Micah 5:1-2
1 Marshal your troops now, city of troops,
for a siege is laid against us.
They will strike Israel’s ruler
on the cheek with a rod.
2 ‘But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times.’
Even if you’ve never read the rest of Micah, you might recognise Micah 5:2, since it is quoted in Matthew chapter 2, as part of his account of the birth of Jesus. Over 2000 years ago, these words were sufficient to send a handful of stargazing men on a lengthy journey from an anonymous Eastern country to the palace of King Herod in Jerusalem. That seems pretty surprising in itself. But I think it’s even more surprising when you read these verses in their original context. After all, the reference to Bethlehem doesn’t come in a section headed ‘Notes for Astronomers’ or ‘10 tips to help you find the Messiah.’ Instead, this essential fact, without which the Magi might never have made their journey, is tucked away in a book addressed to people who lived 700 years before any of them ever climbed onto a camel. I can’t even begin to imagine the process by which our sovereign God brought this particular bit of writing into their library, and then caused them to read it at just the right time.
But if that seems remarkable, the events that this verse describes are even more surprising. We already know that the people of Israel are in trouble, and in chapter 4 we heard how God would deal with their problem by sending them a king, who would reign in Jerusalem. This king is going to have to be mighty, able to defeat the strongest of Israel’s enemies. So we’d probably expect him to burst onto the scene with visible power and splendour. We’d expect to find him living in luxury in a palace in Jerusalem, or graduating first in his class from a top military academy. But instead, he’s going to come from Bethlehem, which is ‘small among the clans of Judah’. What we see here faintly is spelled out for us much more clearly in Matthew’s account of Jesus’ birth, and in his life from then on. The eternal one is born as a baby. The great hope for God’s people’s rescue shows up in a borrowed stable and sleeps in an animal trough. He flees as a refugee and grows up to be a homeless wanderer. He rides a donkey not a war horse, and he triumphs by dying. It’s all totally unexpected, human speaking. But it’s completely consistent with the character and purposes of a God who delights in doing marvellous things in very unexpected ways. Let’s praise him for that today.
