Noel

What does the word noel mean and when did it start to be related to Christmas? According to the dictionary, English speakers borrowed the word from the French word nael which can be traced back to the Latin word nalalis, which can mean birthday as a noun or of or relating to birth as an adjective.  The English adjective natal has the same meaning and is also an offspring of the Latin word natalis which, as I said, can mean birthday or relating birth. (Neonatal means “of or relating to, or affecting the newborn and especially the human infant during the first month after birth.”) According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, noels (or carol songs) were being sung in Latin or French for centuries before English speakers started using the word to refer to Christmas carols in the 18^th century.  An early use of noel (spelled nowell) to mean “Christmas” can be found in the text of the late 14^th century Arthurian legend “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.”

But is noel really a Hebrew word or does it have Hebrew origins?  Some say no.  But Scriptural researcher, Bible teacher, and shepherd of God’s flock whose parents (whose sir name is Corpuz) had given him the first name Noel says the word is the shortened form of two Hebrew words NOrad and EL.  “NOrad EL” meaning “born of EL” or born of God.  Corpuz says it has nothing to do with the pagan holiday festivals that coincided with the Christmas holiday celebrated by Christians all over the world on December 25. 

So when did the idea of celebrating birthdays begin?  Well, the first recorded birthday celebrations took place about 3000 years before Christ’s birthday.  These celebrations were coronation dates, symbolic of the Pharaoh’s birth as a god.

The Roman Catholic Church formally celebrated Christ’s birthday on December 25^th in 336 AD, during the reign of Constantine.  It was then that Constantine made Christianity the effective religion of the Roman Empire.

Some have speculated that their choosing this date had the political motive of weakening the established pagan celebrations that also used that date.  The December 25^th designated date was not widely accepted at first in the Eastern Empire, where January 6^th had been the favored designated date, and it remained so for another 50 years.  But Christmas did not become a major Christian festival until the 9^th century.  Noel Corpuz writes that the hymn titled “The First Noel” refers to the “The Firstborn of God” who is Jesus Christ (or YAHoshua Masiyach translated Jesus the Anointed One).

The exact time and date of Christ’s birth and life had been of great interest to the prophets that came before Him.

1 Peter 1:10-12 tells us,

Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.” – 1 Peter 10:12

More than the fact that the prophets were interested in these times and dates, Peter says that even angels long to look into these things.

Job is considered one of the earliest written books of the Bible.  Job, in chapters 1 and 2, documents God’s conversation with Satan about Job.  Note: God brings up the topic with Satan.  As a result of this conversation, Job experiences the incredible loss of the lives of his sons and daughters and the lives of most of his servants and his herds. Job also experienced excruciating physical pain that resulted from the next conversation between God and Satan recorded in Job 2.  Note: again God brings up the topic with Satan.

But Job is not privy to any of God’s boasting about him to Satan either time.  However, Job, through the Holy Spirit, prophesies of the Redeemer and that in the end he (Job) would see Him. Job says:

I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see Him with my own eyes. – Job 19:25-27

(The Amplified Bible goes on to say, “My eyes will behold Him and not as a stranger.”)

So God used the suffering and temporary loss of life in Job’s immediate family to reveal a bigger planned event i.e., the coming of the Savior Redeemer.  I don’t even think Satan understood this mystery at the time nor his part in the fulfillment of this prophecy.

Now we sing noel carols (i.e., Christmas carols) and some of them contain truths that Satan and his demons did not know at the time of Jesus’s birth.  For example, in the words of the first stanza of the hymn Silent Night:

 

Silent night! Holy night!

Son of God, love’s pure light!

Radiant beams from Thy Holy face

With the dawn of redeeming grace,

Jesus, Lord at Thy birth.

Jesus, Lord at Thy birth.

I don’t think that the prophets knew at the time, nor did Satan and the fallen angles know at the time, that the Redeemer was going to be the Lord God Himself at His birth.  I don’t even think Mary knew.

So what makes me think that?  Listen to what God says at Jesus’s Baptism, and then listen to Satan’s conversation with Jesus after He had fasted in the desert for forty days and forty nights:

As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on Him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.” – Matthew 3:16-17

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry. The tempter came to Him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” – Matthew 4:1-3

Note: Maybe Satan wasn’t listening to God at Jesus’ baptism or why would he say “If”. But maybe Satan was listening and he heard God say, “This is my Son,” but he didn’t understand that Jesus was actually God The Son (the second person of the Trinity Godhead) who was the Word of God made flesh.

