Project 119: Heaven and Nature Sing | Micah 5:1-5
| Project 119 | Ben Winder
Reading for Wednesday, December 16: Micah 5:1-5
Once in royal David’s city
Stood a lowly cattle shed,
Where a mother laid her baby
In a manger for His bed:
Mary was that mother mild,
Jesus Christ her little child.
-"Once in Royal David's City"
Matthew, more than any other gospel writer, perhaps because he wrote primarily for a Jewish audience, looks back to the Hebrew prophets of old to find in their prophecies foretellings fulfilled in Jesus. One of the most famous of these is his reference to Micah’s prophecy about a ruler for all of Israel originating in ancient times who would come out of Bethlehem. According to Matthew’s gospel, the chief priests and teachers of law when Jesus was born were familiar enough with this prophecy and its interpretation to answer King Herod’s question about where the Messiah was to be born assuredly: the Messiah is to be born in Bethlehem (see Matthew 2:1-6).
Bethlehem (in Hebrew, literally “the house of bread”) was King David’s hometown and Joseph’s ancestral home. It was for that reason, according to Luke’s gospel account, that the census of Caesar Augustus seemingly serendipitously led to Jesus, the Messiah, being born in this ancient backwater, and not where his parents normally resided in Nazareth of Galilee.
Of course, we know it was not so much serendipity as it was divine providence. Micah foretold the Messiah would be delivered in Bethlehem. The very Bread of Life was born in a town called “the house of bread” which, while it was thought to be a nowhere place by the powers of Rome, was for the people of Israel the cradle of royal greatness, David’s royal city. Yet the Messiah was not born into a royal cradle, but with a feeding trough for His bed.
God’s Messiah showed up just where God promised He would, yet not at all in the way people expected.
No doubt, this Advent season will be the same for us. God’s Messiah has promised to be with us, always. He will be, but probably in a way different and yet more beautiful than we could have ever expected. Prepare for God to be faithful to His promises; God is always faithful. And prepare to be surprised; for God rarely is faithful exactly as we would have anticipated.