If I say the words, “little town of Bethlehem,” what comes to your mind? Peace? Joy? Angelic choirs? Or do you think of a grave, unfaithfulness, brutal conflict? All of the above would be correct! This morning I want you to look at the town of Bethlehem and journeys to it as they shed light on God’s work of redemption.
Look at the early history of Bethlehem. Bethlehem is noted because of Rachel’s grave. When I mention Bethlehem, you may think of Joseph, Mary, baby Jesus, shepherds and angels. But go back in history almost 19 centuries. If you could have inteviewed Jacob around the time that he blessed his grandsons, and asked him about Bethlehem, you would have heard sadness in his voice (Genesis 48:7) as he recalled the place where he burried his beloved wife, Rachel. Genesis 35:16–18 gives the brief story of her death as she gave birth to her second son, naming him Benoni (son of my sorrow), but the baby’s name was changed by Jacob to Benjamin (son of my right hand). The town was identified as Bethlehem Ephratha or Bethlehem Judah, to distinguish it from the town in Zebulon with the same name, Joshua 19:15.
A journey from Bethlehem contains the story of betrayal, brutality, and conflict. Even more distressing is the account in Judges 9–21 which begins with a woman from Bethlehem who was concubine of a Levite from an unnamed town in Ephraim. She had been unfaithful and had returned to her father’s home in Bethelehm. The Levite comes to take her back, and after an extensively delayed start on the journey, seeks ovenight shelter in the town of Gibeah in Benjamin, avoiding neaby Jerusalem, held at the time by pagan Jebusites. The predatory men of Gibeah asault and murder her. The Levite then abuses her body as he summons Israel to punish the Gibeonites, who end up being defended by their fellow members of the tribe of Benjamin. In the ensuing war the tribe is almost exterminated. This journey away from Bethlehem is one of the ugliest passages in Scripture.
God’s people need a king! That is a graphic lesson taught by the whole book of judges, and especially the final chapters, 19–21, which are braceted by the note that there was no king in Israel, and everyone did what he thought right. That account is the final and most graphic one in a book that describes God’s people turning away from him to worship idols, God sending punishment, the people repenting for a time, and then the cycle repeating. Numerous judges deliver Israel in that little book, but it is clear that they need someone better. They need a king. And the Holy Spirit who included Judges in Scripture is teaching you that you, like Israel, have a problem with rebellion and idolatry. You also need a king.
A journey to Bethlehem is a story of love and commitment. The house of bread introduces what seems to be a tragedy. The Book of Ruth is set in the time of the judges, and initially it seems no more encouraging than the book it follows. Bethlehem means house of bread, but due to a famine, Elimilech, Naomi, and sons Mahlon and Kilion move to Moab, where the sons marry Moabite women, and then Elimilech, and the two sons die. Naomi finally decides to travel back to Bethlehem.
Ruth’s journey to Bethlehem is a commitment, not only to Naomi, but to Naomi’s God. Naomi starts out, and according to custom, her daughters-in-law start out with her. Orpah returns home, but Ruth declares her commitment, not just to Naomi, not just to Naomi’s people, but to Naomi’s God. This journey to Bethlehem proves to be one of encouragement and hope. Poverty stricken, Ruth gleans, meets the landowner, Boaz, and he proves to be the kind of kinsman-redeemer that Naomi and Ruth need. God is unfolding a crucial concept of his redemptive work in the town of Bethlehem.
“Is Ruth simply functioning in this story as an example of loyalty and devotion to family? No! A thousand times no! Ruth clings to Naomi, Ruth vows to go where Naomi goes, to lodge where Naomi lodges because in clinging to Naomi, in embracing Naomi, in holding fast to Naomi, Ruth is clinging to God! She is clinging to the Kingdom of God. She is clinging to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. She can do no other. She has been apprehended by the grace of God.”
Bryan Schroeder, “The Faith of a Foreigner,” Kerux, Vol. 13, No. 2, Sept. 1999
“Ruth, who had vowed to Naomi that “Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God” (Ruth 1:16), came to the Lord of Israel, under whose wings she sought refuge (Ruth 2:12). How striking! Here is a daughter of Moab acting like Abraham!”
