free while helping to build churches and support pastors in Uganda.
Click here to learn more!
Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary
This was a city in Judah. (Joshua 17:7) The name means, house of bread; from Beth, house; and lechem, or lehem bread. It was beautifully significant of Christ, who was from everlasting appointed to be born there, (Micah 5:2) and was, and is, and ever will be, the bread of life, and the living bread to his people; of which whosoever eateth shall live for ever! Lord! I would say with the disciples, evermore give me this bread. There was another Bethlehem in Zebulun, though it is but rarely spoken of in Scripture. (Joshua 19:15) But this Bethlehem must be ever dear to every follower of Jesus. It was connected with and formed part of Ephratah. Here Jacob buried his beloved Rachel. (Genesis 35:19-20) I would have the reader compare what Micah saith concerning this Bethlehem, with an eye to Christ, and look at what Matthew hath observed also on the subject. (Micah 5:2; Matthew 2:1-6) The Holy Ghost evidently had Jesus in view in that sweet history of Ruth, when the certain man, Eli-melech, representing our whole nature, left Bethlehem the land of bread, for the Moab of the world; and when with his children Mahlon and Chillon, sickness and disease overtook him and all his posterity. (Ruth 1:1) David's cry for the waters of Bethlehem, (see 2 Samuel 23:15-17) hath always been considered as typical of the soul's thirst for Jesus, the bread of life.
These files are public domain.
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Hawker, Robert D.D. Entry for 'Bethlehem'. Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance and Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/pmd/b/bethlehem.html. London. 1828.