Why did Mary have to go to Bethlehem to give birth to Jesus?

AnswerAccording to Matthew's Gospel, the magi travelled to Bethlehem to worship Jesus and to bring him gifts.

However, many scholars believe that Matthew's magi did not really exist. John Shelby Spong (A Bishop Rethinks the Birth of Jesus) says that among people he knows in New Testament circles, the universal assumption is that the magi, or wise men, were not actual people. Matthew was writing Christian midrash, with the purpose of telling his readers that even the priests from Persia would have wanted to honour Jesus.