Living Faith

Biblical sites in the Holy Land: It’s less about pinpointing the location and more about feeling the spirit of the event

Biblical sites can provide ‘spiritual echoes’ and ‘visual clues’ — not only to those touring the sites but believers from half a world way

By Scott Taylor April 28, 2023 2 p.m. EDT

Living Faith

Biblical sites in the Holy Land: It’s less about pinpointing the location and more about feeling the spirit of the event

Biblical sites can provide ‘spiritual echoes’ and ‘visual clues’ — not only to those touring the sites but believers from half a world way

By Scott Taylor April 28, 2023 2 p.m. EDT

JERUSALEM — When it comes to pinpointing sacred biblical sites in the Holy Land and beyond, sometimes the most certain thing about the historical location is the uncertainty.

Was the baby Jesus born in Bethlehem in a cave — at the present-day spot of the 14-point silver star inlaid in a marble floor of a grotto underneath the Church of the Nativity? Or perhaps elsewhere in the system of grottos that extend under the adjacent Chapel of Saint Catherine? Or somewhere else in or around Bethlehem, the small village that has since grown to a city of more than 30,000?

Was the Savior crucified and then entombed at the two locations enveloped by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, with the tomb cut away over the centuries to be encased by a shrine called the Aedicule? Or might the Crucifixion and burial have taken place at or near Skull Hill and the Garden Tomb, respectively, both outside the walls of the Old City?

And when individuals want to “walk where Jesus walked” while traversing the walkways of old Jerusalem, do they understand that the city has been built among layers of stone, soil and debris from changing and conquering peoples and periods — Roman, Byzantine, Crusader and Ottoman, just to name a few? With the Old City’s “layers” going 20 to 30 feet deep in some locations, one might instead “walk over where Jesus walked.”

Actually, exact Old and New Testament locations shouldn’t really matter — on so many levels. What matters — as expressed recently by an Apostle, a scholar and Latter-day Saints living or studying in the Holy Land — is that the spirit and importance of the events that took place can be felt and confirmed, whether one is on-site, nearby or halfway around the world.

Making a site sacred

Eric Huntsman, academic director at Brigham Young University’s Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies, acknowledges the ongoing discussions and debates between historians and archaeologists about identifying sites with biblical significance.

“Although we can’t always identify precisely where an event occurred, first we’re in the vicinity of it — and so there is what I often call a ‘spiritual echo’ of these great events that happened,” Huntsman said. “But second, whatever site we are visiting can serve as a ‘visual cue.’”

He points to the Garden Tomb as a prime example, commenting on the way it is kept, with plants and trees and peacefulness in the middle of busy Jerusalem. “It’s easy for us to re-create in our mind’s eye what it was like for Mary Magdalene that first Easter morning,” he said.

When talking about sacred sites, Huntsman also likes to emphasize that — regardless of where a biblical events actually happened — the faith of the worshippers coming to commemorate important events has created a sacredness of its own over the centuries.

“For almost 2,000 years, Christian pilgrims have been coming to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, sometimes on their knees, and their faith has made that site sacred,” he said.

Meanwhile, many evangelical Protestants and Latter-day Saints are drawn to the Garden Tomb, whether that is the actual tomb or not, he added. “The experiences we have there as we read the scriptures, as we sing, as we pray and as we remember the Resurrection of our Lord — that has made it a sacred space as well.”

Building on locations

Some of the earliest efforts to identify biblical locations date back to the early fourth century, when Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine the Great, made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

Aided by word-of-mouth accounts, Helena started identifying different locations of New Testament events, the start of what has become the labeling of “traditional” sites, with many being adorned by churches and basilicas, as in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Church of the Nativity.

From there, the Holy Land became the destination of the faithful in pilgrimages and crusades, and the hopeful in excavations and commercial development.

Ruins of meridian-of-time fishing villages along the Sea of Galilee today can be found next to Byzantine cathedrals or modern-day guesthouses. Small biblical villages — such as Nazareth, of several hundred residents — have expanded to bustling cities of tens of thousands of people today.

Over hundreds and even thousands of years, the combination of early pilgrims’ accounts, ancient literary sources, ongoing archaeology and modern-day scholarly work have continued to both call attention to longtime traditional sites and bring light on additional locations.

The Uchtdorfs’ visit

Huntsman and his wife, Elaine Huntsman, accompanied Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and his wife, Sister Harriet Uchtdorf, on their assignment to the Holy Land. The Apostle and Sister Uchtdorf spoke at a devotional for students at the BYU Jerusalem Center on Friday evening, April 21. On Saturday morning, April 22, Elder Uchtdorf — accompanied by Elder Ronald Bäck, an Area Seventy in the Middle East — presided and taught at the Jerusalem District conference.

