Sundays of Easter! Hallelujah!

DOME OF THE HOLY SEPULCHER OVER THE TOMB OF CHRIST

The Holy Sepulcher Church

The walk from the Praetorium to Golgatha and the Tomb of Christ takes you from the Armenean Quarter to the Christian Quarter, the heart of which is the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The early Jerusalem Christian community never lost memory of where our Lord was crucified and buried. The student-pilgrim has been cautioned elsewhere in this book not to confuse the current sixteenth-century CE Old City walls with the biblical walls of Jerusalem. In the 30s CE when Jesus was tried and crucified by Pontius Pilot (Roman Procurator of Judea 26-36 CE) this spot lay outside the city wall (Jews at the time would not place a cemetery inside the Holy City’s walls). It was just outside an exit gate (the Garden Gate, see above) so that the Roman spectacle of crucifixion would be seen as an example to all passersby leaving the city for the substantial suburbs that were developing west of the city wall. Liturgical celebrations were held at this site until 66 CE, the beginning of the First Jewish Revolt against Rome when many Jerusalem Christians fled the city for the safety of Pella (in modern Jordan). As you can observe at the Model of Jerusalem in 70 CE at the Israel Museum, during 41-43 CE the city walls were extended to include the western suburbs, but the revered tomb was not built over. Probably to discourage Christian pilgrimage to and veneration of this holy spot, Hadrian filled in the quarry and built a Roman temple over it with a shrine to Aphrodite. But the Christian community never forgot what lay beneath this abomination, and in 325 at the Council of Nicea the Bishop of Jerusalem, Macarius, asked Emperor Constantine to destroy the Roman temple and reveal to the world again the Tomb of Christ, which excavation was personally witnessed by Eusebius of Caesarea. Constantine then began building the first church on the spot in 326 and it was finished in 335. It included the area of the current church but was about twice the size: think a basilica and atrium enveloping the courtyard in front of the front door through which you enter today. He had his engineers cut away the cliff behind the tomb-chamber so that it became a freestanding edifice centered in a circular rotunda. Sadly the church was set on fire by the Persians in 614 but reconstructed by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, Modestus. When Jerusalem came under Muslim control in 638, the church was protected for two ruling dynasties, the Umayyad and the Abbasid, but the mad Fatimid calif Hakim destroyed it in 1009, even to hacking the Tomb of Christ with pick axes, though eye-witness reports testify that the tomb-camber was not completely destroyed. The current church was built 1012-1170.

History has granted governance of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher to six ancient Christian denominations whose frequent quarrels prompted the giving of the key to two Muslim families 800 years ago in whose keeping it still reposes in order to open the church every morning at dawn and lock it at dark. These six churches are the the Roman Catholics and five Eastern Orthodox: Greek, Coptic (Egyptian), Armenian, Syrian, and Ethiopic.

This is the holiest spot in Christendom, and the ardor of Christian pilgrims flocking to it can be overwhelming. I recommend you go to the church early in the morning before the crowds gather. There is nothing more sacred than to enter this space in the quietude of the morning light. Once inside the door, before you is the Stone of Unction, not ancient but a traditional commemoration of the preparation of Jesus’ body for burial and the focus of modern Orthodox Christian veneration: watch and you will see anointing with oil, kissing, even the placing of babies upon it. In the East, the sense of Holy Space is much more vibrant than in the western church. Certainly Protestants have to strain to appreciate, and I think they should, attachment to this place. Turn a sharp right upon entering the door to ascend what is left of Golgotha. Pilgrims and demolitions through the centuries have diminished it, but once atop you can see beneath the high Greek Orthodox altar the mount upon which Christ was crucified. A hole beneath the altar allows one to touch it, in veneration if one so desires. To the right is the Roman Catholic altar illustrating the difference between the Eastern and Western churches: the Roman altar has its statue and the Greek its icon. The latter is troublesome to some Protestants but it is instructive to bear in mind that the intent is not to portray merely the rabbi from Nazareth but rather the God of the Nicene Creed. Circle round to peer below beyond the iconostasis of the Greek Orthodox chapel and then descend a second set of stairs leading down to the Stone of Unction. If you are with a group, it is important to gather the group here, because this is where pilgrims are lost or left behind. Proceed to the Tomb by passing the beautiful but modern mosaic above the Stone of Unction and turn right to enter the Tomb. Just opposite it is the spacious Greek Orthodox chapel, inside the door of which is a knee-high pillar with a circular button on top marking “the center of the universe” because it stands exactly halfway between Calvary and the Tomb. The current shrine over the Tomb, replacing a series of predecessors going back to the fourth century, dates only to 1810 CE.

