Micah 4: Summary and Commentary

Verse 1

4:1-5 Micah’s prophecy moves from utter despair to an eruption of hope as he expresses the future exaltation of Mount Zion in Jerusalem. God’s plan to bless all nations (Gen 12:3) through Abraham’s descendants will be realized when the nations and the Lord’s people stream to the Lord’s house . . . to worship. There (1) they will learn to follow God’s law and teachings; (2) the law and teachings will flow out among the nations as they are carried forth from God’s house; (3) peace and well-being will grow among the nations as they turn their energies to peaceful purposes and abandon war; and (4) the people will live without fear, having security, prosperity, and blessing (Mic 4:4). The idols of the nations fail them, but Israel’s faithful God accomplishes all this; the prosperity he brings lasts for endless ages (4:5).

4:1-2 In the last days: God promised to act in history to establish his kingdom. • The mountain of the Lord’s house was Mount Zion in Jerusalem, where Solomon’s Temple was built (see 2 Sam 24:18-25). It recalls Mount Sinai, the mountain of God (Exod 3:1; Num 10:33), where God appeared. The mountain of the Lord has significance as the place where God makes his identity known and his fellowship available. • teach us his ways . . . his paths: The wisdom of God’s laws and the knowledge of his ways will give the nations life (Deut 4:6; 32:47).

Verse 3

4:3 The shalom (“well-being, peace”) of the Lord will cover the earth, and instruments of destruction will be used for peaceful pursuits. From its earliest records, ancient history is an account of war, of one people’s subjugation of other peoples and nations. Warfare and violence reached a frenzied peak in the Assyrian and Babylonian kingdoms. • swords into plowshares: Implements of war will become tools for production. Alternatively, some scholars believe that this phrase means reducing “swords into metal shards,” which would render them useless.

Verse 4

4:4 Everyone will be free of enemies as in Solomon’s time (1 Kgs 4:25; cp. Isa 36:16; Zech 3:10). • The prophets frequently described God as the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. This military title expresses his control of the universe and his unlimited power. The warrior kings of the ancient Near East were no match for the Lord.

Verse 6

4:6-7 Usually the remnants of destroyed cities in the ancient Near East were lost or assimilated. When Israel’s remnant was rescued, it would be the foundation of the Lord’s new people (Deut 4:26-31; 30:1-5; 2 Kgs 19:31; Isa 10:21; Jer 29:10-14; see Ezra 9:8; Neh 1:2).

Verse 8

4:8 As for you, Jerusalem, the citadel of God’s people: Jerusalem was a fortified royal capital city with a watchtower for the defense and security of its people. • The kingship will be restored: Cp. Amos 9:11-15; see 2 Sam 7:11-16.

Verse 9

4:9 Israel’s king and wise people were supposed to provide leadership and embody the Lord’s instructions and covenant in their lives (Deut 17:18-20). Now, however, the people would be without godly leadership (cp. Judg 17:6; 18:1; 21:25).

Verse 10

4:10 Distant Babylon lay about 1,000 miles (1,700 kilometers) from Jerusalem; it could not be reached by cutting across the barren eastern desert. • The Lord’s rescue of his people from sure death in Babylon would surpass his bringing them out of Egypt. They were formed in the womb of suffering and awaited a promising rebirth (Isa 43:1-5; cp. Ezek 37). • For Micah, Babylon represented the concept of exile. In Micah’s time (the late 700s and early 600s BC), there was not even the whisper of a Babylonian empire replacing the Assyrians. But Micah was speaking for God, who knows the future.

Verse 11

4:11-13 gathered against you: While closely tied to the historical assault of Babylon against Jerusalem in 588–586 BC, this oracle also bears on a future in which the idealized and restored Jerusalem of 4:1-5 will be attacked (cp. Rev 20:7-9).

Verse 12

4:12 God reveals his plans to his servants (Dan 2:19-23; Amos 3:7), but the nations don’t know—they are not privy to God’s great plans or to his behind-the-scenes activity on his people’s behalf. The hopes and plans of the nations around Israel were in vain—the Lord’s plans for his unique people will prevail, and he will rule the nations (Gen 12:1-3; 15:12-21; Exod 19:4-6; Isa 45:23; 66:23). • At the threshing floor, grain was beaten and trampled to separate it from the chaff. So, too, the nations will be crushed (Mic 4:13).

