Bethlehem

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Bethlehem
Bethlehem, Church of the Nativity.JPG


Region Judea (West Bank)
Settled 1400 BC
Population 28,591
Area (sq mi) 4.097 sq mi
Population density (/sq mi) 7,000 sq mi
Current mayor Hanna Hanania
Demonym Bethlehemi
Co-ordinates 31°42′16″N 35°12′23″E

Bethlehem meaning (in Hebrew) "House of Bread" is a town of Judaea in the West Bank, 5 miles south of Jerusalem and just off the main road to Hebron. It is surrounded by fertile lands, cornfields, fig and olive yards and vineyards. Bethlehem does not have a great supply with water, though for many centuries the a low level aqueduct from Solomon's Pools has been used by the inhabitants. Bethlehem was the birthplace of Jesus Christ[1][2] and the location of Herod's "massacre of the innocents".[3]

In 2012 the Church of the Nativity, the site where Jesus was born (or Nazareth, Galilee, Judea) and undoubtedly one of the most important locations on earth, was finally deemed a World Heritage Site by UNESCO a whole 36 years after World Heritage Sites began getting named.[4]

Hanna Hanania, the mayor of Bethlehem, is Christian as the mayor of Ramallah, Issa Kassis, also is.[5]

Despite Israel, in 1995, for peace efforts, has given it to Arafat, Bethlehem has of course a long attachment to biblical truth and to the Jewish people. It is referred to 30 times in the Old Testament and eight times in the New. Scripture sometimes calls the town Bethlehem Ephrathah or Bethlehem of Judea to distinguish it from another Bethlehem located in the north, within the tribe of Zebulun (Josh. 19:15–16).

Bethlehem is first referenced at the death of Rachel, wife of Jacob [later called Israel], who died giving birth to Benjamin: “So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem)” (Gen. 35:19). As a result, Jewish people regard Bethlehem as a holy place—especially for barren women who go to Rachel’s Tomb to pray for children. The book of Ruth opens with a famine in Bethlehem, a town within the tribe of Judah (Mic. 5:2).

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