How did this tomb get to be here and so close to Golgotha? The spot was a limestone quarry in the middle of which was a flinty skull-shaped hill good for nothing. So when the quarry was abandoned the Romans appropriated the hill as an ideal place of crucifixion just outside the city gates. In the meantime the quarry, as is often the case in this part of the world, had become a Jewish cemetery because of the ease of carving tombs into its soft limestone walls. Thus Joseph of Arimathea had done, and enough of the burial bench remains to see where Jesus’ shrouded body was laid. The inscription reads, “He is not here! He is risen!” The tomb is managed by the Greek Orthodox Church which dates back to the original church in the Book of Acts. The Coptic (Egyptian) Orthodox, also a very ancient church, are relegated to the chapel behind the tomb where they venerate what they believe to be a piece of the outside limestone wall (look beneath the altar to the oil lamp on the left). Behind the Coptic chapel is the cave-chapel of the Syrian Orthodox Church, so ancient that their Liturgy is in an Aramaic that the historical Jesus could understand (!) which contains several unadorned first-century kokhim Jewish tombs, single chambered and simpler than Jesus’ since his had been donated by a rich man. While this today is a very humble chapel because most of the Syrian Christians fled Israel during the 1948 and 1967 wars, it is worth a visit on Sunday morning when it is adorned with carpets, wall hangings, flowers, icons and a small welcoming community of three to thirty worshipers who celebrate the weekly Eucharist. Indeed, an excellent time to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is early Sunday morning to witness the cacophony of Christian Liturgies which emerged from that First Easter.

Sunday of the Passion (Palm Sunday)

FRANCISCAN CHAPEL MURAL AT BETHPHAGE

Bethphage (“House of the Unripe Fig”)

This is where the Palm Sunday walk begins and the probable general location where Jesus’ disciples procured the donkey (Mark 11:1-14). The fourth-century pilgrim Egeria mentions a church here and in the middle of the current nineteenth-century church stands a square podium from which the builders of a Crusader church pictured our Lord mounting said beast (they evidently had in mind European horses rather than Palestinian burros!). The beautiful paintings on the mounting stone are original. The wall murals are twentieth century. Especially intriguing is the one above the altar. Who is the shrouded figure? In my opinion it is Death, but art is art because it begs interpretation.

Intriguing historical questions, which cannot be answered with certainty, abound regarding the event we call “Palm Sunday.” Did “the cleansing of the Temple” take place at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry as described in John’s Gospel? Has Mark (followed by Matthew and Luke) telescoped events into one “Holy Week” for literary or liturgical purposes? Did the event take place on more than one occasion? Was the historical setting actually Sukkot (the Feast of Booths/Tabernacles) when Jews parade with palm branches shouting “hosanna” culminating in the sevenfold Hoshana Rabbah, the “Great Hosanna” (“hosanna in the highest”?). More clear is the significance of the event. Ezekiel had prophesied that when the presence of God left the Temple it took up residence on the Mount of Olives (11:23) until it returns to the Temple from the Mount of Olives (43:2-5). Zechariah 14 foresees that on the eschatological Day of the Lord “his feet shall stand on” the two-hilled Mount of Olives which will be cleft in two (v 4). By the time of Jesus, any Jew could tell you that when the Messiah manifests himself and the Kingdom of God it will be on the Mount of Olives. Jesus knew very well what he was doing: by having his disciples borrow this animal and riding it over the Mount of Olives in fulfillment of the prophetic “Lo, your king comes to you...humble and riding on a donkey” (Zech 9:9) he was making a messianic statement. He also knew what it would elicit: adoration from the locals around Bethany and Bethphage, a perceived threat to the Jerusalem High Priestly establishment, and an accusation of sedition by the Roman government.

