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Spirituality

Which Bethlehem was Jesus born in ?

By T.K. Randall
December 24, 2014 · Comment icon 49 comments

Mary, Joseph and the three shepherds with the baby Jesus. Image Credit: Gerard van Honthorst
There are actually two places in Israel called Bethlehem, one of which being a small village in Galilee.
Most traditional celebrations of Christmas place the birth of Jesus in the city of Bethlehem in Israel's West Bank, however there is a second Bethlehem in Israel, a small village around 100 miles to the north which tends to be largely overlooked at Christmas time.

For years some archaeologists have been putting forward the notion that Jesus was more likely to have been born in this small village than in the city as is commonly believed.

"I'm positive," said Aviram Oshri of the Israeli Antiquities Authority. "I have no doubts because the whole surroundings of Jesus's life was the Galilee and the Kineret."
Another factor is that the village of Bethlehem is only eight miles from Nazareth and would have been far more accessible for a heavily pregnant Mary than the city which would have taken days to reach.

"Mary rode on top of the donkey at the end of her pregnancy - and I asked myself, what are the chances that the baby would still be alive if she rode all the way to Bethlehem in Judea ?" said Dr. Oshri. "Zero. Whereas the distance from Nazareth to Bethlehem is possible."

There are also some who believe Jesus wasn't born in either of the two Bethlehems.

"If you ask me, Jesus was born in Nazareth," said archaeologist Dr Uzi Dahari. "At that time in the Roman period, people didn't move from place to place. All of his family is from Nazareth."

Source: Telegraph | Comments (49)




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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #40 Posted by Doug1029 9 years ago
Yes We seem to have got off on the wrong foot. I believe you have things you could teach me that I would like to learn. At the same time, I wish to make sure that what you are teaching is true. That's the reason for wanting high-quality references. The websites you cited, while archeological ones, lack some vital information. For example, they SAY that house dates from Jesus' time. But they provide no information about how that date was obtained. At 2000 years, a radio-carbon date should nail the decade. But a pottery date could easily be off by a couple hundred years. In a professional paper,... [More]
Comment icon #41 Posted by Jor-el 9 years ago
We seem to have got off on the wrong foot. I believe you have things you could teach me that I would like to learn. At the same time, I wish to make sure that what you are teaching is true. That's the reason for wanting high-quality references. The websites you cited, while archeological ones, lack some vital information. For example, they SAY that house dates from Jesus' time. But they provide no information about how that date was obtained. At 2000 years, a radio-carbon date should nail the decade. But a pottery date could easily be off by a couple hundred years. In a professional paper, a r... [More]
Comment icon #42 Posted by Doug1029 9 years ago
I only have to say, that's why we have google.... You put into direct doubt the authenticity of the find!! You have posted some tourist photos by an unnamed photographer. Are they real? Or is somebody trying to prove a story with false evidence? Nazareth today is a small city, yet there are no buildings in the pictures. You really need some better evidence. All you had to do was google Nazareth and mountain.... The problem with Google, like UM, is that anybody can post anything, and they do. How is one to kno0w if what is posted is what is claimed? Religious groups finding old buildings in Naz... [More]
Comment icon #43 Posted by Doug1029 9 years ago
Need I say more? Google is a wonderful tool, use it. Google: Nazareth Village Farm. This is on a 16-acre tract near Nazareth, not at the 4-acre townsite, itself. The claim for autheniticty is based on eleven potsherds that are ostensibly dated to "the early Roman Period" but don't match the archeological pottery types for this period. Nazareth Village Farm was a commercial venture in which a "replica" of biblical Nazareth was planned, complete with live-in actors. A restaurant and visitor center was also planned. The amateur archeologists in question were employees of the corporation with litt... [More]
Comment icon #44 Posted by Jor-el 9 years ago
The problem with Google, like UM, is that anybody can post anything, and they do. How is one to kno0w if what is posted is what is claimed? With all due respect Doug, Google is a search engine, that means you can actually select your sources, if you know how to use it. It is also quite easily verifiable whether you are using a biased source or not. But ALL sources appear, whether biased or not. Are you telling us all that you can't see the difference? Or is it that you don't actually feel like doing some background work before your replies? actually saw that in a research journal. I think it's... [More]
Comment icon #45 Posted by Jor-el 9 years ago
Google: Nazareth Village Farm. This is on a 16-acre tract near Nazareth, not at the 4-acre townsite, itself. The claim for autheniticty is based on eleven potsherds that are ostensibly dated to "the early Roman Period" but don't match the archeological pottery types for this period. Nazareth Village Farm was a commercial venture in which a "replica" of biblical Nazareth was planned, complete with live-in actors. A restaurant and visitor center was also planned. The amateur archeologists in question were employees of the corporation with little training in archeology. This is one example of ama... [More]
Comment icon #46 Posted by Doug1029 9 years ago
I told you it was a wonderful tool, and so it is.... http://www.uhl.ac/files/8613/3552/5109/NazarethVillageFarm-FinalReport.pdf http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=2061 By the way the excavation was undertaken by the Israel Antiquities Authority.... Dating of the potsherds is a little shaky. It is probably stretching the interpretation a little to say that they date from the time of Jesus, but the late first century or early second is certainly possible; although, that would be "late Roman Period." If there really was a "historical Jesus" who lived at Nazareth, then very l... [More]
Comment icon #47 Posted by Jor-el 9 years ago
Dating of the potsherds is a little shaky. It is probably stretching the interpretation a little to say that they date from the time of Jesus, but the late first century or early second is certainly possible; although, that would be "late Roman Period." If there really was a "historical Jesus" who lived at Nazareth, then very likely whoever was the source of those potsherds would have known him (or his grandfather would have known him). Doug I begin so suspect that you don't read the links posted... Abutting both sides of the wall was a layer of stream pebbles and tamped alluvium (thickness c.... [More]
Comment icon #48 Posted by Doug1029 9 years ago
I begin so suspect that you don't read the links posted... Abutting both sides of the wall was a layer of stream pebbles and tamped alluvium (thickness c. 0.7 m) that contained a large quantity of potsherds dating to the Persian, Hellenistic, Early Roman and Middle Roman periods. The ceramic artifacts included bowls (Fig. 3:3, 4), a cooking pot (Fig. 3:5) and jars (Fig. 3:11, 18, 20), ascribed to the Persian period (fifth–fourth centuries BCE); a mortarium (Fig. 3:1), jars (Fig. 3:14, 17, 19, 21, 22) and a jug (Fig. 3:25) from the Hellenistic period (second century BCE); jars (Fig. 3:16, 23,... [More]
Comment icon #49 Posted by Jor-el 9 years ago
I did read it - I even had trouble getting Adobe Acrobat to download it. But I missed that. The second item I did not read. The first article was discussing potsherds found in a field and also three nearby watch towers. It was those potsherds I was addressing. Doug Well since you read it, you will notice that no such shakiness mentioned by you exists. The dates are quite clear. They clearly say "early roman period". Other items were also found from before the Roman period and into the middle Roman period, which means that the site was inhabited for a long time.


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