Have you ever wondered why God chose Bethlehem for the birthplace of His son? All three patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, were buried at Hebron. So were Sarah, Leah and Rebecca. Rachel, the wife of Jacob, however, was not buried there. She was buried on the Bethlehem Road below the caves in which Jesus was born that we discussed in the last article. Rachel died giving birth to a son. As she was dying she named her son Ben-Oni, which means “Son of Sorrow.” Jacob, the father, though, changed his name to Benjamin, which means “Son of my Right Hand.” This is interesting because Jesus first came as “A man of sorrows” as described in Isaiah 53:3, but now we know that he is seated at the right hand of God.

        In Jeremiah 31 we are told that Rachel was mourning and weeping for her children because her children were no more. That was the case because they were in bondage. In verse 16, though, the Lord  tells her to stop her weeping for they will return from the land of the enemy. That is something to ponder when we consider that she is the matriarch whose tomb is at the birthplace of Jesus.

        A second possible reason for Bethlehem being the selected town was that the story of Ruth occurred there. You probably know that the story of Ruth is one of the classic “type and shadow” stories of the New Covenant of Jesus. Ruth was a gentile. Her mother in law, Naomi, was, a Jew. And both went to Bethlehem and were saved by Naomi’s relative, Boaz, who became the kinsman redeemer when he married Ruth. Of course, we will be redeemed by our “Kinsman Redeemer” at the marriage feast of the Lamb described in Revelation 19:9.

        Going on, Ruth became the great, great grandmother of King David, whose father, Jesse, still lived in Bethlehem. From David, of course, was prophesied to be the lineage of the Messiah, which obviously came to pass.

        Speaking of prophesy, no discussion of Bethlehem is complete without mentioning the famous prophesy from Micah 5:2 written some 500 years before Christ’s birth that says, “But you, Bethlehem, Efrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” 

        Finally, the name Bethlehem comes from two Hebrew root words meaning “House of Bread”. We only have to look at the words of Jesus himself who told us explicitly, ” I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”  John 6:35

        Nothing God does is without reason or plan. Bethlehem was prepared in advance to be the birthplace of our Lord, just as the New Jerusalem has been prepared in advance in heaven to be our eternal home.