Right after giving birth to Benjamin, Rachel died (Genesis 35:16-20). It was near Bethlehem-Ephrathah (Genesis 35:19). Later, this location was found in the land of the tribe of Judah (i.e. Joshua 15:1-12).
Judah was a strong man. So, Jacob blessed him as a cub of lion (Genesis 49:9). And this prophetic blessing foresaw that Christ (Messiah), the lion of the tribe of Judah (Revelation 5:5), would hail from this land, figuratively saying that the scepter shall never depart from Judah or the mace from between his feet, until tribute comes to him, and he receives the people’s obedience (Genesis 49:10).
About 900 years later from Jacob’s prophetic indication of the Christ to be a descendant of Judah (i.e. Genesis 49:10), Micah prophesized the birth of Christ in Bethlehem-Ephrathah for the restoration of the Davidic kingdom (Micah 4:1-5:8). The First Reading of the Furth Sunday of Advent, Cycle C, Micah 5:1-4a, is drawn from this.
Thus God spoke through Micah:
But you, Bethlehem-Ephrathaha least among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel; whose origin is from of old, from ancient times. Therefore the Lord will give them up, until the time when she who is to give birth has borne, then the rest of his kindred shall return to the children of Israel. He shall take his place as shepherd by the strength of the Lord, by the majestic name of the Lord, his God; And they shall dwell securely, for now his greatness shall reach to the ends of the earth: he shall be peace (Micah 5:1-4a).
The prophecy of the Christ to emerge from Bethlehem-Ephrathaha of Judah (Micah 5:1, NABRE) was cited by the chief priests and the scribes when Herod the Great inquired them where the Christ (Messiah) was born, in response to the Magi’s question about the birth of the newborn king of the Jews (Matthew 2:1-6). And this was where Mary, the wife of Joseph, who drew the lineage of David, the lineage of Judah, a son of Jacob (Matthew 1:2-16), gave birth to Jesus (Luke 2:1-7), the incarnated Christ (Luke 1:35; John 1:1, 14), fulfilling this prophecy of Micah, pointed by Jacob (Genesis 49:9-10).
Though it was not a great city like Jerusalem, Bethlehem was a fitting place for the incarnated Christ to be born because it is the birth place of David, a son of Jesse, an Ephrathitea of Bethlehem (1 Samuel 17:12). This was why it was called the city of David (Luke 2:4). In Hebrew, Bethlehem means the house of bread, while Ephrathah, which is old name of Bethlehem, means abundance. Therefore, Bethlehem-Ephrathaha, gives an implication to the house of bread in abundance. In fact, the incarnated Christ, who was born of Mary in Bethlehem is the living bread of life in abundance (John 6:51; cf. John 10:10), and the manger where he was placed upon his birth (Luke 2:7) is a bread basket, which is known as ciborium.
The above prophecy of Micah makes it clear that the Christ comes as the ruler of Israel, the king of the Jews. As he is from of old, from ancient times, Christ is of God and is God by virtue of the Trinity (Micah 5:1; i.e. Daniel 7:9, 13, 22; cf. John 1:1; 10:30, 38; 14:11).
Though Judah was punished by God for its sin and resulted in destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians and the Babylonian exile (2 Chronicles 36:15-21), the birth of the king of the Jews in Bethlehem would prompt the restoration of the Davidic kingdom of the Jews and the return of those who had been scattered (Micah 5:2, NABRE). For us, this means that the incarnated Christ’s birth of Mary in Bethlehem shall initiate the redemption of the lost and the restoration of what has been damaged.
The Christ is not only the Davidic King but also the Davidic Shepherd and the Good Shepherd (John 10:11,14), with the divine strengths and the majestic name of the Lord, Yahweh, to secure us in his peace (Micah 5:3-4, NABARE; cf. Psalm 23:1-6; John 14:27; cf. Psalm 122:1-9; Isaiah 9:6).
