Why does Alma say Jesus would be “born of Mary at Jerusalem which is the land of our forefathers”?

Alma prophesied that the Savior would be born at the land of Jerusalem not the city. Bethlehem in Lehi’s day was a small town under the political control of Jerusalem and would likely have had little significance to the people of Nephi more than five hundred years later. They would, however, know that Jerusalem was the chief city of the land from which Lehi came and that the Savior would one day be born and minister to his covenant people in that land. Early critics of the Book of Mormon once expressed amusement at what they considered a discrepancy, but archaeological discoveries since the publication of the Book of Mormon show that Bethlehem was indeed considered a town of the land of Jerusalem which is fully consistent with Alma’s description.