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” – Matthew 4:4

This is a reference to Deuteronomy 8:3.

Then the devil took Him to the holy city and had Him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command His angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” – Matthew 4:5-6

Again the “If” statement. This is a reference to Psalm 91:11-12. Note: Satan knows what is written. Why?  Because he has read it.

Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” – Matthew 4:7

Note: Jesus reminds him of what is also written.

Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from Me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’” – Matthew 4:8-10

It is so ironic that Satan tries to tempt Him with only the kingdoms of the world, when Jesus is Creator and King of the entire universe.

Verse 11 goes on to say:

Then the devil left Him, and angels came and attended Him. – Matthew 4:11

So it appears that even Satan did not know that Jesus was God Himself in the flesh.  What Satan thought being called the Son of God meant, we will not fully know until all is revealed to us in heaven.  I think that if Satan knew Jesus was God, he would not dare to ask God to bow and worship him.  I think Satan, like the prophets, longed to look into these things, but they remained hidden from him as well as from the prophets.

It amazes me that Satan, one of the most powerful of the angels, thought that if he could just get Jesus to sin that he could prevent Him from redeeming mankind of their sins.  It also amazes me that Satan was as fluent in the Scriptures as he was, and yet he was still blind to God’s ultimate plan of salvation for mankind.

This should be a lesson to us all. No matter how fluent we are in the Scriptures, there are still things that God has decided not to reveal to us until the appropriate time. But what about the things God has chosen to reveal to us that involve Satan and those demons that follow him that are written in the Book of Revelation?  For example:                  

 

And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time. – Revelation 20:1-3  

I think Satan must be aware of these things and his impending end as described in Revelation 20.

When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city He loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. – Revelation 20:7-10

I think Satan, zealous student of the Scripture that he was and is, has read those things and knows how they end for him.  I think he continues his evil actions because his mind is depraved.  I think he is like those godless and wicked men described in Romans 1.

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. – Romans 1:18-20

(Satan, even more so, would be without excuse.)

For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. – Romans 1:21-25

Certainly the fallen angels worshiped Satan, a created being, so this would apply to them.  Satan, on his part, is so deceived that he worships himself since he is the quintessential narcissist, so these verses would apply to him also.

Also Romans1:28-32 goes on to say of the godless:

Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, He gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. – Romans1:28-32

(Note Satan and the fallen angels did have knowledge of God.)

Well, this sounds like Satan’s resume and the resume of all who follow him.

So I think Satan has the most wicked and depraved mind that ever existed.  He may know the Scriptures about his end now, but it only makes his wicked and depraved mind want to steal and kill and destroy all the more while he still has time left.  There is no remorse or regret or repentance with him.  That is why the verses in Revelation 20 are final for him and his followers.

But what should our response be?

Peter goes on to say in 1 Peter 1:13-16:

Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” – 1 Peter 1:13-16

Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through Him you believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him, and so your faith and hope are in God. – 1 Peter 1:17-21

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. – 1 Peter 1:22-23

So you and I can say as Job says in Job 19:25-27:

I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see Him with my own eyes. My eyes will behold Him and not as a stranger. – Job 19:25-27

Now it is only right to celebrate Jesus’ birth.  Why? Because He is worthy of all glory and honor and praise and so much more from us.

We celebrate each others’ birthdays, not because of who we were when we were born, but we celebrate each others’ birthdays because of who we are now that we have been born again.

Let’s pray.

Locations of the Prophesied One

 

Welcome! Today is our fifth week of this series entitled “Even the Stones Cry Out” that explores the findings of archaeology that confirm the truths of the Bible. My original plan was that this would be a five-week series, but there is a lot more I would love to talk about, so we will have to come back to do more messages in this series at a later time. We have several sites we will look at today, so let’s get right into it.