Warren Gage, “Ruth and Gibeah,” The Westminster Theological Jounal, Vol, 51, No. 2. p.374
God will provided a king for his people! The Book of Ruth is a love story, not just of Ruth for her mother-in-law, not just for the couple whose marriage is described in the last chapter, but above all, the lov of God for his people. The death and barreness of the first chapter is replaced by Boaz and Ruth having a son, and that baby is place in Naomi’s lap. Not only does the family line continue in the promised land, but the book ends with a geneology. There are some unlikely people identified in it, but the point of it is that it leads to David — Divid the righteous king, David, the man after God’s own heart. Israel needed a king, and God provided it. Ruth is a transition book between Judges and 1 and 2 Samuel. One day the prophet Samuel would make a clandestine journey to Bethlehem to annoint a son of Jesse to be the faithful king to replace Saul. You remember that as Jesse had his sons come before Samuel, none of them were the one the Lord had selected — until the youngest, the shepherd boy out on the hills of Bethlehem with his father’s sheep, was summoned. As you read those books and then Kings and Chronicles, you realize that even the best human king is no more a permanent solution than any of the judges were. God’s people need a better King, a true Shepherd-King. The prophets promise that he will come, and Micah 5:2 even identifes him as coming from — you guessed it — Bethlehem. And that takes us to the New Testament.
“Just as the redeemer Boaz preserved the name and place of Elimelech in Israel, the Christ restores the names of His own for all time and gives them an eternal inheritance. The grace He shows them, together with all that they now receive on earth, is a guarantee of their eternal portion and a prophecy pointing ahead to it.”
S. G. de Graaf, Promise and Deliverance, Vol. 2, p. 63
New Testament journeys to Bethlehem give you hope. Even after Jesus’ birth, Bethlehem is a place of conflict. Yes, Bethlehem is where the Christ child, the King is born. We won’t take time this morning to talk about some extra-terrestrial beings who made a visit to Bethlehem the night he was born — wait until next Sunday. But Magi from the east learned of his birth, and because of a star, came to Jerusalem, expecting to find the King there. Herod summons the priests and leaders of Israel, who are able to quote Micah 5:2 and point the Magi to Bethlehem (but they are not curious enough to make the trip themselves). And, of course, jealous Herod cannot tolerate the idea of a possible alternate king, and orders the baby boys in Bethlehem executed. The conflict between the descendants of the serpent and the descendant of the woman results in murder in Bethlehem. And, though Satan would be defeated by the life, suffering, death, and resurrection of Christ, he still strikes out at God’s people. Until the King returns in glory, the conflict goes on.
Mary’s Son is the Savior, Christ the Lord. This is the best journey to Bethlehem. Pagan rulers issue a tax and registration order, and Joseph and his very pregnant fiancee travel to Bethlehem. There Mary gives birth. And her Son, as Gabriel had told her, would be the one who would fulfilll the promises to David about his descendants sitting on his throne. He is not only Mary’s Son, he is the Son of God. He is the anointed one, the Messiah. He is Christ the Lord.
Come to the King who was born in Bethlehem! You are not traveling to Bethlehem today, but you are invited, even commanded, to come to the King who was born there. All of the history of God working deliverance for his people has its focus on the coming of the baby born that night in the town of Bethlehem. Here, the God-man was born. His kingdom would not come through political or military means, but by humilty and suffering, obeying his Father’s will. Whether Joseph and Mary were house in a stable or a house that night, it is clear that his crib was the manger, the feeding trough for the animals. His work as King was not to bring order in a time of political and moral chaos (Judges), nor to defeat the Philistines and other enemies of God’s people (1 and 2 Samuel), but to free you from something worse. He came to deliver his people from the darkness and slavery to sin. He summons you trust him, to follow him, and to worship him.
Thank God, not just for the town of Bethlehem, but for King who was born there. Place your trust in him and serve him with all that you are, for he has given his life for his people.