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The Star of Bethlehem

A friend wrote and asked me if I knew why the star in the Bethlehem church has 14 points. This star is located at the traditional place of Mary’s delivery of Jesus in a cave below the Church of the Nativity.

Bethlehem Church of Nativity, place of birth, tb102603467

Traditional place of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem

I don’t know. Everyone knows there were three magi, not fourteen. Maybe there were fourteen shepherds? Or maybe fourteen cows (or combination of stable animals)? Or fourteen rooms in the inn? Maybe Jesus was born on the 14th, and not the 25th of December. Maybe, like Joseph in Genesis, it stood for twelve children and his mother and father.

There’s a list on this web page that shows stars with various numbers of points and gives their explanations. The four-pointed star is used as the “star of Bethlehem,” and its shape as a cross is symbolic of Jesus’ death. The five-pointed star is also the “star of Bethlehem,” as it is “shaped roughly like a human being.” There’s the six, seven, eight, nine, and twelve-pointed stars. But none with fourteen.

I asked my friend Tom Powers in Jerusalem. He wondered if it might be related to the 14 Stations of the Cross. But then he checked with a friend, who suggested it stands for the three-fold “fourteen generations” of Jesus’ genealogy given in the Gospel of Matthew. He and I agree that makes the best sense, though we haven’t seen it in print.

A few comments on those genealogies now that I’m thinking about them. The genealogy of Jesus in Matthew has three sections with fourteen generations each. The place where the breaks are located is significant. The first break is with David. Matthew’s Gospel makes the point that Jesus is the “Son of David,” the expected Messiah described in the Old Testament. The second break is at the exile. A more subtle point that Matthew makes is that Jesus is the expected child who would be born in the exile to bring his people out of the exile. You really have to understand Isaiah in order to get this, and Matthew did.

The fourteen generations are not exhaustive. They appear to be arranged that way (with certain known individuals left out) in part to assist in memory. I wonder if you’ve ever taken advantage of this help that Matthew provided. If that’s not enough, you might find the song, “Matthew’s Begats,” by Andrew Peterson helpful. The entire song is composed of this genealogy. This Christmas season I’m enjoying not only this song, but the entire album. The best Christmas music is drenched with the Old Testament.

Star of Bethlehem at Nahal Iyon, tb040400870

The “Star of Bethlehem” in Galilee

Tagged Analysis, Judah

Field Guides by Hanan Eshel

I’ve been looking forward to these books by Hanan Eshel for some time. It’s risky to say without having read them, but I predict they’ll be the best books on their respective subjects. (I have spent a day with Eshel at Qumran, benefitting from his immense knowledge.) They are available from Eisenbrauns for $22.50 each. Here are direct links:

Ein Gedi: A Carta Field Guide

Masada: A Carta Field Guide

Qumran: A Carta Field Guide

This brief review was published in Haaretz.

Call of the desert

By Aya Horesh

Qumran: Scrolls, Caves, History (Qumran: Megilot, Me’arot, Historia), by Hanan Eshel

Masada: An Epic Story (Metzada: Alilot Gvura), by Hanan Eshel

Ein Gedi: Oasis and Refuge (Ein Gedi: Neveh Midbar U’mistor), by Hanan Eshel

Each of the three volumes is available from Carta Publishing in both Hebrew and English editions.

Each has 144 pages and costs NIS 84 or $25

Many travelers find it hard to deal with tour guides, who tend to think their sense of humor and cloying affability will encourage people to give bigger tips at the end of the trip. Tour guides’ explanations, too, frequently leave something to be desired. At the same time, it is fairly difficult to find travel literature of a high caliber, because why should prominent academics waste their time on writing that does not promote their scientific renown?

The three field guides that Hanan Eshel has written on Qumran, Masada and Ein Gedi are therefore a welcome contribution. Eshel, of Bar-Ilan University’s Land of Israel studies and archaeology department, is one of the most important archeologists and scholars of the Qumran scrolls. He has spent years conducting research along the west coast of the Dead Sea and has earned a worldwide reputation. His familiarity with the area, particularly with the Dead Sea Scrolls, has led to numerous books and articles that have earned him a prestigious place among scholars of ancient Israel.

Each of these three books, which Carta has published in both Hebrew and English editions, follows an identical two-part format: The introduction provides an overview of the site, describes the archaeological findings discovered there and explains their significance; that is then followed by a field guide that travelers are meant to take with them as they tour the site. This division is especially helpful for those who wish to forgo a hike in the blazing Dead Sea heat and prefer to learn about these sites in the cool confines of their air-conditioned homes. The introductions are succinct and precise, provide a good sense of each place and its importance, and are accompanied by spectacular photographs and maps.

The review continues here.

HT: Joe Lauer

UPDATE: If somebody buys the Masada book before me, let me know if the cover image is credited
to me. It sure looks familiar, but they wouldn’t possibly have used it without asking for permission…

UPDATE #2: James at Eisenbrauns notes in the comments that you can get an additional 20% discount through the end of the month using the Carta order form on this page. Thanks, James!

