Back to Bethlehem
Study Guide, December 8, 2024
Pastor Clay Olsen
How many have been to Bethlehem? Today, Bethlehem is the home to over 27,000 residents. Those who live in Bethlehem are considered citizens of Palestine. Two million tourists provide 65% of the town’s income. Christians from all over the world travel to Bethlehem to see and experience the birthplace of Jesus Christ. When we visited Bethlehem, we were able to go into the Church of the Nativity, which was built by Constantine around 330 AD. The door to the Church is much smaller than it was originally, as we were told that marauders on horseback used to ride into the Church and damage things. That’s the same reason the doors on the Chapel are smaller than they used to be…there’s always a few that ruin things, you know? Tradition states that a cave under the church is the place of Jesus’ birth. And there is a Latin inscription over it that says, “Hic De Virgine Maria Jesus Christus Natus Est”…‘Here Jesus Christ was born of the virgin Mary.’
But Bethlehem is amazing in many ways. The most amazing, of course, is that it’s the birthplace of our Lord Jesus. But also, Bethlehem has a fascinating history. And since I knew that you would want to know…here we go.
One of the other fascinating things when you are touring around Bethlehem is while you are filled with the wonder of Jesus’ birth occurring right there, the tour guide then points out a different tomb near the entrance of the city and says something like, “And here is the traditional burial site of Jacob’s wife Rachel, who died in childbirth with Benjamin.” Really?! Think about it: You are already back in time 2,000 years thinking about the birth of Jesus, and now you’re transported back another 1,400 years to Genesis with Jacob and Rachel! And we think the town of Jamestown, Virginia, is an old town!
But just before Jacob’s own death, as he was blessing his children, he recounts to them this burial of Rachel in Ephrath. Gen 48:7- “Long ago, as I was returning from Paddan-aram, Rachel died in the land of Canaan. We were still on the way, some distance from Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). So with great sorrow I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath.” NLT Throughout much of the Bible, Ephrath, also Ephrathah, is a description for members of the Israelite tribe of Judah, as well as for the possible founders of Bethlehem. But again, we’re talking about a 3,400-year-old city!
But then, Bethlehem is also known for another famous group of people. Look at this. “In the days when the judges ruled in Israel, a severe famine came upon the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah left his home and went to live in the country of Moab, taking his wife and two sons with him. The man’s name was Elimelech, and his wife was Naomi. Their two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in the land of Judah. And when they reached Moab, they settled there.” Ruth 1:1-2 NLT Plus, we know the rest of the story… For when Naomi returns to Bethlehem, her daughter in law, Ruth, just happens…providentially that is…just happens to glean from the fields of a landowner named Boaz, who soon becomes Ruth’s Kinsman-Redeemer and Husband.
Now, do you happen to remember the name of Boaz and Ruth’s son? His name was Obed. And although you may not remember Obed’s name, you remember Obed’s grandson’s name…for his name was ‘David’…as in ‘King David!’ So now we’re up to around 1,000 B.C., as David’s family’s hometown was Bethlehem. Note this: 1 Sam 16:1- “Now the Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have selected a king for Myself among his sons.” NASU Also in1 Sam 17:12- “Now David was the son of a man named Jesse, an Ephrathite from Bethlehem in the land of Judah.” NLT
And as time goes by, even the town of Bethlehem itself, along with the name of ‘Ephrathah’, acquires an additional name. Remember what that was? ‘The City of David.’ What? When did Bethlehem become the “city of David”? That title had always been given to Jerusalem. Remember, after King David conquered the Jebusites, Jerusalem became the capitol city of Israel, and especially the holy site of the Temple under King Solomon. And around forty times in the Old Testament, Jerusalem is referred to as the city of David, and no other city in the Bible is ever called by that name…until Luke’s gospel, that is.
Luke 2:4-6- “Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child.” NASU We also see it in Luke 2:8-11- “In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” NASU
So now we have two cities, Jerusalem and Bethlehem, both called ‘The City of David!’ How remarkable that two Kings, King David and King Jesus, were both born in…well, you know how the song goes: “O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie! Above thy deep and dreamless sleep, the silent stars go by…” Again, how remarkable that God planned it so that both the King of Israel and the King of all kings would begin in such humble beginnings. They were both from ‘O little town of Bethlehem’…a humble town…a Shepherd’s town. Remember how caught up the proud religious leaders were about ‘where someone was from’? Like even with Jesus’ in Nazareth…when Philip told Nathanel about Jesus, Nathanel repeated the common saying of the time… “What? Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Oh yes, even then the problems of bias and status and power and worldly wealth infected both the power-hungry religious leaders and the people who followed them.
But just like the last verse of the song says… “O holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray, cast out our sin, and enter in, be ‘born’ in us today.” Now we’re talking about a ‘second birth!’ The first birth is the birth from below, from this earth, and the second birth is the birth from above, from Heaven…from the Holy Spirit…from the Spirit of the Holy Child of Bethlehem. Life is not about where you are from…it’s about where you are going. Where you are from is important, yes, but where you are going is everything!
