Two Days to Bethlehem

Jericho would have been a layover on the way to Jerusalem, a security check point.  Jerusalem was the capital, full of intrigue, hotbed of headaches for the Roman overlords.  How much more so with people on the move to respond to this census?  Jerusalem is the gateway to Bethlehem.

The reason they came down the Jordan Valley was due to the hills and valleys that marked the lands between the Jezreel Valley and Jerusalem.  But Jerusalem sits at the northern edge of a long ridge that runs south through the land of Judah into the wilderness beyond.  It is where you crossed over to get to the coastal highways that led on to Egypt and Africa. 

Now it is uphill, with a pregnant wife, forced onto the donkey as the climb would be too taxing, stomp, stomp, stomp.  They were probably part of a convoy now, a group of travelers vetted by the authorities and cleared to head up the ridge. 

They would have seen the City rising up before them for almost the entire trip.  It is about seventeen miles, approximately the distance from exits 10 to 8 on the NJ Turnpike.  The temple is up at Jerusalem, built on top of the ridge to be seen from afar.  In the entire bible, it always talks about going up to Jerusalem, because that was the only way there.

Seventeen miles, uphill, in a crowd, just trying to get there, just trying to arrive.  Once at Jerusalem, it is about 5 miles south to Bethlehem, a couple of hours walk.  You could do it all in one day, in normal times.  But these times were not normal.