Deeper Commentary

Micah Chapter 4

Micah 4:1 But in the latter days, it will happen that the mountain of Yahweh’s temple will be established on the top of the mountains, and it will be exalted above the hills; and nations will stream to it- Micah was contemporary with Isaiah, and these words are largely repeated in Is. 2:2-4. Micah also prophesied before Isaiah (Mic. 1:1), so it could be that Isaiah is quoting Micah. The "But..." suggests that after mount Zion is plowed as a field (Mic. 3:12), at some future point, it will be revived into the restored mount and temple of the Messianic kingdom which could have come about at the restoration. This didn't happen, and so we look to the latter day desolation of Zion, perhaps with the total destruction of the area to pave the way for an "abomination of desolation" to be built there, followed by the Lord's return to immediately replace that with the mountain of His house, exalted above all other kingdoms, great ["mountains"] and small ["hills"]; or we may prefer to interpret the mountains as the seven mountains upon which latter day Babylon sits, perhaps seven surrounding nations or power blocs, or seven kings (Rev. 17:9-11). But the theme of social justice is never absent from Micah. He has spoken of how the "houses" of the wealthy in Zion were those "taken away" from others (Mic. 2:2), and "taken away" is the same word here translated "exalted". All that petty grabbing of houses will be totally subsumed within the huge and eternal reality of the exaltation of Yahweh's house. The nations will stream or flow unto God's house / kingdom, whereas previously they streamed together to Babylon (s.w. Jer. 51:44). The word is used in Jer. 31:12 of how those who accept the new covenant will flow to Zion in order to receive Yahweh's goodness as well as literal food. So we can assume that these people who flow to Zion are those converted to the Lord Jesus at His return. This is confirmed in :2.

Micah 4:2 Many nations will go and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths. For out of Zion will go forth the law, and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem- This connects with the previous theme of Mic. 3, that Judah had despised Yahweh's law and acted unjustly directly contrary to it. But such would be their restoration, that from the disgraced Zion would go out Yahweh's law to all nations. The Divine vision was that when Judah returned from exile, the Gentile nations of their dispersion would come with them, just as many Egyptians came up with Israel out of Egypt. But this didn't happen at the restoration, and instead the Jews were heavily influenced by the Gentiles' religions and intermarried with them rather than being a light to them. And most of God's people didn't even return to Zion but chose to remain in their dispersion. As noted on Mic. 3:12, Divine prophecy can be reapplied and reinterpreted, but often only in essence rather than to the letter. And so we can see these words as having an ultimate fulfilment, but we would be unwise to insist upon a strictly literal exact fulfilment for them.

The ultimate fulfilment, as explained on :1, will be when repentant people flow to Zion to accept the new covenant. And this will involve learning God's ways, as expressed in the word and law which comes from Zion. That law doesn't have to be the law of Moses; it will be the law of the new covenant. The "law" , torah, is a form of the verb just used, "to teach"; the idea is simply 'His teaching', and not specifically the Pentateuch or Decalogue.

Micah 4:3 And He will judge between many peoples- Ps. 72:4 uses this phrase to predict that Messiah would judge the poor and needy of the peoples. Again, Micah has social justice in view, seeing he has been condemning Israel's judges for failing in this; the idea is that they ought to have lived the kingdom life right now, as we should. But they didn't. Joel 3:2 uses the phrase concerning how the Lord will judge the peoples for how they have treated His people Israel. And again, it is the abuse of the weak and downtrodden which will be the eternal issue.

And will decide concerning strong nations afar off- "Decide" is literally 'rebuke', and Micah's contemporary prophet Isaiah explains that the rebuke of the returned Lord Jesus will concern how they treat the poor and downtrodden (Is. 11:3,4); and that passage also says that He will rebuke not from what He sees before His eyes. As Micah puts it, He will be able to do this "afar off". We get the impression that at the Lord's return, the nations will not be forced into spirituality; they will still have their conflicts and tendencies to sin and abuse, and the Lord's word will address these issues. There will therefore be a process of time from His return to the final spiritual subjugation of the planet. Whether that period will be a literal 1000 years is a question I discuss in the commentary on Rev. 20, but a process of time is certainly implied. For it is not God's way to force anyone to accept His ways.

