Summary: Bethlehem is remembered in the Christmas story, and in seasonal songs, but some question whether Jesus was really born in Bethlehem? Was there even such a place at the time? Skeptics and some scholars raise challenges to the biblical accounts, and many Christians are unaware of them, and unprepared to answer. What are these challenges, and how do the facts stack up?
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. – Luke 2:1-7 (ESV)
Shepherds’ Fields
It’s only five miles from the city of Jerusalem to Bethlehem, but you would never know you had left Jerusalem if you only looked out the window of your vehicle. Today there’s almost no open country between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, the “city of David.” Almost…
One small area near Bethlehem has not yet been claimed by the construction of modern high-rise buildings. It is called the Shepherds’ Fields. For many years it has been a place where people might go to think about the experience of the shepherds who were visited by angels while they watched their flocks in Luke’s story of Jesus’ birth (2:1-20).
To the left of the walkway seen above, the trees end, and visitors can look out across a hilly, open field. Modern buildings stand at the horizon. Was this the very same field where shepherds kept watch over their flocks when Jesus was born? No one can say that, but it is the one remaining place to see what that scene looked like. The appearance today is still not unlike the picture at the top of the article.
The Required Birthplace of the Messiah
But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. – Micah 5:2 (ESV)
It was proper that the Messiah should come from the same town as his ancestor, David. With the prophetic oracle of Micah 5:2, it became a requirement.
But what of the town? Was there truly an inn there? Did people arrive in such large numbers for Caesar’s registration that the inn was full when Joseph and Mary arrived from Nazareth to the north?
The existence of Bethlehem is documented before and after the nativity stories from Luke and Matthew. Archeology has established that Bethlehem existed long before the birth of Jesus. A burial area discovered there in 2013 contains funerary evidence spanning about 1500 years starting at 2200 B.C. That takes Bethlehem through the era of King David and into the latter part of the period of the kings.
So, when the Book of Ruth says this grandmother of David gleaned grain at Bethlehem where Boaz met her and married her, that is just some of the confirmation that there was already a Bethlehem one thousand years before Jesus was born.
The name “Bethlehem” means “house of bread” or “house of grain.” An aquifer rests below Bethlehem, and its water is highly regarded still today.
And David said longingly, “Oh, that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate!” – 2 Samuel 23:15 (ESV)
The size of Bethlehem when Jesus was born was not impressive, though archeological evidence confirms that it had been a large Canaanite stronghold in the distant past. Archeologist W. F. Albright estimated the population of Bethlehem to have been about 300 when Jesus was born (Anchor Bible Commentary: Matthew, Albright and Mann).
A few today make the claim that there was no Bethlehem when Jesus was born, but that would require the town to have disappeared for a time, and reappeared, with no one the wiser. The supposed evidence for no Bethlehem is really an absence of evidence, which proves nothing. Pilgrims to Bethlehem had been coming there for some time before Justin Martyr wrote about them already in the Second Century A.D. Matthew and Luke treat Bethlehem as a long-established place, as does John.
A few have claimed recently that a Bethlehem in Galilee was the real birthplace of Jesus, and the Bethlehem of Judea was later confused with it. But Matthew and Luke knew which Bethlehem they were writing about. It was the city of David (Luke), and Bethlehem of Judea (Matthew), the Bethlehem in the south, the Bethlehem of the Micah prophecy. The sparse evidence brought forward in favor of the northern Bethlehem seems contrived.
Was Bethlehem large enough to have an inn? The answer to that question is: yes, in a way, because even individual houses had their “inns.” The word Luke uses is kataluma, which may be translated as inn or guest room. Luke probably meant: there was no room in the guestroom of the house where Joseph had hoped to stay.
So here is one way to understand Luke’s story: Joseph is coming to Bethlehem to be registered in compliance with the Emperor’s proclamation, because it is his ancestral home. He intends to stay with relatives who live there. He does not intend to stay in an inn, if there even is one in such a small town. But other relatives have been forced to travel to Bethlehem for this registration as well. The guestroom where Joseph hoped to stay with Mary is already taken. The couple is allowed to stay in the main quarters with the permanent residents of the house, where animals like cattle and sheep inhabit the lower level, and mangers are present for their feed. Mary’s baby is laid in a manger, in lieu of a crib.
Another possibility: the couple is offered a separate stable where they will have shelter, warmth from the animals (no different from houses) and privacy. Sometimes the stable was situated in a cave. That fits the tradition of Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity.
This is a far different picture from that of the couple desperately searching for a room in one of Bethlehem’s inns, with heartless owners sending them away.
