Expectations and Ancient Origins

December 20, 2015
First Reading: Micah 5:1-4a
http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/122015.cfm

We have consistent expectations. Strong people do strong things. Weak people do weak things. The rich and powerful just keep getting more rich and more powerful. The poor and powerless keep staying poor and powerless. There’s only a story to write about when a rich celebrity has a surprising collapse from the realms of power or when a poor man pulls himself up by his bootstraps and becomes famously wealthy. Both narratives, the rags-to-riches and the riches-to-rags, are familiar in America. These stories are powerful because they upend our expectations. Something unusual is afoot when the powerful are taken down or when the powerless rise. God himself is a master of the art of exercising his power through the powerless, bringing something out of nothing. He is the one who takes the small, the meek, the lowly, and gives them the kingdom. He even says, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 19:14).

Bethlehem-Ephrathah

This paradoxical way that God demonstrates his power comes to the fore in the Christmas story. This Sunday’s reading from Micah 5:1-4a highlights God’s desire to bring his powerful redemption out of surprisingly humble circumstances. It centers around a place: Bethlehem (which means “house of bread”). Here, the city is called “Bethlehem-Ephrathah.” Ephrathah seems to be an ancient name for Bethlehem (Gen 35:19; 48:7; Ruth 4:11), maybe a small village that was eventually absorbed into the city. Its meaning is mostly likely “fruitful,” which would be an appropriate name for a city that would “bear” the Messiah.

Why Bethlehem?

The prophecy is clear: the new “ruler in Israel” will come from Bethlehem. In fact, Herod’s advisors remind him of this prophecy when the wisemen come to visit him (Matt 2:5), which is why he sends his soldiers to murder the children in Bethlehem (2:16). But why Bethlehem? The new ideal ruler of Israel that God will raise up to trump the bad shepherds of Israel (see Micah 3) will be like David, a descendent of David, a new David. The prophets assure us time and again that God will reign over his people through the new David (Jer 30:9; Ezek 34:23-24, 37:24-25; Hos 3:5). Well, Bethlehem is David’s hometown. The new David will come from the same place that the old David did, the least significant town in Judah.

Obscure Origins of a Ruler

When God sent the prophet Samuel to anoint the new king over the people of Judah, he sent him to Bethlehem. While we would expect the king to come from a prominent family in the capital city, God sends the prophet to a remote suburb of Jerusalem. And even when Samuel arrives there, he expects to anoint the eldest, tallest, most handsome son, but in fact, God has other ideas. Samuel reviews all of Jesse’s sons and realizes that none of them are the chosen one. He actually has to ask if there is another. Sure enough: “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep” (1 Sam 16:11 RSV). Samuel anoints the youngest son, from this family in the least important town as the king of all Judah. God chose this small, seemingly unimportant person to be the leader of his people. In the same way, God will bring the new David from a place a relative obscurity—the son of a carpenter, born in a cattle stall—to be the ruler over his people for all time.

From Ancient Days

Micah tells us that the new David’s “origin is from of old, from ancient days” (Mic 5:2). While on the one hand, this tells us that he has the ancient lineage of David. Remember, you had to be in the family, a great-great-great grandson of David in order to become king. And indeed that ancestry would be ancient, since by Jesus’ time we could trace the line of David back a thousand years. Yet the prophecy goes even deeper. Not only would the new David be a true descendant of David, his origins would be far more ancient than David could imagine. For Jesus “is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation” (Col 1:15). The new David is, in fact, more ancient than the old David. His origin is eternally ancient as he proceeds from the Father from all eternity.

Returning, Standing, Shepherding

Micah tells us that the Lord will “give them up” until the birth of the new David. That is, he will allow his people to be subject to foreign rulers until the birth of the new king. But when the new king arrives “the rest of his brethren shall return” (Mic 5:3), which means that the Jews who had been exiled from the Holy Land will be brought back. Not only that, but he will stand and rule his people as a shepherd. Again, the symbolism is rich. A king would normally sit, so when the king stands, everyone takes notice since it means he will act. Not only that, but David was a shepherd, then a king. The new David will be a shepherd, not like the corrupt leaders of Israel (blamed in Micah 3), but a good shepherd, one like David. The prophets elsewhere expand on the shepherding prowess of the new David (Zech 10–11; Ezek 34). The flock of the new shepherd will “dwell secure” (Mic 5:4), meaning that they will be protected from predators, which represent the ancient enemies of Judah. “And he shall be their peace” (5:5). The new David will stand in the gap and bring shalom for God’s people. He will be the ultimate peacemaker, reconciling man to God.

This prophecy reminds us that God is in control of the story. The events in the Bible are not random. God planned from all eternity to send his Son as a little baby to a backwater town in Judah to be born in a stable and laid in a feed-trough. He knew what he was doing and gave us a glimpse of the plan through the prophet Micah. So when we see his plan coming to fruition in the birth of Christ, we can be confident that our God fulfills his promises. We can trust that he will bring great good out of unexpected, small places and bring his plan to fruition in our own lives.

image: Renata Sedmakova / Shutterstock.com

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Mark Giszczak (“geese-check”) was born and raised in Ann Arbor, MI. He studied philosophy and theology at Ave Maria College in Ypsilanti, MI and Sacred Scripture at the Augustine Institute of Denver, CO. He recently received his Ph. D. in Biblical Studies at the Catholic University of America. He currently teaches courses in Scripture at the Augustine Institute, where he has been on faculty since 2010. Dr. Giszczak has participated in many evangelization projects and is the author of the CatholicBibleStudent.com blog. He has written introductions to every book of the Bible that are hosted at CatholicNewsAgency.com. Dr. Giszczak, his wife and their daughter, live in Colorado where they enjoy camping and hiking in the Rocky Mountains.

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