Bethany (biblical village)

This article is about the New Testament village. For the medieval (and present-day) town, see al-Eizariya. For other uses, see Bethany (disambiguation).
Reputed Tomb of Lazarus in Bethany (Arab name : al-Eizariya)
Lazarus Catholic Church mosaics of Maria, Lazarus and Martha
Lazarus Greek Orthodox Church
church in Bethany.
General view of Bethany (c.1865)

Bethany (Aramaic: בית עניא, Beth anya, or בית היני / ביתייני[1][2] Greek: Βηθανία Greek pronunciation: [vi.θa.ˈɲa], Arabic:العيزرية Arabic pronunciation: [ʔæl.ʕæj.zɑ.ri.jæ]) is recorded in the New Testament as the home of the siblings Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, as well as that of Simon the Leper. Jesus is reported to have lodged there after his entry into Jerusalem, and it could be from Bethany that he parted from his disciples at the Ascension.

Location

Bethany has traditionally been identified with the present-day West Bank city of al-Eizariya (Arabic (العيزرية), meaning "Place of Lazarus"), site of the reputed Tomb of Lazarus, located about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to the east of Jerusalem on the south-eastern slope of the Mount of Olives. The oldest house in present-day al-Eizariya, a 2,000-year-old dwelling reputed to have been (or which at least serves as a reminder of) the House of Martha and Mary, is also a popular pilgrimage site.[3]

The tomb in al-Eizariya has been identified as the tomb of the gospel account since at least the 4th century AD. Both the historian Eusebius of Caesarea[4] (c. 330) and the Bordeaux pilgrim in the Itinerarium Burdigalense[5] (c. 333) mention the Tomb of Lazarus in this location.

Zanecchia (1899), however, argued that ancient Bethany may actually have been located higher up the Mount of Olives from al-Eizariya, closer to Bethphage.[6] The Catholic Encyclopedia refers to Zanecchia (though the Encyclopedia article's author himself discounts his conclusion):

Some believe that the present village of Bethany does not occupy the site of the ancient village; but that it grew up around the traditional cave which they suppose to have been at some distance from the house of Martha and Mary in the village; Zanecchia places the site of the ancient village of Bethany higher up on the southeastern slope of the Mount of Olives, not far from the accepted site of Bethphage, and near that of the Ascension. It is quite certain that the present village formed about the traditional tomb of Lazarus, which is in a cave in the village. The identification of this cave as the tomb of Lazarus is merely possible; it has no strong intrinsic or extrinsic authority. The site of the ancient village may not precisely coincide with the present one, but there is every reason to believe that it was in this general location, mostly by the local villagers who have become dependent on hearsay than on fact, to both the local council which leases this Christian site for an annual higher bid reached in 2007 to about 40,000 Jordanian Dinars per year, and those who lease the site, charging tourists a ONE US dollar fee per head,'an income otherwise non-existent""[7]

Etymology

The root meaning and origin of the name Bethany has been the subject of much scholarship and debate. William Hepworth Dixon devotes a multi-page footnote to it in his The Holy Land (1866), largely devoted to debunking the meaning "house of dates," which is attributed to Joseph Barber Lightfoot by way of a series of careless interpretative mistakes. Dixon quotes at length a refutation of Lightfoot's thesis in the form of a letter by Emanuel Deutsch of the British Museum, who notes that neither the name Bethany, nor any of the roots suggested by Lightfoot, appear anywhere in the Talmud. Deutsch suggests a non-Hebrew root, a word transcribed in Syriac script whose meaning he gives as "House of Misery" or "Poor-house."[8]

This theory as to Bethany's etymology, which was eventually also adopted by Gustav Dalman in 1905, is not without challengers. For example, E. Nestle's Philologica Sacra (1896) suggests that Bethany is derived from the personal name Anaiah, while others have suggested it is a shortened version of Ananiah, a village of Bethel mentioned in the Book of Nehemiah (11:32). Since Greek can neither reproduce an 'h' sound nor the Hebrew harsh 'ch' sound (cheth) in the middle of a word, a derivation from the personal name Chananya ("Yah has been gracious") is also possible. Another suggestion, arising from the presence of nearby Bethphage ("house of unripe figs"), is that its name comes from beit hini, meaning "house of figs".

