The journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem

Along a rough and winding road, at the rate of 20 miles per day, it would take five days to travel on foot from Nazareth, the home of Joseph and Mary, to Jerusalem, a distance of 100 miles. From Jerusalem to Bethlehem, it’s just 5.52 miles or 8.89 kilometers along a descending route. Along today's modern highway it is about 70 miles or three and a half days of walking, assuming they don’t stop to rest.

My wife and I joined a group tour about three years ago and traced the route in a luxury limo, complete with armed escorts as we passed through a labyrinth of winding and perilous roads, where Palestinian and Israeli armed combatants skirmished. We were assured by our Jewish tour guide (and the Palestinian drivers agreed) that both sides wouldn’t dare hurt us because tourism is the main source of livelihood of both Israel and Palestine. Well, that is, of course, assuming the bullets obey protocol.

Nazareth or Nasrath in old Aramaic language, is now the largest city in the northern district of Israel. It’s known as the Arab capital of the nation because 69% of its about 80,000 population are Muslims and 30.9% are Christians. It was a Jewish village during the Roman and Byzantine periods and was described in the New Testament as the childhood home of Jesus. It was where Joseph and Mary lived before they travelled to Jerusalem to register Joseph, a descendant of King David, as citizen in obedience to the edict of Caesar. It was called Netzer in Hebrew, Nazara in Greek, and Nasira in Arabic.

Nazareth was mentioned in the Book of Isaiah 11:1 as where the Messiah would emanate from one of the sons of Jacob. In the New Testament, the Gospel of Luke described it as a town of Galilee and home of Mary. The phrase "Jesus of Nazareth” appears 17 times in the New Testament. The word Nazareth is mentioned 12 times in the Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, 10 times as Nazareth and twice as Nazara.

On the other hand, Bethlehem is no longer a part of Israel today but a city in the West Bank, which is now controlled by the Palestinians and thus a part of the newly-recognized independent state of Palestine. It’s much smaller than Nazareth as Bethlehem's population is just 25,000. The economy relies heavily on tourism as hundreds of thousands of Christians all over the world always go on pilgrimage to the Church of the Nativity. One of its holy sites is the Tomb of Rachel (the younger of the two wives of Jacob and the mother of two of his 12 sons). While it is an Arab-Christian town, Bethlehem has become dominated by a Muslim majority, although it remains as the home of a significant number of Palestinian Christians.

Bethlehem, aside from being commonly known by Christian tradition, as the birthplace of Jesus, (as mentioned by the Gospels of Luke and Matthew) is also known as the city where David was anointed as King of Israel. Today's Church of the Nativity (supposedly the spot where the manger was located) was built by Emperor Constantine upon the prodding of his mother, Empress Helena. However, the church was destroyed by the Samaritans who attacked it in a revolt in 529 AD. It was rebuilt by the Roman Emperor Justinian a century later. This used to be a part of Israel, but since 1995, the Palestinians acquired it by virtue of the Oslo Accords.

The long and tiresome journey of Joseph and Mary from Nazareth to Bethlehem is estimated to have lasted a week. There were no cars. They couldn’t move fast because Mary was heavy with a child and the donkey was slow. They had to traverse rough and winding roads and the terrains were along mountains, hills and valleys. Travelling by limousine today along the Yitzhak Rabin Highway Route 6 only took us 1 hour and 50 minutes with a Palestinian driver and an Israeli armed escort.

What took Joseph and Mary one week took us less than two hours. But it was a very meaningful journey tracing the route they took. From Nazareth to Bethlehem, my wife and I deepened our faith by just being where it all began. I advise all Christians to go there, just like Muslims have to go to Mecca and trace the footsteps of Muhammad. It is a real spirit-lifting experience of a lifetime.