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Fig. 64. Church of the Nativity and Convent at Bethlehem.
But the city being crowded with strangers who had come for the enrolment, they could not obtain lodging in the inn, and were forced to seek shelter in a stable[1] outside the city. “And it came to pass that, when they were there, Mary brought forth her first-born Son, and wrapped Him up in swaddling clothes,
- ↑ A stable. When Mary and Joseph arrived at Bethlehem, the only public inn in the place was quite full; so they went to a cave or grotto outside the town, which in bad weather was used as a stable by shepherds, and which was therefore fitted with a manger. The emperor Constantine and his mother, St. Helena, built a splendid church, which still exists (Fig. 64), over the grotto in which our Lord was born. In the grotto of the Nativity (Fig. 65, p. 400) thirty-two lamps are always kept burning.
be inscribed at Bethlehem. This town lay about five miles to the south of Jerusalem (see Map). The journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem was one of seventy miles, and full of difficulties. The town of Bethlehem stood on the ridge of a hill a little higher than Mount Sion, which was the highest part of ancient Jerusalem, and about 2300 feet high. It still exists, and is chiefly inhabited by Christians to the number of between three and four thousand, though in all the other towns of the Holy Land the Turks, in whose possession Palestine is, outnumber all other creeds.
