Micah 5 v. 2
Nothing is ‘insignificant’ to God
‘O little town of Bethlehem ……………..’
The first time that Bethlehem appears in the scriptures
is in Genesis 35.
We can read how Jacob, the son of Isaac and grandson of Abraham loved Rachel and married her
after working for her brother Laban for 14 years.
Rachel died after giving birth to Benjamin, her 2nd son,
Joseph of the many coloured coat fame being her firstborn.
Rachel was buried just outside Bethlehem
and when Genesis 35 was written
it says ‘to this day’ the pillar that Jacob set over her tomb
was still there.
I first visited Bethlehem in 1995
when I stayed at the Ramat Rahel kibbutz,
and I saw Ramat Rahel or Rachel’s tomb
which is holy to Jews, Christians, and Muslims.
In Judges 12 verse 8 we learn that one of the inhabitants of Bethlehem
was a man called Ibzan, who had 30 sons and 30 daughters,
and who was a Judge over Israel for 7 years.
In Judges 17 verses 7 and 9 there is an account of a Levite
who lived in Bethlehem who left the town
in search of a job as a priest somewhere else.
In the book of Ruth, chapter 1, we learn about a time
when there was a famine in Judah,
so a resident of Bethlehem called Elimelech
went with his wife Naomi and their 2 sons
to live in the country of Moab.
The sons married Moabite girls, but did not live happily after
because the two sons died and so did their father.
One of the Moabite widows went back to her family
but the other one, Ruth,
stayed with her mother-in-law when she returned to Bethlehem.
Ruth would eventually marry Boaz and have a son called Obed
who would in turn have a son called Jesse,
who would be the father of David, King of Israel,
which is why Bethlehem is often called ‘Royal David’s city’.
We can read in 1st Samuel chapter 16
how the Lord told Samuel to go from his home town of Ramah
to Bethlehem
to anoint David the son of Jesse as King of Israel,
as God was displeased with King Saul.
In 2nd Samuel chapter 23 we can read about a time
when David was being besieged by the Philistines
and was ‘holed up’ in the cave of Adullam.
The Philistines had captured and occupied Bethlehem.
In 2nd Samuel 23 verse 15 we learn how David,
who often ‘thought out loud’
exclaimed how he longed to be able to drink some water,
but not just any water,
specifically water from the well near to the gate of Bethlehem,
and near to Rachel’s tomb.
Probably he was just wishing that the battle was over
and that he and his men could have free access to Bethlehem.
Anyway, the 3 mighty men who had fought the Philistines
along with him, Josheb-Basshebeth, Eleazar and Shammah,
took it upon themselves to make the king’s wish come true.
They fought their way through the Philistine lines
and got to the well and drew water and carried it back to David,
probably in an animal-skin bag.
David was so impressed by their valour,
and probably so ashamed by his own lack of it,
that he refused to drink a drop,
but poured it out as an offering to God.
Apart from these few instances
Bethlehem is not mentioned anywhere else in the OT,
being merely an insignificant town a few miles south,
perhaps an hour’s walk, from Jerusalem;
and in the NT it is not mentioned at all
apart from in the birth narratives.
Jesus was brought up in Nazareth, preached
and spent most of his time in or around Capernaum,
and died and was resurrected in Jerusalem,
and it will be to Jerusalem that he will return
after his parousia or 2nd Coming.
Bethlehem in the county of Ephrathah in Judah
was never an important place in Israel,
compared to Jerusalem or Bethel, Shechem or Shiloh,
and some would say that even these places were not very significant
compared to cities such as London or New York,
but God communicated through the prophet Micah
some time between 750 and 686BC,
during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah,
that this otherwise insignificant little town
would be the birthplace of the Messiah.
Micah predicted the fall of Ephraim, the Northern kingdom of Israel
which separated from the southern kingdom of Judah
after the death of Solomon, and it did fall, to the Assyrians in 721BC.
This is why Micah is called a ‘prophet of doom’.
