The Birth of the Baby
"... she gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him in strips of cloth and ... laid him in a manger." [Luke 2:7]
How brief is the account of the birth of Jesus! No suspense or anxiety is suggested, just the fact of the birth, and the preparation for visitors. The centre of attention is not the birth of the baby, but the baby himself and the response to him by those who come to learn of his birth.
Though the account of Jesus' birth in Matthew assumes that his parents lived in Bethlehem, Luke knows that Joseph lived in Nazareth. The prophet Micah [5:2-5], however, indicates that the future ruler of Israel must be born in Bethlehem. To claim this prophecy for Jesus of Nazareth, whom he and his readers have come to accept as that future ruler, he must transport Mary to Bethlehem. This he does on analogy with the ancestress Rachel [Genesis 35:19-21], who gives birth to her youngest son in Bethlehem following a journey from the north!