Bethlehem
      n 1: a town in eastern Pennsylvania on the Lehigh River northwest
           of Philadelphia; an important center for steel
           production
      2: a small town near Jerusalem on the west bank of the Jordan
         River; early home of David and regarded as the place where
         Jesus was born [syn: Bayt Lahm, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Bethlehem-Judah]


 Bethlehem
    house of bread. (1.) A city in the "hill country" of Judah. It
    was originally called Ephrath (Gen. 35:16, 19; 48:7; Ruth 4:11).
    It was also called Beth-lehem Ephratah (Micah 5:2),
    Beth-lehem-judah (1 Sam. 17:12), and "the city of David" (Luke
    2:4). It is first noticed in Scripture as the place where Rachel
    died and was buried "by the wayside," directly to the north of
    the city (Gen. 48:7). The valley to the east was the scene of
    the story of Ruth the Moabitess. There are the fields in which
    she gleaned, and the path by which she and Naomi returned to the
    town. Here was David's birth-place, and here also, in after
    years, he was anointed as king by Samuel (1 Sam. 16:4-13); and
    it was from the well of Bethlehem that three of his heroes
    brought water for him at the risk of their lives when he was in
    the cave of Adullam (2 Sam. 23:13-17). But it was distinguished
    above every other city as the birth-place of "Him whose goings
    forth have been of old" (Matt. 2:6; comp. Micah 5:2). Afterwards
    Herod, "when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men," sent
    and slew "all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all
    the coasts thereof, from two years old and under" (Matt. 2:16,
    18; Jer. 31:15).

      Bethlehem bears the modern name of Beit-Lahm, i.e., "house of
    flesh." It is about 5 miles south of Jerusalem, standing at an
    elevation of about 2,550 feet above the sea, thus 100 feet
    higher than Jerusalem.

      There is a church still existing, built by Constantine the
    Great (A.D. 330), called the "Church of the Nativity," over a
    grotto or cave called the "holy crypt," and said to be the
    "stable" in which Jesus was born. This is perhaps the oldest
    existing Christian church in the world. Close to it is another
    grotto, where Jerome the Latin father is said to have spent
    thirty years of his life in translating the Scriptures into
    Latin. (See VERSION.)

      (2.) A city of Zebulun, mentioned only in Josh. 19:15. Now
    Beit-Lahm, a ruined village about 6 miles west-north-west of
    Nazareth.



 Beth-lehem, house of bread