References to Bethlehem often appear in Christmas songs, cards, and devotionals. The prophet Micah wrote that Israel’s future ruler would be born in Bethlehem (Mic 5:2–5a). These verses, though, do much more than just name the Messiah’s birthplace. They also indicate the Messiah’s eternal nature and universal reign. In this episode, we discuss why Bethlehem is significant and what this prophecy tells us about Jesus.

Our guest is Rich Freeman, DMin. After placing his trust in Jesus the Messiah, he pursued vocational ministry and has pastored several churches and messianic congregations. He has served with Chosen People Ministries since 1999 as Vice President of Church Ministries and Conferences.

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- Welcome to Our Hope,

a production of Chosen People Ministries.

On this podcast, you will hear inspiring testimonies,

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Many Christmas songs refer to Bethlehem,

the city where Jesus was born.

But Bethlehem is not only mentioned in the gospels.

This was also the place where King David grew up,

and the prophet Micah predicted that God's appointed ruler

would be born there.

Today, we will look at this prophecy in the book of Micah

and discover that it tells us much more

than just where Yeshua would enter the world.

In The Moody Handbook of Messianic Prophecy,

Leon Engman writes, "Micah 5:2 through 5a

"stands out in the book of Micah like a diamond on a ring.

"The ring is lovely and well wrought,

"but designed to direct attention to the diamond.

"Let's take a closer look and appreciate

"how beautiful this diamond is."

Joining us today is returning guest Rich Freeman,

who has a Doctor of Ministry degree

and serves as Chosen People Ministries' vice president

of church ministries and conferences.

Rich, welcome back to Our Hope.

- Thank you, Nicole, it's good to be with you.

- Thank you.

I think this is your third or fourth episode with us,

if I'm correct.

- Sounds right.

- Yeah, we're very grateful to have you.

And we already know, since you've been back so many times,

what your favorite food is, what your favorite dessert is,

so we're gonna ask you a new question today.

What is your favorite movie?

- Well, around Christmas time, believe it or not,

my favorite movie is Home Alone, and--

- Really?

- I just love the Home Alone movies, really the first two

and I just think they're great and I'm like a little kid

when I watch those movies.

So I like Christmas movies.

I like It's a Wonderful Life,

some of the old Christmas movies, so.

And I'm a softy so I like to watch

all the Hallmark Christmas movies as well.

- Oh wow, my mom loves those too.

Great.

And what book of the Bible have you been studying recently?

- Well, it's interesting,

because I've been doing this Bible study series,

I've been studying a lot of the messianic prophecies

and the minor prophets.

And so I've been doing a Zoom Bible study on Revelation

and I'm gonna be continuing next year.

I'm actually finishing Revelation,

I'll be continuing next year through the Book of Zechariah.

So I've been just, you know, following through

on some of these prophecies, I think.

They just are really helpful to kind of firm up your faith,

so to speak, and when you see how Jesus

didn't only show up in the Book of Matthew,

he's throughout the Hebrew scriptures,

and that encourages me.

So I've been doing a lot of studying in the minor prophets,

as they're called.

- That's awesome.

And we know that, speaking of minor prophets,

you did a Bible study series in our newsletter

that comes out every month on the Book of Micah.

And just to let our listeners know if you'd like to receive

our Bible studies every month,

you can sign up at chosenpeople.com/signup.

That will sign you up for our monthly newsletter.

But Rich, can you, since you are our resident expert

on Micah, can you tell us who he was,

where he lived, and what does his name mean?

'Cause his name is important to the message of the book.

- Well, the name Micah is a shortened version

of the Hebrew word Micaiah,

which basically means who is like Yahweh,

who is like the Lord,

which is an appropriate name since Micah's purpose

was to help people understand what the Lord is like.

And he identified himself by his hometown,

which is Moresheth, near Gath,

and it's about 25 miles southwest of Jerusalem

and it was largely an agricultural area.

So Micah's not a big city guy.

He's a country boy and his prophecies kind of reflect

some of his own country values, so to speak.

- That's awesome.

Now, you said he's a country boy,

that reminds me of the John Denver song.

(laughing) Just saying.

But what is the overall theme of the Book of Micah?

'Cause we're gonna focus today

on the prophecy about Bethlehem,

but where does it fit in that context of the overall message

of the book, and why should we still study this book today?

- Micah was a contemporary of Isaiah.

