THE BIRTH OF JESUS IN BETHLEHEM

LUKE 2:1–7

Mary and Joseph were betrothed and living in Nazareth when the angel Gabriel announced the coming birth of Jesus. But Bethlehem, not Nazareth, provided the environs for Jesus’s birth. A Roman census initiated by Caesar Augustus required everyone who owned property to register it in person for taxation purposes. Because Joseph was from Bethlehem, the census set Mary and Joseph on the road to that village (Luke 2:1–4). During their stay, Mary gave birth to her son and placed him in a manger—events that happened where they did for a reason.

Facade of the entrance of a house similar to Jesus’s birthplace.

The Gospel writers make special effort to be sure we know that Jesus was born in Bethlehem (Matt. 2:5–6; Luke 2:4–7). Matthew goes a step further by telling why this detail is so important. It happened there to fulfill a promise the Lord had made through the prophet Micah:

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.

Micah 5:21

Bethlehem Ephrathah of Judea

The main living area of the style of house where Jesus was born was built over a cave (basement) that held livestock.

Many babies were born in the Promised Land, but only a child born in Bethlehem qualified for consideration as the promised Messiah.

Why did the Lord pick Bethlehem? This was David’s hometown (1 Sam. 16:4), a village that had enjoyed a very long association with David’s ancestors (Ruth 1:1; 4:13–22). To think about Bethlehem was to think about David. To think about David meant to think about the powerful promise the Lord had given him. One of David’s descendants would rise to sit on Israel’s throne and rule an eternal kingdom (2 Sam. 7:12–16). Thus an important link was forged through family history and prophecy. The promise of the royal Rescuer from the line of King David would be fulfilled in his hometown, Bethlehem.

While Jesus’s birth in Bethlehem confirmed his identity as the Messiah, the specific place of his birth in Bethlehem suggested there was something different about this King. Other royal descendants of David who had risen to the throne drew their first breath in carefully cleaned rooms within the palace. Not so with this King. An animal feeding trough, not the guest room (kataluma),2 welcomed this monarch (Luke 2:7). Such mangers are found in animal shelters, and in first-century Bethlehem of Judah, animal shelters were typically associated with caves. In this region, many families built their homes over caves. The cave was used as a basement in which the family’s animals were kept.3 Through several unique turns down the road of Roman history, the identity of the area in which Jesus was born has been preserved by the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.4

Events surrounding the birth of Jesus happened where they did for a reason. Jesus’s identity as the promised Messiah was affirmed by his birth in Bethlehem; he was and is the legitimate King. He continued the throne of David and established the Kingdom of God. Mangers (i.e., feeding troughs) were common in ancient Israel but not common to royal birthing chambers. The lowly circumstances into which he was born, however, sent quite a different message about the character of this monarch, lest anyone think of him as privileged royalty unconnected with his subjects and distant from his people. Jesus could have been born in David’s Jerusalem under the shadow of the Temple, but he was born in David’s Bethlehem under the shadow of Micah’s prophecy. A royal birth in a decidedly ordinary place resets our expectations about this monarch sent from God.

Some feeding troughs (i.e., mangers) were made out of mud.