Nadene Goldfoot
There were 2 ancient towns in Eretz Yisrael by the name of Bethlehem. The one we are most familiar with is only 5.25 miles South of Jerusalem, shown above.
Bethlehem is now a Palestinian town south of Jerusalem in the West Bank. The biblical birthplace of Jesus, it’s a major Christian pilgrimage destination. The birth is marked by an inlaid silver star in a grotto under the 6th-century Church of the Nativity, which shares Manger Square with the 15th-century Church of St. Catherine and the 1860 Mosque of Omar.
This is where King David was born in about the year 1,000 BCE whose father was Jesse, son of Obed, son of Boaz who was married to Ruth, born in Moab, so was a Moabite, kindred to the Israelites but not an Israelite. She converted to her husband's beliefs in one G-d. David and his father were from the tribe of Judah. Ruth's husband was Mahlon, and he died when only a young man, leaving Ruth a widow. Ruth stayed on with her mother-in-law, Naomi, back to Bethlehem and eventually married Naomi's kinsman, Boaz, who she was very close, probably a first cousin. The story details are found in THE BOOK OF RUTH, one of the 5 scrolls incorporated in the Hagiographa of Christian writings: it is read during SHAVUOS (the Feast of Weeks, a Jewish holiday). It is in the Tanakh (Old Testament) under Ruth.
King David, by the way, was David was the youngest of eight sons of Jesse, a farmer and sheep breeder of the Israelite tribe of Judah. David likely spent much of his boyhood tending his family's flock. One day he was summoned from the fields by the prophet Samuel, who anointed him king of Israel while Saul was still king. Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin. The account of Saul's life comes from the Old Testament book of I Samuel. The son of Kish, a well-to-do member of the tribe of Benjamin, he was made king by the league of 12 Israelite tribes in a desperate effort to strengthen Hebrew resistance to the growing Philistine threat.
Boaz was the son of Judah and a kinsman of Naomi. He, too was born in Bethlehem and was a man of property.
Ruth, a Moabite, left her homeland and came to the Land of Israel as a convert to Judaism. There she lived in poverty, searching for food for herself and her widowed, elderly mother -in- law. She then married Naomi's relative, Boaz, also called Ibzan, one of the Judges of Israel. Ruth and Boaz were an unlikely match as she had been a Moabite princess who had fallen from honor and wealth to contempt and poverty. He was a Judge of Israel (before they had kings) one of the leaders of this young Jewish nation, venerable, wealthy, and revered. He was 2 generations her senior. Yet they became parents and forebears of the royal family of Israel. The Talmud calls Ruth the mother of royalty; which is true. It includes Kings David and his son, King Solomon. After Solomon's death, the sons kept coming, but came to us with more problems in their lives. The Jews also believe that the future Messiah will be from this line of men. By DNA, he would be of the Cohen line, J1.
Christians also find Bethlehem having special sanctity. To them, it is the place where Jesus' birth took place. The 1st Christian Emperor, Constantine and his mother Helena built the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem in 330, 1,330 years after King David was born there. Jerome lived there when translating the bible into Latin. Catholic, Orthodox, Armenian and Coptic religious institutions are maintained there. Christians used to hold Christmas Holiday events here. Now it is a Palestinian city.
By 1948, Bethlehem had 10,000 population of which 7,500 were Christians, 2,500 were Moslems. Then from 1948 to 1967 Bethlehem was under Jordanian rule as it was part of Judea/Samaria and the eastern part of Jerusalem. In the Six Day War of June 1967, it was captured by Israel. By 1968 , it had 32,000 population. Now in 2020 Bethlehem's population is 25,266. Following an influx of refugees as a result of Israeli advances in the 1967 war, Bethlehem has a Muslim majority, but is still home to a significant Palestinian Christian community.
It is now encircled and encroached upon by dozens of Israeli towns and the Israeli West Bank barrier, which separates both Muslim and Christian communities from their land and livelihoods, and sees a steady exodus from both communities. It's the result of too many killings of Jews by the Palestinians. The barrier was built during the Second Intifada that began in September 2000, and was defended by the Israeli government as necessary to stop the wave of Palestinian political violence inside Israel that the uprising had brought with it.
The other Bethlehem is in the Galilee and listed under Joshua (19:15) and lies 7 miles NW of Nazareth. It is now the site of a moshav Ovedim or Workers' Settlement, with a population 312 as of 1990.
Resource:
the New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ALeKk029-.....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethlehem
https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/moshav-or-moshav-ovedim
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