PALESTINE: THE COUNTRY
Palestine, sometimes known as the Holy Land, is at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea and is about the size of Wales. In the time of Jesus part of it was ruled by a Roman governor and the rest by kings who did as the Romans told them.
Bethlehem
Bethlehem is in the southern part of the country called Judea. King David’s home was in Bethlehem which is why it was sometimes called the City of David. It is built on a hill. Some houses on the hillside were built above caves into which stone steps led down.
The use of caves as storerooms or stables was common in the region until recent times. One of these caves was enshrined in the fourth century as the traditional site of the Nativity. The present Basilica of the Nativity is the oldest surviving consecrated church in the world. It was built by the Emperor Justinian (527-565 AD) on the site of an earlier basilica which was erected in 325 AD by the Emperor Constantine. (1) Beneath the Basilica is the cave itself which you reach by going down a flight of steps. It is lit by silver lamps and on the floor, marking what is believed to be the actual place where Jesus was born, is a silver star around which are the Latin words, “HIC DE VIRGINE MARIA JESUS CHRISTUS NATUS EST”, “Here Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary”.
Nazareth
Over 70 miles to the north is Nazareth, where Jesus was brought up. Nazareth, which is in the part of Palestine called Galilee, is also built on a hill. Beyond the town is one of the finest views in the country. Jesus must often have gone there and looked down on the main roads in the distance along which might be seen marching columns of Roman troops, or pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem, or caravans laden with the merchandise of Egypt.
In Nazareth there is a modern fountain (Mary’s Well) built over the site of an ancient well, fed by a spring called Mary’s Spring. (2) Until fairly recently, this was the only water supply in Nazareth and so it seems likely that Mary would have drawn water there, often, no doubt in the company of her young Son.
Sea of Galilee
About 15 miles north-east of Nazareth is the freshwater Sea or Lake of Galilee. This is about 13 miles long and 7 miles wide. Through it, from north to south, flows the River Jordan which rises in the snow-capped mountain range of Hermon 50 miles to the north.
In those days there were several large towns on its shores in one of which, Capernaum, Jesus used to stay. Except in bad weather there was usually a large number of boats on the Lake. Some took passengers or goods across but most of them were used for fishing. A good deal of the fish was salted and sent to various parts of the world. A few years later a man counted 230 boats of different sizes at one end alone (3), so we can imagine how busy the Lake must have been, with white sails dotted everywhere on the blue water, and, beyond, those same brown hills that stand there today.
It is known that there were 16 thriving ports on the Lake and it has been estimated that there must have been hundreds, maybe thousands of boats on it. Yet despite this, there was no archaeological evidence of any of them – until January 24th 1986 when two fisherman brothers discovered an ancient boat. A long drought had lowered the level of water in the Lake and revealed the boat. (4) You can see a picture of it here.
The dilapidated boat is 26 feet long and eight feet wide. It was originally made from timbers salvaged from other boats and inferior local woods, such as pine and willow which warp in the water. When eventually the boat could no longer be patched up, its owners stripped it of its sail and anchor and anything that could be reused (e.g. nails and cedar wood, which is hard) and pushed it out to sink. (5)
River Jordan and the Dead Sea
The Lake of Galilee lies in a deep hollow 682 feet below the level of the Mediterranean, and round it the mountains rise, some of them to a height of 2,000 feet above its surface. From the southern end of the Lake the River Jordan flows on its way down the Jordan Valley to the Dead Sea, also known as the Salt Sea. The distance as the crow flies is only 65 miles, but the river twists and turns so many times that its own length is 200 miles. Its banks are thick with reeds and willows and tamarisks and oleander.
The Jordan Valley is not like any valley we can imagine. It is a great gash in the earth’s crust, splitting the country open from top to bottom, and by the time the Dead Sea is reached it has already dropped another 600 feet.