Luke 1 tells us only the town of where Mary the mother of Jesus lived:

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. – Luke 1:26-27

The town was nothing special, a backwater town in a backwater area. With absolutely no meant offense, saying you were from Nazareth might today be equivalent to saying you are from Newry, or from Starr. And yet we see that followers of Jesus sometimes were given a name tied to Nazareth. We see this when the high priest Ananias, having had Paul arrested, has his lawyer Tertullus present his case before the governor Felix. Listen to Tertullus’ opening argument, and note how he describes Christians:

“We have enjoyed a long period of peace under you, and your foresight has brought about reforms in this nation. Everywhere and in every way, most excellent Felix, we acknowledge this with profound gratitude. But in order not to weary you further, I would request that you be kind enough to hear us briefly. We have found this man to be a troublemaker, stirring up riots among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the Nazarene sect…” – Acts 24:2-5a

Now the name Nazareth is connected to the Hebrew word netzer, which means branch, or shoot. The “ene” ending in Nazarene is not found in Hebrew but is an add-on of later languages. At the time of Jesus, a person from Nazareth was called a Netzer. This brings to mind a prophecy from Isaiah 11:

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—and He will delight in the fear of the Lord. – Isaiah 11:1-3

The word for Branch in this passage is – you guessed it – netzer. And with only God knows how many followers of Christ there are, only God knows how many people are a part of this “Nazarene sect,” no Branch has ever borne more fruit. To this day, Arabs often call Christians by the name Nazarenes.

Nazareth was a part of the region of Galilee, and Galileans generally had a poor reputation in Israel. People from Nazareth, though, were even not thought much of in Galilee. And yet, Jesus took on the name “Jesus of Nazareth.” Those who wanted to scorn Him used that term pejoratively. Even the demons who spoke through the one they possessed called Him Jesus of Nazareth (Mark 1 and Mark 10). But Jesus wore the name with honor – He did not reject the name, just as He did not reject, but rather chose, the humble life and association with Mary and Joseph. To see just how poorly Nazareth was thought of, we have to only look at an unfiltered exclamation from one of the disciples:

Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip. – John 1:45-46

And so, let us “come and see” Nazareth. Today, Nazareth is one of the largest Palestinian cities in Israel. Nazareth is about 15 miles west of the southern tip of the Sea of Galilee, roughly 60 miles north of Jerusalem. Close to the city’s water source stands the largest church in the entire Middle East; its name, appropriately, is the Church of the Annunciation. This church was built in 1960, relatively recently. John mentioned this church last week, and also mentioned that a Jesus-era home was excavated adjacent to this church.

But we are going to look at the church location itself. As with many of the other sites we have looked at in this series, there is a lot more to explore, layer upon layer. Prior to this church was an older church built in 1730. While this church was standing, excavations were limited to locations around, not at, the building. But the church was demolished in 1954 in preparation for building the new church. Once the site had been cleaned up, archaeologists could now dig under the location of the old church. What did they find?

They found the ruins of a Crusader era church. This church is mentioned in writing dated to 1106, so it is at least this old. The church was destroyed in 1263 by Sultan Baibars, and the site remained a ruin until 1730, when the new church was built. There is enough of the foundations of the site remaining to determine where the walls stood. In a style common in the Crusader era, the east side of the church building has three apses, semicircular areas protruding with rounded walls (rounded at least in the interior).

Buried under the Crusader-era church was found a Byzantine church built in the 400s AD. This church, like the Crusader-era church, was oriented facing east with three apses in the east. Portions of a mosaic floor were discovered in this layer, also oriented toward the east.

Beneath this layer was found evidence for a Jewish synagogue! This structure is less complete, but enough remains to be certain that a synagogue was there, and that it was oriented southward, toward Jerusalem, rather than eastward. Inscriptions were found on plaster with the word “Jesus” and “Rejoice Mary” so that there can be no doubt what the synagogue commemorated. This church was built in the 100s AD. Portions of another mosaic floor were found below the Byzantine floor, and we know that this floor was a part of the synagogue because it is pointed southward. This mosaic includes several chi-rho symbol (which looks like a cross with a small p sticking out of the vertical line of the cross). The Greek letters chi and rho are the first two letters of the Greek word Christos. One chi-rho symbol was encircled with what symbolizes a crown, demonstrating their belief of the kingship of Christ. Note that the only way Christian symbolism is in a Jewish synagogue is if the builders were Jewish Christians. Also note that if you ever heard that crosses were not used until Constantine, centuries later, that is absolutely false. We even have crosses on ossuaries (burial urns) going back to the first century.

