The city of David, which is called Bethlehem. After all the long ages which had passed, still the chief title to honor of the little upland village was that there the greatly loved king had been born.
Bethlehem ("house of bread") was built on the site of the old Ephrath—the Ephrath where Rachel died. Of the house and lineage of David. The position in life of Joseph the royally descended, simply a village carpenter, the equally humble state of Mary, also one of the great king's posterity, need excite no surprise when the vicissitudes of that royal house, and of the people over whom they ruled, are remembered.
The old kingdom of David had been dismembered, conquered, and devastated. The people had been led away into a captivity from which few, comparatively speaking, ever returned. All that the house of David had preserved were its bare family records.
Hillel, the famous scribe, who was once a hired porter, claimed to belong to the old princely house.