A favorite Christmas carol of many people is Oh Little Town of Bethlehem. That carol would definitely be in my top five favorite Christmas carols. In this week’s Old Testament Scripture passage from the Lectionary, we find ourselves looking at a short passage from the prophet Micah, which speaks of that little town of Bethlehem. Let’s take a look at the significance of this prophecy, and also of the town itself.
Bethlehem was already an existing town before the Israelite conquest of the land of Canaan. It was near Bethlehem that Jacob’s favorite wife, Rachel, died while giving birth to her son Benjamin, and she was buried there (Genesis 35:16-20). Ruth and her mother-in-law, Naomi, settled in Bethlehem when they returned from Moab (Ruth 1:19). Ruth married a prominent citizen of the town, Boaz, and became the great-grandmother of King David, who also called Bethlehem his hometown. After King David, Bethlehem played no significant role in the history of the Kingdom of Judah, remaining a small, insignificant town on the outskirts of Jerusalem, about six miles south of the capital city.
There were prophecies that the Messiah would come from the line of King David, such as Psalm 132:11; II Samuel 7:12-13; and Jeremiah 23:5-6. Now, the prophet Micah tells us exactly where the Messiah would be born. There were many cities, towns, and villages in the land of Judah, many much more prominent than Bethlehem. When David left Bethlehem as a youth to serve King Saul, it seems he never took much notice of the town again. David’s first capital was in Hebron, and then he moved it to Jerusalem. Yet Bethlehem was the village that God had chosen to be where He wished the Lord Jesus to be born in, not Hebron or Jerusalem.
Centuries later, when God knew the time was set for Jesus to be born, He selected the young woman, Mary, to be the mother of the Messiah. However, she lived in the far northern town of Nazareth, approximately 80 miles north of Bethlehem. How would God get her and her new husband, Joseph to the little town of Bethlehem in time for her child to be born? In that day and age people just didn’t pack up and move across the country like people often do today. God had that worked out. He moved upon the great Caesar Augustus, ruler of the known world to order a census, requiring people to go to their ancestral home where their family originated from (Luke 2:1-5). Joseph, being in the family line of King David, would need to go to Bethlehem.
God arranged for this census to take place right when Mary was due to have her baby. Perhaps Mary could have stayed home, and Joseph could have gone by himself, leaving his wife in the trusted hands of other relatives. Perhaps he could have gotten permission to wait a few weeks until after the imminent birth of the baby. Without modern technology this census would have taken months, anyway. A few weeks delay wouldn’t have mattered much. However that would have made Jesus born in Nazareth, not Bethlehem. Both Mary and Joseph went when required for the census, and ended up in Bethlehem for the birth. God always ensures that His Word will come true.
The second half of verse 2 states that the Messiah was actually eternal, having existed in eternity past - “whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.” In His earthly body Jesus was born in Bethlehem on a certain day, in a certain year. However He has always existed with the Father from eternity past. When Jesus debated with the Pharisees, as He often did, He used the term “I AM” in reference to Himself, the term that God the Father had used in reference to Himself when speaking with Moses, signifying His pre-existence from all time (John 8:58).
Though we celebrate the birth of Jesus in a few days, it is important to know that He has existed from all time. What a comfort to know that the Almighty God, pre-existent from all time, came to earth to live and die for us! Also, it is also very reassuring to know that God will always ensure that every Word He has spoken will come true, even if from our eyes it looks like it can’t. When God said the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, He made sure that it would happen!
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