[This resource contains footage gathered during Church of the Resurrection tours of the Holy Land and used as sermon support and illustrations. These are made available for others to use for sermons, studies or other illustrative purposes. Please note that the soundtrack has not been removed from these clips, so you’ll want to mute the background noise and other sounds that are present.]

Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, is located six miles south of the Old City of Jerusalem, within the West Bank. King David was born and raised in Bethlehem. According to the Torah, Rachel, the favorite wife of Jacob, was buried on the outskirts.

This resource includes footage from the Church of the Nativity. Attested to as the site of Jesus’ birth from the early second century, it was originally constructed in 327 and rebuilt after a fire in 565. It is considered the oldest continuously used church building in the world.

The Shepherd’s Field is one of two rival locations for the exact site where the angel appeared to the shepherds on the night of Jesus’ birth. One site is run by the Greek Orthodox, the other by Franciscans.

Finally, Herod the Great built a fortress and palace – called the Herodion – between 23 and 15 BCE on a high hill south of Jerusalem and east of Bethlehem. It is the only structure Herod built to which he gave his own name, and his tomb was discovered there in 2007.