Bethany | |
|---|---|
| Arabic transcription(s) | |
| • Arabic | العيزرية |
| • Latin | al-'Eizariya (official) al-Izzariya (unofficial) |
 Bethany, along withMa'ale Adumim andAz-Za'ayyem | |
  Bethany Location of Bethany withinPalestine | |
| Coordinates:31°46′12″N35°15′52″E / 31.77000°N 35.26444°E /31.77000; 35.26444 | |
| Palestine grid | 174/130 |
| Country | Palestine |
| Governorate | Jerusalem |
| Government | |
| • Type | Municipality |
| • Head of Municipality | Khalil Abu Rish |
| Population (2017)[1] | |
• Total | 21,175 |
| Name meaning | "The place of Lazarus"[2] |
Bethany (Ancient Greek:Βηθανία,[3]Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܥܢܝܐBēṯ ʿAnyā), locally called inArabicAl-Eizariya oral-Aizariya (Arabic:العيزرية, "[place] ofLazarus"), is aPalestinian town in theJerusalem Governorate ofPalestine, borderingEast Jerusalem, in theWest Bank. The name al-Eizariya refers to theNew Testament figureLazarus of Bethany, who according to theGospel of John, wasraised from the dead by Jesus in the town.[4] The traditional site of the miracle, theTomb of Lazarus, in the city is a place ofpilgrimage.
The town is located on the southeastern slope of theMount of Olives, less than 2 miles (3.2 km) fromJerusalem. With a population of 22,928 inhabitants according to thePalestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, it is the second largest city in theQuds Governorate of theState of Palestine, after onlyEast Jerusalem, whichhas been annexed by and is completely under the control of Israel, although this annexation is unrecognized internationally.[5]
The name Al-Eizariya (Arabic:العيزرية) meansplace ofLazarus. In 1840, in hisBiblical Researches in Palestine,Edward Robinson wrote: "The Arab name of the village is el-'Aziriyeh, from el-'Azir, the Arabic form of Lazarus. The name "Bethany" is unknown among the native inhabitants. Yet, there is no reason to question the identity of the place" with the Biblical Bethany.[6]
The root meaning and origin of the nameBethany has been the subject of much scholarship and debate.William Hepworth Dixon devotes a multi-page footnote to it in hisThe Holy Land (1866), largely devoted to debunking the meaning "house of dates", which is attributed toJoseph Barber Lightfoot by way of a series of careless interpretative mistakes. Dixon quotesEmanuel Deutsch of theBritish Museum, who suggests a non-Hebrew root, a word transcribed inSyriac script whose meaning he gives as "House of Misery" or "Poor-house".[7]
This theory as to Bethany's etymology, which was eventually also adopted byGustaf Dalman in 1905, is not without challengers. For example, E. Nestle'sPhilologica Sacra (1896) suggests that Bethany is derived from the personal nameAnaiah, while others have suggested it is a shortened version ofAnaniah, a village ofBethel mentioned in theBook of Nehemiah (Nehemiah 11:32).[8] Since Greek can neither reproduce an /h/ sound nor the harsh /ħ/ sound (Hebrew Ḥet) 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 nearbyBethphage ("house of unripe figs"), is that its name comes fromBeit Hini, (Imperial Aramaic:בית היני / ביתייני / ביתוני / בית וני / בית ואני / בית אוני / ביתיוני / בית הינו),[9] possibly meaning "house of figs", which location Talmudic texts place near Jerusalem. Some translations suggest it is Bethany.[10]
Deutsch's thesis, however, seems to also be attested to byJerome. In his version ofEusebius'Onomasticon, the meaning of Bethany is defined asdomus adflictionis or "house of affliction". Brian J. Capper writes that this is aLatin derivation from theHebrewbeth 'ani, or more likely the Aramaicbeth '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.[11]
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 thebethania form used inGreek versions of the New Testament. Additionally, the Aramaicbeit 'anya (ܒܝܬ ܥܢܝܐ) is the form used for Bethany in Christian Palestinian and Syriac versions of the New Testament. Given this, and Jerome's familiarity withSemiticphilology 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.[11]
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.[12]
The site is believed to have been continuously inhabited from the 6th centuryBCE.[13] In 1923–1924, American archaeologistWilliam F. Albright identified the village withAnaniah (or 'Ananyab);[14] however,Edward Robinson and others have identified Ananiah with present-dayBeit Hanina.[15]
According to theCatholic Encyclopedia of 1913, there have been scholars who questioned whether al-Eizariya was the actual site of the ancient village of Bethany:
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; [Domenico] Zanecchia (La Palestine d'aujourd'hui, 1899, I, 445f.) 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 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."[16]
Bethany is recorded in theNew Testament as a small village inJudaea, the home of the siblingsMary of Bethany,Martha, andLazarus, as well as that ofSimon the Leper.Jesus is reported to have lodged there after hisentry into Jerusalem. The village is referenced in relation to six incidents:
In Luke 10:38-42,[29] 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).
