But you, Bethlehem…

“…out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel.”Micah 5:2 (NIV)

During the prophetic ministry of Isaiah, another Old Testament prophet named Micah made a significant prediction about the coming Messiah. In Micah 5:1-5, he indicated the specific place where this long-awaited child would be born: Bethlehem Ephrathah, among the clans of Judah.

Bethlehem’s fame came from being the hometown of King David (1 Samuel 17:12). So this prophecy was another connection of the future Messiah with the Davidic royal line, fulfilling the promises made about one of David’s descendants ascending an eternal throne.

However, during the ministry of Jesus, this particular detail caused many to question whether or not Jesus could actually be the promised Messiah. After all, everybody knew he was from Nazareth in the region of Galilee, not Bethlehem in Judea (John 7:40-42). Galilee was viewed with suspicion by the religious elite in Jerusalem because it was a more ethnically and religiously diverse area, not the pure Jewish heartland of Judea where the Messiah was expected to come from..

And yet, no detail had been overlooked in God’s sovereign plan. When the time came for Mary to give birth to Jesus, God moved the heart of the ruler of Rome, Caesar Augustus, to order a census that required everyone to return to their hometown to be registered. Joseph, being a descendant of David, had to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem in Judea (Luke 1:27).

So, the poor couple journeyed at the whim of a distant, foreign king. But through this seemingly random imperial decree, God's faithful promises were fulfilled - the Messiah was born in Bethlehem, the city of David, just as the prophet Micah had foretold centuries earlier.