Article December 19, 1964 Issue

WORDS OF CURRENT INTEREST

[The words in this issue are related to the Lesson-Sermon in the Christian Science Quarterly designated to be read in Christian Science churches on December 27, 1964.]

Bethlehem Of JudÆa (Matt. 2:1)

This Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, which lies some six miles to the south of Jerusalem, is evidently so described to distinguish it from another Bethlehem, mentioned only three times in the Bible (see Josh. 19:15; Judg. 12:8, 10). The latter town lay in Galilee, about six miles west of Nazareth, where much of Jesus' early life was spent. (Cf. Luke 2:39, 51, 52.)

Comfortable words (Zech. 1:13) (kum'fert-a-b'l—u as in up, e as in maker, a as in sofa). While today "comfortable" is widely used in the sense of giving or promising physical ease, pleasurable feeling, ample convenience or cheerful well-being, its primary sense is still that in which it was used in the present passage: affording solace, sustenance, delight; and so, comforting, consoling, extending consolation. Hence Smith translates, "comforting words."

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