 

They will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks- This will be a conscious reversal of the aggressive spirit of militarism into which the nations around Israel will have sunk in the immediate lead up to the Lord's return (Joel 3:10). The destruction of all military hardware is spoken of again in Hos. 2:18; Zech. 9:10.

 

Nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither will they learn war any more- The "war" of the context in Mic. 3:5 is aggression against others who don't agree with us and who stand up to unGodly behaviour. "Learn" is literally to goad, perhaps alluding to the destruction of all prodding spears; there will be no more provocation of conflict on whatever level.

Micah 4:4 But they will sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and no one will make them afraid: for the mouth of Yahweh of Armies has spoken- Sitting under ones own vine and fig tree is a picture of not being afraid, which is the context of :3; and the idiom is used like this in 1 Kings 4:25, meaning 'to dwell safely'. In the later day program, this may be the time of Ez. 38:11 (see note there) when Israel are re-established as God's Kingdom at the Lord's return, and then experience an unsuccessful invasion led by Gog. Zech. 3:10 says that the restored people of God will invite Gentiles to sit with them under their vine and fig tree; so the picture is not merely of peace and safety, but of peace with God in covenant with Him. We may legitimately interpret the vine and fig tree of God's people as Messiah, the true vine (Jn. 15).

Micah made this prophecy at a time when Assyria were offering their subject peoples to live under their own vine and fig tree (2 Kings 18:31,32), and likely Rabshakeh was alluding to Micah's words, claiming that the real Kingdom experience was available there and then, if only they accepted Assyrian domination. And so the promises of the Kingdom are replicated in the false claims of materialism today, and perhaps will be specifically claimed by the latter day antiChrist, a fake Christ offering a fake Kingdom of God.

Micah 4:5 Indeed all the nations may walk in the name of their gods; but we will walk in the name of Yahweh our God for ever and ever- See on Is. 19:18. The idea may be that there will no coercion of the nations in the Messianic Kingdom; but rather the example of God's people walking in the Name of their God will convert the nations. And this principle is seen today; no true convert is one by coercion or high powered argument, but rather by the example of God's people. As noted on :4, the idea is that the restored people of God will invite others to come sit with them under their vine and fig tree (Zech. 3:10). But that will be by invitation and freewill response, and not coercion.

Micah 4:6 In that day, says Yahweh, I will assemble that which is lame, and I will gather that which is driven away- This is all very much the language of limping Jacob being gathered home after his exile in Padan Aram. But in him we must see all of us. The results of sin and trusting in human strength will still be evident, but Jacob will still be regathered. In the primary context, those "driven away" would refer to those who went into captivity in Babylon and Assyria now returning and becoming the "strong nation" (:7) at the centre of God's revived Kingdom on earth. But that didn't work out, because most didn't want to return, and those who did didn't respond spiritually. And yet the prophecy will come true therefore in the last days; although this requires a later day 'driving away' of Jewish people from their land, perhaps spoken of in Is. 27:13 where the same word is used of the driven out ones in Egypt and Assyria. However, the Hebrew for "driven away" is that used of how God's people would be driven away from God by false teachers (Dt. 4:19; 13:5,10). And this may be the sense in which the prophecy comes true in the last days. For Micah has previously warned about the damage of the false prophets. Dt. 30:1,4,17 plays on the idea- Israel would be driven away from God, and so God would drive them away into captivity.

And that which I have afflicted- This is literally, 'done evil to'. It is proof enough that both good and 'evil' in the sense of calamity come from God. There is no space left for the existence of a personal, supernatural 'Satan' figure as the source of such 'evil'. The same word is used of evil in a moral sense in Mic. 3:4; Is. 1:16; Judah had done "evil" and so would receive "evil" from their invaders.