Tagged Dead Sea, Resources

New CD: Traditional Life and Customs

I haven’t seen anything of real interest come across my radar screen for the blog in the last couple of days, and with limited time this week, I’m going to satisfy myself today with a notice of our new CD.

Subscribers to the BiblePlaces Newsletter learned yesterday of the Traditional Life and Customs CD, the latest volume in the American Colony and Eric Matson Collection. Of 25+ CDs that I’ve made in the past decade, this is one of my absolute favorites.

Here’s a survey of what is included on the CD.

Agricultural Life: Plowing, Sowing, Water, Vineyards, Locust Plague, Grain Harvest and Olive Harvest (185 photos total)

Biblical Stories: Christmas, Ruth, and Psalm 23 (75 photos total)

Home Life: Food Preparation, Women at Work, and Weddings (100 photos total)

Religious Life: Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Samaritan (110 photos total)

Work Life: Clothes Making, Fishing, Pottery Making, Shepherds, Trades, and Travel (150 photos total)

Quotations: We have scoured the reports of travelers in the 19th century for the most interesting and helpful descriptions of these scenes. Even if you didn’t have the photos, your understanding and appreciation for traditional ways would be greatly increased!

I anticipate featuring some of the photos and quotations on the blog in the next month. It’s a wonderful set of images, with something for everyone (including a couple of photos my wife printed and hung in the laundry area; there’s nothing like seeing how they used to do it to remind you that we have things much easier).

You might consider it as a Christmas gift. It’s certainly unique and not what they get every year.

Images can be printed, used as desktop wallpaper, and much more. The cost is $20. Shipping in the U.S. is free and takes about 4 days. You can see more details here.

Tagged American Colony Photos, Resources

Weekend Roundup (2)

In my haste to post the Weekend Roundup this morning, I neglected a few things I had intended to mention.

Ferrell Jenkins is back in Israel on a study and photographic tour. He has already posted some good photos from Samaria, Shechem, Qeiyafa, and Jerusalem.

This month you can view the Ezra and Nehemiah commentary for free from the Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary.

National Geographic has just released The Letter and the Scroll: What Archaeology Tells Us About the Bible. I’m pleased to have a number of photos in the book, but I haven’t yet seen it. A friend
suggests that its approach is rather mainstream, trying not “to push too many buttons.” He is very impressed with the photographs and illustrations and thinks they will be helpful in teaching.

Tagged Resources

Weekend Roundup

The “Hall of Ages” in Jerusalem was opened recently after new techniques were developed to prevent the room from collapsing during excavation. This room is located in the Western Wall Tunnels area and gets its name because the hall was used by various people groups over the centuries.

You can now visit Pompeii with Google Street View. The idea is very impressive, though execution was (for me) slow, perhaps because of a slew of excited visitors. Here’s a direct link.

A reconstruction drawing of the Aramean siege of Gath in the 9th century is posted on the Gath Weblog.

The officials at the Megiddo prison are still planning to relocate the inmates in order to open a visitor’s center focused on the early Christian place of worship.

Tagged Italy, Jerusalem, Shephelah, Technology

IAA Work on Mary’s Gate Makes Jerusalemites Upset

From the AFP (HT: Paleojudaica):

Jordan summoned Israeli ambassador Nevo Dani on Thursday to demand a halt to “unilateral” work carried out by the Jewish state on the outer walls of Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
“The ambassador was summoned today to the foreign ministry where he was handed an official letter of protest expressing deep concerns and rejection of unilateral measures in the outer western walls of the church,” a senior official told AFP.
The Jordanian government demanded Israel “immediately halt such actions and restore the status quo,” according to the letter.
“Israel’s measures are illegal and violate international laws because Israel is the occupying force in the West Bank and east Jerusalem,” the official said.
Another Jordanian official said the Israeli authorities “have removed iron bars around a gate in the walls that has been sealed since the British mandate of Palestine (which ended in 1948) and opened the gate.”
The official, who declined to be named, said that the Israelis “claimed that they were doing renovations but nobody asked them to do anything”.
“This is unprecedented and dangerous,” the official said, noting that anything to do with the Holy Sepulchre is “very sensitive.”
[…]
“The work presently being carried out by the Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA) on the ancient sealed door known as Mary’s Gate, which is located on Christian Quarter road in the Old City of Jerusalem, is the sole and entire initiative of the same Israeli Antiquities Authority,” it said in a statement.

If you read Middle Eastern news the way you should read Middle Eastern news, then you’re not believing everything in that article.

Here’s a photo of the gate, taken last night.

Mary’s Gate, December 4, 2009
Photo by Craig Dunning

The iron bars have indeed been removed. This has allowed the IAA to patch the gate so that it will not further deteriorate. They didn’t open the gate; they sealed it further shut.

A friend spoke with a few people and learned that:

The WAQF (Muslim authorities) is protesting out of some claim to the iron bars.
The Greeks are protesting because they weren’t consulted and status quo is in jeopardy.
The Catholics are protesting because the blocked up gate is theirs.

However, the Israel Antiquities Authority was given permission to make the repairs by a Catholic official. This official believes that since the iron gate was under the authority of the British Mandate, it now falls under the authority of the current government, Israel.

Tagged Jerusalem