The Bethlehem Delusion
What the first Christmas can teach us about prejudice's blinding effect.
“O little town of Bethlehem
How still we see thee lie?”
So goes the popular Christmas carol, and so goes the reputation of the town at the center of the Christmas story. Which begs the question: is Bethlehem actually small and unimportant? Certainly not! Bethlehem is one of the most famous cities in history and has been pivotal to many of the world's faiths and its principal characters for millennia — even before the first Christmas. The Bethlehem we sing about, a tiny forgettable place, isn't the actual Bethlehem of then or now. The town's inaccurate reputation is a delusion and should serve as an example of how misguided assumptions persist. When we pause and pay attention to the great town of Bethlehem we can clearly see why deceitful phenomena like this are so common: because prejudice blinds us.
Generalizations are one of the most efficient ways to fuel prejudice, especially when they are loud and unapologetic. Repeat the same lies often and confidently and people will begin to believe them. This is the deceptive power of prejudice at work. We most often talk about prejudice as something that relies on caricatures — pointing to rare examples as the norm — to tell us how to think about people and places. But much of what we wrongly believe about each other wasn't only passed down to us by small exaggerations of isolated anomalies, but by bold delusional lies that completely contradict reality.
Delusion: "Women aren't leaders", as if we weren't all courageously led by many brilliant women professionals, moms, aunts, and grandmas.
Delusion: "Poor people are lazy", as if many lower income citizens don't work more physically demanding jobs and longer hours.
Delusion: "Religious people aren't intelligence", as if most of the West's universities weren't founded by religious academics.
In other words: when we embrace a prejudicial opinion, we are ignoring the truth. And so it was for Bethlehem.
Bethlehem first appears in the Hebrew Bible as the burial place for the matriarch Rachel. A town that seemed to be a simple passing-by locale was now cemented in history — and its reputation only grew from there. Another key figure, Ruth, returned to Bethlehem with her mother-in-law, Naomi, and eventually married the city's wealthy landowner, Boaz. The union would be of great importance. Their family remained in Bethlehem for generations and their grandson, David, went on to become Israel's most well-known king. In other words, one cannot underestimate how very significant Bethlehem was to the region.
Despite it all, Bethlehem never became the nation's political capital, military stronghold, or religious core. A few hundred years after David's rule, the prophet Micah recorded his belief that more important events were still in store for the town's future. But even as he wrote the famous prophecy, he still described Bethlehem in humbling terms:
“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's word choice for “little” (צָעִיר) didn't simply describe Bethlehem as small in size or population, but as small in significance. Perhaps this was Micah's personal view, or perhaps it was his way of reflecting the public's likely prejudicial sentiment toward the town at the time or in the future. Either way, regarding Bethlehem as “little” (צָעִיר) required one to look away from all of its importance.
Bethlehem's story takes another interesting turn in the Apostle Matthew's account of Jesus' birth. In his description of the events, wise men from the east came looking for a promised child. According to Matthew, they believed that Micah's prophecy had come true. But when they mention the poem, they either misquoted or intentionally changed the prophet's description of Bethlehem.
“And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.”
We know little about these men — but maybe they studied Bethlehem's history. It wasn't a forgettable place, at all. It was a legendary city, set on an important location and rich in history. This is why we fight against prejudice. It never goes away on its own. It's stubborn. The way to triumph over it is to insist upon reality. The wise men shone a light on Bethlehem's truth and away from the delusion. We should do the same whenever we can. Prejudice is wrongly judging someone or something before truly knowing the full story. It take a lot of self-deception to be prejudice. It is a blinding force that seeks to hide the true beauty of things under threatening lies. Our goal then, should be to elevate reality over it. To fight prejudice, we must be truthful.
Delusion: “Bethlehem was a small insignificant town .”
Reality: “Bethlehem was, as is, a great and important town.”
This Christmas, I'm reminded that the birth of Jesus was a defiant push against all that is untrue. The life that many of us celebrate this holiday is one who was born in a town that was "too little" and grew up in another town that was devoid of "anything good." Prejudice set up its barriers against him, but it couldn't resist the relentless truth. The walls it built weren't ever real. So Jesus lived his light brightly and defeated delusion by proclaiming what was real and good, in love. In His own words, "the truth will set you free." Let us depend on him, live as he did, and fight for this freedom from falsehood. That's a Christmas worth singing about.
Have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! May it be bright and beautiful, and true.
Hebert “H” Cabral
Learning to be. In love with my wife, our three children, and our Savior. Serving End Prejudice as a leader and communicator.