Deeper Commentary
Micah Chapter 5
Micah 5:1 Now you shall gather yourself in troops, daughter of troops. He has laid siege against us- The present tenses of Mic. 4:10-12 suggest that Micah was giving this prophecy whilst Jerusalem was surrounded by the Assyrian armies. And here too- "Now... he has laid siege...". Micah's encouragement to gather troops was because he believed that God could give Judah the victory and they could then go out of Zion and thresh their enemies as the preceding verse required (Mic. 4:13).
They will strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek- Micah foresaw that the Assyrians were to capture Jerusalem and abuse her "judge", Hezekiah. But thanks to his preaching, a remnant repented, and so this didn't happen then (see on Mic. 4:11); but the potential of establishing a Messianic kingdom didn't come about. And so the prophecy was reapplied to the Lord Jesus, the true king of Zion, who was to be smitten with a rod in the cheek (Mt. 27:30). This was clearly in view, hence "judge" and not "king" is used.
Micah 5:2 But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, being small among the clans of Judah, out of you one will come forth to Me that is to be the ruler in Israel; whose goings forth are from of old- As noted on :1 and Mic. 4:10-12, Micah was speaking of possibilities at his time. A ruler could have come forth who would have saved Israel and established a Messianic kingdom at that time. Not the Lord Jesus, but a ruler from Bethlehem, i.e. in the Davidic line. Clearly a pre-existent Divine being was not in view. That ruler didn't then emerge, the potential wasn't fulfilled, and so indeed it was reapplied to the Lord Jesus Christ. But there is no evidence here for the incorrect idea of His personal pre-existence. Bethlehem is mentioned to signal the fact that this individual would be in the Davidic line, and the Lord Jesus also was, on account of His mother Mary being in the direct Davidic line (Lk. 1:31-35). The very fact He was the descendant of David puts paid to all fantasies that He personally pre-existed from before all time and somehow came down literally from Heaven to earth, like some Divine comet. His fulfilment of the Davidic seed is reflected in the statement that His "goings forth are from of old". He was the seed of Abraham, of David, of Jacob, and of Eve- the one promised in all those promises of a great, Messianic saviour seed / descendant. Hence the plural: "goings forth". His origins (NAB, NIV, RSV) were in all those ancestors. This plural is a problem for any attempt to interpret this as meaning that He was eternally existent. And He had origins [plural]; He was not uncreate, eternally pre-existent. He had origins, a concept inappropriate for a Divine being, seeing God is uncreate. And this ruler will accept Yahweh as "his God" (:4). The Trinitarian understanding of the Lord Jesus can't cope with this; the Trinity is a wrong turning in theological thought and needs to be abandoned.
The "ruler" was to come forth to "Me", God. This makes no sense if the Lord Jesus had existed eternally with God. The language is very similar to that of Jer. 30:21, where the same word for "ruler" is used: "Their prince shall be of themselves, and their ruler shall proceed from their midst; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach to Me: for who is he who has had boldness to approach to Me? says Yahweh". This was the Messianic ruler which could have arisen at the restoration; and he could have arisen even in Micah's time as the Saviour of Judah from Assyria. None of these potentials worked out, and so the prophecy will come to its fulfilment in the final salvation of Israel by the Lord Jesus.
From everlasting- "From everlasting" doesn't have to mean that the ruler existed before time. He had "goings forth", or origins; that very fact means that He was not eternally existent, seeing He had a beginning. The idea of olahm here can simply be "from a long time ago", and other translations bear this out: "whose origins are in the distant past" (NET), "Whose origin is from of old, from ancient times" (NAB); "whose origins are from of old, from ancient times" (NIV); "whose origin is from of old, from ancient days" (RSV); "whose going out has been purposed from time past, from the eternal days" (BBE); "whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days" (ESV). Other examples of where "from olahm" doesn't mean 'from infinite eternity' but rather 'from a long time ago, but within human history' include Gen. 6:4; Dt. 32:7; Josh. 24:2; 1 Sam. 27:8,15; Job 22:15; Prov. 22:8; Is. 58:12; 63:9,11; Jer. 5:15; Mal. 3:4. Most significantly, the Hebrew phrase here translated "from everlasting" is that used by Micah to mean "the days of old" (Mic. 7:14), referring to days earlier in Israel's history.
Micah 5:3 Therefore He will abandon them until the time that she who
is in labor gives birth- As noted on Mic. 4:9,10, 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. Is.