Fifth Sunday in Lent (John 12:20-33)

"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."

Bethsaida was the first town one reached as one traveled west to east crossing the Jordan River where it flows into the Sea of Galilee from the north. By so doing one left the territory of Herod Antipas (Galilee) and entered the territory of Herod Philip, “the other side” (Golan Heights) as the Gospels call it when speaking from the more Jewish/Galilean perspective, which was notably more gentile (cf. the story of the swineherd and Gergesene demoniac in Mark 5:1-20). In 30 CE Philip renamed Bethsaida “Julias” after the recently deceased wife of Caesar Augustus, Livia/Julia, and the excavators have identified a temple dedicated to her and accoutrements of her cult including her figurine, incense shovels, and a coin minted by Philip depicting her holding ears of grain relating to her role as a fertility goddess with the inscription in Greek “carpophoros” (bearer of fruit). Perhaps Jesus chose to use these same words to explain, to the Greek seekers accompanying Philip and Andrew of Bethsiada, that his mission must include his Passion, because he knew that this phrase was one they could understand: “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24). [I am indebted to Rami Arav, director of the Bethsaida Biblical Archaeology Project, for this insight.]

SEMINARY STUDENTS VIEW ARTIFACTS FROM THE ONGOING ARCHAEOLOGICAL DIG AT BETHSIADA

Lent 4

"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up," John 3:14 (see Numbers 21:4-9). As is well known and perhaps preached in many sermons this week, there is in this verse a theological wordplay. To lift up means Jesus' body on the cross but also to glorify, and in John's Gospel the full Glory of God is revealed on the Cross. But not as well known is that the Aramaic of the word "lift up" was also a technical term for crucifixion at the time of Jesus. Therefore, there is really a triple theological wordplay going on for John's original audience.

THE GREEK ORTHODOX CHAPEL BESIDE GOLGOTHA WHERE JESUS WAS CRUCIFIED

Lands of the Bible Cruise

October 22 - November 4, 2015

Lent 2015

The art pictured below adorns an upper room in Jerusalem built over the foundation of the first or second century “little church of God,” itself likely the expansion of the original house church in Jerusalem where Mary and the Apostles were gathered on Pentecost.

It shows a mother pelican willingly giving of her flesh and blood to nourish her young. As we enter this season when we focus on what Christ has done for us, I invite you to consider doing something for yourself and your ministry. You give so much of yourself day after day, year after year, to nurture the “little ones” in your care. You are a shepherd to your flock or a teacher of your students or a model to be emulated. But you need to be nurtured too.

I ask you, in this season, to consider the educational opportunity outlined here:

http://www.eo.travelwithus.com/tours/lands-of-the-bible-luker-2015-standard#eotours

Enter into the life of Our Lord, Saint Paul, and the Early Church. Read the textbooks assigned and attend my lectures. You owe it to yourself, and those in your care will thank you for it.

THE TRANSFIGURATION

I am back to the Blog. Sorry, I have been transitioning to the seminary classroom after a month of teaching in Israel. Yesterday was Transfiguration Sunday, always the last Sunday in Epiphany. Here are my thoughts on Mount Hermon in the Golan Heights.

Mount Hermon and the Upper Golan

MOUNT HERMON AS SEEN FROM BIRKAT RAM; DRUZE VILLAGE AT FOOT OF MOUNTAIN

The site of the Transfiguration is Mount Hermon, known in the ancient Near East as Har Tzafon, the mythical mountain of the gods, whose peak is 9,000 feet above sea level. Jesus and his disciples had fled the threat of Herod Antipas by traveling to Caesarea Philipi. It would make no sense for them to turn around and return to Galilee in less than a week. The traditional veneration of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor was a Byzantine decision. Six days after what is generally known as Peter’s Confession (Mark 8:27-9:1 and parallels) Jesus took Peter, James, and John to the top of the mountain, which climb itself must have been a spiritual experience. One can imagine the air becoming thinner, breaths getting shorter, as they ascended perhaps into a cloudy mist. Elijah, of course, did not die but was taken by God to heaven, and the mysterious circumstances surrounding Moses’ death, “So Moses the servant of the LORD died there, in the land of Moab, at the command of the LORD. He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, near Beth-peor; and no one knows his burial place to this day” [Deut 34:5-6, JPS], led to the belief that God had also taken Moses to heaven. Hence the two great pillars of the Old Testament Law and Prophets are able to appear with Jesus on the mountain of mystery. For just a moment the curtain is pulled back and Jesus’ chosen three are able to peer beyond the mundane into the really Real, beyond the empirical to the Truth. But for now Jesus must descend the mountain, all the way to Jerusalem.

