Monite Tisema 18, 2023
O Insignificant Town of Bethlehem
Ko Petelihema Ta’e’iloa
MICAH 5:2
BUT YOU, O BETHLEHEM EPHRATHAH, WHO ARE TOO LITTLE TO BE AMONG THE CLANS OF JUDAH, FROM YOU SHALL COME FORTH FOR ME ONE WHO IS TO BE RULER IN ISRAEL, WHOSE COMING FORTH IS FROM OF OLD, FROM ANCIENT DAYS.
MAIKA 5:2
Pea ko koe, Pētelihema ‘Efalata, si‘i fau ke lau ‘i he ngaahi toko afe ‘o Siuta, ‘e ‘alu atu ha Taha meiate koe ma‘aku, ‘a ia te ne hoko ko e pule ‘o ‘Isileli; pea ko ‘ene ngaahi ‘alu ‘atu ‘oku talu mei mu‘a, mei he ngaahi ‘aho ‘o ‘ītāniti.
Bethlehem's OT reputation is a mixed bag. Two dark stories from Judges involve people from Bethlehem - a Levite (17:7) and a concubine (19:2). The first story ends in rank idoiatry and a bloody massacre, the other in gang rape and dismemberment. Two marks against Bethlehem. But the narrative of Ruth and the birth of David also take place there. Two marks for Bethlehem. One fact is certain: Bethlehem had no weight to throw around. It had no military or political muscles to flex. It was a runt. In Micah's words, it was tza'ir, the "smaliest, youngest, littlest," with the connotation of "insignificant." Populous and important Jerusalem, about six miles away, overshadowed this village full of ordinary people doing ordinary Israelite things.
David was the eighth and youngest son of Jesse. Yet the Lord chose that seemingly insignificant boy to be the greatest king of Israel. How fitting, then, for the God who has a thing for the mundane to choose Bethlehem as the hometown of the Son of David, the "ruler in Israel."
Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to be ready to celebrate the birth of our Savior from Bethlehem. He is a Lord who cloaks his glory in the ordinary.
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