Verse 13

4:13 The horns and hooves of bulls and horses represent strength, as do both iron and bronze. Metal shoes may have been used on the feet of animals who trod out the grain. God will strengthen his peoples to defeat their enemies. • stolen riches: Many nations had accumulated wealth by unjust means (war, plunder, oppressive tributes, forced labor, and conscription). The Lord of all the earth owned all of this wealth to begin with (Exod 19:5). • You will present: The Hebrew term (kharam, “dedicate”) refers to military spoils of war that were dedicated, or set aside, as holy to the Lord (see Lev 27:28-29).

Verse 1

It is a very comfortable but with which this chapter begins, and very reviving to those who lay the interests of God's church near their heart and are concerned for the welfare of it. When we sometimes see the corruptions of the church, especially of church-rulers, princes, priests, and prophets, seeking their own things and not the things of God, and when we soon after see the desolations of the church, Zion for their sakes ploughed as a field, we are ready to fear that it will one day perish between both, that the name of Israel shall be no more in remembrance; we are ready to give up all for gone, and to conclude the church will have neither root not branch upon earth. But let not our faith fail in this matter; out of the ashes of the church another phoenix shall arise. In the last words of the foregoing chapter we left the mountain of the house as desolate and waste as the high places of the forest; and is it possible that such a wilderness should ever become a fruitful field again? Yes, the first words of this chapter bring in the mountain of the Lord's house as much dignified by being frequented as ever it had been disgraced by being deserted. Though Zion be ploughed as a field, yet God has not cast off his people, but by the fall of the Jews salvation has come to the Gentiles, so that it proves to be the riches of the world, Rom 11:11, Rom 11:12. This is the mystery which God by the prophet here shows us, and he says the very same in the first three verses of this chapter which another prophet said by the word of the Lord at the same time (Isa 2:2-4), that out of the mouth of these two witnesses these promises might be established; and very precious promises they are, relating to the gospel-church, which have been in part accomplished, and will be yet more and more, for he is faithful that has promised.

I. That there shall be a church for God set up in the world, after the defection and destruction of the Jewish church, and this in the last days; that is, as some of the rabbin themselves acknowledge, in the days of the Messiah. The people of God shall be incorporated by a new charter, a new spiritual way of worship shall be enacted, and a new institution of offices to attend it; better privileges shall be granted by this new charter, and better provision made for enlarging and establishing the kingdom of God among men than had been made by the Old Testament constitution: The mountain of the house of the Lord shall again appear firm ground for God's faithful worshippers to stand, and go, and build upon, in their attendance on him, Mic 4:1. And it shall be a centre of unity to them; a church shall be set up in the world, to which the Lord will be daily adding such as shall be saved.

II. That this church shall be firmly founded and well-built: It shall be established in the top of the mountains; Christ himself will build it upon a rock; it shall be an impregnable fort upon an immovable foundation, so that the gates of hell shall neither overthrow the one nor undermine the other (Mat 16:18); its foundations are still in the holy mountains (Psa 87:1), the everlasting mountains, which cannot, which shall not, be removed. It shall be established, not as the temple, upon one mountain, but upon many; for the foundations of the church, as they are sure, so they are large.

III. That it shall be highly advanced, and become eminent and conspicuous: It shall be exalted above the hills, observed with wonder for its growing greatness from small beginnings. The kingdom of Christ shall shine with greater lustre than ever any of the kingdoms of the earth did. It shall be as a city on a hill, which cannot be hid, Mat 5:14. The glory of this latter house is greater than that of the former, Hag 2:9. See Co2 3:7, Co2 3:8, etc.

IV. That there shall be a great accession of converts to it and succession of converts in it. People shall flow unto it as the waters of a river are continually flowing; there shall be a constant stream of believers flowing in from all parts into the church, as the people of the Jews flowed into the temple, while it was standing, to worship there. Then many tribes came to the mountain of the house, to enquire of God's temple; but in gospel-times many nations shall flow into the church, shall fly like a cloud and as the doves to their windows. Ministers shall be sent forth to disciple all nations, and they shall not labour in vain; for, multitudes being wrought upon to believe the gospel and embrace the Christian religion, they shall excite and encourage one another, and shall say, "Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord now raised among us, even to the house of the God of Jacob, the spiritual temple which we need not travel far to, for it is brought to our doors and set up in the midst of us." Thus shall people be made willing in the day of his power (Psa 110:3), and shall do what they can to make others willing, as Andrew invited Peter, and Philip Nathanael, to be acquainted with Christ. They shall call the people to the mountain (Deu 33:19), for there is in Christ enough for all, enough for each. Now observe what it is, 1. Which these converts expect to find in the house of the God of Jacob. They come thither for instruction: "He will teach us of his ways, what is the way in which he would have us to walk with him and in which we may depend upon him to meet us graciously." Note, Where we come to worship God we come to be taught of him. 2. Which they engage to do when they are thus taught of God: We will walk in his paths. Note, Those may comfortably expect that God will teach them who are firmly resolved by his grace to do as they are taught.