Mount Hermon is actually a small mountain chain, a third of which today is shared by Israel, Syria, and Lebanon. It is visible throughout your drive in the upper Golan. A good place to stop for lunch and pictures is in the Druze village of Mas’ada at Berkat Ram, a natural crater lake at Berkat Ram Kiosk: Oriental Food, tel. 04-6983362 (there is sufficient parking for buses). The specialty is a Druze homemade pita spread with lebane and zatar, but falafal and schnitzel are also available. Be sure to try the home cured olives, perhaps the best in Israel! The Druze in Israel are congregated in the upper Golan and on Mount Carmel. Their religion, an offshoot of Islam, originated in Egypt in the eleventh century, was influenced by Persian mysticism, focuses on the attainment of Wisdom, and includes reincarnation into the Druze community. They are a closed society of secret doctrines, and their sages can be distinguished by their black pantaloons and white turbans. They are also a kind and loving people ready to help the stranger and welcome guests with generosity. Their biblical patron is Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, whom they venerate at a tomb constructed below the Horns of Hattin just west of Tiberias. Head south on Highway 98 and stop at Kuneitra to observe the U.N. peacekeeping force on the Syrian border and for a good view of Mount Hermon. Looking to the east, the cluster of white buildings immediately before you is the U.N. compound in the “no man’s land” and beyond that is the Syrian village of Kuneitra. The Israeli surveillance behind you is able to read a license plate in Damascus.

SHEPHERDS' FIELD

Today my group of 50 students ended their day with the singing of "Angels We Have Heard on High" at the traditional Shepherds' Field in Beit Sahour near Bethlehem. Here is my excursus on the miracle of the shepherds:

Yoram Hazony [The Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture, Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012. The following quotations are from an NPR interview with the author on September 4, 2012.] has recently noted that all the great heroes of the Bible are shepherds, from Able to Abraham to Jacob to Moses to David, “And it’s not just that they happen to be shepherds, because the Bible emphasizes the time they spent shepherding and what they learned from it.” The messianic prophecy from Micah (5:2) continues “And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the LORD” (v 4a). Luke’s birth narrative began with the decree “from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled.” Hazony explains that in the Hebrew Bible farmers and cities represent the great empires of the world, while “the shepherd stands for people who live outside of society, on the hills. They make law for themselves, they seek God for themselves, and they’re autonomous. It’s almost an anarchical message.” In the accounts of Jesus’ birth, Herod and Jerusalem represent the Pax Augusti; the shepherds seek the Pax Christi. No wonder they are the first to recognize the messiah.

St. John Chrysostom on the Epiphany

"Let us also follow the Magi. Let us separate ourselves from our barbarian customs, and put them far behind us, so that we may see Christ--since they, too, would have missed seeing him if they had not been far from their own country.

Let us depart from the things of earth. For the wise men saw only the star while they were in Persia, but after they had left Persia they saw the Sun of righteousness. And they would not have even seen the star if they had not been so ready to get up and go.

Let us also rise up. Though everyone else is troubled, let us run to the house of the young Child. Though kings and nations and tyrants stand in the way, let our desire not fade. In that way we shall repel all the dangers that we face.

The Magi, too, would not have escaped their danger from the king if they had not seen the young Child. Before they saw the Child, fears and dangers and troubles pressed on them from every side. But after the adoration, all was calm and safe, and no longer a star but an angel received them. They had become priests from the act of adoration--for we see that they also offered gifts."

Homily 7 on Matthew, 6

CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY, BETHLEHEM

Epiphany is Tomorrow, January 6

All 68 of the JCBS students here in Galilee will attend the Epiphany Mass at the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth tomorrow morning at 9:00. I am repeating here my comments on the magi. Per previous blog postings below, you recall that Jesus was born in Joseph's parents' cave-barn attached to the living quarters because there was no room for the Holy Family in the guest room (Luke 2:7). By the time the magi arrived, parents and baby had moved into the house (Matthew 2:11).

