Wise Men

Now muster your troops, O daughter of troops; siege is laid against us; with a rod they strike the judge of Israel on the cheek. But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. And he shall be their peace.
Micah 5:1–5a
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Wise Men
The wise men come from the east looking for the Christ who has been born. They have followed his star and have come to the great city of Jerusalem. They ask, “Where is he that has been born King of the Jews?” Herod is terrified. So is all of Jerusalem. Jerusalem should be terrified. When Herod is paranoid, strange and horrible things happen. Will a new king take his kingdom from him? But the real king, Augustus, isn’t worried about a baby in little ole Ephrathah—in Bethlehem—only Herod. So the Chief Priests and the Scribes search the Scriptures for the location of the birth of the King of the Jews. They search and land on Micah 5:2. Little Bethlehem, the city of David, in the insignificant half tribe of Ephrathah, is the location of the birth of your Savior. All the prophecies of the Law and the Prophets come to completion in this Jesus, born in Bethlehem. The promise, even in the Garden of Eden, is made complete in Bethlehem. Now, the little half tribe isn’t so little and insignificant. Just like humanity isn’t any longer lame and dejected. The people who were rotten in sin and death are now forgiven and alive and made whole. He has delivered us out of the hand of every enemy.