If a commercial inn is what Luke meant, it might have been a khan, or caravansary, known in the ancient Middle East. This could take the form of individual enclosures all facing a common fire area with water present. Luke knew of the Greek term for inn: pandocheion. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, a pandocheion is where the Samaritan leaves the man he has rescued, paying for his food and lodging there in advance. But Luke doesn’t use pandocheion in the story of Jesus’ birth for the place that had no room. It was the kataluma. Luke means either the guest room of a house, or a khan that doesn’t live up to the quality of a pandocheion. One could certainly argue that a quiet stable would be just as good a place for delivering a baby as a khan.
The Church of the Nativity – Bethlehem
The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem today stands over what was once a cave. Early testimony from Justin Martyr and others identified this cave as the stable where Jesus was born. Believers were already coming to see it by the early Second Century. A set of steps behind the altar of the church leads downward to where the cave once existed as a true cave, before its roof was removed. Although it is difficult to believe that the silver star on the floor marks the very spot where Jesus was born, this cave area is quite probably the location of the stable where it happened.
Challenges
Mark does not mention Bethlehem at all. Jesus is known as Jesus of Nazareth. That, some say, runs counter to Bethlehem being Jesus’ ancestral home. But Mark starts telling the Jesus story with Jesus as an adult; there is no narrative about anything earlier. Nazareth was where Jesus was raised, according to Luke. He certainly could have been “Jesus of Nazareth” who was originally from Bethlehem. There is no necessary conflict here.
“Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” – John 7:42 (ESV)
John 7:42 is an interesting passage. Here, people say that Jesus cannot be the Christ, because he is not from Bethlehem as the Christ must be, and not from among David’s descendants. Some modern scholars have pointed to this as evidence that John did not know, or did not share, the viewpoint of Matthew and Luke about where Jesus was born. They claim it is a competing tradition which, they often add, is more likely to be true. The solution to this apparent conflict is to keep reading and keep thinking.
John’s Gospel is masterfully designed. One of the themes he develops as the Gospel unfolds is stated already in the prologue. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (1:5). The Greek word translated “overcome” also means “comprehend/understand.” So, from the prologue on, the reader has been prepared in advance to notice how the people around Jesus will be confused, mistaken, “in-the-dark” about him. Their errors about where Jesus has come from are just that: errors. Certainly, the Spirit-level answer should be clear to the reader. Jesus is from God, from Heaven. But the people of the world consistently fail to understand this in the Gospel; they are clearly wrong about where Jesus came from or where he is going.
- Some refuse to believe in Jesus because they “know where he comes from” (7:27).
- Others refuse to believe in Jesus because they “do not know where he comes from” (9:29).
- Some say he is from Samaria, and demon-possessed besides (8:48).
- Is not Jesus illegitimate (implied in 8:41)—from an illegitimate union? (Note that this is presented as more of the misinformation circulating about Jesus.)
- And where will he go? To be among the Greeks (7:35)?
- Will he kill himself (8:22)?
- Even his disciples don’t know where he is going (14:5).
Let’s add to this his opponents’ insistence that Jesus could not be a real prophet, because he came from Galilee, and no prophet is to arise from there (John 7:52).
Isaiah 9 says this, and they all knew it:
1 But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
2 The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shone.
3 You have multiplied the nation;
you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
as with joy at the harvest,
as they are glad when they divide the spoil.
4 For the yoke of his burden,
and the staff for his shoulder,
the rod of his oppressor,
you have broken as on the day of Midian.
5 For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult
and every garment rolled in blood
will be burned as fuel for the fire.
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
So, those people within John’s Gospel who claimed Jesus was not from Bethlehem stand in a long line of persons who were wrong about all sorts of things, a chorus of confusion, each member singing his own part. Theirs was the kind of misinformation about Jesus early Christians had to hear and endure constantly. No wonder it’s addressed this way in the Gospel. Actually, we find a round-about affirmation in John 7:27 that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, as the readers of the Gospel probably knew, but the world-in-darkness would not comprehend the truth.
Early in this same Gospel of John Jesus leaves Judea to go to Galilee. “For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown” (4:4). What else can this mean in John’s context except that Jesus’ hometown was in Judea, where Bethlehem is, not Nazareth to the north? Read carefully! Keep thinking!
A blessed Christmas to you as we remember Bethlehem, where the Word first became flesh and dwelt among us.
Dr. Fred Baltz is the author of the just-released book: When the Bible Meets the Sky: the Star of Bethlehem and Other Mysteries.
TOP PHOTO: An artist’s conception of the Shepherds’ Fields on a postcard from 1914. It is fairly close to their appearance yet today. (public domain)
NOTE: Not every view expressed by scholars contributing Thinker articles necessarily reflects the views of Patterns of Evidence. We include perspectives from various sides of debates on biblical matters so that readers can become familiar with the different arguments involved. – Keep Thinking!