Elder Uchtdorf in Jerusalem meetings: ‘I am a disciple of Jesus Christ’

Prior to these meetings, they visited the area around the Sea of Galilee.

It isn’t the first time Elder and Sister Uchtdorf have visited Israel. He arrived first in the Holy Land in 1966 as a young airline pilot for Lufthansa, then he and his wife took their children there several times. More recently, they have visited on Church assignment with his call as a general authority, the last time was 10 years ago, when he was a counselor in the First Presidency.

The day before the devotional, the Uchtdorfs and Huntsmans spent time at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Western Wall. The afternoon after the district conference, the small group visited the Garden Tomb and the traditional site of the Garden of Gethsemane, across the Kidron Valley and below the Temple Mount.

From there, they drove past not one but two compounds that differing denominations have designated as “traditional sites” for the hills where shepherds watched their flocks on the night of Christ’s birth — with both walled areas having been swallowed up by the expanding city of Bethlehem.

The small group continued on to a more open and undeveloped hillside. They paused on the hillside scattered with rocks, olive trees, bushes and shrubs. Thinking of the shepherds on that sacred night, the Apostle reminded the group again that one doesn’t have to be at the exact location to be in the moment of the biblical event and enjoy a confirming witness of the Spirit.

His mind went back to watching the Church’s annual “Savior of the World” Christmastime production in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City. “Every year we go there and watch it as a family, and I have to hold back tears,” he later said, adding that he’s especially touched by the scenes of the shepherds being told of the Savior’s birth and then bearing witness.

“You can listen to your inner heart to get the same kind of spirit and feeling, whether I’m here or sitting at the Conference Center.”

Spiritual confirmation can happen elsewhere

Elder Uchtdorf is quick to add that he and his family enjoy visiting Jerusalem and the Holy Land, as well as Church history sites in the United States and elsewhere. But the confirmations and teachings from the Spirit about biblical events and gospel truths can be felt anywhere — and at any time.

“The important thing is that the Spirit can continue on — wherever we are, we can get the same feeling and even more,” he said. “That is a promise by the Savior, that He will make much more of these experiences as we strive to have the companionship of the Holy Ghost.”

He stepped back to take a more expanded view, considering the global Church and universal gospel — and the millions of Latter-day Saints and billions of people worldwide who will never set foot in the Holy Land. The witness of the Savior — His mission, His ministry, His Atonement and His restored gospel — is available to anyone at any place.

“It doesn’t really matter where we are, as long as we embrace the scriptures and pray and seek the answers we’re looking for. It is more than to just have the feeling as if the Savior is with us. It’s not ‘as if’; He is with us, because of the Holy Ghost.”

So a Latter-day Saint in India, Ireland or Idaho doesn’t have to be in the Holy Land to have a strong, confirming faith in and testimony of biblical figures, truths and events, just like a Church member in Italy, Indonesia or Iowa can have the same for latter-day Church history locations in North America.

“We can feel the the presence of the Savior and the determination of the apostles,” Elder Uchtdorf said, “and we can be there with them. … We can have a firm testimony that, ‘Wow, for the rest of my life, I will be a disciple of Christ.’”

Latter-day Saints’ perspectives

Many Latter-day Saints living in or studying in Israel have captured that perspective — the spirit of the location rather than the preciseness of the location and the fact that one doesn’t need to be at the location or visit it to be blessed by the events that took place there.

Andrea Landon, a young Latter-day Saint mother living in Tel Aviv, Israel, explained how she sees Holy Land sites in a different light as she spoke during the Jerusalem District conference.

“The locations today of where these miracles occurred — to be honest — has not been spectacular to my eyes, but what has been is what my eyes can see in Jesus Christ,” she said. “I know that as we intentionally and diligently seek after Him, our knowledge of Him will grow, our relationship with Him will become stronger, and He will help us to become who He needs us to be.”

Brandon Swann, of Suva, Fiji, who is volunteering at a kibbutz in northern Israel, said Elder Uchtdorf’s district conference message about being in the Holy Land touched him in a new way. “I think the biggest thing I learned is that as he talked about all these places — and with his presence — you could feel the Spirit. But he said you don’t have to be here to feel that same Spirit — you can feel it regardless of wherever you are. I thought that was beautiful.”

And Collin Farley, of Bountiful, Utah, has joined other BYU Jerusalem Center students studying the Holy Land and visiting sites and locations throughout the Holy City and across Israel.

“All semester while being here in the Holy Land, we’ve talked about how Jesus walked here or this is where Jesus was,” he said. “It doesn’t matter where He was, rather it matters what He did for us. It doesn’t really matter exactly where at certain sites He did something. What is important is that He did those things, that He lives and that He still helps us today.”