Bethlehem wasn’t an impressive or important place at the time Mary and Joseph were on their way there. A thousand years earlier it had produced the greatest of kings, David, but life had been quiet there since.
Yet at around the same time as Isaiah, over 700 years before Jesus was born, another prophet, Micah, had seen that it was in Bethlehem that the king greater than David would one day be born. Perhaps if Joseph had remembered that prophecy he wouldn’t have been so sure that God would make sure they had time to get back to Nazareth before Jesus was born!
Is there anything you’re missing in the Bible that might mean you’ll have to change your plans about the future? Ask God to show you what you need to know!
Nick Watson 