Gen 35:19, So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). In reading this chapter of Genesis, this verse stuck out to me as something in which to delve more deeply. Maybe it is the fact that Christmas is on the horizon, but I had not really considered the fact that Rachel was buried on the way to Bethlehem in my prior readings of Genesis. I hope that you will bear with me as we look at some of the other passages of scripture which deal with this town of Bethlehem in the history of Christ’s birth. It was apparently a place of extreme importance to the plan of God as it is mentioned a variety of times within both the Old and New Testament and was the prophesied town of the Messiah. 
	It is in the Book of Micah that we have the well known prophesy concerning Bethlehem. Please turn to Mic 5: 2-5a as we read it together. Mic 5:2-5a, "But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity." Therefore, He will give them up until the time When she who is in labor has borne a child. Then the remainder of His brethren Will return to the sons of Israel. And He will arise and shepherd His flock In the strength of the Lord, In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God. And they will remain, Because at that time He will be great To the ends of the earth. And this One will be our peace… 
	What a wonderful portrait of the Christ is painted for the Children of Israel by the Prophet. As Micah states, this was in the heart of God from before the eternal ages began. There will come to the sons of Israel a Shepherd to guide and to direct and to comfort and to protect the flock in … In the strength of the Lord, In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God… He will be great To the ends of the earth. And this One will be our peace. 
	Out of this little town would arise the One in Whom all eternity is vested and finds fulfillment. This Promised One would be loving and kind and caring as a shepherd with a flock of sheep, taking care of each one as precious and to be guarded with the power of God Almighty. His name would be majestic as His would be the very name of the Lord God. Not only would He be great to the ends of the earth, but He would be peace to the very people to His people as the shepherd’s voice speaks calmness and stillness to the ears of his beloved flock. He is the peace by Whom we are enabled to deal with all the chaos that surrounds us in this life. It is in Him, Alone, that every issue, every problem, every decision, every circumstance, every trial, and every storm is stilled and quieted and conquered in the power and the majesty of Him as our lives on this earth. 
	Continuing on, this town of Bethlehem was of importance even in the time of the judges of Israel, before the coming of the Christ. There were those, from the humility and the obscurity of this little town of Bethlehem, who presented their hearts after serving God. We see in this the very preparation for the Christ to come as God worked and manifested Himself by their deeds and their responses and their desire in seeking to obey and to honor Him.
	In the Book of Ruth, Bethlehem plays a central role as the city from which Naomi and her family left to go to the land of Moab, and then the place of her return to Israel with Ruth. Ruth 1:1+2, Now it came about in the days when the judges governed, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the land of Moab with his wife and his two sons. And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife, Naomi; and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem in Judah. Now they entered the land of Moab and remained there. 
As Bethlehem was her home of birth, Naomi, when she was left without any male heirs in her family, returned there in order to be with her own people. Ruth accompanied her to that town and it was there that she met Boaz, who became her redeemer in that town of Bethlehem. Please turn to Ruth 4:11-15. Ruth 4:11-15, And all the people who were in the court, and the elders, said, "We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, both of whom built the house of Israel; and may you achieve wealth in Ephrathah and become famous in Bethlehem. Moreover, may your house be like the house of Perez whom Tamar bore to Judah, through the offspring which the Lord shall give you by this young woman." So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife, and he went in to her. And the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. Then the women said to Naomi, "Blessed is the Lord who has not left you without a redeemer today, and may his name become famous in Israel. May he also be to you a restorer of life and a sustainer of your old age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you and is better to you than seven sons, has given birth to him." 
This is no coincidence or happenstance, as we will see in our studies. It is the very Hand of God in operation that brought Ruth back to Bethlehem with her mother-in-law in order to meet and eventually marry Boaz, who was from that town. In their union, as husband and wife, they had this child whom they called Obed, who was the father of Jesse, the father of David. The lineage of the Christ, through David was being well-established by God in these dealings in the hearts and the minds of these two, one an Israelite from Bethlehem and the other a Moabite. Not only does this show an inclusion into Christ of all the nations in the heart of God, but there is also His divine hand operating to cause Ruth to desire to leave her family and come into this little town with her mother-in-law. 
In her heart, she wanted to take care of this woman and to serve her God in love and in caring and in faithfulness. It was that character of caring and consideration that drew Boaz to love Ruth and to cause him to take her as his wife, thus bringing into fulfillment the birth of Obed, the father of Jesse, the father of David. 
One thing that many of us do not seem to appreciate in our upward and mobile society is that generation after generation of families used to stay put and farm and harvest the same land. It was a time in which the family would stay together and live together in multi-generational units for decade after decade after decade. The land was their inheritance and the town of their birth was usually the scope of their travels throughout their life-times. 