He wrote during the years surrounding

the fall of the Northern tribes,

who were called Israel at the time,

and who were taken into captivity by the Assyrian Empire

in 722 BC, and basically the book consists of messages

of basically of coming judgment.

But at the same time, there's also a mention

of restoration and remnant.

And I think the lesson of Micah

is that God takes sin seriously

and there will be consequences,

especially in light of who Israel is supposed to be

in the world, which was to be the light,

to bring people to Yahweh, to the God of Israel.

Right.

Now, before we can really dive into the meaning

of today's prophecy, we have to read it out loud.

So I'm just gonna read through the scriptures for you.

This is Micah 5:2 through 5a.

"But as for you Bethlehem, Ephratah,

"too little to be among the clans of Judah,

"from you one will go forth for me to be ruler in Israel.

"His goings forth are from long ago,

"from the days of eternity.

"Therefore he will give them up until the time

"when she who is in labor has born a child.

"Then the remainder of his brethren will return to the sons

"of Israel and he will arise and shepherd his flock

"in the strength of the Lord,

"in the majesty of the name of the Lord, his God.

"And they will remain because at that time he will be great

"to the ends of the earth.

"This one will be our peace."

Wow.

So pretty well known prophecy about Bethlehem,

and I think we miss a lot of the details

'cause we've heard it so often.

So where is Bethlehem and how would you describe this town?

- Well, now, keep in mind it's Bethlehem Ephratah,

which tells us that it's a specific clan

within the tribe of Judah,

there were actually two Bethlehems in Israel

during this time.

One in the tribe of Judah

and one up north in the tribe of Zebulun.

So this is particularly identifying with the tribe of Judah.

And Bethlehem was not a big town.

It was not significant, it wasn't important.

And so Micah is emphasizing the fact that

out of this insignificant town

came the most significant person in human history,

our Messiah, Jesus.

And so I think the insignificant part of it

tells us that this Messiah is identifying

with the family of David,

which is where David's family was.

And it hearkens to what, when--

In 1 Samuel when David is anointed king,

and Samuel asks his father Jesse to bring out all his sons,

they don't even include David.

He was that insignificant in the family.

He was kind of the runt of the litter.

And it was only when he was anointed king

in front of all his brothers, by Samuel,

that that all took place.

And so I think there's an identification with the,

certainly the insignificance of David

when he was a young boy and the insignificance of the town,

they all sort of go together.

I have an interesting story to tell, can I tell it?

- Yes, please.

- One of my roles within the Chosen People Ministries

is to lead tours to Israel.

And we don't go into Bethlehem, but we go take our tourists

to a place called the Shepherds' field overlook.

So the place where the shepherds heard the announcement

from the angels.

And it's something that I do all the time and when I do it,

very often, when the buses pull up,

there's a Bedouin shepherd with his sheep

who kind of comes out of nowhere,

and obviously you got 40 American tourists,

and he has some young children.

This particular shepherd had a beautiful little girl

with dark hair and dark eyes

and she's holding these little baby sheep

and the people just absolutely love her.

And she's a real entrepreneur so she sticks out her hand

and they give her money.

And that happens all the time.

So I'm kind of bored with all that,

I'm letting the people kind of play with the sheep

and I'm walking along and it's a very clear day

and I'm with my tour guide and way, way in the distance

is these mountains.

And I asked the tour guide, which mountains are those?

And she said to me, those are the Mountains of Moab.

And they're like 50 miles away,

on the other side of the Jordan river into what's Jordan.

And so I said, you mean to tell me that that Ruth and Naomi

walked from there to here in order to get back to Bethlehem?

And she kind of nodded her head.

And from that, it just really opened the door for me

to appreciate how Bethlehem became the city of David,

because these two women took this very dangerous trip

and ended up coming into Bethlehem

and you know the story of Ruth and she ended up with Boaz

and became the great grandmother of David.

And so it's a beautiful story and it really points out

just how amazing it is to see Bethlehem focused in that way

as the city of David.

And even the name itself, Bet Lehem in Hebrew,

means the house of bread.

And so Jesus identifies himself as the bread of life

and what better place for the bread of life to be born

than in the house of bread?

- That's awesome.

And I've never even made that connection that Ruth,

that's right, Ruth is,

you said the great-grandmother of David?

- Yeah.

- Wow.

So we know that Bethlehem shows up in 1 Samuel,

does it show up in any other places in scripture?

