BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 251

city they wended their way. Let us turn our thoughts for
a moment to this birthplace of our Saviour.

On a green plain, pleasantly embosomed amid _ the hills
of Benjamin, stands, to this day, the city of Bethlehem, one
of the oldest cities in Palestine. The word Bethlehem means
“the House of Bread.” Never larger than a village with a
population of three thousand souls at most, it takes its place
among the most famous cities of the earth. When the
goodly land, flowing with milk and honey, was divided by
lot to the tribes of Israel, Bethlehem became a center,
around which the children of Dan and Benjamin, of Simeon
and Judah, rallied. It was to the harvest-fields of Bethlehem
that the sorrowful Naomi returned after her wanderings,
bringing back with her her daughter-in-law, Ruth, the woman
who has stood for all the ages as an example of deathless con-
stancy. Bethlehem was David’s city. Here Israel's greatest
King was born. In its pastures he guarded his father’s
flocks, and amid these peaceful scenes he gathered the inspi-
ration for that grandest of all the psalms: ‘The Lord is my
shepherd, I shall not want.”

But Bethlehem was destined to a greater fame. Years
passed by, and the city that gave the world its greatest
King was to give the world its promised Saviour. Over
this little city of the Orient the Star of Bethlehem hung in shim-
mering beauty. Here, amid such rude accommodation as a
crowded inn could afford, Jesus was born, to the joy of
Mary’s heart, to the gladness of all the ages. It was in the
fields of Bethlehem the shepherds heard the glad song of the
angels: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace,
good will to men.” Here came the hoary sages of the East,
with gifts of gold, and frankincense, and myrrh—fit offerings
for the enthroned King, or for the suffering priest.