Bethlehem

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. Micah 5:2

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. Luke 2:1-4

It was a small, unimportant town. Its only claim to fame was that it was the "City of David," and it was some sixty-five miles from where Joseph and Mary made their home in Nazareth.

But now they were required to journey there – not exactly great timing for Mary who, by this time, was getting close to the end of her pregnancy, and a long distance to travel, especially on foot.

Were Joseph and Mary aware of Micah’s prophecy, made over seven hundred years earlier? Possibly, but regardless, they weren’t going to Bethlehem by choice, but by law. After all, they were of the "house and line of David."

Isn’t it amazing that God had revealed so long ago that little Bethlehem would be the place? He had a plan, and it was unfolding.