BET 



to diftinguith it from another of the fame name in Zebulun. 

 It is featcd on the declivity of a hill, 6 miles louth from Jc- 

 nifalcm, according to Eufcbius and Jerom, It is like- 

 wife called " Ephratah," (Gen. xlviii. 7. Mic.v, 2.) 

 This city was not very confiderable either for its extent or 

 riches ; but it has acquired peculiar dillinflion on account of 

 its having been the place of our Saviour's nativity. It was 

 alfo the city of David's nativity. In and near this city tra- 

 vellers are fliewn the place where our Saviour was born, wh:ch 

 is faid to have been a cave foutli of the city, and belo'igiiig 

 to the inn, or caravanferai, whither Jofeph and Mary retired. 

 Jcrom informs us, that Adrian, in order to erafc the retneni- 

 Lrance of the place where Clirill was born, planted over the 

 cave a grove of tall trees in honour of Adonis, fo that when 

 the feftivah of this infamous deity were celebrated, the holy 

 grotto ccchoed with the lamentations made in commemora- 

 tion of Venus's lovir. Hire is alfo feen a large church 

 built by St. Helena, in the form of a crofs, and fo lofty as 

 to command an extenfive profpecl of the adjacent country. 

 The roof is elevated, flat, and compofed of cedar williin, 

 and leaded without. The nave is fupported on both fides 

 by two rows of marble pillars, each made of one piece, and 

 H in a row, forming as it were five naves, feparated from 

 each other by thofe rows of pillars, on each of which is the 

 piclure of fome faint. Over the pillars the wall is covered 

 with mofaic work, on a gold ground. The marble which 

 formerly overlaid the walls has been removed by theTurk^ for 

 adorning their mofques. The three upper ends of the crofs 

 terminate in three femicircles, having in each an altar. 

 Over the chancel k a (lately cupola, covered on the outfide 

 with lead, and within adorned with mofaic work. Adjoin, 

 ing to the church is the monallcry of the Francifcans. The 

 gardens are defended with ftrong walls ; and through the 

 chapel is a paflage to a fquare cave, in which they fay the 

 Innocents were buried. Beyond tliis are paflages to the 

 tombs of St. Jtrom, St. Paula, and Euftochium, and of 

 F.uftbius of Cremona ; and beyond thefe is a grotto or cell, 

 called the fchool of St. Jerom, where he is faid to have 

 lodged when he tranflated the Bible. At the end of another 

 vault or chapel, 12 feet wide and 40 long, whofe floor is 

 paved and fides lined with white marble, and roof adorned 

 with mofaic work, now much decayed, is an arched con- 

 cavity, with" an altar, having over it the picture of the na- 

 tivity, and under it a vault, in tlie middle of which is a flar 

 formed of nnny coloured ftones, marking the place where 

 tliey fay our Saviour was born ; and near this is the mangtr 

 wliere they pretend he was laid, which is hewn out of a rock, 

 and new flagged with white marble. See Mount Calvary, 

 and Jkrusauem. 



Bethlehem is now called Bait-el-ln/.am ; which fee. The 

 country in which it is fituated is happy with refpeft to foil, 

 air, and water. With the latter it is fnpp'icd by a low aqu'e- 

 riuift, or (lone channel, which formerly paffed to Jerufalem, 

 The " fons fignatus" is an exuberant fpring : it is received 

 fucctffivcly by three large citlcrns, one of ivhich is well pre- 

 ferved. In coming from the cifterns, ar^d at a fmq]l dillance, 

 is feen what is termed the " delicia^ Sidomoni^," a beautiful 

 rvulet, which flows murmuring down the valley, and waters 

 in its courfe fome gardens of excellent foil. Tlie brinks of 

 this brook arc adorned with a variety of herbage. The 

 convent at this place contains, under the fame roof, the dif.< 

 ftrent tenets of Latins, Armenians, and Greeks. Brown's 

 Travels in Africa, &c. p. 363, 



We (hall here ob("erve, that no inconfiderable pains and In- 

 genuity have been exurcifed to reconcile the quotation of the 

 evangelifl Mutlliew, ch, it. 6. relating to Bethlehem, with 

 t!ie original text of tVit prophet Micah, ch. v.z. The dif- 



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ficulty may be obviated, fays an ingenious writer, or at lead 

 the appearance of inconfillency i-emoved, by a proper trnnf. 

 lation of the latter text. " yiiid thou, Bcthhhan Ephratah^ 

 art little m being among the thoufands of Judah ; for out of thee 

 •will come forth unto me a ruler over Ifracl. That is, ihou haft 

 but little honour in being among the thoufands of yiniih, 

 compared with that which will accrue to thee from giving 

 birth to the AFeJIah." Thus tlie LXX feem to have un- 

 derftood it. Forms of fpeech fimilar to this, a^K/'i'c tXxxirr.t 

 h no means the leajl for the greatejl, are not uncommon. (Sec 

 Homer. II. A. 277. Callim. Hym. Ui.33. Hym.Ap. 31. 