Micah 4:7 And I will make that which was lame a remnant, and that which was cast far off a strong nation: and Yahweh will reign over them on Mount Zion from then on, even forever- The allusion to Jacob continues; he limped after his exile, as a result of trusting in his own strength (Gen. 32:31). His return from exile is seen as representative of the exiles returning, which would be the time when God's Kingdom would be re-established under a Messianic figure and king. But the exiles who returned under Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah failed to become "a strong nation". And so the prophecy has been reapplied and rescheduled to our last days. "The remnant" who repent and 'return' from their being 'driven away' from God (see on :6) will become the "strong nation" at the heart of God's restored Kingdom on earth. "Strong nation" is the very term used in the promises to Abraham about his seed (Gen. 18:18; Dt. 26:5). But "nation" is goy, typically used of Gentile nations. This is the paradox- that the seed of Abraham would also comprise Gentiles. This ought to have left all Jewish national pride and elitism stillborn had they thought about it.

Micah 4:8 You, tower of the flock, the hill of the daughter of Zion, to you it will come- The Kingdom will come to the temple mount when Yahweh in the person of His Son returns to establish His Kingdom based there. "Hill" is ophel, the name of part of Jerusalem, and a word also translated "tower". "The daughter of Zion" usually refers to the faithful remnant. It was Yahweh's hill, but also their hill. The tower or mound of Zion was the "tower of the flock", although a different word is used for "tower", migdal. Hezekiah and Jotham, in whose reigns Micah prophesied (Mic. 1:1), had built towers in Jerusalem (2 Chron. 32:5 s.w.), and Jotham had particularly built in Ophel (2 Chron. 27:3). There was a "great tower" in Ophel (Neh. 3:26,27) which was rebuilt at the time of the restoration. But this was not to be the full restoration of God's Kingdom on earth. The great towers recently built in Micah's time were not the real thing; a far greater "tower" was to be built in the Messianic kingdom. But "tower" effectively means 'city'; towers were built as the place of final refuge within a city and came to be iconic symbols of the city (Gen. 11:4,5; Jud. 8:9; 9:47,49,51; Ez. 26:4). In the parable of Isaiah 5, a prophecy contemporary with Micah, Yahweh says He had built a tower in the midst of His vineyard (Is. 5:2). "The flock" in view is that of restored, repentant Israel (Mic. 2:12), and there will be a tower built as shepherds built towers to watch their flocks. Yahweh's hill and tower of Zion was to be the place of safety, the hill, tower and Kingdom of His people, the regathered flock of Jacob (Mic. 2:12), parallel with "the daughter of Zion".

Another possibility is that Edar, "flock", refers to a village near Bethlehem where there was a shepherd's watchtower, perhaps used by David as a shepherd in that area. This would then prepare us for the forthcoming announcement in Mic. 5:2 that the Messianic king was to come from Bethlehem.

Yes, the former kingdom will return, the kingdom will come to the daughter of Jerusalem- The former kingdom returning speaks of the restoration of God's Kingdom on earth as it once was (Ez. 21:25-27). This restoration could have happened after the 70 years exile in Babylon, but it didn't happen as God intended. And so the prophecies have been reapplied and rescheduled to the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Micah 4:9 Now why do you cry out aloud? Is there no king in you? Has your counselor perished, that pains have taken hold of you as of a woman in travail?- The crying aloud was in labour pains; and the "daughter of Zion" of Micah's day was corrupt. She would not bring forth a king, for her king was to be taken away from her into captivity and death (Jer. 52:9). Lam. 4:20 could imply that they believed that even in captivity they would still live under Zedekiah their king; but this was not to be. His counsellors would be proven wrong and perish. "Is there no king...?" effectively means 'he has been taken away'; the same literary device is found in Jer. 49:7 "Is wisdom no more in Teman?". The wisdom of Teman had been taken away. All this has reference to the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem. But Micah prophesied in the time of Hezekiah, and this same figure of Zion in travail is used by him at the time of the Assyrian invasion (Is. 37:3). The labour pains at that time were to have issued forth in the rebirth of the nation, and perhaps in the 'birth' or coming of a Messianic king for the revived kingdom. But that didn't happen, although by grace, Zion was saved from her pains by the destruction of the Assyrian army by an Angel.

Micah 4:10 Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail- This is perhaps alluded to by Hezekiah in Is. 37:3; when the Assyrians surrounded the city, the remnant were in travail, but failed to bring forth the Messianic king and kingdom as a result of that travail. And so the pangs, as it were, came upon them again during the Babylonian invasion.

