid and Goliath
Samuel anoints David, the youngest son of Jesse of Bethlehem. In the valley of Elah the young shepherd kills the Philistine champion Goliath with a sling and a stone, and his fame turns King Saul against him.
- c. 6–4 BC, estimated dateThe Birth of Jesus
Matthew and Luke each tell, in a story set in the days of Herod, that Jesus was born at Bethlehem to Mary, a virgin betrothed to Joseph of David’s line, and grew up at Nazareth in Galilee.
- c. 382–405, estimated dateJerome Translates the Latin Vulgate
At the request of Pope Damasus, Jerome revises the Latin Gospels against the Greek. At Bethlehem he then translates the Old Testament from Hebrew, book by book, over more than a decade. His version became the common Bible of the Latin West.
- 16 March 1672, firm dateThe Synod of Jerusalem and the Confession of Dositheus
Gathered for the dedication of the rebuilt church of the Nativity at Bethlehem, a synod under Patriarch Dositheus of Jerusalem rejects a confession with Reformed teaching printed under the name of Cyril Lucaris and sets out Orthodox doctrine in eighteen decrees.