In the Steps of Jesus

Second Edition

Peter Walker

• Publisher: Lion Scholar
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9781912552061
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

Millions of people across the world have heard of Jesus Christ, but how many are truly acquainted with the key locations he frequented?

In the second edition of this established text, Peter Walker shares the fruits of his lifetime s research and expert knowledge to present a rich and engaging guide to the historical aspects of Jesus world. Following the chronology of Jesus life and ministry and drawing especially on the Gospel of Luke, we move from Bethlehem to Nazareth to the desert, and then follow him on his final journey from Galilee to Jerusalem. 

In each chapter particular attention is given to what Jesus did in that location, placing his ministry within its original historical and geographical context, and raising questions of archaeology, authenticity and the recorded evidence of later pilgrims and historians. This new edition takes into account the archaeological discoveries of the last 15 years to provide an up-to-date guide to the Holy Land of today. Using maps, timelines and boxed features that highlight and analyse key topics, In the Steps of Jesus is a rich and absorbing text that presents scholars at all levels of study with a unique insight into Jesus world.

CHAPTER 1

BETHLEHEM

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world …

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them … ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.’

Luke 2:1–12

Humble beginnings

It was a small village, perched on some rounded hills overlooking the desert to the east. Six miles (ten kilometres) south of Jerusalem, it was an obvious stopping-point for those travelling on the ancient ‘Way of the Patriarchs’ that ran along the ridge of hills – from Shechem in the north to Hebron in the south. The village’s name, Bethlehem, meant ‘house of bread’: clearly it was a useful place at which to stop for supplies on your journey, a place surrounded by wheat fields and arable land.

‘But you, Bethlehem, are by no means least amongst the princes of Judah …’

Matthew 2:6 (quoting Micah 5:2)

It is in this small, ancient village that the story of Jesus begins. In some senses, as we shall discover, his story begins much further back in the mists of time and in other places. Yet this was the place of his birth – some time around the year 5 BC.

Bethlehem BC

This event has given tiny Bethlehem a reputation and significance out of all proportion to its size. Yet it is not without some interesting history in its own right. Several stories associated with key Old Testament characters are connected with Bethlehem:

• Jacob and his family travelled along the ‘Way of the Patriarchs’ (from Bethel to Mamre). However, just outside Bethlehem (also known as Ephrath), his wife Rachel died while giving birth to Benjamin (the ‘son of my right hand’). So she was buried there, her tomb marked by a pillar (Genesis 35:16–20).
• The story told in the book of Ruth is located here. Ruth was originally from Moab (to the east) but had married into a Hebrew family. When her husband died, she chose to travel with her grieving mother-in-law, Naomi, back to Naomi’s hometown of Bethlehem. Here she met and married Naomi’s relative, Boaz, and became the grandmother of King David (Ruth 1–4).
• One of Israel’s greatest prophets, Samuel, came to Bethlehem to visit the family of a man called Jesse. He anointed Jesse’s youngest son, David, to succeed Saul as king of Israel (1 Samuel 16:1–13).
• Later in David’s life, Bethlehem was occupied by the Philistines and David expressed his longing to drink some water from its well. Three of his ‘mighty men’ stole into the town to fetch the water, but he refused to drink it, offering it to God instead (2 Samuel 23:13–17).
• Thereafter Bethlehem was associated with great King David and, as expectations grew that God would send another king like David, the prophet Micah predicted that, even though Bethlehem was ‘small among the clans of Judah’, yet from here would come a ‘ruler of Israel, whose origins are from of old’ (Micah 5:2–4).

So Jesus’ birth in this village turns out to be very fitting. In biblical memory Bethlehem had already been a place both of danger (for Rachel, for David’s men) and of joy (the birth of Benjamin, the anointing of David, the focus for hope in the Messiah). When both her sons died, Naomi (which means ‘blessing’) had wanted to be called ‘Mara’ (which means ‘bitterness’); but her bitterness had been turned to joy. So too now Jesus’ birth is seen by Luke (in this chapter’s opening quotation from his Gospel) as an occasion for ‘great joy’, but that joy is tempered by suffering. For example, his birth triggers off Herod’s massacre of innocent children (Matthew 2:16–18). And a little later in Luke’s story Mary is told that her child’s life will result in the ‘falling and rising of many in Israel’; indeed a ‘sword will pierce your own soul too’ (Luke 2:34–35).

Secondly, Bethlehem was the place remembered as the original home of King David, the great ruler who had once been a shepherd. Now shepherds are told to go into the ‘town of David’ to see Jesus, who in due course will be described in the New Testament as the true ‘son of David’, the long-awaited Messiah and the ‘great Shepherd’.

Thirdly, Bethlehem was already a place associated with divine reversal. David had been a child, the youngest son, when God surprisingly elevated him above his brothers. God had overturned human expectation in the choice of his king: if humans look on outward appearances, the Bible writer comments, ‘the Lord looks at the heart’ (1 Samuel 16:7). Now in Jesus we see something similar: a humble birth in a tiny village, but the one born here will in due course be spoken of throughout the world.

Christmas questions

Several things about Jesus’ birth will remain uncertain. For example, there is the problem of dating: when exactly was he born? (see pages 29–30 for details). Or again, why did Mary travel with Joseph even though she was in the advanced stages of her pregnancy? Travelling down from Nazareth by mule or donkey would have taken five or six days; so why did Joseph not come on his own? Mary’s travelling with him may therefore be because she too had property in the area of Bethlehem in her own name, which needed to be registered in the Roman census. If so, this would mean that her father had died leaving no sons, and that Mary was his eldest daughter. Joseph then travelled with her for obvious reasons – but probably because he too had property in the area, and also needed to countersign Mary’s document as her legal guardian.

The star of Bethlehem and the date of Jesus’ birth

The Christmas nativity story is so well known. Yet many of its supposed details, popularized by children’s nativity plays and advent calendars, have little basis in the original accounts in the Gospels. For example, there was no ‘stable’ – instead Jesus may have been born in a cave at the back of a house (see page 31). It is also most unlikely that the shepherds and the Magi visited the infant Jesus at the same time. And the Magi were not ‘three kings’; we do not know how many there were, and they were evidently astronomers or (more likely) astrologers, not kings.

These later accretions can then cause a cynicism about other parts of the story: are they also mere fancy? One aspect of the story, often criticized, is the ‘star’ seen by the Magi. Matthew 2:7–9 says that this was a star that had recently appeared, that travelled through the sky and that came to rest over Bethlehem. This can sound slightly bizarre.

Yet there are good arguments for seeing this ‘star’ as a comet. Chinese records indicate that three significant comets appeared around this time (in 12, 5 and 4 BC). Of these only the middle one fits the chronology. We know Jesus was ‘about thirty’ at the start of his ministry in or around the year AD 27 (see Luke 3:23), so the comet in 12 BC is too early; the one in 4 BC...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1. Bethlehem
• 2. Nazareth
• 3. The River Jordan
• 4. The Judean Desert
• 5. Galilee and its villages
• 6. Samaria
• 7. Caesarea Philippi
• 8. Jericho
• 9. Bethany
• 10. The Mount of Olives
• 11. The Temple
• 12. Jerusalem
• 13. Golgotha and the tomb
• 14. Emmaus
• Further Reading
• Index