It is one I also like, because it is so easy to answer.
No, Baha'u'llah was not born in Bethlehem.
3. Begotten in Babylon
I was able to discover several additional
clues concerning my second
proof and Babylon. The prophecies of Islám, among which were references to the return of the Spirit of Jesus the Christ, made mention of Baghdád (ancient Babylon). The Qur’án alluded to that city as the ‘Abode of Peace’ to which God Himself ‘calleth’.
God Passes By, Shoghi Effendi, p. 110. To that city, in that same Book, further allusion had been made in the verse: “For them is a Dwelling of Peace with their Lord … on the Day whereon God shall gather them all together.”
God Passes By, Shoghi Effendi, p. 110,
op cit. Isaiah also spoke of Babylon and the
last days when the people would be ‘gathered’ together. In successive chapters leading up to his promise for Babylon, Isaiah declares:
1. “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else.” Isaiah 45:22.
2. “Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel … even I will carry, and will deliver you.” Isaiah 46:3–4.
3. “As for our Redeemer, the Lord of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel.” Isaiah 47:4. Then Isaiah calls upon them all to hear the words of the one he (God) hath chosen among them in Babylon:
4. “All ye, assemble yourselves, and hear; which among them hath declared these things?
The Lord hath loved him: he will do his pleasure on
Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.” Isaiah 48:14.
5. “I, even I, have spoken;
yea, I have called him: I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.” Isaiah 48:15.
6. “Come ye near unto me …
the Lord God, and his Spirit, hath sent me.” Isaiah 48:16.
7. “Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer … which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldst go.” Isaiah 48:17.
Isaiah concludes with the words:
8. “Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye,
The Lord hath redeemed his servant Jacob.” Isaiah 48:20.
Thus Isaiah, like Micah, prophesied that Israel would be redeemed in Babylon. Bahá’u’lláh came to Baghdád (Babylon) and there proclaimed his mission to the world. Unwanted, and unwelcome, he did ‘go forth of Babylon’ and did ‘flee from the Chaldeans’ until he reached the Holy Land that became the world centre of his Faith. This, too, had been foretold by Isaiah in these same chapters. “I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it…and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place my salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.” Isaiah 46:11, 13.
However, it was in the Book of Zechariah that I found the most striking evidence of all that the great Redeemer of the last days would come from Babylon. When Zechariah saw the vision of the one who would say: ‘
I am returned to Jerusalem’, he also beheld two olive trees. He asked God to tell him the meaning of the appearance of these two olive trees which appeared in his vision.
“Knowest thou not what these be?’ the Lord asked. “No, my Lord,’ Zechariah answered.
Then God explained the meaning. Zechariah records it thus: “Then he answered me and spoke unto me saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel …” Zechariah 4. In addition to being the name of a rule, this title ‘Zerubbabel’ has a special symbolic significance when we examine its true meaning as given in these verses of Zechariah.
The word Zerubbabel, according to the Oxford University Press red-letter edition of the King James version of the Bible, means ‘Begotten in Babylon’. Other references say that it means ‘Scattered in Babylon’. Cruden, in his
Unabridged Concordance, declares it to mean ‘Banished in Babylon’ or ‘Stranger in Babylon’. (‘Born’ in other editions.) All these descriptions fit Bahá’u’lláh. He was ‘banished’ to Babylon from Persia. He was a ‘stranger’ in that land. There in Babylon, his Faith was ‘begotten’. He was in the end ‘scattered’ with his followers, until he, himself, reached the ancient land of Canaan promised by God to Abraham as an inheritance in the
last days.
The Faith of Abraham and the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh were both ‘begotten’ in Babylon. The Holy Spirit descended upon each of them in Babylon, and they poured forth the light from their houses of truth in that ancient land. This, too, was foreseen and foretold by Zechariah in his vision:
“Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel (Begotten in Babylon) have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that
the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you.” Zechariah 4:8–9.
The
Word of God, Abraham, laid the foundation of the house of Israel in Babylon. The
Word of God, Bahá’u’lláh finished it, and brought it to fulfilment. Both were ‘begotten in Babylon’. Thus, it was to them,
Zerubbabel, that Zechariah directed the message of God:
“This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel (Begotten in Babylon) saying, Not by might, nor by power, but
by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” Zechariah 4:6.
Lest there be any mistake, Zechariah asked God once more concerning the meaning of the two olive trees. The Lord answered him saying:
“These are the
two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.” Zechariah 4:14. These
two olive trees were
Abraham who began the concept of the oneness of God in Babylon, and
Bahá’u’lláh who brought the concept of the oneness of God and religion to its fulfilment in Babylon. In yet another way, these
two olive trees were the
Báb and
Bahá’u’lláh, who in the
last days ‘stand by the Lord of the whole earth’.
I also discovered that the meaning of the word Baghdád, the city in which Bahá’u’lláh declared his Mission, is: ‘
The City of God’. Again, Bahá’u’lláh had fulfilled the promises of the sacred Scripture. He had kept the prophecies of Micah, Isaiah, Zechariah, and those of Islám and India, which foretold that the Messiah would come to the land of Babylon, withdraw into the wilderness, then, from that land of ancient mystery, proclaim his mission to the whole world. I marked the second proof:
Fulfilled.
(William Sears, Thief in the Night, pp. 115-118)
http://bahai-library.com/pdf/s/sears_thief_night.pdf