HUMBLE BETHLEHEM
Bethlehem was a humble city. The word Bethlehem means “a place of bread and food.” Jesus confessed in John 6:35: “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.”
Micah 5:2 says: “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”
Why didn’t God the Father choose a famous city such as Jerusalem to be the birthplace of the King of kings and Lord of lords? Once again, God the Father wanted to teach the world a tremendous lesson on the subject of humility. Evidently God did not want His Son to be born in Jerusalem. There was too much religious pride in Jerusalem, especially with the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus said of them: “All their works they do for to be seen of men; they make broad their phylacteries and enlarge the borders of their garments. And love the uppermost rooms at feast, and the chief seats in the synagogues, And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi” (Matthew 23:5-8).
Little Bethlehem was the place of His humble birth, but Jerusalem was the place of his death. Pride persecutes and puts to death the humble. But the humble shall always be lifted up for God the Father deeply loves humility. James 4:6, 10 says: “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. . . . Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”
Bethlehem was near the place of Rachael’s tomb (Genesis 35:19). Ruth, the God-fearing Moabitess made her home in Bethlehem with her second husband, Boaz and was remembered as the ancestress of David (Ruth 1:1, 2, 19, 22). King David himself was known as “the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem-judah, whose name was Jesse” (1 Samuel 17:12, 15). It was also in Bethlehem that David was anointed king over Israel (1 Samuel 16:13).
Be encouraged.
Colin Campbell
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