26:17,18 speaks of this: "Like as a woman with child who draws near the
time of her delivery and is in pain and cries out in her pangs; so we have
been before You, Yahweh. We have been with child, we have been in pain, we
gave birth, it seems, only to wind. We have not worked any deliverance in
the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen". And so the
Divine intention was that she would "bring forth" to spiritual maturity in
captivity (Mic. 4:10). But until that time, God would "abandon" them. And
yet that possibility also didn't really come to fruit. And so the
prophecies of the virgin daughter of Zion bringing forth were reapplied to
the birth of the Lord Jesus, the individual who epitomized the true Israel
as God intended (Is. 7:14; 9:6). Remember that Isaiah was contemporary
with Micah. This imagery would have been well understood between them. We
marvel at how God tries so hard with people, and yet allows their freewill
to be genuine; and yet His prophetic intentions will always come
ultimately true.
Then the rest of his brothers will return to the children of Israel- At the intended restoration, Judah and Israel would be united. The "He" in view is the Messiah figure of :2. This figure could then have emerged from Bethlehem, but didn't. The potential wasn't used. The restoration is always presented as a time when Judah and Israel would together return, not just physically from captivity but in repentance to God. But this is yet to happen; they didn't repent, and so the intended possible prophetic path didn't happen and had to be deferred in fulfilment.
Micah 5:4 He shall stand- Literally, stand up, perhaps a
reference to the Messiah's resurrection, or exaltation.
And shall shepherd in the strength of Yahweh, in the majesty of the name of Yahweh his God: and they will live, for then he will be great to the ends of the earth- The Messiah figure of :2 was to shepherd the reunited people of God (:3). "They will live" recalls the restoration prophecy of Ez. 36, the revival of the dry bones of God's people in exile. But this prophecy didn't then come true as they refused to spiritually revive; it was deferred to a far greater fulfilment, in the literal resurrection of Israel from their graves at the Lord's second coming, when He will be great to the ends of the earth.
Micah 5:5 He will be our peace when Assyria invades our land- A
Messianic leader born in Bethlehem could have saved Judah in Micah's time.
But that didn't happen. And so these words will have a latter day
application. Micah 5 speaks of how “the Assyrian” will be in conflict with
the Lord Jesus, the one born in Bethlehem who will become “great unto the
ends of the earth” at His return to earth when His brethren ‘return’ to
Him (Mic. 5:1-4). The establishment of the Kingdom on earth and repentance
of Israel will occur “when the Assyrian shall come into our land” and the
Lord Jesus saves them from the invasion.
And when he marches through our fortresses- This latter day Assyrian will “tread down our palaces”. This is likely an intensive plural for the great palace of Israel, the temple. The Lord Jesus uses this language in predicting that Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until “the times of the Gentiles” are fulfilled (Lk. 21:24). These times of Gentile treading down of Jerusalem likely refer to the 1260 days / three and a half years of the final tribulation. The treading down of Jerusalem will therefore be by “the Assyrian”, and capturing Jerusalem is the great goal of militant Islam. This is the treading down of God’s people to be done by the little horn of Dan. 8:10. The little horn is therefore “the Assyrian”; and a charismatic leader of the Islamists would fit the job description exactly.
Then we will raise against him seven shepherds, and eight senior leaders of men- Seven, even eight could be read as three, even four in Am. 1,2. That is, a complete fullness of shepherds. The Messiah has just been called a shepherd in :4; perhaps the idea is that this latter day Messiah, the Lord Jesus, will have incorporated within Him many other shepherds. This would then refer to the believers and repentant Israel, who are "in" Christ. For we are to king-priests reigning over the earth at the Lord's return (Rev. 5:10). Or it may be that the Lord's Messianic administration has seven leaders. "Senior leaders of men" is literally "poured out [as offerings] Adams"; appropriate to those who have given their lives to Christ.
As in the prototype with Sennacherib, the destruction of Gog at the second coming will be by Angelic means under the command of Christ. The enigmatic Mic. 5:5 maybe refers primarily to Hezekiah's influence of Angelic forces in leading to the destruction of the Assyrian invader. This would point forward to Christ's use of the Angels to destroy Gog: "This man (Hezekiah/ Jesus) shall be the peace, when the Assyrian (Gog) shall come into our land... then shall we raise against him seven shepherds (an Angelic title in Ps. 80:1 and Is. 63:9-11; cp. the seven eye-Angels of Zechariah and Revelation), and eight princes of men"- another Angelic reference, seeing that "the prince of Persia" in Daniel was an Angel. Maybe this implies that the Angels will use other nations as a means of defeating Gog. Perhaps it is to the seven Angel-spirits of Revelation and Zechariah that Micah refers: "When the Assyrian shall come into our land. . . shall we raise against him (in warfare, the Hebrew implies- cp. Obadiah 1) seven shepherds, and eight princes of men" (Mic. 5:5). The only beings to fight the Assyrians were the Angels who slew them, seeing that the Jews scarcely fired an arrow in anger at them. Both "shepherd" and "prince" are Angelic titles (see Ps. 80:1; Is. 63:9-11 and Josh. 5:14; Dan. 10:13;12:1 respectively). The Angels could be "princes of men" as those in Daniel were both princes of Heaven and also of human nations, e. g. Persia.
