Day 9: Bethlehem, the Birthplace of Jesus

February 19: Today our band of merry adventurers went to Bethlehem to get glimpse at Jesus’s birthplace. We went first to the Shepherd’s fields outside the city limits. On the night of Jesus’s birth, Angels appeared to the Shepherds announcing that a child was born. They revealed, “this shall be a sign to you. You will see a baby lying in a manger wrapped in ‘swaddling clothes.’” (Luke 2:12)

These shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem weren’t your normal shepherds. They didn’t wander all over the countryside with a flock of sheep that could fall off a cliff or injure themselves going down a hillside. They had been chosen and trained to breed the sheep that were to be used as sacrificial lambs in the Temple. Sacrificial lambs had to be “spotless and without blemish.” They required special treatment and tender loving care. When the mother ewe was preparing to give birth, she was taken to a special birth place in a manger or cave. The newborn lamb was immediately wrapped in clean swaddling cloths to protect them and keep them from defiling themselves in any way.

When the declaration was made to these Levitical Shepherds that a savior had been born, wrapped in swaddling clothes, they immediately went to the city to ‘see this thing that has come to pass.’ And these special Shepherds came immediately to a manger very similar to where their own sacrificial sheep would have been wrapped in the same swaddling clothes. Would they have known the verses in Isaiah 53:7? “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter…” or in Genesis 22:7 when Abraham said to Isaac, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering…”

As we pondered these things, we went to the Church of the Nativity to see the spot where the early church fathers believed Jesus was born. There was a long line of ‘pilgrims’ waiting to get underneath the alter of this ancient church. It took us over an hour to get through the church, and then descend into a small alcove of caves to see where the manger lay 2000 years ago. There were people down there praying for healing, some just rocking back and forth with a prayer book in hand. Mostly though, it was travelers like us hoping to see something more…something that will add another stroke of color to our image of who our savior really was. For a couple of seconds each, we got to put our hands on the spot where Jesus was born. It hit many of us that he really did humble himself to come down on his rescue mission. Because as much as the Church tries to adorn this place, it pales in comparison to the heavenly realm that Jesus left, so he can put on the flesh and suffer with us. And save us. In the end, he appeared in a small town on a cave floor, lowered himself to be adorned in linen cloths like a small animal ready for sacrifice at the Temple. What those shepherds must have thought when he lay before them like a little lamb! Luke 20 says they returned home praising and glorifying God for all the things that they had heard and seen…

We had a fun lunch in Bethlehem and then finished the day by going underground again, this time through Hezekiah’s tunnel. When Jerusalem was preparing defenses against the approaching Assyrian army in the 8th century B.C.E., King Hezekiah decided to protect the water source by diverting its flow deep into the city with an impressive tunnel system.

We had a fun lunch in Bethlehem and then finished the day by going underground again, this time through Hezekiah’s tunnel. When Jerusalem was preparing defenses against the approaching Assyrian army in the 8th century B.C.E., King Hezekiah decided to protect the water source by diverting its flow deep into the city with an impressive tunnel system. “It was Hezekiah who stopped up the spring of water of Upper Gihon, leading it downward west of the City of David; Hezekiah prospered in all that he did.” (II Chronicles 32:30) This engineering feat was accomplished by digging a 1,750-foot (533 meter) tunnel into the mountain.  Some of us were brave enough to travel the entire route, sometimes pushing through waste-deep water. Most of us however, took the dry route down, and waited for our compatriots by the Siloam pool. One good thing about this portion of our day, before going down into the tunnels, there was a 3D movie we watched which really helped lay out the evolution of David’s city leading up to Solomon’s building of the Temple Mount.

Tomorrow, the plan is to visit the Holocaust Museum and then slowly start winding down our adventure as people will begin preparing to head to the airport. Thank you everyone for your prayers, and support as we’ve been gone. Many of us wouldn’t have been able to do this without our loved ones at home. Until tomorrow.