The magi who sought to visit Jesus, as recounted by Matthew, were Persian-Babylonian astronomers and sages probably of the priestly and/or ruling class. Tacitus and Suetonius attest that there was widespread expectation at the time that the ruler of the world would come from Judah, speculation that Josephus in fact related to Vespasian. Babylon was the nucleus of scientific astronomy as cuneiform tablets with planetary calculations confirm. It is well established that in 7-6 BCE the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the constellation of Pisces created an unusually bright luminary. For ancient astronomers, Jupiter represented the Babylonian god Marduk and Saturn the Jewish people, which conjunction led the magi, who as sages had doubtless also scrutinized the Hebrew Scriptures, to Herod in Jerusalem whose paranoia is well documented, having executed his sons Alexander, Aristobulus, and Antipater because he perceived them as threats to his kingship and killed a host of Pharisees, along with their sympathizers, who had prophesied that his “throne would be taken from him, both from himself and his descendants.” Thus for good reason Joseph decided to take his family to Egypt, the traditional place of refuge for Judeans (1 Kgs 11:40; 2 Kgs 25:26; Jer 26:21). Upon return, since Herod’s rule had past to his son, Archaeleus, whose disposition matched his father’s, and we might assume faced with the option of taking his family back to his parent’s two-room house, Joseph and Mary made their home in the village of Nazareth whence he could obtain work as a builder in the city of Sepphoris.

St. Gregory the Great meditates on this event as follows:

"The three wise men, stirred up by God through the light of a strange star, followed its twinkling light as a guide, thinking they would find the child it pointed to in Jerusalem, the royal city. But when they found that they were mistaken in that idea, they learned through the scribes and teachers of the Jews what the holy Scripture had foretold about the birth of Christ, so that--confirmed by a double witness--they searched with still more eager faith to find the One who was revealed both by the brightness of the star and by the certain word of prophecy. How easy and natural it would have been for these leading men among the Hebrews to believe what they taught! But they seem to have held material notions along with Herod, thinking that Christ's Kingdom was the same sort as the kingdoms of this world. They hoped for a worldly leader, while he [Herod] dreaded an earthly rival.

The fear that racks you is wasted, Herod! In vain do you try to vent your rage on the infant you suspect. Your realm cannot hold Christ. You do not wish him to reign in Judea, but he reigns everywhere--and you would rule more happily yourself if you submitted to his command. Why don't you do sincerely what you promise with treacherous deceit? Come with the wise men, and worship the true King in suppliant adoration."

Sermon 34, 2

Bethany, the Feeding of the 5000, and the Baptism of Jesus

Tuesday, January 6, will be, for the Western Church, Epiphany. But originally the date was associated with Jesus' baptism and then birth, as is still the case in the Eastern Church. To prepare for January 6, I am posting here an Excursus on Jesus' baptism. If you are reading my book, An Illustrated Guide to the Holy Land (order information below), please read this in conjunction with the article on Bethsaida.

John reports that Jesus was baptized by John at Bethany beyond the Jordan. While a Byzantine church locates the site near the Judean Wilderness on the Jordanian side opposite Jericho and accessible on the Israeli side at Qaser El Yahud (see article in Illustrated Guide), the second- and third-century church fathers had not heard of the place. [E.g. Origen and Eusebius. Even the Byzantine Madaba Map places it on the wrong side of the Jordan River.] Luke (“all the region around the Jordan” 3:3) and Matthew (“all the region along the Jordan” 3:5) describe John as baptizing up and down the Jordan River. Rabbinic sources mention a preference for baptism in the Jordan River above the Sea of Galilee where the living water (required) is fresh and pure, whereas further downstream south of the Sea the river can be sluggish and even muddy. The area around Bethsaida was called Batanea (Old Testament Bashan). Copyists of the tradition substituted the well-known toponymn, Bethany, for the obscure Batanea. Jesus was likely baptized by John in the upper Jordan in Batanea beyond the Jordan (just into the Golan Heights or the territory of Herod Philip) when arriving from the Galilean side. This explains why Andrew (a disciple of John the Baptist), Peter, and Philip, all from Bethsiada, become Jesus’ disciples immediately after his baptism (John 1) and huge Galilean crowds, many of whom had probably been followers of John the Baptist, spontaneously followed Jesus (see Mark 1-3). Were Jesus baptized by John in the Judean Wilderness, far away from Galilee, this phenomenon makes little sense. [Matt 3:13 is consistent. Jesus left Galilee (ruled by Herod Antipas) and crossed the Jordan River north of the Sea into Bashan/Batanea/Bethany (the Golan, ruled by Herod Philip) at Bethsiada where John was baptizing.]

