English 
Chinese 
Dutch 
Arabic 
Spanish 
Portuguese 
Russian 
French 
Italian 
German 
Japanese 
Continue reading with a subscription
Get unlimited access to all our premium content and exclusive features.
Enjoy unlimited access, cancel anytime.
Summary
- Jesus was born in Bethlehem because it was King David’s home town and the prophet Micah had named it as the birthplace of Israel’s ruler: “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah … out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel” (Micah 5:2).
- Luke says a census ordered by Caesar Augustus took Joseph from Nazareth to Bethlehem “because he was of the house and lineage of David” (Luke 2:4).
- David was keeping his father’s sheep at Bethlehem when Samuel anointed him, and God’s word to him was “Thou shalt feed my people Israel” (2 Samuel 5:2); Matthew 2:6 joins that line to Micah’s prophecy.
- Micah prophesied in Isaiah’s time, in the days of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, in the eighth century before Christ.
- Jewish tradition also reads Micah 5:2 (5:1 in Hebrew Bibles) as a promise of the Messiah: the Aramaic Targum puts the word Messiah into the verse, and Rashi explains it as “the Messiah, son of David”.
- Bethlehem means “house of bread” in Hebrew, and Christians hear in the name a sign of Jesus, who called himself “the bread of God” that “giveth life unto the world” (John 6:33).
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture is quoted from the King James Version (BibleGateway, KJV): Micah 1:1, 4:10 and 5:2–4; 1 Samuel 16:1, 16:10–11 and 17:12; 2 Samuel 5:2 and 5:7; Ruth 1:22; Matthew 1:5–6 and 2:4–6; Luke 2:1, 2:3, 2:4 and 2:11; John 6:33, 7:41–42 and 10:3.
- United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Matthew, chapter 2, New American Bible, Revised Edition, with notes and cross-references.
- United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Isaiah, chapter 7, New American Bible, Revised Edition, with notes, for the dates of Ahaz’s reign.
- Rashi, commentary on Micah 5:1 and Isaiah 11:1, in The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg (Sefaria).
- Targum Jonathan on Micah 5:1, Aramaic text, Mikraot Gedolot edition (Sefaria).
- Joseph Jacobs, Morris Liber and M. Seligsohn, “Rashi (Solomon bar Isaac)”, and Crawford Howell Toy and Richard Gottheil, “Bible Translations”, Jewish Encyclopedia (1906).
- Strong’s Concordance and the Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon on Beth Lechem; Thayer’s Greek Lexicon on poimainō (Bible Hub).
- Pope Francis, Homily for the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord, Midnight Mass, 24 December 2018.
Leave a Reply