Bethlehem lies about six miles south of Jerusalem, and its Hebrew name means house of bread. It was the home of Ruth and Boaz, the birthplace of King David, and — seven centuries before the event — the town the prophet Micah named as the birthplace of the Messiah: but thou, Bethlehem Ephratah... out of thee shall he come forth that is to be ruler in Israel.
When Caesar's census drew Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem, prophecy was quietly fulfilled, and the Bread of Life was born in the house of bread, laid in a manger where animals fed. That the King of kings entered the world in so small and humble a town is part of the gospel's pattern: God delights to use the little and overlooked.
Bethlehem in Scripture
But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.