Furthermore, the area around Bethsaida is called an eremos, wilderness or deserted place (Luke 9:10-12); not in the sense of the Judean Wilderness but even today it is a wilderness in the Golan with grassy fields devoid of population surrounded by mountains. Here Jesus often retreated, according to the Gospels, to be alone, perhaps staying with his friends who lived in Bethsaida, Peter, Andrew, Philip, and perhaps James and John, and to ascend the hills for solitary prayer.

Luke locates the Feeding of the 5000 near Bethsaida, and all the other Gospels are consistent with this. In Mark 6 Jesus and his disciples cross in a boat to a deserted place (eremos vv 31-32) on the Other Side of the Jordan River and then to the city of Bethsaida (v 45) and finally return to Galilee at Ginosar (Gennesaret v 53). In John 6 they cross to the Other Side (v 1) and afterwards return to Capernaum (v 16). In Matthew 14, when Jesus hears of the murder of his kinsman, John the Baptist, in Galilee by Herod Antipas (“The Fox,” Luke 13:32) he seeks refuge by sailing to a deserted place (eremos v 13), congruent with the territory of Batanea/Bethany ruled by a different tetrarch, Herod Philip; then after the feeding he crosses back to Gennesaret/Ginosar in Galilee, which is on the other side from the perspective of the Golan to which he had retreated (vv 22, 34).

A word on the Annunciation and the Virgin Birth

Luke and Matthew corroborate the birth of Jesus to the virgin Mary preceded by an angelic annunciation, in Luke to Mary, in Matthew to Joseph. Both narratives are Hebraic to the core. Though unusual, miraculous births are part and parcel of the Israelite tradition. The typical birth formula in Hebrew is “and X knew (verb yada’) or went in to (verb bo’) his wife, and she conceived and bore a son” (and she/he/they named him...). But David’s great-grandmother, Ruth, was already an exception. That her conception is providential is clear from the book of Ruth, but more striking is the description in 4:13 which diverges from the formula, “So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When they came together, the LORD made her conceive, and she bore a son.” Similarly of barren Hannah it is narrated, “Elkanah knew his wife Hannah, and the LORD remembered her. In due time Hannah conceived and bore a son” (l Sam 1:19b-20a). Most striking of all, and the closest Old Testament parallel to Mary’s pregnancy, is the conception of post-menopausal Sarah, “The LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did to Sarah as he had promised. And Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age” (Gen 21:1-2a RSV). There is no mention of sexual activity with Abraham at all.

To follow up on Sunday's posting, here is an expanded version of my book's article on Bethlehem. Twenty seminarians, a professor, and a priest have just arrived for our annual Seminarians Study Tour. We spent today at the Church of the Nativity and dialoging with locals, including Dr. Mitri Raheb and Mr. Bob Lang.

CONTEMPORARY HOUSE NEXT TO CAVE-BARN

But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah,

who are one of the little clans of Judah,

from you shall come forth for me

one who is to rule in Israel,

whose origin is from of old,

from ancient days. Micah 5:2

David was born in Bethlehem and contrary to the failed Saul, the warrior who was described as standing head and shoulders above all the others, David the shepherd was the runt of the litter barely noticed but for his ruddy complexion and pretty eyes. Likewise the prophet Micah anticipated the Messiah not from the citadel of mighty Jerusalem where most would expect, but from the lowly village of Bethlehem lying just to the south, residence of shepherds worthy of their ancient ancestor. Herod, whose towering Herodion fortress is visible from Bethlehem, ruled as the King of Might, but Jesus came as the King of Right who would suffer all which that entails.