Deutsch's thesis, however, seems to also be attested to by Jerome. In his version of Eusebius' Onomasticon, the meaning of Bethany is defined as domus adflictionis or "house of affliction." Brian J. Capper writes that this is a Latin derivation from the Hebrew beth 'ani or more likely the Aramaic beth 'anya, both of which mean "house of the poor" or "house of affliction/poverty," also semantically speaking "poor-house." Capper concludes, from historical sources as well as this linguistic evidence, that Bethany may have been the site of an almshouse.[9]

According to Capper and Deutsch before him, there are also linguistic difficulties that arise when the Anaiah/Ananiah, "house of figs" or "house of dates" theses are compared against the bethania form used in Greek versions of the New Testament. Additionally, the Aramaic beit 'anya is the form used for Bethany in Christian Palestinian and Syriac versions of the New Testament. Given this, and Jerome's familiarity with Semitic philology and the immediate region, Capper concludes that the "house of affliction" / "poor-house" meaning as documented by Jerome and in the Syriac New Testament usage is correct, and that this meaning relates to the use of the village as a centre for caring for the sick and aiding the destitute and pilgrims to Jerusalem.[9]

It may be possible to combine the Ananiah (as a personal name) and "house of the poor" derivations, since the shortening of Ananiah ("Yah has intervened") to Anya is conceivable though unattested (cf. the common shortening of Yochanan [and perhaps also Chananyah?] to Choni), whence a typical semitic wordplay might arise between Anya as a shortening of the personal name within the name of the village and as Aramaic for "poor". Such a wordplay may have served the choice of the village as the location for an almshouse.[10]

Bethany and care of the poor and sick

Capper and others have concluded that ancient Bethany was the site of an almshouse for the poor and a place of care for the sick. There is a hint of association between Bethany and care for the unwell in the Gospels: Mark tells of Simon the Leper's house there (Mark 14:3-10); Jesus receives urgent word of Lazarus' illness from Bethany (John 11:1-12:11).

According to the Temple Scroll from Qumran, three places for the care of the sick, including one for lepers, are to be located to the east of Jerusalem. The passage also defines a (minimum) radius of three thousand cubits (circa 1,800 yards) around the city within which nothing unclean shall be seen (XLVI:13-18). Since Bethany was, according to John, fifteen stadia (about 1.72 miles) from the holy city,[11] care for the sick there corresponded with the requirements of the Temple Scroll (the stadion being ideally 600 feet (180 m) or 400 cubits[12]). Whereas Bethphage is probably to be identified with At-Tur, located on the peak of the Mount of Olives with a magnificent view of Jerusalem, Bethany lay below to the southeast, out of view of the Temple Mount, which may have made its location suitable as a place for care of the sick, "out of view" of the Temple.

From this it is possible to deduce that the mention of Simon the Leper at Bethany in Mark's Gospel suggests that the Essenes, or pious patrons from Jerusalem who held to a closely similar view of ideal arrangements, settled lepers at Bethany. Such influence on the planning of Jerusalem and its environs (and even its Temple) may have been possible especially during the reign of Herod the Great (36-4 B.C.), whose favour towards the Essenes was noted by Josephus (Antiquities 15.10.5 [373-8]).[13]

Reta Halteman Finger approves Capper's judgment that only in the context of an almshouse at Bethany, where the poor were received and assisted, could Jesus remark that "The poor you will always have with you" (Mark 14:7; Matthew 26:11) without sounding callous.[14] Ling follows Capper's thesis concerning the connection between then place-name Bethany and the location there of an almshouse. Capper and Ling note that it is only in Bethany we find mention of the poor on the lips of the disciples, who object that the expensive perfumed oil poured over Jesus there might have been sold and the proceeds given to the poor (Mark 14:5; Matthew 26:8-9; John 12:4-6 [where the objection is made by Judas]); this objection may have been made in embarrassment and may also suggest a special connection between Bethany and care for the poor[15]

It has also been suggested, based on the names found carved on thousands of ossuaries at the site, that Bethany in the time of Jesus was settled by people from Galilee who had come to live by Jerusalem. This would explain why Jesus and the disciples, as Galileans, would find it convenient to stay here when visiting Jerusalem.[16] As Capper writes,

Galilean pilgrims avoided potential conflict with Samaritans by travelling south on the eastern side of the Jordan. Bethany was the last station on their route to Jerusalem after crossing the river and taking the road through Jericho up into the highlands. A respectful distance from the city and Temple, and on the pilgrim route, Bethany was a most suitable location for a charitable institution. It is not surprising that an Essene hospice had been established at Bethany to intercept and care for pilgrims at the end of the long and potentially arduous journey from Galilee. The house combined this work with care for the sick and destitute of the Jerusalem area. Thus Bethany received its name because it was the Essene poorhouse par excellence, the poorhouse which alleviated poverty closest to the holy city.[17]

New Testament references to Bethany

The village of Bethany is referenced in relation to five incidents in the New Testament, in which the word Bethany appears 11 times:[18]

In Luke 10:38-42, a visit of Jesus to the home of Mary and Martha is described, but the village of Bethany is not named (nor whether Jesus is even in the vicinity of Jerusalem).

