by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
“Further, other claimed ‘fulfilled prophecies’ falter under scrutiny: Micah 5:2 (“born in Bethlehem”) addresses a contemporary Davidic ruler from the 8th century BCE, whereas Matthew appears to adapt the narrative to make Jesus’ origin fit this prophecy, despite other Gospel accounts indicating his roots in Nazareth.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The prophecy of Micah 5:2 reads as follows: “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting<\/em>.”<\/p>\n
\u202d \u202c\u202cThe skeptic said that “other Gospel accounts” indicate Jesus’ roots in Nazareth. It seems evident to me that this particular skeptic conveniently forgot that the same writers who mentioned Jesus was born in Bethlehem also agreed that later he was raised in Nazareth. So, this was a glaring mistake on his part. Jesus was not made to fit the prophecy by some twisting of Micah 5:2, but rather Micah 5:2 told something that could only be fulfilled by someone who lived before He was born. Jesus was “from of old, from everlasting<\/em>” and was born in the flesh in Bethlehem. There is no way to twist this verse and make it fit someone else. The skeptic offered no other candidate and couldn’t.<\/p>\n
The skeptic admits it was written in the 8th century BC but overlooks the prophecy that the house of God would change from being a war learning people to a people that would come from all nations and “learn war no more<\/em>” when the Law of the Lord went forth from Jerusalem (Micah 4:2-3). It would now become a peaceful house. So, that never happened in the 8th century BC, but it did happen in connection with Jesus. His house is not a war-learning house. It is a house of peace for all nations.\u00a0Furthermore, Jesus is the only one born in Bethlehem who is also “from of old, from everlasting<\/em>” and brought about a kingdom and a house of teaching that teaches peace, not the ways of war. Jesus is the only one who fits the prophecy. He does not “retrofit” something that has already been fulfilled by someone else. He is the only one who fulfills this prophecy.<\/p>\n
Matthew was made more credible, not less credible, when he pointed to Micah 5:2 and showed the circumstances under which Jesus was born there. But he also went on to point out that Jesus moved around and then settled in “Nazareth” (Matthew 2:23). Luke also said Jesus was born in Bethlehem (Luke 2) and later returned to Nazareth (Luke 2:39-40). So, are we to believe that all the history read and tested by Christians from the first century to now got it wrong, and now this skeptic comes to the rescue with new unknown before truth? I register my strongest doubts.<\/p>\n
The Bible not only claims to be the word of God but demonstrates it is the word of God by registering prophecy that no man could predict and force into fulfillment. People need to get their heads into the book and stop listening to liberals who make such imaginative efforts to explain away clear prophecy. We have “the prophetic word made more sure,<\/em>” and we would do well to give respectful attention to it (II Peter 1:16-21). It is a light that shines in a dark world of hopelessness!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Terry Wane Benton “Further, other claimed ‘fulfilled prophecies’ falter under scrutiny: Micah 5:2 (“born in Bethlehem”) addresses a contemporary Davidic ruler from the 8th century BCE, whereas Matthew appears to adapt the narrative to make Jesus’ origin fit this prophecy, despite other Gospel accounts indicating his roots in Nazareth.” The prophecy of Micah 5:2…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[169,1065],"class_list":["post-89611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-prophecy","tag-skeptics"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":69834,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/amazing-prophecy\/","url_meta":{"origin":89611,"position":0},"title":"Amazing Prophecy","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 17, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton \"But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, too small to be among the clans of Judah, from you one will go out for me, to be ruler in Israel; and his origins are from of old, from ancient days\" (Micah 5:2 LEB). The ruler in Israel would come\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10540,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-is-jesus-said-to-be-of-nazareth-if-he-was-born-in-bethlehem-and-who-was-the-serpent-in-the-garden\/","url_meta":{"origin":89611,"position":1},"title":"Why is Jesus said to be of Nazareth if he was born in Bethlehem and who was the serpent in the Garden?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 23, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi! My brother-in-law asked me, \"Why was Jesus called Jesus of Nazareth if he was born in Bethlehem?\" My answer was because he was only born in Bethlehem, but he was raised in Nazareth. Was I correct? He also feels that Jesus, in the form of a snake, tempted\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":46527,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/were-jesus-and-his-family-refugees\/","url_meta":{"origin":89611,"position":2},"title":"Were Jesus and his family refugees?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 18, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm wondering if Jesus and his family were refugees of political violence, or are these web posts lies? I've seen comparisons to the Syrian refugees on the web. A Google search brought me to your site. Did they flee Bethlehem to Nazareth to escape? What is the best answer\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41573,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-didnt-john-the-baptist-get-killed-with-the-rest-of-the-children\/","url_meta":{"origin":89611,"position":3},"title":"Why didn’t John the Baptist get killed with the rest of the children?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why didn't John the Baptist die, as is stated in Matthew 2:16, but lived to adulthood, baptized Jesus, and was ultimately beheaded, or is Matthew 2:16 simply wrong? 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Yet, paradoxically, the historical moment of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7794,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-matthew-fabricate-a-prophecy-to-support-his-claim-that-jesus-was-the-messiah\/","url_meta":{"origin":89611,"position":5},"title":"Did Matthew fabricate a prophecy to support his claim that Jesus was the Messiah?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 13, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have another question.\u00a0 It may seem like I am attacking Christianity with this one, but I'm not.\u00a0 I'm just very interested in studying the Bible and every now and then I come across an objection I need help answering.\u00a0 So here is the objection I found on another\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89611\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}