David was from the tribe of Judah, the clan of Ephrathah, and the town of Bethlehem; Joseph was a descendent of David with the same heritage. As the first Roman emperor, Caesar Augustus initiated the Pax Romana and hence ordered a census of his empire. As was the case with David’s census of his kingdom (2 Samuel 24; 1 Chronicles 21), Augustus’ census probably had two motives: vanity to see how many people he ruled, and the money to be gained by so many taxes. There is evidence that Quirinius began his service to Augustus in Syria about 9 BCE. The population census was a slow process implemented in two stages: first property had to be registered, and only later in the second stage was the tax actually collected. It is this second stage that caused the uprising of Judas the Galilean in 6 CE reported by Josephus and referred to in Acts 5:37. Luke’s account of the engaged couple’s journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem regards the first stage of the census, the registration of property. Since we know that Herod the Great, who was alive when Jesus was born, died in 4 BCE, Jesus must have been born between 9 and 4 BCE. Our current calendar originated with the monk Dionysius Exiguus (died c. 550 CE) whose calculations were off by a few years. Joseph’s family’s house would have been typical of the rural Palestinian village: two rooms built of stone adjacent to a cave used as the barn. Such houses are still extent today in Bethany and the Bethlehem triangle (including Beit Sahour and Beit Jolla) as well as among the excavations of first-century Nazareth. Luke recounts that when it came time for Mary to give birth she went to the cave-barn because there was no place for them in the kataluma (Luke 2:7), the guest room. This is the same word used for the room which Jesus and his disciples, being pilgrims from out of town, used in Jerusalem for the Passover (Mark 14:14; Luke 22:11). What was probably the home of Joseph’s parents was occupied with day to day activities and perhaps other guests, and Mary needed her privacy, which the stable provided.

Already in the second century CE Justin Martyr and the Protoevangelium of James speak of the cave in which Jesus was born, and in the third century Origen and Eusebius mention it as well. At the conclusion of the Second Jewish Revolt in 135 CE Hadrian’s Roman rule converted the cave into a pagan fertility shrine of Tammuz-Adonis. Why would Rome do this unless the cave had become, apparently already in the first century, a place of veneration by Christian Jews, which worship Rome was keen to abort. Ironically, this action marked the spot for posterity, and in 395 Jerome celebrated the cave’s return to Christian custody. Queen Helena dedicated the first church over the cave-stable in 339.

Yoram Hazony has recently noted that all the great heroes of the Bible are shepherds, from Able to Abraham to Jacob to Moses to David, “And it’s not just that they happen to be shepherds, because the Bible emphasizes the time they spent shepherding and what they learned from it.” The messianic prophecy from Micah with which this article began continues, “And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the LORD” (v 4a). Luke’s birth narrative began with the decree “from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled.” Hazony explains that in the Hebrew Bible farmers and cities represent the great empires of the world, while “the shepherd stands for people who live outside of society, on the hills. They make law for themselves, they seek God for themselves, and they’re autonomous. It’s almost an anarchical message.” In the accounts of Jesus’ birth, Herod and Jerusalem represent the Pax Augusti; the shepherds seek the Pax Christi. No wonder they are the first to recognize the messiah. The miracle of the shepherds took place in the Judean hill country of Bethlehem.

Luke reports that Zechariah and Elizabeth, both from priestly families, lived in the Judean hill country, and since Zechariah served at the temple in Jerusalem, their home was likely not too far from Bethlehem. Mary, engaged to Joseph from Bethlehem, was a relative of Elizabeth whom she visited during her pregnancy (Luke 1:39-40). We can only speculate that Joseph and Mary might have met in the hill country, or perhaps in Nazareth where the groom may have been already seeking work as a builder in nearby Tsipori (Sepphoris).

Dean Luker arrives in Israel for the January Term

Greetings to all blog readers with a very merry Christmas! I arrived yesterday to teach seminarians, and want to post as often as time will allow in order to give you a taste of a college or seminary or congregational study tour and to update you on the situation here in Israel as we travel.