We have discussed five layers, the current church, the 1730 church, the Crusader church, the Byzantine church, and the synagogue, but shockingly, there is one more layer: the remains of a house dating to the first century AD; that is, a house at the time of Jesus. What remains of this house? Cisterns, caverns, and, amazingly, a mikvah, which is a Jewish ritual bath. The fact that the home contains a mikvah proves that it is a Jewish home. It is clear that the mikvah was preserved in the synagogue church that came after it. Pottery and coins found with the home shows that it was lived in even a bit before the first century AD, that is, the time of the birth announcement by the angel to Mary. There is no question that the early Jewish believers were certain that this location was indeed the location of the annunciation. Note that the later churches did not have the benefit of this knowledge, of these discoveries, but that the discoveries strongly confirm the veracity of the location.

The modern church has preserved portions of the Crusader church, the Byzantine church, the synagogue, and the mikvah. More is continuing to be discovered – a second mosaic floor just outside the modern building has been found, for example, that also dates back to the Byzantine church.

Let’s move on from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Bethlehem has a long history in the Bible, so as we have done multiple times before in this series, we will go all the way back to Genesis, to the family of Jacob, whom God had just renamed Israel.

Then they moved on from Bethel. While they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth and had great difficulty. And as she was having great difficulty in childbirth, the midwife said to her, “Don’t despair, for you have another son.” As she breathed her last—for she was dying—she named her son Ben-Oni. But his father named him Benjamin. So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). Over her tomb Jacob set up a pillar, and to this day that pillar marks Rachel’s tomb. – Genesis 35:16-20

We do not have time to discuss the archaeological site now claimed to be Rachel’s tomb. The site is one of the most famous in Israel, and because it involves Rachel, it is of importance to Jews, Christians, and Moslems. But we need to move on.

Jacob retells a shortened version of this account in his reunion with his son Joseph in Egypt. Ben-Oni means son of my trouble, and Benjamin means son of my right hand. As we saw in the Joseph series, Jacob had favorites when it came to his children, and Benjamin, well, being at one’s right hand was the position of greatest honor – we even see this concept when the disciples argue about who gets to be at Jesus’ right hand.

But our focus today is on the location: Bethlehem, Bethlehem near Ephrath. When the tribes were allotted their land, Bethlehem was a part of the land of Judah. (There was also another Bethlehem mentioned in the land of Zebulun.) Bethlehem of Judah is mentioned repeatedly in Judges 17 through 19, as where some people come from or where they are going. Bethlehem is likewise mentioned in the book of Ruth, which takes place during the times of the judges. In fact, Naomi’s husband Elimelech and sons Mahlon and Kilion are described as Ephrathites from Bethlehem. If you remember the account, all three men die, and so Naomi and Ruth, the wife of one of her sons, go back to Bethlehem after living in Moab, home of the Moabites. Indeed, all the events of Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz, Ruth’s eventual new husband, takes place in Bethlehem. In fact, when Ruth and Boaz were married, the elders of the town served as witnesses and said the following:

“We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the family of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. Through the offspring the Lord gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.” – Ruth 4:11b-12

So it seems that perhaps Bethlehem and Ephrathah were twin villages at that time. And it was in Bethlehem Ephrathah that Ruth became pregnant and she and Boaz had a son, whom they named Obed, and Obed was the father of Jesse, who was the father of David, who was in the line of Jesus.

I find hints and shadows of Jesus in the account of Ruth, and in particular, I am struck by what the women tell the Moabite woman Naomi when Obed is born:

“Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life…”– Ruth 4:14b-15a

Prophetic words, finding their ultimate fulfillment in Jesus, the true guardian-redeemer, the most famous person of all throughout Israel, and the only One who can truly renew your life.

In I Samuel 16 and 17, Jesse, David’s father, is described as Jesse of Bethlehem, and he is also called Jesse the Ephrathite, and so we see that the family of Obed has remained in Bethlehem. And indeed, David, in his early life, lived in Bethlehem. Even when he served Saul, he would go back to Bethlehem to help tend his father’s sheep. And of course, David is truly a foreshadowing of Jesus, as we have spoken about many times in the past.

