Nehemiah 13:1-31; Zechariah 9:1-10:12; Revelation 17:1-18
But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah…Yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel. Micah 5:2 NKJV
Joseph also went up from Galilee…to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem. Luke 2: 4 NKJV
Bethlehem. In patriarchal times a foreshadowing birth took place here. Rachel, dying in childbirth, called her son’s name Ben-Oni, “son of my sorrow.” But Jacob stepped in and changed it to Benjamin, “son of my right hand” (Gen. 35:16-18). Sadly Rachel died, and “was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is Bethlehem)” (Gen. 35:19). What a picture of Him who was eventually born in Bethlehem—Man of sorrows, yet Son of God. 2,000 years ago, the shepherd’s fields blazed with glorious light! Celebrate Him! —Jim Comte
How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is giv’n!
So God imparts to human hearts, the blessings of His heav’n. —P. Brooks