“But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you shall come a Ruler
who will shepherd My people Israel.”
(Matt 2:6)
In John 7:42 the crowd, anxious to identify the Messiah, ask – “Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?” Verse 43 follows:“So there was a division among the people because of Him.” The obscure little town of Bethlehem was obviously an important prophetic marker linked to the Messiah.
The history of Bethlehem, the house of bread, is a wonderful history which shows us how God made historical and geographical preparations for his Bread of Life (John 6:33, 35, 48, 51 & 58) to enter the world in the fullness of time (Gal 4:4). As Micah 5:2 prophesies, this town’s gates “are from of old, from everlasting”. Bethlehem’s northern border is demarcated as the place where Rachel, the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, died and was buried (Gen 35:16-20; 48:7) shortly after the birth of Israel’s last son, Benjamin. His mother wanted to name him Ben-oni, ‘son of my sorrow’, but his father eventually named him Ben-jamin, ‘son of the right hand’. In this place, Bethlehem, Jesus, the son wrapped in swaddling cloths, had already become part of the prophetic history which did not only make Him “man of sorrows” (Isa 53:3), but especially “son of the right hand” (Mark 16:19; Heb 10:12; Rev 1:17; Ps 80:17; 89:21; Acts 5:31)!
The eastern border of Bethlehem is demarcated as the place where the story of Ruth is set. Those are the fields she walked in search of grain, and it is there where Boas, a prototype of the Messiah, had redeemed the homeless woman (Ruth 4:6) who would later become part of the bloodline of the Messiah (Matt 1:5).
Like Ruth, Mary was similarly homeless in Bethlehem. Note how the people prophesy in the gates of Bethlehem, immediately comparing Rachel and Ruth, prophesying about Mary whose arrival they are awaiting, these woman “who built the house of Israel” – “And all the people who were at the gate, and the elders, said, ‘We are witnesses. The LORD make the woman who is coming to your house like Rachel and Leah … and may you prosper in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. May your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring which the LORD will give you from this young woman.’” (Ruth 4:11-12). Indeed Jesus, like Perez, illustrated the spirit of the one who breaks through (see Manna 253).
Long before Herod had stipulated that all boys of two years and younger had to be killed (Matt 2:17-18) the mothers had already wept in this very place: “A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.” (Jer 31:15).
Jesus came back here to reclaim his land and the land of all the sons who were sacrificed (verse 17).
- Sela: Read and think about Ps 132 in the light of this teaching.
- Read: 2 Chr 22; Job 20; Isa 2
- Memorise: Isa 2:2-4
- For a deeper understanding: Read Robert Farrar Capon’s The mystery of Christ.
