Page 12 - Life of Christ w videos

Samuel anointed him as king over Israel (I Samuel 16:1-13). It sits about 2,600 feet above the
Mediterranean Sea. The distance between Nazareth to Bethlehem is about 80 miles or it takes about
four eight-hour days to walk.

At the time of Jesus’ birth, Bethlehem was a small village. The hills around it were terraced and clothed
with vines, fig trees, and almonds and the surrounding valleys yielded full harvests of grain. At the time
of Christ’s birth, there were probably less than 200 people living in Bethlehem and probably not more
than 15 to 20 male children under the age of 2. The shepherds had their animals out in the fields all
year round, so the presence of shepherds does not give us a date for Christ’s birth.

Locate Bethlehem on the map. (Hint: It is to the left of the top of the Dead Sea, south of Jerusalem.)

Herod the Great

Jerusalem

No visitor seeing Jerusalem for the first time could fail to be impressed by its visual splendor. The long,
difficult ascent from Jericho to the east up to the Holy City ended as the traveler rounded the Mount of
Olives and suddenly caught sight of a vista like few others in the world. Across the Kidron Valley, set
among the surrounding hills, was Jerusalem, "the perfection of beauty," in the words of Lamentations,
"the joy of all the world”.

The view from the Mount of Olives was dominated by the gleaming, gold-embellished Herod’s Temple
which was located in the most holy spot in the Jewish world. The Temple stood high above the old City
of David, at the center of a gigantic white stone platform.

A high, thick, gray stone wall encircled Jerusalem. It had been damaged, repaired and enlarged over the
centuries, and in Jesus' day it was about 4 miles in circumference, bringing about 25,000 people into an

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