We pray each one here and with us today has been born twice…once from below, on earth, and once from above, from the Lord of Heaven and Earth. If you are not sure, make sure, while it’s still called ‘Today’.
But now, on the other hand, when it comes to a prophecy about where you are going to be from…now it becomes something else altogether. For now it becomes ‘proof’…proof that not only are you from where the prophecy said you would be from, but since you exactly fulfilled the prophecy of where you would be from, it means that you are also ‘Who’ the prophecy said you would be. Remember Herod’s question to the religious leaders? Matt 2:3-6- “When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet: 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.'” NKJV It’s interesting that these leaders actually left out part of the whole prophecy, because the Prophet Micah revealed even more about ‘Who’ it was that was being prophesied about! Notice: Mic 5:2- “But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity.” NASU
Oh my! So not only would this child be from Bethlehem, He would actually be ‘from the days of eternity past.’ And that could only mean the He was the Eternal One! And since He was the Eternal One, not only would He be the King of Israel, and not only would He be a King on Earth, He was in fact, the King of Heaven and all Creation! Herod should have been even more troubled, even more disturbed, even more afraid than he was, and should have bowed his head and heart before God to be saved! God had just come to Earth embodied in the child that was prophesied to be born in Bethlehem!
It’s like that Christmas song of ‘Sweet Little Jesus Boy’, that says: “Sweet little Jesus boy, They made you be born in a manger. Sweet little holy child, We didn’t know who you were. Didn’t know you’d come to save us Lord, To take our sins away. Our eyes were blind, we could not see…We didn’t know who you were.” But that’s another reason for the prophesies, or as we like to say, ‘The Proofs, you see!’
How spiritually blind could these religious leaders be, to not see that the very One they were talking about was fulfilling a 500-year-old prophecy right before their very eyes! Again, we’re talking about a Prophet giving a specific prophecy about where the Christ child would be born over 500 years before it happened. That prophecy is even twice as old as the existence of the United States of America…as from 1776 to 2024 is 248 years!
Remember, fulfilled prophecies are all over Christmas. One scholar, J. Barton Payne, has found as many as 574 verses in the Old Testament that somehow point to or describe or reference the coming Messiah. Alfred Edersheim found 456 Old Testament verses referring to the Messiah or His times. Conservatively, Jesus fulfilled at least 300 prophecies in His earthly ministry. The whole ancient world should have expectantly been looking for the Messiah’s coming! Just like the whole present world should expectantly be looking for the Messiah’s second coming!
But there’s another fascinating thing about Bethlehem that we have spoken about before, but it is so fascinating that it will fascinate us again. And here it is…Bethlehem was also significant because the area around it was not only a place where shepherds watched over their flocks by night…it was where ‘Temple Shepherds watched over their temple lambs by day and by night! So now, back to Jacob again: Gen 35:19-21- “So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). Jacob set up a stone monument over Rachel’s grave, and it can be seen there to this day. Then Jacob traveled on and camped beyond Migdal-eder.” NLT
And what and where was this ‘Migdal-eder’? The name of this place means ‘herding tower’. It was a rock formation that shepherds used to protect their animals from predators and to care for them. Again, we’re talking about a place for shepherds and a practice by shepherds that goes back some 3,500 years! Not continuously, of course, but this is still the same location. Or, it had been going on for 1,500 years even before the final ‘Lamb of God’ came to be cared for in a manger near Bethlehem. In fact, near Bethlehem you can see more of these shepherd’s towers than anywhere else in the world.
And why so many towers? Because, again, these shepherds were not raising your average sheep. These sheep were being groomed as unblemished lambs for sacrifice at the Temple in Jerusalem. Bethlehem was about five miles from Jerusalem. The Prophet Micah even uses these towers of the flocks in another prophecy of the Messiah’s coming rule over Jerusalem, that is the Kingdom rule over Jerusalem. Note what he says: Mic 4:8- “As for you, tower of the flock, Hill of the daughter of Zion, to you it will come —Even the former dominion will come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.” NASU
So again, these towers in that area were well known, along with their special use for caring for the sacrificial lambs. The priests would come from Jerusalem to Migdal-Eder to inspect the lambs and choose those identified as ‘kosher’, or ‘proper and fit’ according to the laws of the Torah, or the five books of Moses…the first five books of the Old Testament. And, get this, after inspection they would wrap the lamb in swaddling clothes and place it in a manger until taking it to Jerusalem.
And now, do you hear what I hear? Luke 2:12- “And this will be a sign for you [by which you will recognize Him]: you will find a Baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” AMP What was the sign? The sign was that they would find the Messiah, the Lamb of God, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger, looking just like how a sacrificial lamb that was being prepared for temple sacrifice would look.
Oh yes, our God is a God of wonders…even in the wondrous ways that He prepared the world for the Messiah to come, and for all who would come to the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ to be their Lamb of God, who takes away their sins.