Pedestrian and Prominent
Now Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David
Luke 2:4
After decades of self-inflicted servitude to his uncle Laban, Jacob will return to his homeland by way of Ephrath. It is here that his beloved Rachel will give birth to her second miraculous child, Benjamin, and here she will die in the ordeal and be buried.
Generations later, a widowed Moabitess, accompanying her widowed mother-in-law will return to a homeland she never knew. It will be here, in the fields of Bethlehem, she will glean for her survival. In a desperate situation, she makes a bold move, presenting herself to a kinsman of her deceased husband. Boaz will take Ruth, a foreigner, as his own wife, redeeming her and Naomi both, in a soul-shaking act of kindness, and restoring to them a life and happiness.
Ruth will give birth to a son, Obed, who will have a son Jesse, who will send his youngest son David into the fields of Bethlehem to watch his sheep. In these fields David will slay lion and bear. He will play a harp under Bethlehem stars and sling rocks at rocks, and carry lambs on shoulders, and daydream dreams far below him, for he will be a great king whose name echoes into the halls of eternity. To his name will be added Joseph and Mary, and Jesus.
Born under Bethlehem stars on the bones of Rachel and Ruth and Boaz. Born by the shepherd fields of his fathers, and the redemption-laden acreage of his mothers, Jesus will enter on a stage built and assembled by a heritage of pedestrian peasants made prominent. A legacy of unlikely heroes, of whom he will be the grand finale.
Like his ancestor Boaz he will be a kinsman redeemer, like David an eternal good king, born like Benjamin a miracle child, like a sheep in his father’s fields he will be sacrificed, like wheat gleaned by Ruth he will be threshed and ground into flour, and He will be called the Bread of Life, born in Bethlehem the house of bread.
But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Too little to be among the clans of Judah,
From you One will come forth for Me to be ruler in Israel.
His times of coming forth are from long ago,
From the days of eternity.
Micah 5:2