 

For now you will go forth out of the city- In surrender tot heir enemies (2 Kings 14:12; Is. 36:16). This could have happened at the time of the Assyrian invasion, but the response of a minority to Micah's message meant that it didn't. But it was to come true in the later Babylonian invasion.

And will dwell in the field, and will come even to Babylon. There you will be delivered- The idea was that through the experience of captivity in Babylon, dwelling in the fields in temporary camps (Ez. 3:15) and then taken to Babylon, a righteous remnant would be brought forth out of all the suffering there, which would return to Zion and re-establish God's Kingdom on earth. Micah's words are to be connected with those of Is. 39:6, where the punishment for the remnant not then being brought forth was that they would go to Babylon.

 

There Yahweh will redeem you from the hand of your enemies- Judah in exile were not redeemed from their enemies because most of them didn't want that redemption, and preferred to remain there. This prophecy will therefore have its final fulfilment in the last days, when again there will be travail in Jerusalem which will kill many (Mt. 24:8; 1 Thess. 5:3), but will result in the birth of a righteous remnant and the establishment of God's Kingdom upon earth and final, ultimate redemption.

Micah 4:11 Now many nations have assembled against you, that say, Let her be raped, and let our eye gloat over Zion- The "now" may suggest that this prophecy was given when Jerusalem was surrounded by the Assyrians and their mercenaries drawn from the surrounding nations. There was however the response of a remnant to the preaching of Micah, and therefore the seemingly inevitable capture of Jerusalem was averted by the Angelic destruction of the Assyrian army; see on :10 For now you will go forth out of the city. "Raped" or "defiled" suggests that the rape of a virgin is in view. Isaiah's recent prophecy that a virgin would bring forth the Messianic king at this time (Is. 7:14) was not to be fulfilled; she was to be raped. But Micah's ministry was partially successful; the response to his message was enough to stop the rape, but the virgin did not bring forth as she could have done; see on Mic. 5:1. And so she was finally raped to death in the later Babylonian invasion, as Jeremiah laments in Lamentations. And in Mic. 7:10 Micah appears to have perceived this.

Micah 4:12 But they don’t know the thoughts of Yahweh, neither do they understand His counsel- The "they" could refer to the invading armies, who are the subject of the second half of the verse. But perhaps the referent of the "they" and "them" in the two parts of this verse are different. Those who don't know Yahweh's thoughts are Judah in Is. 55:8. They didn't perceive the possibilities of the Messianic king and kingdom at that time (Rom. 11:33).

For He has assembled them like the sheaves to the threshing floor- As noted on :11, this could have application to the time when the Assyrians were assembled around Jerusalem. Their destruction could have been the threshing floor judgment spoken of in other prophets as heralding the re-establishment of God's Kingdom upon earth. But Hezekiah let the baton drop. Although the repentance of a remnant averted the destruction of the city (see on Mic. 3:12), the great potential then possible for the more powerful establishment of God's Kingdom didn't come true.

Micah 4:13 Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion; for I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hoofs brass; and you will beat in pieces many peoples: and I will devote their gain to Yahweh, and their substance to the Lord of the whole earth- As noted on :12, this may speak of the potential possible for Judah after the destruction of the Assyrians outside the gates of Jerusalem. But the righteous remnant, the daughter of Zion with Hezekiah and the prophets within Jerusalem, didn't go forth and capitalize upon it as planned. Instead Hezekiah became proud and short-termist, and instead of threshing his enemies he accepted their gifts and devoted them to himself rather than to Yahweh. And likewise the Babylonian invaders could have been threshed, if the ministry of the later prophets at that time had been responded to (Is. 41:15,16; Jer. 51:33). And so all these potentials must come true in the latter day fulfilment, when a remnant repent and accept Jesus as Messiah. The Jews in Micah's time were glad that the immediate problem had been solved; the Assyrians lay dead outside Jerusalem. But they didn't heed Micah's call to go forth and thresh them and lead to the establishment of a Messianic Kingdom.