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Bethlehem is a village about six miles south of Jerusalem.
In the Old Testament, Rachel died near Bethlehem while giving birth to Jacob's youngest son
Benjamin (Gen 35:19). Ruth gleaned grain in the fields of a man named Boaz near Bethlehem.
The two were married and became the great-grandparents of David. Bethlehem was David's
family home and the place where Samuel anointed him to be king (1 Sam 16:4-13). Generations
later the prophet Micah promised that a future ruler of Israel would come from Bethlehem
(Mic 5:2).
In New Testament times Bethlehem was the birthplace of Jesus. Luke relates that Joseph and
Mary lived in Nazareth, but went to Bethlehem to register during a census because Joseph was a
descendant of David. There Mary gave birth to Jesus in a stable, because there was no room in the
inn (Luke 2). Matthew says that a star led wise men from the east to Bethlehem to visit Jesus.
When King Herod learned of the birth of a new king, he ordered that all the male children in and
around Bethlehem be slain; but Joseph and Mary fled to Egypt with Jesus (Matt 2).
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