Bethany beyond the Jordan

A second place named Bethany is mentioned in the Gospel of John 1:28 as being located on the east bank of the Jordan River. Its exact location is unclear; in fact, the only mention of this “Bethany” is to be found in that one verse. In the King James Version (following the Textus Receptus of the New Testament) the place where John the Baptist was baptizing in John 1:28 was not called Bethany, but Bethabara. The KJV is the only English version of the New Testament that refers to "Bethany on the east bank of the Jordan River", as "Bethabara". Most other English versions (including the Douay-Rheims, NIV, NASB, NLT, RSV, IBS, and Darby) call it "Bethany".

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ "Neubauer's Geography" (Adolphe Neubauer, La Géographie du Talmud, Paris 1868, pp. 149 – 150), where he writes: “The Talmud reports that Beth Hini shops were destroyed three years before Jerusalem. These shops were probably on the Mount of Olives, and Beth Hini would be identical with Bethany of the Gospel. The Talmud adds that the figs of Beth Hini ripened earlier than elsewhere and that fig trees disappeared as a result of the siege of Jerusalem. These fruits have given the name to the place Beth-Phagi, a place according to the Gospels near Bethany. We would identify Bethany with the present village of el-Azarieh, inhabited by Muslims and Christians.”
  2. ↑ Klein, Samuel (1910). "Remarks about the geography of ancient Palestine (German)". Monatsschrift für Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judentums 54 (1/2): 18–19. Retrieved 22 December 2015 – via JSTOR. (registration required (help)).
  3. ↑ Shahin, 2005, p. 332.
  4. ↑ The Onomastikon of Eusebius and the Madaba Map, By Leah Di Segni. First published in: The Madaba Map Centenary, Jerusalem, 1999, pp. 115-120.
  5. ↑ Itinerary of the Pilgrim of Bordeaux, translated by Arnold vander Nat, 2001.
  6. ↑ D. Zanecchia La Palestine d'aujourd'hui, ses sanctuaires, ses localités bibliques et historiiques (Paris, 1899), Vol. I, 445-446.
  7. ↑ Breen, A.E. "Bethany." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907.
  8. ↑ Dixon, 1866, pp. 214-9.
  9. 1 2 Capper, in Charlesworth, 2006, pp. 497-8.
  10. ↑ Cf. Capper, "John, Qumran and Virtuoso Religion" in Paul Anderson, Mary Coloe, and Tom Thatcher (eds.), John and Qumran (Leuven: Peeters, 2009)
  11. ↑ John 11:18.
  12. ↑ Cf. Dieter Lelgemann, 'Recovery of the Ancient System of Foot/Cubit/Stadion Length Units', http://www.fig.net/pub/athens/papers/wshs2/wshs2_1_lelgemann.pdf
  13. ↑ Matthias Delcor suggested that Essenes familiar with the Temple Scroll influenced the design of Herod's Temple, "Is the Temple Scroll a Source of the Herodian Temple?" in G.J. Brooke, Temple Scroll Studies (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1989), pp. 67-89
  14. ↑ Reta Halteman Finger, Of Widows and Meals: Communal Meals in the Book of Acts (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008) p. 164, cf. Brian J. Capper, "The Church as the New Covenant of Effective Economics", International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church 2, 1 (January 2002) pp. 83-102, see p. 95.
  15. ↑ Timothy J. M. Ling, The Judaean Poor and the Fourth Gospel (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2007), pp. 143-145, 170-171, 176-177.
  16. ↑ With Jesus in the City of Bethany, Rev. the Hon. Dr. Gordon Moyes AC MLC.
  17. ↑ Brian J. Capper, "The Church as the New Covenant of Effective Economics", International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church 2, 1 (January 2002) pp. 83-102. For further information, see also "The New Covenant Network in Southern Palestine at the Arrest of Jesus", in James R. Davila, The Dead Sea Scrolls as Background to postbiblical Judaism and early Christianity (Leiden: Brill, 2003), pp. 90-116, see especially pp. 108-116 on Bethany and pp. 98-108 on the social work of the Essene poorcare houses of Judaea in general.
  18. ↑ Strong's Concordance

Bibliography

  • Aburish, Said K.: Children of Bethany: The Story of a Palestinian Family, Indiana University Press 1988. ISBN 0-253-30676-0
  • Capper, Brian J., "Essene Community Houses and Jesus' Early Community" (2006), in James H. Charlesworth, ed., Jesus and Archaeology, pp. 474-502, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, ISBN 978-0-8028-4880-2 
  • Dixon, William Hepworth (1866), The Holy Land, Chapman and Hall 
  • Shahin, Mariam (2005), Palestine: A Guide, Interlink Books, p. 332, ISBN 1-56656-557-X 

External links

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Coordinates: 31°46′17.08″N 35°15′40.77″E / 31.7714111°N 35.2613250°E / 31.7714111; 35.2613250

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