A Pre-Trip to Israel

How appropriate in the December, 1929, issue of National Geographic Magazine it was to include an article on "Bethlehem and the Christmas Story."  This was particularly relevant to me since I have reservations to visit Israel this coming October.  It will be interesting to compare notes with the author, John D. Whiting.

Israel may surprise me, but I doubt that, in 2013, "Camels still come laden to the place where Jesus was born," as they did in 1929.  "Donkeys, much in use to pack light burdens, are drinking at the centuries-old rock trough at the cistern mouth.  The milch goats have been brought here for sale" (photo caption, p. 702).

As another photo caption (p. 704) tells, "Mountain paths to Bethlehem have changed little in 2,000 years."  I expect these paths to be guarded highways now.

Also amazing were the area's agricultural practices in 1929, "Primitive methods of reaping prevail in "the House of Bread" (photo caption, p. 705).  Modern Israel boasts of more than a few farms using technology without soil, dripping water and nutrients to suspended plants.  "When reaping is done with the sickle, many ears of wheat are dropped.  The owners of the fields follow the Biblical injunction and permit the poor to glean first.  Sheep are then driven into the stubble to pick up what remains on the ground" (photo caption, p, 706).

Mr. Whiting attended a wedding in the Church of the Nativity, "one of the oldest existing churches in Christendom, if not the oldest, one of the few used in common by the three Eastern denominations and revered by all sects of Christianity.  The best authorities doubt not that it stands on or close to the site where Jesus was born and the place of the first Christmas" (p. 707).

Remember Jesus' words, "I know my sheep and my sheep know me?"  Bethlehem area shepherds call their sheep in the early morning with each shepherd then going in a different direction.  "Though the calls sound exactly alike to the uninitiated, the animals never mistake their master's voice or follow a stranger" (photo caption, p. 726).

Mr. Whiting spent a lot of time with the shepherds.  "To know Christmas in Bethlehem, one should pass it not in the old churches, historically interesting though they be, but under the star-studded dome of the great out-of-doors, with the shepherds watching over the flocks in the field by night" (p. 734).

Politics was not addressed in this story, although a photo on Color Plate VIII showed three members of the British desert border patrol.  They are pictured with their three camels next to a "cistern beside the road leading from the east to Bethlehem (called) the Well of the Magi."  The caption reads, "Here the three Wise Men halted to water their camels."  The area Mohammedans were friendly and helpful to Mr. Whiting.

Now the town of Bethlehem is located in Israel on the highly contested West Bank of Jordan.  Israelis are not allowed to visit but tourists are encouraged to come.  I very much look forward to visiting it on the tour to Israel!