Why Bethlehem

Matthew 2:1-6, John 6: 32-35

 

          If you were going to make a statement, you would want to stage the announcement, wouldn’t you? You would want to have everyone’s attention. You would want to maybe splash some publicity around. You would want to pick an appropriate place to make the announcement, a place where you could get the most bang for your buck. Barak Obama announced his run for the Presidency in Springfield, Illinois, the place where he started his first job, the place where Lincoln ran for president. And Springfield is more or less in the center of the United States. Obama wanted a place of significance to make his announce-ment. It would give him the most exposure and the biggest audience.

          Presidents and other heads of state make many announcements from their respective seats of government. If they choose another place, it usually is tied to something important to the message they want to convey. They want the place to speak for them in a way that does more than mere words. For instance, Japan’s surrender ending World War II was memorialized on the USS Missouri (Mighty Mo), a highly decorated battleship that still sits at rest today in Pearl Harbor.

          Why would we expect anything else from God? Wouldn’t we expect God to find a suitable venue for such a grand announcement as the Incarnation, the birth of the Son of God?

Of course! It is the greatest gift of all time. Surely the presentation of such a gift should be met with place and circumstance befitting such an entrance!

          Well, then—why Bethlehem? An exploration into this question invites us to journey into the very heart of God—into his promises, into his character—into the love and care and meticulous attention to detail that is there for us to mine. Why Bethlehem? Let’s take a closer look.

          The first biblical mention of Bethlehem comes in Genesis 47. Jacob is old and near death. He is still in Egypt and calls for Joseph to come to him to receive his blessing. He is reminiscing about his life. He recalls the death of his wife Rachel, Joseph’s mother, on their return from Mesopotamia. She was buried near Bethlehem. Even today, her tomb stands at the entrance to Bethlehem.

          So Bethlehem is mentioned early in Scripture. Later, it became famous as the city where King David was born and also where he was crowned king. But in spite of such recognition, Bethlehem was just a suburb of Jerusalem, lying about six miles southwest of that great city. Although it occasionally swelled a bit during religious festivals or occasional censuses, it was always little more than a village. Estimates put its population at the time of Jesus’ birth at less than a thousand, about the size of Jefferson, hardly a place befitting the arrival of a king. And yet, the birth of our Savior in tiny Bethlehem is no accident. Nothing is accidental with God.

          Why Bethlehem? For one thing, it was prophesied. Look at what Matthew says. In chapter 2, he quotes portions of Micah and 2 Samuel, both from the fifth chapter and the second verse. Matthew writes this:

 And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
 are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
 for from you shall come a ruler
 who will shepherd my people Israel.     Matt. 2:6

 

Seven hundred fifty years before the birth of Jesus, Micah is prophesying the emergence of a shepherd-king, a new David, who will gather and deliver a remnant of God’s people. It’s funny and curious the way the usually very factual Matthew seems to disremember the second line of his quote from Micah. Where Micah says that Bethlehem is too little to be among the clans of Judah, Matthew quotes it as “by no means least among Judah’s rulers.” A different slant. Of course, Matthew is telling the story of Jesus, of victory, and he takes a little poetic license. He also borrows a line from 2 Samuel about the one who will shepherd my people Israel. So Matthew is reminding us that the coming of the Messiah to Bethlehem was prophesied long before it came to pass. God is keeping his promise.

          There is also the star. It is seen by the Magi, wise men from the East, wherever that is. It is specific enough that its genesis is Persian, and vague enough that twenty or more countries claim to be the country of origin for them. There is even prophesy about the star. The prophet Balaam, also called a Magi, predicting a ruler who will destroy Israel’s enemies, says this:

I see him, but not now;
I behold him, but not near:
a star shall come out of Jacob,
and a scepter shall rise out of Israel     Num.24:17

 

So the star is bright enough to catch the attention of Persian astrologers, and apparently it seems to be moving enough for them to follow it. Yet it is specific enough to seem to hover over the very stable where the Incarnation is taking place, so specific as to point the shepherds to the very manger where the new infant king  lies.

          Then, there is the matter of the visit of foreign dignitaries. Magi is one of those words. It can mean astrologers, or wise men, or princes, or even kings. We cannot say which with any accuracy, but we know that these Magi were received at court by King Herod. We know they bore expensive gifts for the Christ child. It is yet another sign that this little baby is already famous and that Bethlehem is the scriptural “X” that marks the spot.

            There is also Herod’s reaction. All of a sudden, the threat of a rival is legitimized by the arrival of these foreign dignitaries. Some scriptural fact checking by his scribes lets him know that the little suburb of Bethlehem, two miles closer to him in Jerusalem than our neighbors in Pageland are to us, has been deep selected by the prophets of old to usher in this new kingdom. Herod takes the news so seriously that when he can’t find the child, he orders the execution of all the boys in the region under the age of two.

            Are you beginning to get the picture? God had a plan for Bethlehem. Bethlehem had the pedigree as the City of David. Bethlehem had been handpicked and the announcement had gone out through the prophet Micah hundreds of years before the event. And Bethlehem also had no other claim to fame. Nothing of note had happened there for centuries. It was just the kind of place where God always shows up. He does that to places just like he does it to people. None of us are qualified to bear the news. None of us are qualified to be the messengers. So God qualifies us. He did the same thing to Bethlehem.

          The word Bethlehem is a compound word, two words put together. Beth means house, like Beth-el, which means house of God. Lehem, or lechem, means bread. So Bethlehem means house of bread. That doesn’t sound so important until you begin to scratch off another layer or so. For instance, in Jewish prayers, the word lechem is used to represent food and sustenance. It’s not just bread, but all that bread means to a hungry people. Bread is the basic necessity. How are prisoners rationed? On bread and water. They can survive with those basic necessities. Bread is that which we most need, that which sustains us, our most basic necessity.

          Put the word Beth with lehem and you have house of bread. What’s the most important thing in your life? Whatever it is, from food to shelter to health to employment, all of it is symbolized by this thing we call bread. So to call a place the house of bread is to call it the place where everything we need, everything we have, is met. Why Bethlehem? Because…it gives us everything we need.

          Why Bethlehem? In the sixth chapter of John’s gospel, Jesus has just fed the five thousand and they are back the next day for more. They want to be nourished. Jesus gives them something bigger than bread for the day. Listen to his words:

          Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you,

         it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven,

         but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.  

        For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven

        and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us

        this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of        

        life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever     

        believes in me shall never thirst.     John 6: 32-35

 

“I am the bread of life.” This is Jesus’ promise to us. We will never have to worry about missing out on anything important. Jesus is all we need. He is the sustenance. He is our most basic necessity. When we walk with Jesus, we will want for nothing that really matters.

          Why Bethlehem? Because it was the house of life for him who was the bread of life. God planned it from the beginning. He connected the dots from generation to generation throughout eternity to come to that village and that stable and that manger under that star on that night. He came down to us. He came down into our lives.

        Remember, nothing is accidental with God. It could never have been anywhere else, could it? The house of life---for the bread of life.[1] God gave us all the signs. Prophets and a star and worshippers and even a house of bread—of life.

On this Christmas Eve, don’t you want to make sure that your house has the right kind of bread? Put the bread of life in the center of your house. He is Emmanuel—God with us.

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     [1] Jonathan Cahn, The Book of Mysteries, FrontLine, Lake Mary, FL., 1982, Day 34.