A real sense of what life would be life

Day Eight - Tuesday March 6th

The prospect of passing from an Israeli controlled area and into a Palestinian controlled region was initially causing some anxiety, however as we cleared the checkpoint and drove straight on through, it was obvious that our fears were unfounded. That is not to say that this region is totally safe and that caution can be thrown to the wind, as some of the signs we passed made it very clear that not everybody is welcome here, and in fact it is dangerous for Israelis. (There is an example of such a sign in the video).
We stopped to pick up a Palestinian guide, a cheery fellow who was knowledgeable, and although he tried to paint a rosy picture of the neighbourhood, it was still obvious that Bethlehem is not a great place to be a non-Muslim.

The Church of the Nativity is not an impressive building from the outside but all of that is lost once you enter. The Crusaders have certainly left their mark here and now the Church is home to three congregations – Armenian, Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox. The site is the traditional site of where Jesus was born and we can thank Helena, Emperor Constantine’s mother who found this site and built the first church over the site in 339 AD. The church has some impressive wall paintings and mosaic floors, along with some fine traditional artwork adorning the iconostasis, but the real heart of the church is the location of the birthplace of Jesus. This is down some steep steps and into a small cave, where the site is marked by a silver cross. While it is difficult to imagine this today as the birthplace of Jesus, with all of the religiosity that surrounds it, in your mind’s eye you can imagine this as a humble stable, hewn out of the rock, surrounded by animals, and then it all becomes very real.

This church also houses the cave where St. Jerome lived whilst translating the Bible into the Latin Vulgate, which means it has tremendous significance to the history of Christianity and it was fascinating to be able to descend into his underground living quarters, and realize that he lived down here, working away, without daylight or modern electrical lighting as he penned his work.

We then travelled onto the Fields of the Shepherds where we were able to visit a small Church and view some spectacular paintings around the walls depicting the Christmas story. It was in this chapel that spontaneous singing broke out and the entire group sang a few Christmas carols, and the acoustics were amazing! We were also able to visit a traditional cave of shepherds from this area and this gave a real sense of what life would be life caring for sheep in this hilly, rocky, country.
We were then privileged to visit Johnny’s Souvenir Shop, a Christian store specializing in Olive wood crafts and gifts. Johnny was very welcoming and offered everyone soft drinks or coffee and then explained a few of the products on offer. This stop was a highlight and I believe most of the tour members made some good purchases and we were even blessed to have Pastor Paul Cook and our Coach Driver, Elli, play a Shofar for us!

After a picnic lunch on the grounds of the Herodium, those of us that were up for the steep climb, entered the site of this fortress retreat and final resting place of Herod the Great. Being the megalomaniac that he was, he had this hill raised to a great height by lowering a nearby hill and moving all of the dirt to enlarge his hill. He also cleared any surrounding high places so this hill would be the highest. However, in true Herodian style, the ruins and the buildings that would have stood here are impressive and the underground water cisterns not only provided water but were also a defensive structure as tunnels were flooded and impassable to invaders. There is a scaled model of Herod’s tomb, which would have been a very impressive monument, but Herod was so hated that much of his building work was destroyed or looted following his death and destroyed by the Romans in 71 AD. The climbing up and down is not for the frail and the tunnels with very steep stairways can be claustrophobic but the tired body at the end was well worth the visit.