Bethlehem-Ephrathaha can be a sad reminder of Rachel’s death (Genesis 35:16-20). But it is where God brings the good news to let His Son, the Christ, be born of Mary to save us from the damnation and to redeem us from the domain of Satan, Eventually, the Christ shepherds us, his redeemed sheep, to his eternal sheep fold, his Kingdom in New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:1-22:5). Where Rachel died upon giving birth to Benjamin, Mary gives birth to the incarnated Christ, Jesus, the Davidic King and the Good Shepherd.
The Gospel Reading (Luke 1:39-45), which is also read on December 21, describes Mary’s visitation to her older cousin, Elizabeth.
Delighted by Archangel Gabriel’s notification of Elizabeth’s pregnancy (Luke 1:36), Mary, being pregnant with the incarnated Christ (Luke 1:31-33, 35), rushed to see her (Luke 1:39). For a young woman to travel from Bethlehem to Judea was quite risky. The road was rather ragged, far from a smooth path and hilly. It demanded a lot of strengths to travel. Nevertheless, Mary traveled in haste, because of her love for Elizabeth.
Upon Mary’s arrival at the house of Zachariah and Elizabeth, the son inside her womb, John the Baptist, leaped for joy, and then, Elizabeth recognized the presence of the incarnated Christ in Mary’s womb, with joy, because she was filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:41-43), saying:
Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled (Luke 1:42-45).
As she called Mary, “the mother of my Lord”(Luke 1:43), Elizabeth clearly recognized the son inside Mary’s body as the Christ (Messiah), whose coming had been prophesized for centuries, as in the First Reading (Micah 5:1-4).
The above words are Elizabeth’s benediction on Mary for becoming the mother of the Christ and for believing the words of Gabriel. Elizabeth also expressed her gratitude to Mary for coming all the way not only to visit her but also to bring the Christ to her and her son, John the Baptist.
What a joyful encounter between the mother of the incarnated Christ and the mother of the Christ’s forerunner! And what a delightful encounter between the Christ and his forerunner though they were still in their mothers’ wombs respectively!
This set everything ready for Elizabeth to give birth to John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, and for Mary to give birth to the incarnated Christ, as in the prophecy of Micah, as implied in Jacob’s prophetic blessing on Judah.
In the Second Reading (Hebrews 10:5-10), we see what Christ the Davidic Shepherd King is to accomplish, upon his birth, to redeem the lost and to restore what has been damaged. It is to replace the first covenant, which has been made meaningless to God by our sins and superficial faith, with the new covenant. As this requires his blood (i.e. Luke 22:20; Hebrews 9:15-28; cf. Jeremiah 31:31-34), the Christ is coming to offer himself as the ultimate sacrifice (holocaust) sin offering (i.e. Leviticus 4:27-35; 16:11-14). And this is also how the incarnated Christ fulfill God’s will as the High Priest, whose sacrifice is once for all (Hebrews 7:27), as it is the perfect sacrifice to be offered (i.e. Hebrews 9:11-28).
Christ is coming and now so near to us, though he is not visible to our eyes yet. But, if you are already filled with the Holy Spirit, then, you certainly recognize his presence, as Elizabeth and John the Baptist in her womb did. And he is coming to us by fulfilling Micah’s prophecy to be born of Mary in Bethlehem, where Rachel died upon giving birth to Benjamin, as the Davidic Shepherd King, as well as, the Living Bread of Life, to redeem us from the world of sins to his fold, his Kingdom, restoring what has been damaged. But for this to take effect, he has to offer himself as the perfect sacrifice. And through this, the new covenant is established for our eternal life.
According to Micah's prophecy, the Christ will come first in Bethlehem-Ephrathaha. Now, are we prepared to be Bethlehem-Ephrathaha, the house of bread in abundance, for him to come through us ? If so, we may already receive him in us so that we can already carry him in us and bring him to each other, as Mary did to Elizabeth and John the Baptist.
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