Bēthleem (Bethlehem) comes from the Hebrew Beth Lechem meaning "house of bread" or "house of food." It was a small town in Judah about 6 miles south of Jerusalem, in the hill country. It was the ancestral home of David and — as prophesied in Micah 5:2 — the birthplace of the Messiah.
Bethlehem is theology in miniature: a small, overlooked town becomes the birthplace of the Bread of Life. Micah's prophecy (5:2) named it centuries in advance: “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.” The very smallness of Bethlehem was the point — God delights in choosing the least to accomplish the greatest. Ruth gleaned grain in Bethlehem's fields; the Grain of Wheat who must die and rise was born there. Every loaf of bread eaten in that town gestured toward the One who would say, “I am the bread of life.”