 Eurip. Androm.b'l. &c. This mode of interpretation \i 

 confirmed by Lightfoot from the Chaldee paraplirafl ; and 

 feems to be preferable to that of St. Jerom, or of Dr. I'o- 

 cocke. The former, who has been foUov/ed by fome others, 

 is of opinion, thiit Matthew produced the pailage in Micah 

 hitlorically, not as it was written by the prophet, but as it 

 had been propoltd by the priells to Herod, fo that they 

 fhould be aecufed of falfe reading, if that were the cafe. Tlie 

 latter in his notes on the Porta Moiis of Maimonides, thinks, 

 that I'J/'V) in Micah, rendered little in the Englifii traiiflation, 

 has the contrary (ignification to its ufual one of mean or l':lile, 

 viz. that of nolle or Ulnjlrwus, and for countenancing this 

 conjecture he cites Jer. xlviii. 4. and the Chaldee paraphrafe 

 upon that paffage. Grotius, Olearius, and others, have pro- 

 pofed that the Hebrew text and the Greek EXX verlioii 

 (lioiild be read and tranflated by way of interrogation. Hcb. 

 ' ylrt thor, Bethlehem J'.phratah, the leafl among the thoufands 

 of Judr'} ? No: out of thee Jloall he come forth to me, dc. i.e. 

 I \\\\\ raife up him, &c. Greek LXX. Art thou, Bethlehem, 

 the houfe of Ephratah, the leajl to he among the thoufands of 

 'Judah? No: out of thee, &c. ITie learned birtiop Pearce 

 has adopted this mode of tranflation ; and in favour of it he 

 urge.", that the Hebrew word ■^'W, in Micah, rendered 

 I'ltlie, may be rendered the leajl, as it aftually is in Judges, 

 vi. 15. I Sam. ix. 2 J. Jerem. xlix. 26. and 1. 45. He 

 alio obferves, that both in the Hebrew and in the Greek of 

 the O. and N. Tell, it is not unufual for a fentence to be 

 underllood by way of interrogation, though there is no 

 mark placed at the beginning of the fentence, ufed in either 

 of the languages for a mark oi interrogation. To this pur- 

 pofe he refers for the Hebrew to 2 Sam. xviii. 29. 1 Kings 

 xxi. 7. Job. ii. 10. xli. I. Zech. viii. 6. and for the 

 Greek to 2 Sam. xviii. 29. Matt. xi. 3. Mark xlv. 6l. 

 He adds further, that when words are thus ufed interroga- 

 tively, there is often at the end of them an anfwer of Yes, or 

 No, to be fiipplied in the fcnfe, though it is not exprelTed in 

 the words. This is very common with thofe who write in the 

 Hebrew language, or with thofe, who, being tiebrews, 

 write in Greek. In the N. T. the word, iVb, is to be fup- 

 plied in i Cor. x. 19, 20. The fame mode of fpeaking is 

 iound in i Cor. xii. 31. A£ls viii. 31. and an inftance, 

 where 7'es is to be fupplicd, is to be found in j Cor. ix. 20. 

 From thefe remarks the learned prelate concludes, that, if 

 this be the cafe, an interrogation with a No to be fupplied as 

 an anfwer to it, is the fame as a negative not put in interro- ' 

 gation ; or, in other words, to aflc whetlier any thing is the 

 leiijl, and to anfwer No, as the Elebrew text and LXX ver- 

 fion do, is the fame as to alhrm, that it i.r not the leaji, as 

 Matthew does. Either- of the above interpretations will 

 effcftually fuperfede the perplexity of St. Jerom, and the 

 objcaions of J )r. Middleton, in his " Works," vol. ii. p. 59. 

 See Wakefield's " New Tranflation of the Gofpel of 

 St. Matthew," p. 26. " Pcarce's Commentary," vol. i. 

 p. 10. 



Bethlehem, a town of the tribe of Zebulun, (Jofh. 

 xix. 15.) of obfcurc and unknown fituntion. 



B£THI.E)iEM» 



