O Little Town of Bethlehem

The Specificity of the Place of Jesus’s Birth

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The Old Testament prepares for the coming of the Lord, and one way it does this is through specific messianic prophecies. As Jim Hamilton once wrote, the Old Testament “is a messianic document, written from a messianic perspective, to sustain a messianic hope.”

The biblical prophets are instrumental in sustaining this messianic hope, and we find an instance of this in Micah’s prophecies. He says, “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days” (Mic. 5:2).