Ron & Barbara Schill Family Blog: Bethlehem, Church of the Nativity and Shepherds Field (0)

I was surprised to see a windmill in Jerusalem. I took this photo from the bus window. I read in my guide book the history of this windmill. It was funded and built in1857 by British Jewish banker and philanthropist, Moses Montefiore, who devoted his life to promoting history, education and health in the Holy Land. The windmill was a flour mill to help the Jews of Palestine to become self-supporting but the mill wasn't too successful because of the lack of enough wind. It was phased out by 1891 and restored in 2012 for a small museum dedicated to the achievements of Moses Montefiore.

We went through this border guard station in order to get to Bethlehem which is located in the West Bank. You see a fence here but most of the Israeli West Bank barrier to protect the Israeli from the Palestinian terrorism is fence. 90% of the length of the barrior is a fence with vehicle-barrier tenches surrounded by 200 ft wide empty space and only 10%of the barrier is a 26ft tall concrete wall. Our guide said that people in other countries think Israel built a big wall and don't realize that most of the barrier is a only a fence. There are opponents to this barrier especially the Palestinians.

Our guide told us that De Vinci famous painting of the Last Supper depicts the wrong type of table. This olive wood carving of people around a "U" shaped table would be like the table used for the Last Supper. Jesus would have been the first person on the right but when you look at the carving it would be the first one on the left.

As we were looking in a shop in Bethlehem we found this nativity scene and fell in love with it. The artist did an amazing job of carving this sculpture out of one piece of olive wood. This is the one souvenir we took home.

This is a photo of the back of the carving so you can see the beautiful wood grain on Joseph's robe.

KFC in Israel

Bethlehem is 5 miles south of Jerusalem in the West Bank.

Bethlehem

Lunch Time

Walking across Manger Square on our way to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

Church of the Nativity built in 565 marks the birthplace of Jesus.

The small entrance into the Church of the Nativity

Inside the Church of the Nativity

Parts of old paintings discovered on the walls.

Constantine's 4th century mosaic floor discovered in 1934.

The entrance into the Grotto, the manger where it is believed Jesus was born.

This 14 pointed star marks the place where Jesus was born. The Latin inscription on it says,"Here Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary."

At Christmas time a wooden figure of Baby Jesus is brought from St. Catherine Church and placed in the Altar of the Manger

Church of St. Catherine is a Catholic church and a Franciscan monastery located in the complex of the Church of the Nativity. The church stands on the spot believed to be where Christ appeared to St. Catherine of Alexandria around 310 AD. According to traditional stories, Catherine, a 4th century martyr from Egypt was of noble birth and well educated. At the age of 18, she challenged the emperor Maxentius for persecuting Christians and worshiping false gods. The emperor ordered her to be beheaded. This church was built in 1882 on the ruins of a crusader church. In this church there is a Christmas Eve Mass on Dec. 24th which is broadcasted annually around the world.

Just 2km east of Bethlehem is a village called Beit Sahour and is one of the most sacred places to Christians, because this is the place where the Angel of the Lord visited the Shepherds and told them of Jesus' birth. Luke 2: 8-10
The Shepherd's Field Fountain

The caves like the shepherds stayed in when they were out with their sheep or they might have stayed in a tent at night.

Our tour group entering the entrance of the Franciscan Chapel designed to resemble the shepherd's tent.. This site was where shepherds saw the star when Jesus was born.

This church has holes in it so the light penetrates the concrete and glass dome, illuminating the interior to symbolizes the divine light that appeared to the shepherds.

Painting in the chapel

Painting depicting the shepherds when they heard the news of the birth of Jesus.

The Shepherd Fields

When we got back to our hotel, I sat in the lobby and watched as a lot of Orthodox Jews came in and filed into the eating area. They were dressed in their best clothes. It was not only adults but whole families including their children even toddlers.. The Jews travel to Jerusalem for Shabbat which is from sundown on Friday evening to an hour after sundown on Saturday. Shabbat is the Jewish day of rest and is the seventh day of the week. During this time the Jews do not go to work but think about spiritual things and spend time with their family.