Bethlehem

Beth’-lehem, (Heb. Beyth-Le‘chem, בֵּיתאּלֶחֶם house of bread, perh. from the fertility of the region; Sept. and N.T. Βηθλεέμ [but v. r. Βαιθμάν in Joshua 19:15; Βεθλεέμ in Ezra 2:21; Βαιθαλέμ in Nehemiah 7:26]; Josephus, Βήθλεμα; Steph. Byz. Βήτλεμα), the name of two places.

1. One of the towns in Palestine, already in existence at the time of Jacob’s return to the country, when its name was EPHRATH or EPHRATAH (see Genesis 35:16; 48:7; Sept. at Joshua 15:59), which seems not only to have been the ancient name of the city itself, but also of the surrounding region; its inhabitants being likewise termed EPHRATHITES (Ruth 1:2). It is also called “BETH-LEHEM-EPHRATAH” (Micah 5:2), and “BETH- LEHEM-JUDAH” (1 Samuel 17:12), and “BETH-LEHEM OF JUDAEA” (Matthew 2:1), to distinguish it from another town of the same name in the tribe of Zebulun (Joshua 19:15), and also “the city of David” (Luke 2:4; John 7:42). The inhabitants are called BETH-LEHEMITES (1 Samuel 16:1,18; 17:58). It is not, however, till long after the occupation of the country by the Israelites that we meet with it under its new name of Bethlehem. Here, as in other cases (comp. Bethmeon, Bethdiblathaim, Bethpeor), the “Beth” appears to mark the bestowal of a Hebrew appellation; and, if the derivations of the lexicons are to be trusted, the name in its present shape appears to have been an attempt to translate the earlier Ephrata into Hebrew language and idiom, just as the Arabs have, in their turn, with a further slight change of meaning, converted it into Beit-lahm (house of flesh). However this may be, the ancient name lingered as a familiar word in the mouths of the inhabitants of the place (Ruth 1:2; 4:11; 1 Samuel 17:12), and in the poetry of the psalmists and prophets (Psalms 132:6; Micah 5:2) to a late period. In the genealogical lists of 1 Chronicles it recurs, and Ephrath appears as a person-the wife of Caleb and mother of Hur (חוּר) (2:19, 51; 4:4); the title of “father of Bethlehem” being bestowed both on Hur (4:4) and on Salma, the son of Hur (2:51, 54). The name of Salma recalls a very similar name intimately connected with Bethlehem, namely, the father of Boaz, Salmah (שִׁלמָה, Ruth 4:20; Auth. Vers. “Salmon”) or Salmon (שִׁלמוֹן, ver. 21). Hur is also named in Exodus 31:2, and 1 Chronicles 2:20, as the father of Uri, the father of Bezaleel. In the East a trade or calling remains 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” (Targ. Jonathan on 2 Samuel 21:19), he may have inherited the accomplishments and the profession of his art from his forefather, who was “filled with the Spirit of God,” “to work all manner of works,” and among them that of the embroiderer and the weaver (Exodus 25:35). At the date of the visit of Benjamin of Tudela there were still “twelve Jews, dyers by profession, living at Beth- lehem” (Benj. of Tudela, ed. Asher, 1:75). The above tradition may possibly elucidate the allusions to the “weaver’s beam” (whatever the “beam” may be) which occur in the accounts of giants or mighty men slain by David or his heroes, but not in any unconnected with him.

After the conquest Bethlehem fell within the territory of Judah (Judges 17:7; 1 Samuel 17:12; Ruth 1:1-2). As the Hebrew text now stands, however, it omitted altogether from the list of the towns of Judah in Joshua 15, though retained by the Sept. in the eleven names which that version inserts between verses 59 and 60. Among these it occurs between Theko (Tekoa), Θεκώ (comp. 1 Chronicles 4:4-5), and Phagor (? Peor, Φαγώρ). This omission from the Hebrew text is certainly remarkable, but it is quite in keeping 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 Mussulman 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 theater of any action or business. It is difficult to say why Hebron and Jerusalem, with no special associations in their favor, were fixed 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 Judaean village.” No doubt this is in part owing to what will be noticed presently-the isolated nature of its position; but that circumstance did not prevent 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 position may be safely inferred from the fact that at one time it was occupied by the Philistines as a garrison (2 Samuel 23:14; 1 Chronicles 11:16). 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 first priest of the Danites at their new northern settlement (Judges 17:7; 18:30), and from it also came the concubine of the other Levite, whose death at Gibeah caused the destruction of the tribe of Benjamin (Judges 19:1-9). The Book of Ruth is a page from the domestic history of Bethlehem; the names, almost the very persons of the Bethlehemites are there brought before us; we are allowed to assist at their most peculiar customs, and to witness the very springs of those events which have conferred immortality on the name of the place. Many of these customs were doubtless common to Israel in general, 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 intimate connection of the place with Moab. Of the origin 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 Ruth. till the time when her great-grandson could find no more secure retreat for his parents from the fury of Saul than the house of the King of Moab at Mizpeh (1 Samuel 22:3-4). But, whatever its origin, here we find the connection 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 occasioned, not at Naomi’s going, but at her return. Ruth 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 congratulations are expressed; the parallel in the life of Jacob occurs at once to all, and a blessing is invoked on the head of Ruth 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 denunciations of Moab contained in the law, is, to say the least, very remarkable (see Thomson, Land and Book, 2, 500 sq.). Moab appears elsewhere in connection with a place in Judah, Jashubi-lehem (1 Chronicles 4:22). We are tempted to believe the name merely another form of Beth-lehem, nor does the context-the mention of Mareshah and Chozeba, places on the extreme west of the tribe-forbid it. SEE LAHMI.

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Author: McClintock and Strong Cyclopedia

Keywords: Bethlehem

Bible reference(s): 1 Chronicles 11:16, 1 Chronicles 2:20, 1 Chronicles 4:4, 1 Samuel 16:1, 1 Samuel 17:12, 1 Samuel 22:3, 2 Chronicles 11:6, 2 Samuel 21:19, 2 Samuel 23:14, Exodus 25:35, Exodus 31:2, Ezra 2:21, Genesis 35:16, Genesis 48:7, Jeremiah 41:17, John 7:42, Joshua 15:59, Joshua 19:15, Judges 17:7, Judges 18:30, Judges 19:1, Luke 2:4, Matthew 2:1, Micah 5:2, Nehemiah 7:26, Psalms 132:6, Ruth 1:2, Ruth 4:11

Source: John McClintock and James Strong, Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature.

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