O Little Town of Bethlehem

Isaiah was not the only prophet God used to proclaim the coming Messiah. Isaiah is one of the Major Prophets, but one of the Minor Prophets near the back of the Old Testament also spoke of Jesus' coming. His name was Micah. He spoke about where Jesus would be born.

"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." Micah 5:2

Bethlehem during biblical times was not a very important city. It wasn't like Jerusalem where the temple had been and where it would rebuilt (before finally being destroyed around 70 AD). The only other times it's mentioned in the Scriptures is in connection with King David (he was born there), and with Ruth which heralds back to the years even before King David. At no time was Bethlehem an important city.

So to say that this ruler whose coming was foretold in ancient days would come from Bethlehem would be like like saying important people came from [insert most insignificant town you can think of]. It just really didn't happen.

But God has a habit of using the people and places that we humans really don't put much stock in. He consistently used younger siblings in the Old Testament (during a time when society was patriarchal and hierarchical  based off birth order of sons); nor was he afraid to use women (Deborah, Jael, Abigail, Ruth, Rahab, Esther . . . to name but a few); so is it really a big surprise that the place where Jesus would be born would be a place not many people thought of?