The House Of Bread!
"Has not the Scripture said that the Christ
comes from the seed of David and from
the town of Bethlehem, where David was?"
John 7: 42
The most popular name for cities and towns in the
United States is Washington. Eighty-eight times,
the nation’s first President is memorialized in
city
names. So when someone says they are from
Washington, it’s legitimate to ask, “Which one?”
The same question could be asked in biblical times
when someone said they were from Bethlehem since
there were two. One was in the north in Galilee region
(Joshua 19:15). The other was six miles southwest of
Jerusalem in the land
of the tribe of Judah.
Bethlehem in Judah was the home of the family
of Jesse, one of whose sons, David, became the
second king of Israel. Bethlehem was eventually
known as the “City of David.”
When Caesar
instituted a census, Joseph, a
descendant of David, took his pregnant wife,
Mary, to Bethlehem to register. While there,
Jesus was born, fulfilling prophecy of Micah
5:2.
In Hebrew, Bethlehem is “house of bread.”
How fitting that the One who became the
Bread of Life was born in the
“house of bread” (John 6:48).
"The hinge of history is on
the door of a Bethlehem
stable."
Ralph W. Sockman