We need to next talk about Micah. Micah, lived centuries after David, when the people had for a long time mostly rejected God. During Micah’s lifetime, the nation of Israel fell, and Sennacherib also invaded Judah. Micah prophesied about the fall of Jerusalem. And he describes Zion (a part of Jerusalem) in Micah 3:12 as being plowed under, a prophecy that finds its fulfillment twice, with the destruction of both Temples:

Therefore because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, the temple hill a mound overgrown with thickets. – Micah 3:12

Yet despite this gloomy subject and despite being revealed from God the destruction that was to come, God also gave Micah hope. Consider this famous prophecy of Micah:

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for Me One who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” – Micah 5:2

And so, yes, Bethlehem Ephrathah was a relatively small, insignificant town at the time of Micah, but it had a long history of being where important things had their beginnings. The line of Jesus was preserved through the baby of Ruth and Boaz there, and David, the greatest king of Israel, had his beginnings there. And recall that David himself was the smallest and least likely of Jesse’s sons to be the one to be king. He was just a shepherd boy. And so, not only did important things have their beginnings in Bethlehem Ephrathah, but important things did not look at all important there when they had their beginnings.

I want to emphasize that Micah wrote the prophesies of Christ 700 years before Christ was born, and, thanks to the Dead Sea scrolls, we have copies of Micah that date to at least 150 years before Christ. Micah was right about the Messiah being born in Bethlehem Ephrathah, and he was also right that the Messiah would come “from the days of eternity.” The Messiah Jesus is both man and God. With no man alone could someone come from the days of eternity.  

And this brings us to the New Testament. From Luke 2:

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped Him in cloths and placed Him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. – Luke 2:1-7

So now we understand why Bethlehem was called the town of David, and we appreciate why Joseph and Mary had to go to this particular town: they were indeed in that family line of David, that family line that went right through Bethlehem Ephrathah. 

And so, is it possible that we have some evidence of the exact location where Jesus was born? Shockingly, yes – a lot of evidence, enough to convince even many Jewish and secular archaeologists and historians.

Bethlehem today is a fairly large Palestinian city. It is located six miles south of Jerusalem, so yes, Mary and Joseph had a long journey to get there from Nazareth. Bethlehem has a section of town that is higher in elevation, and yes, it is another tel, a raised area containing the remains of multiple civilizations. Pottery has been found dating back to the Iron Age, the Roman period, and the Byzantine Period, establishing that the location has been settled during each of these ages. The tel is unfortunately covered by a residential area, so it is not currently possible to do a large excavation of the site, particularly the proportion of the site where the oldest pottery was found, the section that undoubtedly is where the Bethlehem at the time of David (and before) was located.

But the New Testament Bethlehem is a different story. Before we get into the archaeological evidence, I want to quote some early writings.

Justin, also known as Justin Martyr, wrote about Bethlehem in AD 150. His writings are the earliest discussion of the birth of Jesus we have apart from the Bible. Here is what he wrote:

The child was born in Bethlehem… in a certain cave… there Mary brought forth the Christ and placed him in a manger.” – Justin

Now, that cave mention may surprise you. But there is no reason to question this detail, because caves in fact made excellent stables and were then, naturally, common places to find mangers, a structure used to hold food for animals. Known as shepherd caves, their advantages include being a place to avoid rain as well as temperature extremes in either direction. Many ancient houses from the times of Christ and before that time have been found to contain caves under them or next to them.

And at least until quite recently, there were still people living in caves around the area of Bethlehem! Listen to this article I found from the Chicago Tribune dated Christmas, 1987. The title is “Shepherds’ Caves Still Dot Holy Land.”

Mohammed Abu Sharq, a 17-year-old Moslem Arab shepherd from this ancient hilltop settlement south of Hebron, probably can relate to the first Christmas a lot better than most modern Christians. Like Jesus, Abu Sharq was born in a cave, one of hundreds that dot the rocky slopes of biblical Judea and the Judean Desert, located in the southern bulge of the Israeli-occupied West Bank that embraces Bethlehem. Today, according to experts, about 5,000 Arab felahin, or peasants, still live in caves that have been inhabited continuously for the past 3,000 years.

