作为基督徒的圣诞节36 篇文章

耶稣为何出生在伯利恒?弥迦的预言与大卫之城



  • 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).

Jesus was born in Bethlehem because it was David’s home town, and the ruler God promised was to come from there. The prophet Micah had named the town (Micah 5:2), and Luke tells how it came about: a Roman census sent Joseph there “because he was of the house and lineage of David” (Luke 2:4). Bethlehem was a shepherds’ town before it was a king’s. David was out with his father’s sheep there when the prophet Samuel came to anoint…

Continue reading with a subscription

Get unlimited access to all our premium content and exclusive features.

Enjoy unlimited access, cancel anytime.




回复

发表回复

了解 Christian Pure 的更多信息

立即订阅以继续阅读并访问完整档案。

继续阅读

Share to...