- Well, in the Book of Ruth, obviously,

where Ruth and her husband Elimelech, I'm sorry,

Naomi and her husband Elimelech leave Bethlehem

and go to Moab and then Ruth and Naomi come back.

And so that whole story takes place in Bethlehem

and obviously 1 Samuel,

when Samuel visits Jesse in Bethlehem.

So it's a very, very key place.

And the interesting thing about it, I think, you know,

people wonder why did the Messiah

have to be born in Bethlehem?

Well, number one, to connect with David,

but number two, the line of the kings was cursed.

Those kings would have been born in Jerusalem.

And the fact that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem

tells us that even though he's from the line of David,

he's not part of that cursed line,

so it all kind of fits very nicely together.

- Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned that.

'Cause I have wondered, why not be born in Jerusalem,

which is where the temple is

and it's the most important city, but that's really cool.

So in verse two, it says that his goings forth

are from long ago, from the days of eternity.

What does this verse tell us about the Messiah?

- Well, Micah is writing about the fact

that not only would this person, the Messiah, be born,

but also that he would be eternal.

So in essence, he's saying that he's not only a fully man,

but he's also fully God.

And it reminds me of the verse in John, the Gospel of John,

where John says, "In the beginning was the word,

"the word was with God, the word was God,

"and the word became flesh and dwelt among us."

And so the fact that this one would be from days of eternity

tells us that he's fully God,

and that the Messiah would not only be a person,

but also would be God incarnate,

which is clearly what Yeshua or Jesus is.

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- We'll be right back.

- Shalom.

I'm Mitch Glaser, president of Chosen People Ministries.

Is it possible for Jewish people to believe in Jesus

when there's such a sad history of Christian anti-Semitism

that has shaped Jewish attitudes towards the gospel?

Well, I know there's hope,

because I'm Jewish and I believe in Jesus,

and I would love to offer a few suggestions

for reaching Jewish people personally

with the love of God through Messiah.

First, keep your message personal.

You're representing a person, not a religion.

Second, be loving, patient, and kind, even when they object.

And then finally, and most importantly, pray.

Touching the heart of your Jewish friend with the good news

of Messiah will also touch the very heart of God.

And you can learn more by visiting Chosen People Ministries

at chosenpeople.com/radio.

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about messianic prophecy.

To dive even deeper into what the Hebrew scriptures say

concerning the Messiah,

check out The Moody Handbook of Messianic Prophecy.

This book features in-depth analysis

of virtually every messianic passage in the Old Testament.

The Moody Handbook of Messianic Prophecy is edited by

Dr. Michael Rydelnik, and its contributors include

dozens of respected Bible scholars.

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- Now we know in verse three,

Micah wrote that God would give them up

until this ruler is born.

Who is God giving up, and why?

- Well, as I shared before, a lot of the book of Micah

is dealing with the sin of Israel,

and Israel was really deep into idolatry and other sins

and when we talk about idolatry,

unfortunately today we think of idolatry more as icons

and things like that, but idolatry was much, much worse.

It involved sexual immorality, it involved child sacrifice,

it involved all kinds of terrible sins.

And they were really steeped in that.

And eventually the Northern tribes were taken into captivity

first and then the Southern tribes

were also taken into captivity.

And so basically God removed his protection from them

until they ultimately would repent and turn to the Messiah,

which is the one who would be born.

- Now, just for further clarity,

when people read this prophecy,

like when the Israelites heard this prophecy for spoken

from Micah, do you think they made the connection

that he was speaking specifically about the Messiah?

- Yes.

And the reason being, because when you look at

in the New Testament when the magi show up on the scene

and want to know where would the Messiah be born?

When King Herod went to the religious experts,

they all pointed to the prophecy in Micah and said, well,

he's gonna be born in Bethlehem.

And so clearly there was an understanding

that this would be the Messiah.

As the magi asked Herod,

where's the one born king of the Jews?

Which certainly didn't sit well with Herod.

But yeah, clearly I think before it became problematic,

there was no question that this was speaking

about the Messiah.

And then after, clearly, as we see that Jesus

has fulfilled all of these prophecies,

then there was a view of it a little differently

so that it wouldn't be as specifically pointing to Jesus.

- Yeah, that's important.

I remember in last week's episode,

we spoke with Olivier about Isaiah 9:6 through 7,

and he mentioned how the interpretation of these prophecies,

like in the Tanakh specifically,

can sometimes be lost or changed over the years

and he mentioned how the people who translated

the specific verses in Isaiah 9,

they didn't even translate wonderful counselor,

almighty God, everlasting father,

but they would choose to actually keep it in the Hebrew,

even though it's a translation.

