Luke says that Mary went to visit her relative Elizabeth in “a city of Judah” in “the hill country.” Elizabeth was pregnant with John the Baptist, and the Gospel famously records that when Mary greeted Elizabeth, the “babe leaped in her womb” (Luke 1:41).
There are several traditional sites of John the Baptist’s hometown. From the Gospel accounts, we know it should be in the region of Judea, the center of which was Jerusalem. We also know it was in the “hill country” which is associated with the hilly region of Judea between the coastal plain and the wilderness. Thus, the birthplace of John the Baptist should be somewhere near Jerusalem, probably west of it, in the hills around the city.1 A fairly late (seventh century) tradition places Elizabeth’s house at the foot of the Mt. of Olives. Another places it along the top of the ridge of the Mt. of Olives.
Theodosius stated that it was five miles from Jerusalem to the house of Elizabeth. Ain Karim (“Spring of the Vineyard”) is probably the best candidate for John the Baptist’s birthplace, since it is almost exactly five miles from Jerusalem, unlike other traditional sites. Excavations near the historic church of Saint John the Baptist uncovered burial chambers, wine presses, and chapels with mosaic floors. Excavators also found coins and pottery from the Herodian period, proving the village was inhabited during the New Testament period. Ain Karim has the oldest tradition as the birthplace of John the Baptist, going back at least as far as the fourth century. Several churches and chapels were constructed on the foundations of Byzantine-era buildings.
Jack Finegan, The Archaeology of the New Testament: The Life of Jesus and the Beginning of the Early Church, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992). ↩︎
1Agrippa said to Paul, “You may speak for yourself.”
Then Paul stretched out his hand, and made his defense. 2“I think myself happy, King Agrippa, that I am to make my defense before you today concerning all the things that I am accused by the Jews, 3especially because you are expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews. Therefore I beg you to hear me patiently.
4“Indeed, all the Jews know my way of life from my youth up, which was from the beginning among my own nation and at Jerusalem; 5having known me from the first, if they are willing to testify, that after the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee. 6Now I stand here to be judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers, 7which our twelve tribes, earnestly serving night and day, hope to attain. Concerning this hope I am accused by the Jews, King Agrippa! 8Why is it judged incredible with you if God does raise the dead?
9“I myself most certainly thought that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10I also did this in Jerusalem. I both shut up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death I gave my vote against them. 11Punishing them often in all the synagogues, I tried to make them blaspheme. Being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities.
12“Whereupon as I traveled to Damascus with the authority and commission from the chief priests, 13at noon, O king, I saw on the way a light from the sky, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who traveled with me. 14When we had all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’
15“I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’
“He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 16But arise, and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose: to appoint you a servant and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will reveal to you; 17delivering you from the people and from the Gentiles, to whom I send you, 18to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
19“Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, 20but declared first to them of Damascus, at Jerusalem, and throughout all the country of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance. 21For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. 22Having therefore obtained the help that is from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would happen, 23how the Christ must suffer, and how, by the resurrection of the dead, he would be first to proclaim light both to these people and to the Gentiles.”
24As he thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are crazy! Your great learning is driving you insane!”
25But he said, “I am not crazy, most excellent Festus, but boldly declare words of truth and reasonableness. 26For the king knows of these things, to whom also I speak freely. For I am persuaded that none of these things is hidden from him, for this has not been done in a corner. 27King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.”
28Agrippa said to Paul, “With a little persuasion are you trying to make me a Christian?”
29Paul said, “I pray to God, that whether with little or with much, not only you, but also all that hear me today, might become such as I am, except for these bonds.”
30The king rose up with the governor and Bernice, and those who sat with them. 31When they had withdrawn, they spoke to one another, saying, “This man does nothing worthy of death or of bonds.” 32Agrippa said to Festus, “This man might have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”