Mary's journey to Bethlehem

By Ray Konig
Published: November 3, 2025
Revised: November 26, 2025

This article borrows details from the books 'Jesus the Messiah' and 'Jesus the Miracle Worker' and '100 Fulfilled Bible Prophecies', by Ray Konig, which are available on amazon.com. A similar article by Ray Konig can be found at The original Christmas story.

About 2,000 years ago, a pregnant woman from Nazareth traveled south to the town of Bethlehem, near Jerusalem. Her journey would take several days, it would pass through difficult terrain and hostile territory, and she was about to give birth.

Her name was Mary and she traveled with Joseph, with whom she was engaged to be married. Months earlier, she had been informed by an angel that she had been chosen to be the mother of the promised Messiah. She consented to the will of God and miraculously became pregnant (Luke 1:26-38).

Source: Cropped image of "The Adoration of the Shepherds" (1622), by Gerard "Gerrit" van Honthorst (1592-1656).

Joseph, as a descendant of King David, was making the journey to his ancestral home of Bethlehem to take part in a census within the Roman Empire (Luke 2:1-21). The land of Israel was part of the Roman Empire and the census would assist with the collection of taxes.

We do not have details about the specific route that Joseph and Mary took to get to Bethlehem, which is near Jerusalem, but we do have a first-century Jewish historian, Josephus, who wrote that Jews from Galilee would often travel along the path of the Jordan River when going to Jerusalem for various yearly festivals (The Wars of the Jews, 2.232-233).

That route would have taken Joseph and Mary east from Nazareth to the banks of the Jordan River. From there, they would head south until they neared the Dead Sea. At that point, they would have headed west into the area of Bethlehem and Jerusalem.

Nazareth is a small town in Galilee, which is a region in northern Israel. Jerusalem and Bethlehem are in the region of Judah, which is in southern Israel. The distance between the two towns is about 70 miles (115 kilometers) for a bird in flight. But, for a person walking, the distance can exceed 100 miles (160 kilometers) and take anywhere from 4 to 10 days to travel.

 

In between the regions of Galilee and Judah is the region of Samaria, which comprises much of central Israel. Samaria offered a great deal of danger for Jews. Although the Samaritans shared some historical, cultural and religious roots with the Jews, they largely were the descendants of foreigners who had been brought into the area about 2,700 years ago, when the Assyrians had conquered central and northern Israel.

The Samaritans shared a highly antagonistic relationship with Jews. And that is why many Jews, as noted by Josephus, chose to avoid going through the region of Samaria by traveling along the Jordan River, which was on eastern edge of Samaria.

When Joseph and Mary arrived in Bethlehem, they found no available rooms for traveling guests. So they took shelter where they could find it. Bethlehem was known for its limestone hills, which featured many natural caves and many man-made caves that were built and used as stables for livestock. Based on the details provided in the Gospel of Luke, it is generally understood that Joseph and Mary stayed in a stable, either one that was part of a cave or one that was part of a home.

It was there that Mary gave birth to a baby who would become the most influential person in history. The baby was placed in a manger (Luke 2:7), an open, wooden box that was used for feeding animals.

The birth of Jesus is recorded in the first two chapters of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Those verses describe the birth as being miraculous, that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin mother.

In Matthew’s account, he notes that the miraculous birth is the fulfillment of a prophecy in the Old Testament book of Isaiah:

22 Now all this has happened that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, 23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall give birth to a son. They shall call his name Immanuel,” which is, being interpreted, “God with us.” (Matthew 1:22-23, WEB).

Matthew is referring to Isaiah 7:13-14, which was written about 700 years before the time of Jesus:

13 He said, “Listen now, house of David. Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:13-14, WEB)

As explained in my book Jesus the Messiah, by Ray Konig, this prophecy is one of many son of David prophecies in the Old Testament that speak of the promised Messiah as being an extraordinary descendant of King David. With Isaiah 7:13-14, the prophet Isaiah revisits the very first son of David prophecy, which is in 2 Samuel 7:12-16, and adds the predictive details that the Messiah would have a miraculous virgin birth and be called Immanuel, which means God with us.