Because they said, well, how can this apply to a man?

So it's interesting that you mentioned that.

Back to this prophecy in Micah, we didn't read these verses,

but Micah 4:9 through 10 compares Israel

to a woman who is in labor.

Is there any connection between that prophecy

and the woman who bears the child and Micah 5:3?

- Well I think it's dealing with the pain of judgment.

And again, Micah's a book that deals a lot with judgment,

particularly the judgment

of being removed out of the promised land.

And if you think about what happened to the Northern tribes

going into Assyria to the nation of Judah going into Babylon

in Babylonian captivity,

and that was for a generation.

But as you see what happened after Messiah came

the first time when Israel as a nation rejected him,

the individual people in Israel, many of whom, you know,

a good portion came to believe that he was the Messiah.

But the nation itself, the religious power has rejected him.

And instead of being out of the promised land

for a generation, they were out of the promised land

for almost 2,000 years.

So the judgment was prevalent there,

and it was talking about the pain of judgment

and the pain of dealing with the sin of the people.

And so I think that's kind of the theme of Micah,

the consequences of sin and how God takes sin seriously.

- Yeah.

That's why I think this prophecy really stands out

in the context of the whole book, because like you said,

there's a lot of judgment being pronounced.

Israel is facing the consequences of their sins,

but in the midst of all that, the Messiah is prophesied

and he's gonna be born and he's going to change things.

So what does this prophecy in Micah tell us

about the kind of ruler the Messiah would be?

- I think, you know, clearly he's going to be

the kind of ruler with a tender heart,

and you know, he's gonna shepherd his people

and I just finished a book on Psalm 23,

Dayenu,

which means the Lord is my shepherd and that's enough.

And so the fact that he's going to shepherd his people

talks about the tender-hearted person

who cares for his sheep in such a deep way

and that's kind of the way he's going to view

the people of Israel.

So it's really not only talking about his original,

first coming, but also his return when he's going to reign

as King of Kings and Lord of Lords

and it's going to be to shepherd his people, Israel.

And I love that last phrase in the beginning of verse five

which says, "In this one will be our peace."

Literally the Hebrew says, this one will be Shalom,

this one will be our completion,

this one will be peace for us.

And that was obviously the announcement of the angels

to the shepherds in the field,

that born this day in this city of David, in Bethlehem,

is a savior who is the Messiah, who is God incarnate,

who is the Lord.

- Mm, yeah, and I love what you said

about how he is the shepherd,

he is drawing people back to himself

and he's leading them and he's protecting them.

And as a shepherd, he's gonna try to lead people

in the right direction.

So what does this verse three mean,

that his brethren will return to the sons of Israel?

- Well, I think there's really, from my perspective,

the point of coming out of captivity

and back into the land is part of that.

But I think clearly when you view his return,

the people of Israel, the Jewish people around the world,

part of what we commonly call the diaspora,

are going to be gathered together to be with him

when he returns, and fulfilling the prophecy

in the Book of Romans where Paul says

that all Israel will be saved.

They're going to go into that kingdom as his people.

And it's really not only pointing to his first coming,

but also to his second coming.

And he's gonna bring peace.

- That segues perfectly.

So would you say that this prophecy,

we know part of it has definitely been fulfilled

because Yeshua was born in Bethlehem,

but would you say then that there are parts

that will be fulfilled in the future?

- I think clearly the part of his reigning as king

is speaking about his second coming,

and the kind of king he's going to be,

how he's going to shepherd his people, Israel.

'Cause as much as he wanted to do it at his first coming,

when he said, "how I wanted to gather you

"as a hen gathers her chicks under her wing,"

he wasn't able to do that.

And so he came to be our sacrifice,

to be the final atonement for us.

But ultimately he's going to come again.

It points to that and his reign as king

and what we commonly call the millennial kingdom

where he's going to reign

on the throne of David for 1,000 years.

- Yeah.

I've often wondered why didn't he

just accomplish everything when he first arrived?

Why did he have to come twice?

You know?

And wait all this time to come back the second time.

Does it have to do with the Gentiles

or does it have to do with Israel?

I'm curious.

- Well, you know, I think he came the first time,

he offered himself up as the Messiah.

He rode on that baby donkey into Jerusalem

on what we commonly call Palm Sunday.