V. That, in order to this, a new revelation shall be published to the world, on which the church shall be founded, and by which multitudes shall be brought into it: For the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. The gospel is here called the word of the Lord, for the Lord gave the word, and great was the company of those that published it, Psa 68:11. It was of a divine original, a divine authority; it began to be spoken by the Lord Christ himself, Heb 2:3. And it is a law, a law of faith; we are under the law to Christ. This was to go forth from Jerusalem, from Zion, the metropolis of the Old Testament dispensation, where the temple, and altars, and oracles were, and whither the Jews went to worship from all parts; thence the gospel must take rise, to show the connexion between the Old Testament and the New, that the gospel is not set up in opposition to the law, but is an explication and illustration of it, and a branch growing out of its roots. It was in Jerusalem that Christ preached and wrought miracles; there he died, rose again, and ascended; there the Spirit was poured out; and those that were to preach repentance and remission of sins to all nations were ordered to begin at Jerusalem, so that thence flowed the streams that were to water the desert world.

VI. That a convincing power should go along with the gospel of Christ, in all places where it should be preached (Mic 4:3): He shall judge among many people. Messiah, the lawgiver (Mic 4:2.), is here the judge, for to him the Father committed all judgment, and for judgment he came into this world; his word, the word of his gospel, that was to go forth from Jerusalem, was the golden sceptre by which he shall rule and judge when he sits as king on the holy hill of Zion, Psa 2:6. By it he shall rebuke strong nations afar off; for the Spirit working with the word shall reprove the world, Joh 16:8. It is promised to the Son of David that he shall judge among the heathen (Psa 110:6), which he does when in the chariot of his everlasting gospel he goes forth, and goes on, conquering and to conquer.

VII. That a disposition to mutual peace and love shall be the happy effect of the setting up of the kingdom of the Messiah: They shall beat their swords into plough-shares; that is, angry passionate men, that have been fierce and furious, shall be wonderfully sweetened, and made mild and meek, Tit 3:2, Tit 3:3. Those who, before their conversion, did injuries, and would bear none, after their conversion can bear injuries, but will do none. As far as the gospel prevails it makes men peaceable, for such is the wisdom from above; it is gentle and easy to be entreated; and if nations were but leavened by it, there would be universal peace. When Christ was born there was universal peace in the Roman empire; those that were first brought into the gospel church were all of one heart and of one soul (Act 4:32); and it was observed of the primitive Christians how well they loved one another. In heaven this will have its full accomplishment. It is promised, 1. That none shall be quarrelsome. The art of war, instead of being improved (which some reckon the glory of a kingdom), shall be forgotten and laid aside as useless. They shall not learn war any more as they have done, for they shall have no need to defend themselves nor any inclination to offend their neighbours. Nation shall no longer lift up sword against nation; not that the gospel will make men cowards, but it will make men peaceable. 2. That all shall be quiet, both from evil and from the fear of evil (Mic 4:4): They shall sit safely, and none shall disturb them; they shall sit securely, and shall not disturb themselves, every man under his vine and under his fig-tree, enjoying the fruit of them, and needing no other shelter than the leaves of them. None shall make them afraid; not only there shall be nothing that is likely to frighten them, but they shall not be disposed to fear. under the dominion of Christ, as that of Solomon, there shall be abundance of peace. Though his followers have trouble in the world, in him they enjoy great tranquillity. If this seems unlikely, yet we may depend upon it, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it, and no word of his shall fall to the ground; what he has spoken by his word he will do by his providence and grace. He that is the Lord of hosts will be the God of peace; and those may well be easy whom the Lord of hosts, of all hosts, undertakes the protection of.

