Where did Micah prophesy that Jesus would be born?

Answer 1

It clearly does.

Micah 5:2 (King James Version)2But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

Jesus clearly is the only one who has been 'from everlasting'. Some prophecies also have a multiple level of meaning. Thus, although some details may be fulfilled in a time relatively close to the time, other remain to be fulfilled later such as when Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

The Jewish scribes of Jesus' own day clearly saw this as a prophecy which spoke of the Messiah being born in Bethlehem, hence their to Herod in Matthew2:6.

Micah 5 verse 2 does not prophesied the advent of Jesus for the follwing reason;

1."Bethlehem Ephratah" in Micah 5:2 refers not to a town, but to a clan: the clan of Bethlehem, who was the son of Caleb's second wife, Ephrathah. see 1 Chronicles 2:18, 2:50, 4:4.

2. Micah 5:2 does not refer to the Messiah, but rather to a miltary leader, as can be seen from verse 5:6. This leader is supposed to defeat the Assyrians, which, Jsus never did.

5:6 And they shall wste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders.

Answer 2

A:

Matthew's Gospel shows the prophet Isaiah prophesying the birth of Jesus, although the passage that does so (Matthew 1:23) is in error, being based on a mistranslation of Isaiah 7:14.

What the prophet Isaiah actually wrote in the original Hebrew was, "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, the young woman shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel" (The young woman in question did have a child just a few verses later in Isaiah's book). However, the Septuagint, a flawed early Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, inadvertently altered the word for 'young woman' to 'virgin. Writing in Greek, the author of Matthew relied on the Septuagint and was no doubt unaware of the error. He wrote of this as a prophecy of Jesus.

Answer 3

The first two that come to mind are:

Matthew 15:7-9 which records Jesus quoting Isaiah 29:13+14: "Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying 'This people honoreth me with their lips; But their heart is far from me'. But in vain do they worship me, Teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men".(ASV)

Luke 4:17-21 is the account of Jesus quoting from Isaiah 61:1+2 and making personal application. "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn..."

**And, of course, there were a number of prophecies from Isaiah that were fulfilled in Jesus (John 12:37, 38 / Isaiah 53:1) (Matthew 1:22+23 / Isaiah 7:14)

Answer 4

A:In the King James Version, Micah 5:2 says: "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." This has been read as a prophecy by the Old Testament prophet Micah that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem.

The King James translastion could indeed be read as a possible foretelling of the birth of Jesus, based on the use of the words "from everlasting," which would seem to be a reference to the divine. But, when we look at the oringinal, we find a much more ordinary statement, relevant to the political times that Micah was writing about: (Jewish Tanach), "And you, Bethlehem Ephrathah-you should have been the lowest of the clans of Judah-from you [he] shall emerge for Me, to be a ruler over Israel; and his origin is from of old, from days of yore." Here we find "from days of yore", which the King James translators mistranslated as "from everlasting."

The Hebrew Book of Micah, as read by Jewish translators, ought to be right but we can check another translation. The NIV Bible does indeed agree with the Jewish Tanach. Without the King James Version error, it is hard to get a prophecy of Jesus born in Bethlehem out of the Book of Micah.

Answer 5

Micah prophesied in Micah 5:2 that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem, saying, "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."