However, he also prophesied the coming one day
of the Messianic Deliverer,
and this is why Micah is also called a ‘prophet of hope’.
Bethlehem today is still a ‘little town’,
with a smaller population than Kilwinning or Irvine,
and the town centre only has 2 short main streets
and a few souvenir shops,
most of them in or near Manger Square.
Bethlehem is on the border between the State of Israel
and the Palestinian Territory
and it is surrounded and partly divided by a 30ft high ‘security wall’
which the Israelis erected to stop Hamas or Fatah terrorists
(or ‘Freedom fighters’ depending on whose side you take)
from attacking Jewish settlements on land
which everyone except the Israelis
says belongs to the Palestinians,
and are thus ‘illegal’.
Bethlehem has no oil or coal, or industry or wealth,
or much strategic value.
It does have a Palestinian University,
a Christian Bible College (www.bethbc.edu)
and hundreds of olive groves.
Apart from that it is, as it nearly always has been,
an insignificant little place in the middle of nowhere.
This, however, is exactly what should encourage us.
Bethlehem in the eyes of man is not very important,
but it was important in God’s eyes
and He gave it a special place in His plans
and made it the birthplace of the Word become flesh
to dwell among us.
The first disciples, Andrew, Peter, James and John and the others
were once insignificant men as far as most people living then
were concerned.
Ordinary fishermen who earned their living by going out in their boats,
dropping their nets, hauling in fish,
then going back to sell their catch
and repair any damage to their nets;
but God turned them into disciples, apostles, evangelists,
now known the world over,
with thousands of churches and cathedrals named after them.
Martin Luther was once just the insignificant student son
of a German copper smelter,
and after a dramatic religious experience
could have spent the rest of his life as an insignificant monk,
but God used him to spark off the Protestant Reformation
based on a return to the biblical teaching of justification by faith.
John Bunyan was once an insignificant mender of kettles and pots
but saved him and called him to be an evangelist and preacher
and author of ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’
one of the mightiest works of English literature.
William Carey was once an insignificant village cobbler
and shoemaker,
but following his conversion
he regarded the Christian faith as so important
that it had to be ‘propagated’
and he obeyed God’s call to go to India as missionary,
and through him thousands were saved
and the Baptist Missionary Society set up.
He is acknowledged as the source of the famous quote:
‘Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.’
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was once an insignificant Lutheran pastor
serving a parish in Germany
until Hitler came to power
and God put it on Bonhoeffer’s heart to oppose his fanaticism
and wickedness, which he did, until he was arrested by the Nazis
and executed on Good Friday 1945.
Billy Graham was once just the son of an insignificant dairy farmer
in Charlotte, North Carolina,
until his conversion in 1934 when he was aged just 16,
after which he studied the Bible
and preached the Gospel as a local pastor
until he became world famous through radio, and later TV, evangelism.
(He needs prayer at this time
because he is reported as suffering from pneumonia)
We might think we are insignificant
compared to the celebrities and politicians and Lottery winners
that newspapers and most people talk about all the time,
and, to be honest,
we might not be very important as far as the world is concerned,
but we are so important to God that He sent His only-begotten Son
to die for us even though we were, are, and always will be, sinners.
God knows how many houses there are in Bethlehem;
similarly He knows the number of hairs on our head.
If God could and did use an insignificant small town;
if God could and did use insignificant fishermen,
then God can and does accept our praise
and can and does forgive our sins, every one of them,
and can and does want us to have a part in His work,
the greatest work of all, soul sinning.
Do not let the devil discourage you
and make you think that you are insignificant
and that you mean nothing to God.
The devil is rightfully called the ‘father of lies’.
If no one else had ever lived,
He would still have sent Jesus to die on that cross
to take away your sins,
and He loves you personally and individually,
and the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers
means ALL believers have gifts and talents
that we can use to serve Him.
There is no place and no person who is insignificant to God,
no one too good that they do not need to be forgiven
no one too bad that they cannot be.
Amen.