The first Sunday of Christmas is the traditional commemoration of The Slaughter of the Innocents, Herod's (the king of might) attempt to supersede Jesus (the King of Right). It is striking to stand on the Herodion and gaze upon Bethlehem; so that this horrible massacre comes to life, as it were, in our souls (Matthew 2:13-23). It is no different today, is it, when in many places of the world the Pax Romana seeks to crush the Pax Christi? Following is the entry on Herod's desert fortress overlooking Bethlehem from my new book (see post below; ordering information is included on my homepage).

"MOVING A MOUNTAIN"

Herodium (National Park) Also known as: Herodion

Lying between Bethlehem and the Dead Sea, on the cusp of the Judean hill country and the Judean wilderness, sits King Herod’s fortress-palace built between 23 and 20 BCE. Originally there were two mountains at the site. One was leveled to reinforce the other for the Herodium. One can imagine Jesus’ disciples standing on the Mount of Olives, from where the Herodium is visible, and recalling their Lord saying that if they had faith only the size of a mustard seed, they could move mountains (Matthew 17:20). If the scoundrel Herod could, why not the power of God?

Pass through the entrance gate up the hill and view, on the way up, the lower palace, notable by its pillared swimming pool with an island in the middle. Also note around the landscape humble Palestinian homes built next to barns, recalling the narrative of Bethlehem. The elongated flat, narrow oval, which extends from the pool-palace garden complex toward Herod’s tomb to the right, is part of the funeral path. Described by Josephus, it was built when Herod’s body was brought from Jericho, where he died, to be buried here at the Herodium.

Just before the top of the tel is a sign directing you to a sharp turn left to Herod’s tomb, facing Jerusalem upon a promenade lead- ing up the mountain. There is also a theater. At the apex of the tel, pause to absorb the geography. To the west, you can see Bethlehem and the Judean hill country; to the east, the Dead Sea and the Judean wilderness. To the north is Jerusalem, recognizable by the three towers on the Mount of Olives. Gazing below into the tel, you can see Herod’s fortress-palace defended by four towers: the one on the left (southeast) is round, and the other three are semicircular. The baths were immediately below you to the right. Just beyond that was the triclinium (dining room) of Herod, which the Zealots turned into a synagogue.

Walk around the top of the tel to your right toward the north- west (Jerusalem/Bethlehem), and gaze southward down the Judean mountains. South of Bethlehem (which can be distinguished by the white steeple on the horizon that looks like an upside-down ice- cream cone) is the Arab village of Tekoa, from which the prophet Amos hailed. Farther to the south, along the mountain ridge but out of sight, sits Hebron. Descend into the excavated tel by means of the broad stairs.

Upon Herod’s death in 4 BCE, the Herodium was inherited by his son Archelaus, who ruled only ten years. Then the palace became, like the formerly Herodian praetoria of Caesarea and Jerusalem, the property of the Roman procurators. But in 68 CE, during the First Jewish Revolt, the Zealots captured the Herodium from the Romans and made it their fortress-hideaway, until the Roman army defeated them in 70 CE. The site sat vacant until the Second Jewish Revolt, when the Jewish rebels once again made this their desert head- quarters from 132 to 135 CE. With Rome’s second and decisive victory, the hill lay in ruins and was abandoned until, like Masada farther south, Byzantine monks took up residence here in the fifth through seventh centuries CE.

The rectangular open area of the excavations was the Herodian courtyard. Into its side, beneath the sole circular tower, the Zealots installed a mikveh, or religious ritual bath. Just opposite the mikveh is a set of stairs descending to the cisterns, some of which the Zealots connected with a tunnel system, enabling them to sneak in and out without the notice of the Romans. Walk down the stairs, being careful not to bump your head on the low door, and pause. Look up to see a hole where, during the Herodian period, servants would drop the water bucket on a rope into the cistern from above. Follow the tun- nels to the “main cistern,” where you can see at ground level a door opening out to what would have been the cistern’s original entrance and stairs. Leave the main cistern and continue into the final corridor, where, against the wall, is a map explaining the system of cisterns and tunnels used by the Zealots. Exit to the outside at the side of the tel, turn left, and take the upper path to return to the parking lot.

Dr. Monte Luker

Dr. Monte Luker

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Dr. Monte Luker

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Dr. Monte Luker