O Little Town of Bethlehem, from Family Christmas OnlineTMIn 1868, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a well-known speaker and Episcopal priest named Phillip Brooks was serving in the Church of the Advent. That Christmas season, he remembered his trip to Israel three years earlier, and especially his visit to Bethlehem, which was still a fairly small town northeast of Jerusalem. His memories of seeing Bethlehem against the night sky helped to inspire the poem which became the lyrics to this song.Soon afterwords, the church's organist, Lewis H. Redner, wrote a tune for the words. The song was probably first sung on Christmas day in 1868 by a Sunday school children's choir. In England (and sometimes in Episcopal churches), this song is often sung to another tune called Ephratah, written by Uzziah C. Burnap, in 1895. Bethlehem's HeritageBethlehem was a sleepy farm town during the days of the Judges. Its nickname was Ephratah, which means fruitful. When a Moabite widow named Ruth married and bore children to an old Judaite named Boaz, only a prophet could have seen that they were founding a dynasty, starting with their great-grandson, King David. For a fairly small place, it receives a lot of attention in the Bible, mostly revolving around a promise that a great future leader would come from the town.Micah 5:2 - Years after David's dynasty has fallen on hard times, an Old Testament prophet predicted that a future deliverer will come from Bethlehem: "But thou, Bethlehem Ephrathah, which art little to be among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall one come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting." Luke 2:1-7 - Joseph and his wife Mary, Judean by descent traveled from their home in Galilee to Bethlehem (in Judea) for a Roman census. There Mary's son Jesus was born. Matthew 2:1-5 - When the Magi from the east sought the "King of the Jews," Herod's contacts in the temple told him that the Messiah should be born in Bethlehem. They probably did not realize that they were signing the "death warrants" for all the infant boys there. John 7:41-42 - People who weren't sure Jesus was the Messiah argued that the Messiah couldn't come from Galilee because he was supposed to be born in Bethlehem. So by the time of Jesus' ministry, both the priests and the people understood that the Messiah was supposed to come from Bethlehem. But only those who knew of Joseph and Mary's amazing journey knew the whole truth. When you sing or hear "O Little Town of Bethlehem," remember that the place of Jesus' birth was not an accident, but a provision that fulfilled a seven-century-old prophecy and helped fulfill God's great plan for the redemption of the world. Resources
LyricsO little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie!
Amazon Sound Clips and RecordingsThis is a new feature to help our traditional Christmas music pages "connect" a little better to our readers in 2010. To help you get a feeling for how various artists perform this song, we're providing a link to the "sound clip" feature on Amazon. By clicking on the arrow, you can hear a 15-25 second clip from each artist. If you decide to buy and download a recording, just click on the Buy MP3 button next to the artist you want and follow the instructions.If the little boxes on the right don't have song, artist, or album names when you first view this page, try hitting the refresh button.
More Great Sound Clips of This SongAmazon has dozens more great sound clips of this song by first-tier artists like Frank Sinatra, Jewel, Barbara Streisand, Harry Connick Jr., Dolly Parton, and many more. But if I try to put even the best ten or so on this page, it won't load very well on some computers. So if you want to browse the rest of the clips for yourself, please click the following link:
If you have any corrections or comments you would like to make about this page, please contact me and I will be glad to hear from you. God bless - Paul
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