TheCrusaders called al-Eizariya by its Biblical name Bethany. In 1138,Fulk, King of Jerusalem andMelisende, Queen of Jerusalem, purchased the village from theLatin Patriarch of Jerusalem in exchange for land nearHebron. The queen founded a largeBenedictineabbey dedicated toMary of Bethany andMartha near the Tomb of Lazarus. Melisende's sisterIoveta, thenceforward "of Bethany," was one of the firstabbesses. Melisende died there in 1163; her stepdaughter,Sibylla of Anjou, also died there in 1165. Melisende's granddaughterSibylla, also later Queen of Jerusalem, was raised in the abbey. After thefall of Jerusalem in 1187, the nuns of the convent went into exile. The village seems to have been abandoned thereafter, though a visitor in 1347 mentionedGreek Orthodox monks attending the tomb chapel.[30]
Yaqut al-Hamawi (d. 1229) described it as "A village near Jerusalem. There is here the tomb of Al Azar (Lazarus), whom Isa (Jesus) brought to life from being dead."[31]
In the 1480s, during theMamluk period,Felix Fabri visited and described different places in the village, including a "house and storehouse" ofMaria Magdalen, the house ofMartha, the church of thesepulchre of Lazarus, and the house ofSimon the Leper. He described the village as being "well-peopled", with the inhabitants beingsaracen.[32]
In 1517, the village was included in theOttoman Empire with the rest ofPalestine, and in the 1596tax-records it appeared as 'Ayzariyya, located in theNahiya of Jabal Quds of theLiwa ofAl-Quds. The population was 67 households, all Muslim. They paid taxes on wheat, barley, vineyards and fruit trees, occasional revenues, goats and beehives; a total of 14,000Akçe.[34]
The Ottomans built the al-Uzair Mosque[13] and named it in honor of Lazarus, who is revered by bothChristians andMuslims.[35] For 100 years after it was constructed, Christians were invited to worship in it, but the practice was frowned upon by European church authorities who preferred that adherents of both faiths remain separate.[13]
In 1838,Edward Robinson visited, and described it as a poor village of some 20 families.[36] It was also noted as a Muslim village, located in theel-Wadiyeh region, east of Jerusalem.[37]
In 1870, the French explorerVictor Guérin visited the village.[38]Socin found that al-Eizariya had a population of 113, with a total of 36 houses, from an official Ottoman village list from about the same year. The population count included men only.[39]Hartmann found that the village had 35 houses.[40]
In 1883, thePEF'sSurvey of Western Palestine described the village (namedEl Aziriyeh), as being on the side of a hill, with a ravine running down on the east side of it. The houses were built of stone. The village was dominated by the remains of a Crusader building. A mosque with a white dome was built over what was traditionally the tomb of Lazaruz. A second small mosque, dedicated to a Sheik Ahmed, was located to the south of the village.[41]
Around 1890, Khalil Aburish, whose ancestors had officially been designated "guardians of the holy resting place of Lazarus", began promoting al-Eizariya as a tourist or pilgrimage destination.[42]
In 1896 the population ofEl-'azarije was estimated to be about 315 persons.[43]
In the early 20th century, visitors counted 40 family dwellings in the village.[13] In 1917, it had about 400 residents.[44]
In the1922 census of Palestine conducted by theBritish Mandate authorities, the village had a population of 506Muslims and 9 Christians,[45] where 2 of the Christians were Orthodox, and 7 Roman Catholics.[46] In the1931 census of Palestine this had increased to 726 persons, 715 Muslims and 11 Christians, in 152 houses. The number included members of a Greek Convent.[47]
In the1945 statistics, the population was 1,060; 1,040 Muslims and 20 Christians,[48] while the total land area was 11,179dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[49] Of this, 43 were allocated for plantations and irrigable land, 3,359 for cereals,[50] while 102 dunams were classified as built-up (urban) areas.[51]
During the1948 Arab–Israeli War, and through the years 1948–1967, the site wascontrolled by Jordan.[52]
In 1961, the population of the area was 3,308.[53]
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Since theSix-Day War in 1967, Bethany has beenoccupied by Israel, and lands to the east of the village were declared a closed military zone, cutting farmers off from the lentils and wheat crops they cultivated on the hilltops whereMaaleh Adumim was later established.[54][55]
Today, the town is overcrowded due to rapid population growth and a lack of town planning.[13] Much of the agricultural land that produced figs, almonds, olives and carob has been confiscated or cut down by Israeli authorities, or has been absorbed into the expanding built-up area of Al-Eizariya.
