The Messiah’s Birthplace Foretold

But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, 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 everlasting, From the ancient days. (LSB)

Micah prophesied during the eighth to seventh centuries BC (c. 735–686) to the kings of Judah: Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah (Micah 1:1). The context of Micah 5 is a dark time in Israel’s history, as Jerusalem was under siege. It begins with a warning of imminent judgment for the ruler of Israel who would be struck on the cheek (humiliated) by the nations (Micah 5:1). However, during judgment, Micah offers hope with a prophecy of a Messiah who would come in the future, would be born in Bethlehem, and would shepherd his people in the strength of the Lord (Yahweh) (Micah 5:2–4).

Micah’s prophecy is directly fulfilled in the birth of Jesus, who was born in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:1–6) and shepherds his people (Matthew 9:36, 25:32, 26:31).

The Significance of Bethlehem

According to Micah, the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (“house of bread”) Ephrathah (“fruitful”), a little clan in Judah. Micah may have added Ephrathah to distinguish it from Bethlehem in Zebulon (Joshua 19:10–15). Micah’s reference to Judah takes us back to Genesis where we are told that this Messianic king would come from the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10; cf. Isaiah 11:1). Not only will the Messiah come from Judah, but later Scripture reveals that he will be a descendant of King David (2 Samuel 7:12–16; Psalm 89:3–4; Isaiah 9:7). David is associated with Bethlehem, Ephrathah, and Judah (1 Samuel 17:12). Ephrathah is possibly another name for Bethlehem or the name of the region in which Bethlehem was located (cf. Genesis 35:19; Ruth 1:2, 4:11). The birthplace of the Messiah was to be in a little clan among Judah. Micah is probably indicating the insignificant character of Bethlehem as it is not mentioned among the cities of Judah in Joshua 15 (cf. Nehemiah 11). Traditional Jewish sources identify Bethlehem as the birthplace of the Messiah (Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Gen 35:21; Jerusalem Talmud, Ber. 5a).

Bethlehem Ephrathah was near the agricultural area of the Migdal Eder (“Tower of the Flock,” Micah 4:8; cf. Genesis 35:19–21), a place where shepherds raised their flocks (cf. Luke 2:8–20). In the fourth century, Jerome (born c. AD 345, died in Bethlehem on AD 420) located Migdal Eder about one Roman mile from Bethlehem (Ad Eust., ep. 108, cp. Peregrinatio S. Paulae, ch. 9). The flocks at Migdal Eder were not ordinary shepherd flocks: they were destined for temple sacrifices.1 The Messiah was not only born in Bethlehem to show his humble birth but in a place that foreshadowed the work he was sent to do in giving his life as a ransom for sin (Matthew 20:28; cf. John 1:29).

In Matthew 2, Matthew cites four passages from the Hebrew Scriptures that focus on locations that play a significant part in Jesus’ birth and infancy: Bethlehem (Matthew 2:6), Egypt (Matthew 2:15), Ramah (Matthew 2:18), and Nazareth (Matthew 2:23). Each of these citations from the Hebrew Scriptures demonstrates a different kind of prophetic fulfillment (direct fulfillment, typological fulfillment, applicational fulfillment, and summary fulfillment).2 Jesus is the only one who fulfills the messianic hope of the Hebrew Scriptures (cf. Matthew 4:14–15, 13:35, 21:4–5, 26:56, 27:9–10).

The Messiah’s Goings Forth

In Micah 5:2 (LSB), Micah moves from the Messiah’s future coming, in Bethlehem, to his “goings forth” which is “from everlasting, From the ancient days.” Although the coming Messiah was to be in the line of David and born in Bethlehem, he is not constrained by time. The Messiah’s “goings forth” have been from “everlasting” from “ancient days.” The plural word “goings forth” (מוצאתי moṣā’ōtāy) “points to a repeated going out, and forces us to the assumption that the words affirm both the origin of the Messiah before all worlds and His appearances in the olden time.”3 When used together, the Hebrew words “everlasting” (קדם qedem) and “ancient days” (עולם ʿôlām) imply eternity past (Proverbs 8:22–23; Deuteronomy 33:27). The Messiah (Son of God) not only existed in eternity past but appeared in the days of the patriarchs and throughout the history of redemption in the Hebrew Scriptures (see Genesis 16:7–14, 32:22–32; Judges 6:11–18). The divine nature of the Messiah was not unique to Micah, as Isaiah (c. 739–700 BC), his contemporary, prophesied the Messiah would be called “mighty God” (אל גּבּר ʾēl gibbôr) (Isaiah 9:6; cf. Philippians 2:5–8).

Jesus’ Birth in Bethlehem

Micah’s prophecy of a future Messiah who would be born in Bethlehem was directly fulfilled in the birth of the Lord Jesus (Matthew 2:1–6). After the narrative of Jesus’ birth is foretold (Matthew 1:18–25), Matthew records that Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod (Matthew 2:1). Matthew then states that Magi (μάγοι magoi) from the East arrived at King Herod’s court in Jerusalem asking, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him” (Matthew 2:2 ESV). The Magi, who came from the East, followed “his star” fulfilling another messianic prophecy (see Numbers 24:17). However, the star could only take the Magi so far. For the specific direction of where the king was to be born, the Magi needed special revelation. Therefore, Herod asks the Jewish leaders about the birthplace of the Messiah, and they quote Micah 5:2.4

Importantly, it was not Matthew, but the Jewish leaders who identified that the “king of the Jews” (Messiah) would be born in Bethlehem.

Importantly, it was not Matthew, but the Jewish leaders who identified that the “king of the Jews” (Messiah) would be born in Bethlehem. This was the common expectation among the Jewish people at that time (cf. John 7:42). Jesus was born in the little village of Bethlehem rather than in the kingly city of Jerusalem (Bethlehem was around six miles from Jerusalem). The Jewish leaders knew where the Messiah was to be born, yet it is the Magi who go to worship Jesus and not them (Matthew 2:3, 11; cf. 28:9, 17). The religious leaders show a knowledge of the Hebrew Scripture, but in their apathy, they did not act in faith upon that knowledge and walk the little distance from Jerusalem to Bethlehem to see the child who had been born. The Magi on the other hand, with the little knowledge they had, in faith, traveled a great distance to bring expensive gifts to a child who had no kingly authority over them. The Messiah came not only for the people of Israel but for people from every nation (cf. Isaiah 11:10).

Matthew’s description of the birth of the Messiah in Bethlehem is the fulfillment of Scripture. The good news of Jesus’ birth is not simply about a child being born but about the eternal Son of God taking on humanity to save us from our sins (Matthew 1:21).