Micah 5:2

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”

From Background Notes [BN] for Dec 6th & 7th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

When Matthew began his Gospel, he provided a family tree of Jesus which opens with "son of David, son of Abraham".

Here, through his quotations from Micah and 2 Samuel, he makes clear the role of Jesus as "son of David", born in Bethlehem, David's hometown. Though in 2 Samuel the text attributes the shepherd's role to David, Matthew uses this reference to support his claims about the coming one who would be born to do in the future what David had done in the past. That is, Messiah would be David's future heir and shepherd king. The difference can be found in the way Micah completes his prophecy: "his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth". Although Matthew does not explicitly include that wider context in his quotation, the reader instantly sees that with the arrival of the Magi "from the East", this coming one has now touched "the ends of the earth". Like the light of the sun, reaching the extent of the globe, so Messiah’s greatness does the same. [BN,9]

Join us this week in Study, Worship, Praise and Celebration at Chicago First Church of the Nazarene:

* Saturday 6:00pm
* Sunday 8:30am & 11:00am