Day five.

         Bethlehem is a city now of around 27,000 people. It is controlled by the Palestinian Authority and is part of the contested lands between Israel and the Arab states. Just a few miles south of Jerusalem, the city no longer fills its historical function. Now it is a place for tourists, but throughout the span of the Bible, Bethlehem was the agricultural hub of Jerusalem, keeping that city fed. In fact, the name itself means ‘house of bread.’ Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, erected a wall around the town to protect it during siege, but that was never very successful. The fields and pasture land around the small town provided the food needs for the larger city. In the best of the pasture land, priests of the Temple kept flocks attended by shepherds for the sacrifices that happened daily at the Temple. Other than the sacrifices, nothing really set Bethlehem apart from any such ‘houses of bread’ for any city in Palestine except that this Bethlehem was King David’s boyhood home. He had tended sheep there as a boy. Bethlehem became known as ‘The City of David.’

         It was known by prophecy that the promised Messiah would come from The City of David and would be a descendant of David. But, by the time of Mary and Joseph, David had been dead a thousand years. It had come to be accepted that Jerusalem, because of its proximity to Bethlehem and its much larger size, was actually The City of David. Bethlehem had largely fallen into disrepair by the time Joseph crested the hill and looked at the town below. It is estimated that by that time the town had dwindled to just 300 people. It is believed that there was just one inn within the town, a place where land owners who were coming down from Jerusalem to see to their possessions could spend a night or two. It is possible that Joseph had never been to his ancestral home. The descendants of David had spread far and wide and very few lived there anymore.

         But on that day, with everyone being ordered to go back to their ancient homes, Joseph and Mary would have been greeted with an unbelievable sight. Thje broken down town huddled behind a broken down wall was packed to over flowing. Nazareth had never looked like this! From their vantage point, it would have looked like an ant hill that had been kicked apart by a naughty child. Their journey had been hard and they would have been tired. Mary would have been miserable. Joseph would have been feeling anxiety grip his heart. In that crush of people, where would they be able to find a place where the Messiah could be born? Where would they find a midwife? Would they even be able to find enough food in that overwhelmed little village? They still needed to keep Mary’s pregnancy secret from the people in Nazareth, so that may have been the one good thing about the massive crush of people. As they started their descent to the town, they would have had heavy hearts.

         Struggling against the ebb and flow, they would have struggled to have found a place to spend the night. Over the centuries, the poor inn keeper of the story has been treated very badly, even though no innkeeper is mentioned in the Bible. We know virtually nothing about the incident, except that the Bible says there was no room at the inn. They didn’t necessarily go to the inn. They could have simply surmised that with all those people there would not have been a room. Yet we have all manner of stories of Joseph knocking on doors, practically begging for a room, and the evil, even sinister, innkeeper turning them away.

         And then, a barn like structure. Desperate now, Joseph would have set his sights on the front door. Pushing through the crowds, they made their way.

         Meanwhile, well away from the mob of people, some shepherds were doing what shepherds had always done. Tending their sheep during the day was an isolated and lonely job, but at night the smaller flocks were all brought together so that the shepherds could sleep in shifts while some stood guard. Just a normal night. Then…..