After the1995 accords, 87.3% of Al-Eizariya land was classified asArea C and the remaining 12.7% asArea B. Israel has confiscated land from Al-Eizariya in order to build twoIsraeli settlements:
Many of the original inhabitants now live inJordan, theUnited States, and theArab states of the Persian Gulf.[13] Real estate speculation and the opening of many bank branches briefly accompanied expectations that thePalestinian Authority would set up its seat of government inEast Jerusalem.[13] In 2000, about a quarter of the population, then 16,000, held Israeli ID cards.[58]
In 2004, theIsraeli West Bank barrier was built across Bethany's main road, curtailing the commerce in the strip of shops along the road, which drew both Arab and Jewish customers.[59]
Archaeological excavations between 1949 and 1953, directed by Father Sylvester J. Saller for theFranciscans of the Holy Land, revealed details of the previous Christian places of worship erected near the tomb.[60][61] Four superimposed churches were discovered to the east of Lazarus's tomb, the earliest dated to the 4th or 5th century. Rock-cut tombs and the remains of houses, wine-presses, cisterns and silos were also unearthed. Pottery finds were dated to the Persian and Hellenistic periods.[62] There are ongoing excavations at a site just beyond the House of Martha and Mary.[13]
The Tomb of Lazarus in Bethany is a traditionalpilgrimage destination. The tomb is the purported site of the miracle recorded in theGospel of John in whichJesus raisesLazarus of Bethany from the dead. The site, sacred to bothChristians andMuslims, has been identified as the tomb of the gospel account since at least the 3rd century CE. As theCatholic Encyclopedia of 1913 states, however, "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 [particular] cave as the tomb of Lazarus is merely possible; it has no strong intrinsic or extrinsic authority."[16]
The tomb has been identified as the tomb of the gospel account since at least the 4th century AD. Both the historianEusebius of Caesarea[63] (c. 330) and theItinerarium Burdigalense[64] (c. 333) mention the Tomb of Lazarus in this location. Several Christianchurches have existed at the site over the centuries. The first mention of a church is in the late 4th century, although Eusebius of Caesarea[65] and theBordeauxpilgrim mention the tomb. In 390,Jerome writes of a church dedicated to Saint Lazarus called theLazarium. This is repeated by the pilgrimEgeria around 384.[66] The present-day gardens contain the remnants of a mosaic floor from the 4th-century church.[13]
In 1143, the existing structure and lands were purchased byKing Fulk and QueenMelisende of Jerusalem and a largeBenedictine convent dedicated to Mary and Martha was built near the tomb of Lazarus. After thefall of Jerusalem in 1187, the convent was deserted and fell into ruin with only the tomb and barrel vaulting surviving. By 1384, a simplemosque had been built on the site.[67] In the 16th century, theOttomans built the larger al-Uzair Mosque to serve the town's (now Muslim) inhabitants and named it in honor of the town's patron saint, Lazarus of Bethany.[13] Since the 16th century, the site of the tomb has been occupied by the al-Uzair Mosque. The adjacentRoman Catholic Church of Saint Lazarus, built between 1952 and 1955 under the auspices of theFranciscan Order, stands upon the site of several much older ones. In 1965, aGreek Orthodox church was built just west of the tomb.
The entrance to the tomb today is via a flight of uneven rock-cut steps from the street. As it was described in 1896, there were twenty-four steps from the then-modern street level, leading to a square chamber serving as a place of prayer, from which more steps led to a lower chamber believed to be the tomb of Lazarus.[68] The same description applies today.[30][69]
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.[13]
The house ofSimon the Leper, which is known by locals as the Tower of Lazarus, is maintained by theGreek Orthodox Church.[13]
In 2014, a newmosque, the second largest in the wider-Jerusalem area, was opened, having been funded by the charitable foundation of namedSheikhKhalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of theUnited Arab Emirates.[70][71]
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 ofSimon 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 theTemple Scroll[where?] fromQumran, three places for the care of the sick, including one for lepers, are to be 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,[72] care for the sick there corresponded with the requirements of the Temple Scroll (the stadion being ideally 600 feet (180 m) or 400 cubits).[73] Whereas Bethphage is probably to be identified withAt-Tur, on the peak of the Mount of Olives with a magnificent view of Jerusalem, Bethany lay below to the southeast, out of view of theTemple 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 theEssenes, 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 ofHerod the Great (36–4 BC), whose favour towards the Essenes was noted byJosephus (Antiquities 15.10.5 [373–78]).[74]
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.[75] 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.[76]
It has also been suggested, based on the names found carved on thousands ofossuaries at the site, that Bethany in the time of Jesus was settled by people fromGalilee 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.[77] As Capper writes,
Galilean pilgrims avoided potential conflict withSamaritans by travelling south on the eastern side of theJordan. Bethany was the last station on their route to Jerusalem after crossing the river and taking the road throughJericho 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.[78]
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