Study Desk

Rachel was buried beside the road to Ephrath, which is also called Bethlehem.

Unfortunately, your mother Rachel died in Canaan after we had left northern Syria and before we reached Bethlehem. And I had to bury her along the way.

The ninth region was located in the central part of Judah's hill country, and it had the following six towns with their surrounding villages: Halhul, Beth-Zur, Gedor, Maarath, Beth-Anoth, and Eltekon. The tenth region was located in the north-central part of Judah's hill country, and it had the following eleven towns with their surrounding villages: Tekoa, Ephrath, which is also called Bethlehem, Peor, Etam, Culon, Tatam, Shoresh, Kerem, Gallim, Bether, and Manahath.

Zebulun had twelve towns with their surrounding villages. Some of these were Kattath, Nahalal, Shimron, Jiralah, and Bethlehem.

Ibzan, the next leader of Israel, came from Bethlehem.

before he died and was buried in Bethlehem.

One day a young Levite came to Micah's house in the hill country of Ephraim. He had been staying with one of the clans of Judah in Bethlehem, but he had left Bethlehem to find a new place to live where he could be a priest.

"Where are you from?" Micah asked. "I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah," the man answered, "and I'm on my way to find a new place to live."

Before kings ruled Israel, a Levite was living deep in the hill country of the Ephraim tribe. He married a woman from Bethlehem in Judah,

but she was unfaithful and went back to live with her family in Bethlehem. Four months later

her husband decided to try and talk her into coming back. So he went to Bethlehem, taking along a servant and two donkeys. He talked with his wife, and she invited him into her family's home. Her father was glad to see him

"We've come from Bethlehem in Judah," the Levite answered. "We went there on a visit. Now we're going to the place where the Lord is worshiped, and later we will return to our home in the hill country of Ephraim. But no one here will let us spend the night in their home.

Before Israel was ruled by kings, Elimelech from the tribe of Ephrath lived in the town of Bethlehem. His wife was named Naomi, and their two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. But when their crops failed, they moved to the country of Moab. And while they were there,

They reached Bethlehem, and the whole town was excited to see them. The women who lived there asked, "Can this really be Naomi?"

The barley harvest was just beginning when Naomi and Ruth, her Moabite daughter-in-law, arrived in Bethlehem.

When Boaz left Bethlehem and went out to his field, he said to the harvest workers, "The Lord bless you!" They replied, "And may the Lord bless you!"

The town leaders and the others standing there said: We are witnesses to this. And we pray that the Lord will give your wife many children, just as he did Leah and Rachel, the wives of Jacob. May you be a rich man in the tribe of Ephrath and an important man in Bethlehem.

One day he said, "Samuel, I've rejected Saul, and I refuse to let him be king any longer. Stop feeling sad about him. Put some olive oil in a small container and go visit a man named Jesse, who lives in Bethlehem. I've chosen one of his sons to be my king."

Samuel did what the Lord told him and went to Bethlehem. The town leaders went to meet him, but they were terribly afraid and asked, "Is this a friendly visit?"

"A man named Jesse who lives in Bethlehem has a son who can play the harp," one official said. "He's a brave warrior, he's good-looking, he can speak well, and the Lord is with him."