410 THE HOLY LAND. 
CHAP. BETHLEiiEivr, written Be thkchem by Reland\ 
^ - v ' is six miles from Jerusalem. This distance, 
allowed by almost all authors, exactly cor- 
responds with the usual computed measure, by 
Critical time, of two hours. Some inaccuracy might 
tionofa thcrcfore be acknowledged to exist in the 
josepLs. printed text of Josephus, describing the interval 
between the two cities as equal only to twenty 
stadia ^ Jerom^, who passed so many years at 
Bethlehem, and therefore was best qualified to 
decide this point, together with Euselius, Sulpi- 
tius Sevei'us, and Phocas\ all agree in the 
distance before stated. But Reland, with his 
usual critical acumen, observes, that the ap- 
parent inaccuracy of the Jewish historian arises 
only from a misconstruction of his words; that 
he is speaking of the distance from Jerusalem to 
the camp of the Philistines in the valley between 
the two cities, and not of their distance from 
(l) PaliEst. llliist. torn. II, p. 642. UtrecJd, 1714. 
{2 J Iris d\ ruv i^Sfiav ^a^!/u,(i(iX>is iv rj? KoiXah xnfiiiv'/i;, rj f/.i;^^i •priXicu; 
Bu^Xiifi oiaTuni, <rrcihlov; ' U^otrof^vf^wj a-rixoi<^»S uxoiri. " Casttis verb fiOS- 
tium in ed vallc positis qucc usque ad Belhleem urban pertmgit, viginti 
stadiis ab Hierosolymis distantem." Josepid Antiq. Jud. lib. vii. cap. 13. 
torn. II. p. 402. Edit. Havercampi. Batav. 1726. 
(3> Hieromjm. in lib. de Locis Hebraicis. 
(4) 'H d\ B-Jxdfi <roXi; a'sr'i^u <r>is ay'iocs voXia/; am) fiikia 55. " Urbs 
vc7-b Bethleem a sancld civitate sex fere mille pussibtis distat." Phoca 
Dcscript. T. S. apud Leo. Allat, in 'Zip.fi.. Cohn. 1653. 
