Was Jesus to be born in Bethlehem? ~ Cross reference of Matthew 2:6 to Malachi 5:1


There is a prophecy in Micah that the messiah will come out of Bethlehem.  Matthew states that Joseph was a native of Bethlehem and ensures Jesus is born in Bethlehem.

It was important for Matthew to establish that Jesus was the messiah that the Jews were waiting for, so he uses Micah 5 to establish this.

If you read Micah 5 you will see that the Messiah would not only come from Bethlehem [Does not say born] and could just mean that his line will be come a great person who was born in Bethlehem. 

More importantly Micah says there are very specific things the messiah will achieve. Matthew conveniently leaves out all those details and inserts something about shepherding his people. 

All Images are links to Google Images. Copyright violations not intended.
All Greek Text references are from NIV and Tanakh references are from Chabad.

This post is not intended to offend anyone's faith but for those people who are Seeking the truth of THE ONE TRUE G-D of the universe to who we owe all our love, gratitude & devotion.

My encouragement to you is that you read the whole chapter that the Greek text quotes so you get the context and understand what G-d actually said.

G-d Bless and Seek THE Truth.

Matthew 2:6 “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

Micah 5:1
And you, Bethlehem Ephrathah-you should have been the lowest of the clans of Judah-from you [he] shall emerge for Me, to be a ruler over Israel; and his origin is from of old, from days of yore. 2 Therefore, He shall deliver them until the time a woman in confinement gives birth. And the rest of his brothers shall return upon the children of Israel. 3
And he shall stand and lead with the might of the Lord, with the pride of the Lord, his God: and they shall return, for now he shall become great to the ends of the earth.

There are three possible explanations of why G-d chose Bethlehem as the city from where the messiah will come.
  • David came from the line of Ruth who was a Moabitess and hence his blood line was considered the least of the royal lineage.
  • David was considered the lowest in his family.
  • Bethlehem was a very small city among the cities of Israel.
That said let us review from facts that do not show that Jesus is being prophesied in Micah 5.
  • Micah 5:2 is talking about this person bringing the rest of Israel’s lost tribes back to Israel. This did not happen. On the contrary after Jesus's death Jews were exiled.
  • Micah 5:3 talks about a mighty ruler who will have the blessing of G-d and he will rule to the ends of the earth.
  • The tribe of a Jew is decided by the father. Jesus never had an earthly father.
  • The mother only decides if you are a Jew or not.
  • Micah 5 does not say that first time he will die for peoples sins and second time he will do all the things that Micah 5 said.
  • Consider some points on the Greek Text as well
  • Matthew has Jesus be born in Bethlehem as Joseph was from Bethlehem
  • Luke makes Joseph go to Bethlehem by creating a census that was ordered by Caesar Augustus for which there is no historical evidence from any Jewish or Roman historical documents.

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