BETHLEHEM, a town 5m. S. of Jerusalem on eastern spur of watershed; altitude 2,5ooft. (Heb. "house of bread" or "of Lahamu" [deity] ; also called Ephrathah [Mic. v., Ruth iv.], but this is perhaps a district name.) History.—Garrisoned by the Philistines in the time of Saul (II. Sam. xxiii. 14), Bethlehem was the early home of David and of his nephews Joab, Abishai and Asahel. Rehoboam fortified the town (II. Chron. xi. 6), and in its great khan (Chimham) the murderers of Gedaliah rested (586 B.c.) on their flight to Egypt (Jer. xli. 7) . It was reoccupied after the captivity by Bethle hemites (Ezra ii. 21). The Bethlehem district is the scene of the story of Ruth. As the birthplace of Jesus it emerged gloriously from the obscurity into which it had fallen. Justin Martyr (c. A.D. 150) describes the scene of the birth as a "cave" near the village. In A.D. 315 Bethlehem was little more than a wilderness. Justin ian enclosed the town with a wall (531). The Persians spared it in 614 and the Arabs in 636. The crusaders in their advance on Jerusalem occupied it at the invitation of the inhabitants (1099). It was erected into a Latin bishopric in 111o, passed to the Mus lims in 1187 and was restored to the Christians through treaty (1229-44). In the 14th century the Greek Church made it an episcopal see and in the 17th the Armenian did likewise. In 1489 the wall and towers were demolished and the moat filled in by order of the sultan, whilst in 1834 Ibrahim Pasha laid waste the Muslim quarter as punishment for a Muslim insurrection. It fell into the hands of the British at the time of the capture of Jerusalem (I 917) .
Nativity.—Bethlehem was evidently early recognized as a sacred site by Christians since Hadrian felt im pelled to desecrate it (c. 132). Constantine in 33o erected a basilica (S. Maria a Praesepio) to which Justinian added. Con vents of the Greek, Latin and Armenian churches closely sur round it. Disputes for the possession of the sanctuary and prece dence in worship occupied the Churches for centuries, leading at times to disorderly scenes. The Grotto of the Nativity is a crypt occupying the centre of the transept and approached by steps leading down from either side of the choir. Fitted into the marble paving is a star with around it the words Hic de Virgine Maria, Jesus Christus natus est. Round the star burn night and day 15 lamps—six Greek, five Armenian, four Latin. Mass is celebrated here every day by the Greeks and Armenians. The Oratory of the Manger and the Altar of the Magi bear their witness to other sacred spots. From the Grotto access is obtained to the tombs of Eusebius of Cremona (d. 422), Paula (d. 404) and Jerome (d. 420), and to the cell, now a chapel, where Jerome made his famous translation of the scriptures. The Vulgate mosaics of the I2th century still adorn the church, and King Edward IV. supplied the oak used in restoration of the roof (1482). A wall erected by the Greeks to separate the nave from the transept in 1842 was removed in 1918 by order of the governor of Jerusalem with the concurrence of the Churches concerned.
Bethlehem has a population of 6,600 (5,800 Christians), and is a prosperous town with many good houses. The centre of a fertile district its wine is amongst the best in Palestine. The chief occupation, apart from husbandry, is the manufacture and sale of religious mementoes made from mother of-pearl, olive wood or "Dead Sea stone." The women of Beth lehem wear a special garb. A large number of schools and chari table institutions represents the activities of a wide variety of religious sects. (There was a small village in Zebulon, 7m. N. of Nazareth with the same name.) BIBLIOGRAPHY.-W. Harvey, etc., The Church of the Nativity at Bibliography.-W. Harvey, etc., The Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem (191o) ; H. Vincent and F. M. Abel, Bethleem, le Sanctuaire de la Nativity (1914) ; Lord Kitchener, "Christmas at Bethlehem" (1875), in Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Stat. 36 sqq. (1917) ; P. N. Waggett, "Bethlehem," in Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Stat. 58 sqq. (1919) ; T. Zahn, "Die Geburtstatte Jesu in Geschichte, Sage and Bildender Kunst," in Neue Kirchliche Zeitschri f t, 669 sqq. (1921).