[…] In these areas, […] the peasants roam the hills with their herds by day and share their caves with the animals by night. In June they move back to the parent villages, where the cycle begins anew. The caves are formed naturally or carved from soft pockets of limestone. Some are large, multichambered caverns tall enough for a 6-foot person to stand. Some are small niches housing primitive ground ovens where peasant women use heated stones to bake bread from coarsely ground whole wheat flour. The large, single-room cave where Mohammed lives with his parents and five brothers and sisters year round has a man-made raised area, called a mastaba, where the family sleeps and eats. The animals sleep on the lower level. Once a week, the floor is doused with ammonia to sanitize the cave and neutralize the pungent odor of the animals. “The animals make it warm for the people, and the people make it warm for the animals,” says Mohammed, who studied in a school in the nearby village of Dhahiriya through 6th grade but left to become a family herdsman. The five families of the Abu Sharq clan earn their living by selling the lambs and kids from their herds and the butter, cheese and milk provided by their cows. Their food further reflects their simple lives. Breakfast consists of bread dipped in olive oil and dry zaatar, the wild thyme that grows between rocks on the hillside. Lunch is often a soup made from barley or lentils. For dinner, cooked inside over a wood fire that blackens the cave`s stone ceiling, the Abu Sharqs sit crosslegged on the mastaba around a large plate of lamb and rice.

Following traditions and patterns detailed in the Bible, most Judean peasants still live from June to December in small villages, where they farm nearby lands planted with wheat, barley, olives and grapes. But after the harvest, plowing and sowing of the new crops at year`s end, they move into caves in the outlying, windswept hills to oversee their flocks of sheep and goats.

And so what Justin Martyr describes is quite reasonable. If there was no room for Mary and Joseph in conventional lodging, it is entirely possible that they stayed in a shepherd’s cave. I have an image (from a different article) that shows a modern such cave, and following this is an image from an ancient house and cave.

Origen is another church father who visited Bethlehem and wrote the following in AD 248:

With respect to the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, if any one desires, after the prophecy of Micah and after the history recorded in the Gospels by the disciples of Jesus, to have additional evidence from other sources, let him know that, in conformity with the narrative in the Gospel regarding His birth, there is shown at Bethlehem the cave where He was born, and the manger in the cave where He was wrapped in swaddling clothes. And this sight is greatly talked of in surrounding places, even among the enemies of the faith, it being said that in this cave was born that Jesus who is worshiped and reverenced by the Christians. – Origen

What was that part about the enemies of the faith? We’ll come back to that in a moment. But first, the historian Eusebius (whom we have mentioned before) wrote about the birth of Jesus around AD 313:

Now, all agree that Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem and a cave is shown there by the inhabitants to those who come from abroad to see it. – Eusebius

We also have a quote from Jerome, a believer who moved to Bethlehem to learn Hebrew so that he could translate the Old Testament into Latin. Here is what he wrote in AD 395:

From the time of Hadrian… the original persecutors, indeed, supposed that by polluting our holy places they would deprive us of our faith… Even my own Bethlehem… that most venerable spot in the whole world was overshadowed by a grove of Tammuz, that is of Adonis, and in the very cave where the infant Christ uttered His earliest cry, lamentation was made for the paramour (lover) of Venus. – Jerome

We have mentioned Hadrian previously as well. He is the person that rebuilt Jerusalem, who tried to put a giant temple to the Greek gods on the Temple Mount but had to downsize his plan after war broke out. Ironically, the very desecration of the Bethlehem site helped preserve the knowledge of its location!

As we have heard at Jerusalem, once again, we see a reversal of the desecration when Constantine comes into power. Eusebius tells us that he built a church around AD 327, and in AD 333, we have the record of an unnamed pilgrim who wrote “There a basilica has been built by order of Constantine.” This church was destroyed in a revolt against Emperor Justinian in the 500s AD, but it was almost immediately rebuilt. Although the church has had many modifications and repairs over the centuries, it is still standing, and indeed, is the oldest church still standing in the Middle East. The Persians destroyed many churches in Muslim times, but they did not destroy this church because there were pictures in the mosaic on the floor that had people who looked like Persians.

