For us Christians Bethlehem is a significant place because it is the birthplace of the Savior, Jesus, who shall save his people from their sins (Matt 1:21). For much of its history, however, it was a just an obscure city (Mic 5:2)¹ In fact, Bethlehem was not always called Bethlehem. Before it was Bethlehem, it was Ephrath, outside of which Rachel, the mother of Benjamin died in childbirth (Gen 36:19; 48:7). King David was born there (1 Sam 20:6). In 1 Samuel 16 it seems to be an out of the way place where the prophet found David (1 Sam 16:7). The name itself probably means (literally) “house of bread” but there is enough uncertainty that some scholars have proposed other interpretations based on the Amarna Letters from the 14th century B.C.

Nevertheless, Bethlehem pops up at interesting points in the history of redemption and for us who know how to story turned out, when Bethlehem occurs in the biblical story (e.g., Boaz the Kinsman-Redeemer; Ruth 3:9), we cannot help but wonder if the Spirit is foreshadowing things to come. When David longed for water from the well in Bethlehem (2 Sam 23:15) he was asking for perhaps more than he knew?

Though Bethlehem was “too little to be among the clans of Judah” (Mic 5:2), it was from her that ruler of Israel would come: “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days” (ESV).

According to Matthew (Matt 2:5–6), what the Spirit promised through Micah really came true. Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea (Matt 2:1) and wise men from the east came to Jerusalem looking for him (Matt 2:1–2). Word of their arrival, however, got back to Herod, who summoned them secretly to find out when the star had appeared (Matt 2:7). He sent them to Bethlehem to find Jesus and to report back ostensibly so he himself could “come and worship him” (Matt 2:8; ESV).

They did as they were bid and followed the star until it stopped (Matt 2:9). They rejoiced (Matt 2:10) and entered the place where Jesus was with Mary “and they fell down and worshiped” (Matt 2:11; ESV). They did not, however, report back to Herod because they were warned about Herod in a dream (Matt 2:12). After they left, an angel appeared to Joseph and ordered them to flee to Egypt because of Herod’s plan to murder Jesus. This happened in order to fulfill Hosea 11:1, “Out of Egypt have I called my son” (Matt 2:15).

Vicious tyrant that he was, even though he could not kill our Lord, Herod vented his wrath by murdering all the male children two years and under in Bethlehem (Matt 2:16), which awful event was itself a fulfillment of Jeremiah 31:15: “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more” (Matt 2:18; ESV). Much has been written about this difficult passage but if we bear in mind the first biblical mention of Bethlehem (Epharath) in Genesis 35:16, which mentions that Rachel was pregnant with Benjamin (“son of my right hand”—more foreshadowing) and that Bethlehem was associated with the Davidic line (John 7:42–43), culminating in Jesus. Matthew’s quotation of Micah is a figurative allusion to the grief that comes from the reality of sin and death in the world.

Remember the context of Jeremiah 31. In chapter 29 the Lord tells the people to be content to dwell in exile. As exiles they were to seek the welfare of the city where they are (Jer 29:7).² They were to ignore all the prophets who promised anything else. The story turns in chapter 30, where the Lord promised a great reversal for his people: those who had taken them captive will become captive to serve Yahweh. The promise of the covenant of grace is certain: “You shall be my people and I will be your God” (Jer 30:22; ESV). In chapter 31 the prophet sets out the benefits and blessings of the New Covenant, which, appropriately, he casts in Mosaic, Old Covenant terms. Yahweh will turn mourning into joy (Jer 31:13; ESV). In Jeremiah 31:15, however, Rachel weeps and refuses comfort because her children are no more. Calvin’s explanation helpful:

It is certain that the prophet describes (Jer. 31:15) the destruction of the tribe of Benjamin, which took place in his time: for he had foretold that the tribe of Judah would be cut off, to which was added the half of the tribe of Benjamin. He puts the mourning into the mouth of Rachel, who had been long dead. This is a personification, (προσωποποιΐα,) which has a powerful influence in moving the affections.³

She did not live to see the blessing but Yahweh says more: “Keep your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears…they shall come back from the land of the enemy” (Jer 31:16; ESV). This is the chapter with the famous promise of the New Covenant, which Jeremiah and Hebrews contrast with the Old, Mosaic covenant. The weeping is figurative, of course. Rachel had died a long before Jeremiah and long before Herod’s murder of the innocents but the cause of grief was real. The promised Messiah is here but so are the causes for the his eventual suffering and death.⁴

Why should we think about Bethlehem in this season? Of course it is a significant place for us Christians. It is the place where God the Son became incarnate, true God and true man, his humanity miraculously conceived by the Holy Spirit’s overshadowing of the Virgin (Luke 1:35). If we mark the birthplaces of famous mere mortals, how much more should we mark the birthplace of our  Savior and Messiah, Jesus?

There is another reason, however, to meditate on Bethlehem this season. Sinners that we are, we are tempted to look for salvation from glamorous and powerful places. The Jews expect the Messiah to arrive in power and glory. The humiliation of Jesus has always been a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Greeks (1 Cor 1:23). “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God” (1 Cor 1:27–29; ESV). For us who believe, however, Jesus of Bethlehem, “became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Cor 1:30; ESV).

That Bethlehem is Jesus’ birthplace is a historical fact but it is also a symbol, a reminder of God’s way in this world: In the incarnation God the Son became like us in every respect, sin excepted (Heb 2:17; 4:15). Even though he is “true God of true God” poured himself as it were, like drink offering, as a servant, for our salvation (Phil 2:6–8).

Bethlehem reminds us the humiliation associated with Jesus’ birth, a foreshadowing of his coming suffering, but there is more to the story. The same Jesus born in Bethlehem, David’s city, of the line of David, has assumed David’s throne (Pss 2; 110; Acts 2:25–36). He is David’s greater Son, the Lord to whom Yahweh said, “Sit at my right hand” (Matt 22:45). The glorious coming for which the Jews hope will happen. He has fulfilled Rachel’s hope—he is the Son of the Right hand. He is coming again in power. As Paul promised: “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:9; ESV). Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus.

1. “Bethlehem was apparently a small and unimportant village. Its biblical significance derives mainly from its status as David’s hometown. As the “city of David,” it was prophesied as the birthplace of the messianic ruler who would come as a new David (Mic 5:2; compare Luke 2:4).”Douglas Mangum, “Bethlehem of Judah,” in The Lexham Bible Dictionary, ed. John D. Barry et al. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).
2. In the New Covenant we are yet exiles (1 Pet 1:1, 17).
3. John Calvin, Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke, trans. William Pringle, vol. 1 (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010), 160.
4. “the coming of Christ occasioned a renewal of that mourning, which had been experienced, many centuries before, by the tribe of Benjamin.” Calvin, Harmony of the Evangelists, 1.160–61.

©R. Scott Clark. All Rights Reserved.

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Post authored by:

• R. Scott Clark

  

  R.Scott Clark is the President of the Heidelberg Reformation Association, the author and editor of, and contributor to several books and the author of many articles. He has taught church history and historical theology since 1997 at Westminster Seminary California. He has also taught at Wheaton College, Reformed Theological Seminary, and Concordia University. He has hosted the Heidelblog since 2007.

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