And the question that begs to be asked

is if Israel would have embraced him as their king,

what would that have meant?

Would he have established his kingdom on earth?

And I think it's one of those God things that, you know,

the answer is yes, but it didn't happen that way.

So God obviously knew it wouldn't happen that way.

Jesus came to be our sacrifice, our atonement for sin,

and so he died on the cross, he paid the penalty

for our sins, he rose from the dead,

he conquered death for us, and anyone who embraces that,

who accepts Jesus as their Lord and savior

has to acknowledge that he is indeed the promised one,

the Messiah who came to be, you know, our sacrifice.

One of my favorite Christmas cards came,

I went to Dallas Theological Seminary,

and I get this Christmas card every once in a while

from them, it's basically blank with just a spike

inside the card.

- Really?

- Yeah.

- Wow. - Which basically tells us

that the one born in the manger came to die for our sins.

And if we miss that, as beautiful as the Christmas story is,

as great as the all the Christmas songs are,

and the Christmas movies, if we miss that,

we miss the reason for the season.

Jesus came to be our savior.

And that's what makes this such an amazing time of the year,

that we remember that.

Whether or not he was born on December 25th,

nobody knows for sure,

but we can celebrate his birth with confidence

because he was born, he did come, he lived a sinless life,

he died for our sins, he rose from the dead

and he's coming again.

All those are biblical truths that we can embrace and enjoy.

- Thank you for explaining that, Rich,

that's a powerful image, just the spike in the card.

- Yeah.

- So, Rich, as we close, I just have one question

left for you.

How has this prophecy impacted you on a personal level?

- Well, you know, coming from a Jewish background,

growing up in New York City in Brooklyn,

I had lots of non-Jewish friends,

most of whom were Italian Catholic.

And so I grew up kind of believing that Jesus

was the God of the Italians,

'cause everybody I knew who believed in Jesus was Italian.

So I sort of thought that he was, you know, Italian.

Jesus Christ, the son of Joseph and Mary Christ,

from Rome, Italy.

And when I began kind of being open to the scriptures

and people telling me that Jesus was the promised Messiah,

it was hard for me to make that connection.

And then when I started reading the Bible,

I was just amazed at just how Jewish the New Testament was

and seeing this story of his birth,

especially in Matthew and Luke,

so beautifully portrayed and how important it is

to the whole picture of our faith really impacted me a lot.

But I would say as a Jewish believer,

the idea that this is all prophesied

in the Hebrew scriptures, like in Micah chapter five,

was very important to me.

Again, because I wanted to hear it from my Bible,

so to speak, from the Hebrew scriptures,

and to see these prophecies unfold and be fulfilled

by just one person is just an amazing thing.

And it really helped me come to grips

with the fact that he really was who people who told me

that they were Christians and this is the truth,

he really was who they said he was.

And ultimately it's how I came to faith,

through the truth of the scriptures.

- Thank you, Rich.

And I love what you said,

you wanted to read about it in your Bible,

and that's why we're doing this whole season

on messianic prophecy,

to let Jewish people know that Jesus is in their Bible,

that it was prophesied that he was going to come

and that he was going to dwell among us

and that he was going to die for sin

and that he was going to rise again.

And he's coming back.

- Amen. - So thank you so much.

Thank you for lending your expertise twice to this season.

This is your second episode this season,

and I'm looking forward to reading

your Psalm 23 book, by the way.

- Thank you.

- So thank you so much for joining us.

(gentle music)

We often hear Micah 5 quoted during this time of year,

especially in songs like "O Little Town of Bethlehem."

Many people, believers or not,

know that Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

And now you can share why this is important.

Though Bethlehem was not a large or impressive city,

it was the home of King David, who is an ancestor of Yeshua.

God purposefully chose Bethlehem to be the town

where his salvation would enter the world.

Next week, many of us will celebrate Yeshua's birth,

which fulfilled part of Micah's prophecy.

At the same time, we look forward to Yeshua's return,

when he will establish his kingdom.

We will close with what verse five says about him.

"This one will be our peace."

Thank you for listening to this week's episode of Our Hope,

featuring Rich Freeman.

Please subscribe to us and share this podcast

with your friends.

This episode was written by Rachel Larsen

and edited and co-produced by Grace Swee.

This episode was also created thanks to Dr. Mitch Glaser,

Kieran Bautista, Dr. Michael Rydelnik, and Abe Vazquez.

I'm Nicole Vacca, until next time.

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