For Naomi to leave and then return with Ruth to Bethlehem was highly unusual, as we read in Ruth 1:19, So they both went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came about when they had come to Bethlehem, that all the city was stirred because of them, and the women said, "Is this Naomi?" The little community was stirred up with wonder and with interest at such a thing. This manifested how God was at work to bring all the pieces together into one place for the ultimate implementation of His eternal plan and purpose. Boaz was there, and Ruth had to be brought into that location because Boaz, and his son, and his son’s son became anchored to that community. 
	The heritage of King David is expressed in the fact that he was from the city of Bethlehem as declared in 1 Sam 17:12. Now David was the son of the Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, whose name was Jesse, and he had eight sons. And Jesse was old in the days of Saul, advanced in years among men. Just as with his father, and his father’s father, and his father’s father’s father,  
David was from the town of Bethlehem, born and raised in that small community. God chose him as King over Israel, a shepherd, just as relayed in type in Micah’s prophesy, to be anointed as God’s King over His people. 
	Even in the command of the Lord to Samuel, in Samuel’s fear and dread of the consequences, we find that this was not something which was considered in honor but in trembling and in trepidation. The elders of Bethlehem were afraid of why Samuel had come to their city and even Samuel was in fear of what was being put into place by the command of God. 
	Please read along with me in your Bibles, 1 Sam 16:1-4. 1 Sam 16:1-4, Now the Lord said to Samuel, "How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have selected a king for Myself among his sons." But Samuel said, "How can I go? When Saul hears of it, he will kill me." And the Lord said, "Take a heifer with you, and say, 'I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.' "And you shall invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for Me the one whom I designate to you." So Samuel did what the Lord said, and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the city came trembling to meet him and said, "Do you come in peace?" 
	"Do you come in peace?" God had foretold that the Chosen One, the Christ would be the peace of His people, and that was what they wanted even as Samuel entered their gates. But their idea of peace was not the peace of God, but of how King Saul would respond if Samuel did something that would spark his anger and his animosity and his vengeance. They were afraid that Samuel, the declared Prophet of the Lord, might be stirring up a hornet’s nest among them, a far cry from the peace and quiet that they craved in just being left alone to till their soil and harvest their crops. They wanted no trouble and no disturbances to be brought into their midst by this prophet of God. 
	While they were in fear of what could happen, the prophet fulfilled his commission unto the Lord by anointing young David, son of Jesse, son of Obed, from the little town of Bethlehem as the Lord’s King over all the Children of Israel. This would soon have great consequences upon the whole history of Israel, and all humanity as the birth of the Christ was to be accomplished in that city of David.
	As we can read together in Luke 2:1-11, Luke 2:1-11, Now it came about in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all were proceeding to register for the census, everyone to his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, in order to register, along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child. And it came about that while they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her first-born son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. And in the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields, and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. And the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 
	All the promises of the Messiah, the Christ, were brought to completion in that town of Bethlehem. The community, which was of little repute in the whole land of Israel when compared to Jerusalem and to most of the other cities of that time, became the birthplace of the One in Whom all humanity would receive the love of God as per His divine plan and purpose from before the creation of the universe. 
	The wise men sought to bring Him glory and honor and blessing as we read in Matt 2:1-6. Matt 2:1-6, Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east, and have come to worship Him." And when Herod the king heard it, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he began to inquire of them where the Christ was to be born. And they said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it has been written by the prophet, 'And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, Are by no means least among the leaders of Judah; For out of you shall come forth a Ruler, Who will shepherd My people Israel.'" 
	Sadly, for the inhabitants of that small community, the anger and the dread and the animosity that had been feared from King Saul at the anointing of David came to fruition at the birth of The Christ-Child. King Herod sought to eliminate any threat to his power as recorded in Matt 2:16-18, Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its environs, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had ascertained from the magi. Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying, "A voice was heard in Ramah, Weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; And she refused to be comforted, Because they were no more." 
	As we began with the death of Rachel on the way to Ephrath, so we conclude this morning with the reality that mankind will do such awful things to try to consolidate and maintain power and riches and fame. Whenever we are faced with the loss of those earthly things which we gather unto ourselves, we tend to strike out and attack and manipulate to get our way. King Herod, in seeking to maintain his throne, put to death the very core heritage of his own people in that community of Bethlehem. It was but a futile attempt to stop the hand of God from accomplishing that which could never be stopped or eliminated. There is no scheme of man or angel that can thwart God’s Mighty Hand in the operation of His heart of love. For us, as the Redeemed of the Lord, we take complete solace and strength and encouragement and comfort in the fact that His plan will always be completed on earth as it is in heaven. So be it! 
So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). Amen.

	
This morning’s benediction is Ps 103:19-22. The Lord has established His throne in the heavens; And His sovereignty rules over all. Bless the Lord, you His angels, Mighty in strength, who perform His word, Obeying the voice of His word! Bless the Lord, all you His hosts, You who serve Him, doing His will. Bless the Lord, all you works of His, In all places of His dominion; Bless the Lord, O my soul! Amen.