Micah 5:6 They will rule the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in its gates. He will deliver us from the Assyrian, when he invades our land, and when he marches within our border- The deliverance from the Assyrian invader within the land borders of Israel will result also in dominating the land of Assyria. This never happened historically, although it had been potentially possible. But it will happen in a moment at the Lord's return. "Marches" is literally 'to tread'; see on :5 And when he marches through our fortresses. Micah opened his prophecy by saying that Yahweh through the invaders would tread down Israel (s.w. Mic. 1:3). But now in His grace He will rescue Israel from that judgment through Messiah.
Micah 5:7 The remnant of Jacob will be in the midst of many peoples,
like dew from Yahweh, like showers on the grass- The dropping of dew
was understood as the teaching of doctrine (Dt. 32:2). The
repentant remnant were to go out and teach the Gentile world.
This is consciously alluding to the
then-famous Messianic prophecy of Ps. 72:6: “He shall come down
like rain upon the mown grass: as showers that water the earth”. The
blessings Messiah brings are to be articulated through the witness of
those in Him. Those who have lived in Him will then shine as the
brightness of the firmament (Dan. 12:3). But the description of the Lord’s
face shining as the sun draws on this; as if to say that our shining in
the future Kingdom will be because we were and are in Him. We will shine
forth then (Mt. 13:43), as the Sun of righteousness Himself.
Micah 5:9 Let your hand be lifted up above your adversaries-
Micah 5:10 It will happen in that day, says Yahweh, That I will cut
off your horses out of the midst of you, and will destroy your chariots-
Horses and chariots from Egypt were what Judah in Micah's time had trusted
in. However there is a purposeful ambiguity in :10-15; these words could
refer to the pagan invaders, the "nations" of :15 (see note there), and
yet also to the Jews of Micah's time. They were acting like the Gentiles,
and so would meet an identical judgment. All military technology which had
seemed so invincible will be rendered useless; and we note an increasing
dependence upon technological defence and deterrents in the Middle East
situation.
Micah 5:11 I will cut off the cities of your land, and will tear down
all your strongholds- Again, as noted on :10, this could apply
equally to Israel as well as to their enemies. It is a theme of the
prophets that all human defences shall collapse (as Is. 2:15), and we are
to live daily life in that awareness too.
Micah 5:12 I will destroy witchcraft from your hand; and you shall
have no soothsayers- There was recourse to these things in Micah's
time as the situation got more desperate before the Assyrian advance (also
noted in Is. 2:6; 47:12), although the historical record doesn't mention
it. The "soothsayers" may refer to the false prophets whom he has
criticized in Mic. 2. If Israel had been obedient to the commands about
these things in Dt. 18:10, there would have been no need for their day of
judgment to have as it were made them obedient in these matters. And so we
are left with a powerful logic- we either accept God's ways now, or the
condemnation process will lead us to accept them all too late. Hence John
the Baptist offered his audience either fire now, or the fire of damnation
at the last day.
Micah 5:13 I will cut off your engraved images and your pillars out of
your midst; and you shall no more worship the work of your hands- The
essence of idolatry is to worship or trust our own works. And we can do
this without any images or pillars in a literal sense. The invaders of
those times liked to destroy the images of the gods of those they had
vanquished, and God says that He will do this, through working with the
invaders. But as noted on :12, if Israel had cut them off themselves, they
wouldn't have needed a day of condemnation through which it would be
achieved. Pillars were acceptable when they merely marked a place of
Yahweh's appearance or worship (Gen. 31:13,45), but as with nehushtan, the
bronze serpent, those pillars became turned into idols (1 Kings 14:23).
The attraction was that they mixed Yahweh worship with the paganism of the
flesh; and this is our abiding temptation. For Yahweh demands our all, and
not worship of the gods of this world in the name of worshipping Him.
Micah 5:14 I will uproot your Asherim out of your midst; and I will
destroy your cities- The Asherim were what the Canaanites worshipped,
and Israel had been specifically told to uproot their groves (Ex. 34:13;
Dt. 7:5). If they had done that, as explained on :12, they wouldn't have
required the day of judgment to do it. We see too that if we allow
weakness in one area, the problem is that it morphs and multiplies over
time into things which will lead us totally away from God. Their "cities"
are paralleled with their Asherim, the tree groves in the countryside.
They likely considered that what they did in some lonely spot was somehow
different to their normal city life; but all of life is to be sanctified
to God, and so this mentality is directly attacked here- and we too need
to take heed.
Micah 5:15 I will execute vengeance in anger, and wrath on the nations
that didn’t listen- The idea may be that the "vengeance" is upon
Israel, but the surrounding nations will likewise share in it; see on :10.
But they will have been given the chance to "listen" (see on :7), and are
only judged after they refuse the final appeal by the repentant remnant.
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