Beautiful Bethlehem!

Beautiful Bethlehem!  Matthew 2.1-2     podcast:

What was it about Bethlehem?  Bethlehem must hold a special place in the heart of God.  Patriarch Jacob buried his precious wife Rachel, just outside Bethlehem,¹ which is the first time we know of the old city. 

This summer, I taught a Bible study about Ruth, and the story seemed to begin and end in Bethlehem².  Bet-Lehem is the Hebrew name of the old town, meaning House of Bread, yet there was a famine in the land, so husband, wife and two sons leave and travel to Moab.  Nothing but bad things happen there except for the wife meeting the young Moabitess, Ruth who becomes her daughter-in-law.  Ruth pledges her troth to stay with and care for her mother-in-law, Naomi, thereby traveling back with her to Bethlehem.  Back in Bethlehem, Ruth meets Boaz; both are in the genealogy of our Lord, depicted in Matthew One.  Remember:  Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David the king.

David grew up in Bethlehem, and it was there that Samuel the prophet anointed him the second king of Israel.³ Was Bethlehem truly the historic city the Bible purports it to be?  In 2012, archaeologists in Jerusalem unearthed proof that indeed the city existed before the little town became so loved as the birthplace of Jesus Christ.  It seems “a clay seal was unearthed near the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem and imprinted with three lines of ancient Hebrew script that include the word "Bethlehem". ‘The seal apparently had been placed on a tax shipment of silver or agricultural produce sent from Bethlehem to the King of Judah in nearby Jerusalem in the 8th or 7th century BC.’⁴  Archaeology once again supporting people or places mentioned in Scripture. 

When walking under the well-developed branching of centuries-old trees, I have often looked up and thought, ‘Oh, if only these trees could talk - what they must have witnessed!’  Well, think of Bethlehem, with its long history—believed to be about 3500 years old…wow!  And the Jewish people knew what the prophet Micah had said of the city—that their deliverer would come from her: “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times.”⁵

Matthew writes, “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” Chapter two, verses one and two

‘But, but,’ you ask, how and why was Jesus born in Bethlehem?’⁶  It was some 80 miles from the town of Joseph and Mary!  But Joseph had to register for the census, so they had to travel, though Mary was about to deliver the Christ child, to Bethlehem, city of David. And sure enough, Mary gave birth outside, without the benefit of her mother tending to her needs, without her closest female friends and relatives encouraging her and mopping her brow.  But she was where she was meant to be:  Bethlehem.

From far away—possibly Persia (Iran) or Babylonia (Iraq), something shown in the night sky that prompted the magi to go and search for the Messiah.  Apparently, the magi were sort of like astrologers, respected for their holy, philosophical wisdom, who studied the sky to predict what was or was about to take place.  Something they saw in the heavenlies prompted them to search out Jesus, that they might pay him honor and worship him.

Their first stop was the palace of Herod in Jerusalem, about six miles north, to inquire of him.  Herod, of course, perceived their inquiry as a personal threat, and began his own paranoid hunt for this ‘king’ about whom they asked.  In due course, they were directed to Bethlehem.

Love it.  Now we have the roots of a city, tracing its way through history, in and out of years and people, to become the birthplace of our Messiah.  Bethlehem.  God has always been a planner, hasn’t he? 

1 – Genesis 35.19

2 – Ruth 1.1; Ruth 1.19; Ruth 2.4

3 – 1 Samuel 16.1-13

4 – Huffington Post, May 23, 2012

5 – Micah 5.2

6 – Luke 2.1-16