Bethlehem
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of
the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius
was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register. So Joseph
also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town
of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.
(Luke 2:1-4)
Originally called Ephrath, meaning 'fruitful' (Genesis
35:16-19), Bethlehem itself means 'house of bread' and it is not hard to see why.
Situated about eight kilometres south of Jerusalem and 750 metres above sea
level, Bethlehem commands a strategic location on a ridge running north-south
along the watershed of the Judean highlands, dividing the barren desert wilderness
of the Jordan Valley to the east from the fertile coastal plain to the west. The
slopes on this western side toward Beit Jala abound with figs, almonds, olives
and they are still renowned for their vineyards.
To the north lies the traditional site of the shepherds' fields and the tomb of
Rachel, the beloved wife of Jacob who died in childbirth (Gen. 35:19; 48:7). To
the east are the fields associated with the romantic story of Ruth and Boaz, great-grandparents
of David (Ruth 1; 2:4; 4:11). Nearby to the south is the ancient road from Jerusalem
to Hebron and Egypt.
In the Old Testament, Bethlehem is best remembered
as the 'City of David'. It was his family home (1 Sam. 16:1; 17:12) and the place
where Samuel anointed David to be king of Israel in place of Saul (1 Sam. 16:4-13).
Although David eventually made Jerusalem his capital,
he never lost his first love for Bethlehem as is seen in the moving story of how
three of his brave men risked their lives to obtain water for him from the well
in Bethlehem (2 Samuel 23:13-17).
In Jeremiah's day the caravansary near Bethlehem was
apparently the usual starting place for travellers to Egypt (Jeremiah 41:17).
The inn mentioned in Luke 2 may have possibly been the same one. Following
their exile in Babylon only 123 men returned to live in Bethlehem (Ezra 2:21).
However, the prophet Micah predicted an even more glorious future because one
greater than David, indeed the Saviour of the world, eternal in origin and universal
in significance, would also be born there. "But you,
Bethlehem Ephrathah, 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... his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth."
(Micah 5:2-4)
The New Testament records in great simplicity
and humility how that amazing prophecy came true in the lowly birth of the Son
of God (Matthew 2; Luke 2; John 7:42). The traditional and undisputed site is
found in a cave beneath what is now probably the oldest surviving church in the
world, the Church of the Nativity in Manger Square. The tragic fulfillment of
another prophecy is remembered nearby in a chapel dedicated to the little boys
murdered by Herod in his mad and futile attempt to kill the legitimate King of
the Jews (Jeremiah 31:15; Matthew 2:16-18). The bleak and weathered hills on which
the lowly shepherds encountered the heavenly angels that first Christmas, though
ravaged by centuries of military occupation and human suffering, continue to bear
silent witness to our world's desperate need of redemption, of a Saviour who is
Christ the Lord.
Even without the snow, Bethlehem is Christmas
and Christmas is Bethlehem. However far we wander from the profound simplicity
of that first Christmas, however much we become distracted by the materialistic
counterfeit, the simple, earthy reality of Bethlehem brings us back, back to the
meaning of Christmas. "Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favour rests"
(Luke 2:14). May you experience that peace today.