Now, there are pictures of the exterior of the modern church, and the mosaic floor remaining from Constantine’s church (uncovered during a renovation in 1934). I haven’t included a picture of the interior of the church because it looks like, well, a modern Catholic church. Now the apse of Constantine’s church and the later church are in the same location. Under the apse of the church is a cave, called the Nativity cave, where it is believed that Jesus was born. The cave is not impressive to me; it is so heavily built up that there is not much that resembles what it must have originally been like. Inside the central area that looks like a fireplace is a twelve-pointed star on the ground that supposedly indicates where the baby Jesus was born. But that is of course conjecture. Nevertheless, many historians and archaeologists, even secular ones, do affirm that the evidence points to this cave as indeed the location of Jesus’ birth. They base this on the same types of arguments we have used in our other sites: dating to the proper period based on pottery and other artifacts, Biblical and extra-biblical writings, and an unbroken testimony that that this is the location going all the way back to the generation that would have known if it was true.

I want to finish today by talking about Herod and Jesus. Micah 5:4 prophesied that the Messiah would be great to the ends of the earth. And this prophecy definitely came true. Jesus is the most known person in history, the most known person on Earth. And for believers all around the world, He is not only known about, but He is worshiped. The magi, when they came to see the prophesied king, baby Jesus, bowed down and worshiped Him too. Without a doubt, there has never been a person greater than Jesus.

At the time, Herod thought he was the greatest person in all of Israel. There were multiple Herods in Israel’s history, but this Herod is very likely Herod the Great, the Herod we have spoken of repeatedly in this series, the builder, the one who built up structures around many of the sites we have discussed, including the one who built the incredible base at the Temple Mount. Because of his Idumean background, and because of his willingness to serve under the Romans, he was never really accepted as one of the Jews. But Herod craved not only their acceptance but their love, so he undertook these amazing building projects, even spending much of his own money to do so. Maybe he thought that his projects were working – that he was winning over the people. And perhaps, for some, he was.

But there were reports about a baby, a baby who was to be king of the Jews. A baby born to an obscure young couple, a couple for which rumors were flying that they had questionable morality – no baby could be born without a father, a human father, so what really happened? A baby from a ridiculed backwater village.

This baby, and what people were saying about Him, made Herod angry. There was only room for one king. He wanted the baby dead, and for a man so accustomed to both committing evil and getting whatever he wanted, carrying this action out was not even a big deal. But an angel warned Joseph to take Mary and the baby and escape to Egypt, and so they did escape. When Herod realized he had been outwitted by the magi, he was so furious that he gave the order for all boys two years old and younger in Bethlehem to be killed. He did not know that Jesus was gone, safe, protected by God. He did not think about how God had protected His Son, and how God was watching the unimaginably evil actions that Herod was responsible for.

I find it ironic that, while Jesus is the most famous person who ever lived, today, the vast majority of people have never heard of Herod. Today, Herod is dead, buried at the Herodium, a cone-shaped hill only three miles from Bethlehem. Bethlehem is also a high place, and so you can see Herodium from Bethlehem and you can see Bethlehem from Herodium.

The Herodium was excavated continuously for 35 years until, in 2007, they finally found Herod the Great’s mausoleum and sarcophagus. There were three sarcophagi at the site, two white and one red – appropriate for one who was Idumean since Idumean means red. But it also means earthy, and bloody, and earthy and bloody are appropriate descriptions of the one who would kill babies to feed his own ego. Unlike the two white sarcophagi, which probably were for his family, Herod’s sarcophagus was smashed to bits. Reassembling it has been like working a jigsaw puzzle. In the picture, you see the work before completion – more puzzle pieces were found.

I find this an appropriate ending for our series – at least an ending for now. If you recall, at the beginning of the series I mentioned that putting a jigsaw puzzle together was a good analogy for Biblical archaeology – we have been solving the puzzles the easy way – we have been using the Bible as our guide for what the puzzle should look like. I have not spent much time discussing the views of critics who reject the Bible, because frankly it is not worth our time. The Bible is many wonderful things, but it is also the greatest archaeological artifact ever given to man. Not only does it tell us about our history, it also tells us about the One who is eternal, beyond time, whose holiness is unfathomable and whose greatness is beyond comparison. As we have seen, the world is filled with stones and other artifacts that cry out the greatness of God. But the Bible alone tells us clearly what God is like and why He has sent His Son into the world. Let us worship Him, not only at Christmas, not only as a baby, but as King of kings. As it says in Revelation 12:10,

Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Messiah. – Revelation 12:10