These two details are related. It is the miraculous birth that positions the Messiah to be both human and divine, to be -- in a literal, plain and actual sense -- God with us. Because Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a woman, he is fully human and fully divine. He is God with us.

The Hebrew word alma, which appears in Isaiah 7:14, is often translated as virgin and sometimes as young maiden. This word, alma, is critically important. It appears only three times in the underlying Hebrew text of the Old Testament in reference to a specific person, as explained in the book Jesus the Messiah.

The first time that the word alma is used for a specific person is in Genesis 24:43, in reference to Rebekah, a virgin who was soon to be married to Isaac. She gives birth to Jacob, who becomes the father of the 12 Tribes of Israel. Rebekah is the first woman through whom all Israelites, including her son Jacob, can trace their ancestry. She is the mother of Israel.

The second time that alma is used for a specific person is in Exodus 2:8, in reference to Miriam. She is the sister of Moses and the deliverer of Moses. She plays a key role in saving Moses’ life (Exodus 2:1-10). Moses later becomes the one who delivers the people of Israel.

The third time that alma is used for a specific person is in Isaiah 7:13-14, where Isaiah speaks of the mother of the Messiah, the savior of the world. The Messiah is the one descendant of Israel who offers deliverance to people throughout the world.

As explained throughout the New Testament, Jesus, by way of his miraculous birth, is God incarnate. He is able to be perfect, sinless, humanly mortal and divinely eternal, to suffer and die for our sins, to be resurrected, to offer salvation, to preside over Judgment Day, and to reign eternally over the Kingdom of God, also known as the Kingdom of Heaven.

The significance of Bethlehem

When Joseph and Mary completed their journey to Bethlehem in Judah, they did far more than comply with the requirements of participating in a Roman census. They fulfilled prophecy.

About 700 years earlier, a prophet named Micah foretold that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem:

1 Now you shall gather yourself in troops, daughter of troops. He has laid siege against us. They will strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek.

2 But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, being small among the clans of Judah, out of you one will come out to me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings out are from of old, from ancient times.

3 Therefore he will abandon them until the time that she who is in labor gives birth. Then the rest of his brothers will return to the children of Israel.

4 He shall stand, and shall shepherd in the strength of Yahweh, in the majesty of the name of Yahweh his God: and they will live, for then he will be great to the ends of the earth. (Micah 5:1-4, WEB)

This is a remarkable prophecy that revealed that the Messiah would not be born in Jerusalem, which is addressed here as the daughter of troops and as the site where a predicted siege soon would occur. Instead, the Messiah would be born in the nearby humble town of Bethlehem, which is where King David had been born about 3,000 years ago.

This prophecy addresses the Messiah as a promised ruler. In other son of David prophecies, such as 2 Samuel 7:12-16 and Isaiah 7:13-14, the Messiah is addressed as a promised king who would be born as a son to the House of David. Here, with Micah’s prophecy, the promised king is summarized as a promised ruler.

Micah’s prophecy was given about 2,700 years ago. It is one of the oldest son of David prophecies to reaffirm both that the Messiah would be an extraordinary descendant of David and that he would have a worldwide impact, which is foretold in verse 4 with the phrase he will be great to the ends of the earth.

Micah’s prophecy is very powerful in a simple way. It eliminates all other cities, towns, villages and settlements in the world as the place where the Messiah would be born. The Messiah would be born in the small humble village of Bethlehem, just outside of Jerusalem, and he would become great to the ends of the earth.

Today, some 2,000 years after Joseph and Mary made their way to Bethlehem, Jesus is only religious figure to be revered by at least tens of millions of followers on every inhabitable continent of the world.

© Copyright Ray Konig, author of Jesus the Messiah, Jesus the Prophet, Jesus the Miracle Worker, and 100 Fulfilled Bible Prophecies.

Related articles

• Isaiah predicted the miraculous virgin birth of Jesus

• The Messiah would be born in Bethlehem

• Bethlehem - Messiah's birthplace: A detailed look at Micah 5:2 and the objections that skeptics have

• The original Christmas story