This is a salt lake, the most salty in the world. (6) This means that fish and other creatures cannot live in it – this is why it is called ‘Dead’. It lies 1,292 feet below the Mediterranean. Five miles north is Jericho. Most of the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in caves on the western shore of the Dead Sea. The Scrolls are very important, not least because they comprise the oldest copies of the Bible in existence. For example, the Qumran scrolls date from around 250 B.C. to about 65 AD. (7)
About five miles north of the Dead Sea is the place where the Israelites under Joshua crossed the Jordan when they entered Palestine. (8) The ford in this area is believed to be the place where Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist. (9) The valley itself at this point is an enormous trench, 15 miles wide, its sides formed by the grim walls of the mountains of Judea and the mountains of Moab which tower up from 3,000 to 4,000 feet above it.
Jerusalem, the capital of Palestine, is about 25 miles to the west and in that distance the road climbs over 3,700 feet. The first town you come to is Jericho, about five miles from the Jordan. After that, for the remaining 20 miles, the road passes through the Wilderness of Judea. Here it was that after his Baptism Jesus was tempted by the Devil. It is a place of unspeakable dreariness, quivering pitilessly with the heat, a brown, barren waste of mountains and gorges, the whole land twisted into strange, tortured shapes by the cooling of the earth’s crust millions of years ago.
Jerusalem
In Jerusalem, which is five miles to the north of Bethlehem, was the Temple built by King Herod the Great. The Temple itself was built of white marble and the eastern end was covered with plates of gold which reflected the rays of the rising sun for miles. Round it was a large courtyard, nearly 200 yards wide and rather more in length. Along each of the four sides ran a covered walk the roof of which was supported by great marble pillars. The pillars at one end numbered 162 and were arranged in four rows. Each was 27 feet high and so thick that three men holding hands could scarcely reach round it. (10) The Temple was completely destroyed in AD 70, when the city was besieged and captured by the Romans.
Outside the city walls on the east is a valley along which runs a stream called Kedron. On the other side of this stream is the hill called Olivet or the Mount of Olives. It was a short way up this, in the Garden of Gethsemane, that Jesus was arrested, and it was from the top of the hill that he later ascended into Heaven.
OUR LORD’S MINISTRY IN PALESTINE
At around the age of 30 Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist in the River Jordan and began his ministry. He had come to bring people back to God but in spite of his teaching and miracles, after two years his public ministry had failed. The people saw him only as a possible resistance leader against the Romans and the Jewish religious authorities resented him and saw him as a trouble-maker.
Therefore he concentrated on his 12 Apostles and, when Peter confessed that he was the Messiah or Christ (the King and Deliverer sent by God), he began to prepare them for his Crucifixion and Resurrection. An important part of this preparation was his Transfiguration which took place at this point.
References
1. Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2008) Bethlehem. Available from:
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2000/3/Bethlehem.htm (Accessed 16 November 2010) (Internet).
2. Sacred Destinations (not dated) (2008) Mary’s well. Nazareth. Available from: http://www.sacred-destinations.com/israel/nazareth-marys-well.htm (Accessed 16 November 2010) (Internet).
3. Josephus (1st century AD) War. 2.21.8.
4. The Jesus Boat Foundation (2010) The Sea of Galilee. Available from:
http://www.jesusboatmuseum.com/about/the-sea-of-galilee/ (Accessed 16 November 2010) (Internet).
5. Reed, J.L. (2007) The HarperCollins visual guide to the New Testament. What archaeology reveals about the first Christians, New York: HarperCollins.
6. Israel Ministry of Tourism (2005) The Dead Sea. Available from:
http://www.goisrael.com/Tourism_Eng/Tourist+Information/Discover+Israel/Geographic+Regions/The+Dead+Sea+General+Info.htm) (Accessed 16 November) (Internet).
7. Dead Sea Scrolls Foundation (2008) Home page. Available from: http://www.deadseascrollsfoundation.com/ (Accessed 16 November 2010) (Internet).
8. Keller, W. (1980) The Bible as history revised, London: Hodder and Stoughton.
9. Daniel-Rops, H. (1955) Jesus in his time, London: Eyre and Spottiswoode.
10. Josephus (1st century AD) Antiquities,15.11.5.