VIII. That the churches shall be constant in their duty, and so shall make a good use of their tranquillity and shall not provoke the Lord to deprive them of it, Mic 4:5. When the churches have rest they shall be edified, and confirmed, and comforted, and shall resolve to be as firm to their God as other nations are to theirs, though they be no gods. Where we find the foregoing promises, Isa 2:2, etc. it follows (Mic 4:5), O house of Jacob! come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord; and here, We will walk in the name of the Lord our God. Note, Peace is a blessing indeed when it strengthens our resolutions to cleave to the Lord. Observe, 1. How constant other nations were to their gods: All people will walk every one in the name of his god, will own their god and cleave to him, will worship their god and serve him, will depend upon him and put confidence in him. Whatever men make a god of they will make use of, and take his name along with them in all their actions and affairs. The mariners, in a storm, cried every man to his god, Jon 1:5. And no instance could be found of a nation's changing its gods, Jer 2:11 : If the hosts of heaven were their gods, they loved them, and served them, and walked after them, Jer 8:2. 2. How constant God's people now resolve to be to him: "We will walk in the name of the Lord our God, will acknowledge him in all our ways, and govern ourselves by a continual regard to him, doing nothing but what we have warrant from him for, and openly professing our relation to him." Observe, Their resolution is peremptory; it is not a thing that needs be disputed: "We will walk in the name of the Lord our God." It is just and reasonable: He is our God. And it is a resolution for a perpetuity: "We will do it for ever and ever, and will never leave him. He will be ours for ever, and therefore so we will be his, and never repent our choice."

IX. That notwithstanding the dispersions, distress, and infirmities of the church, it shall be formed and established, and made very considerable, Mic 4:6, Mic 4:7. 1. The state of the church had been low, and weak, and very helpless, in the latter times of the Old Testament, partly through the corruptions of the Jewish nation, and partly through the oppressions under which they groaned. They were like a flock of sheep that were maimed, worried, and scattered, Eze 34:16; Jer 50:6. 17. The good people among them, and in other places, that were well inclined, were dispersed, were very infirm, and in a manner lost and cast far off. 2. It is promised that all these grievances shall be redressed and the distemper healed. Christ will come himself (Mat 15:24), and send his apostles to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, Mat 10:6. From among the Jews that halted, or that for want of strength, could not go upright, God gathered a remnant (Mic 4:7), that remnant according to the election of grace which is spoken of in Rom 11:7, which embraced the gospel of Christ. And from among the Gentiles that were cast far off (so the Gentiles are described to be, Eph 2:13, Act 2:39) he raised a strong nation; greater numbers of them were brought into the church than of the Jews, Gal 4:27. And such a strong nation the gospel-church is that the gates of hell shall never be able to prevail against it. The church of Christ is more numerous than any other nation, and strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.

X. That the Messiah shall be the king of this kingdom, shall protect and govern it, and order all the affairs of it for the best, and this to the end of time. The Lord Jesus shall reign over them in Mount Zion by his word and Spirit in his ordinances, and this henceforth and for ever, for of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end.

Verse 8

These verses relate to Zion and Jerusalem, here called the tower of the flock or the tower of Edor; we read of such a place (Gen 35:21) near Bethlehem; and some conjecture it is the same place where the shepherds were keeping their flocks when the angels brought them tidings of the birth of Christ, and some think Bethlehem itself is here spoken of, as Mic 5:2. Some think it is a tower at that gate of Jerusalem which is called the sheep-gate (Neh 3:32), and conjecture that through that gate Christ rode in triumph into Jerusalem. However, it seems to be put for Jerusalem itself, or for Zion the tower of David. All the sheep of Israel flocked thither three times a year; it was the stronghold (Ophel, which is also a name of a place in Jerusalem, Neh 3:27), or castle, of the daughter of Zion. Now here,

I. We have a promise of the glories of the spiritual Jerusalem, the gospel-church, which is; the tower of the flock, that one fold in which all the sheep of Christ are protected under one Shepherd: "Unto thee shall it come; that which thou hast long wanted and wished for, even the first dominion, a dignity and power equal to that of David and Solomon, by whom Jerusalem was first raised, that kingdom shall again come to the daughter of Jerusalem, which it was deprived of at the captivity. It shall make as great a figure and shine with as much lustre among the nations, and have as much influence upon them, as ever it had; this is the first or chief dominion." Now this had by no means its accomplishment in Zerubbabel; his was nothing like the first dominion either in respect of splendour and sovereignty at home or the extent of power abroad; and therefore it must refer to the kingdom of the Messiah (and to that the Chaldee-paraphrase refers it) and had its accomplishment when God gave to our Lord Jesus the throne of his father David (Luk 1:32), set him king upon the holy hill of Zion and gave him the heathen for his inheritance (Psa 2:6), made him, his first-born, higher than the kings of the earth, Psa 89:27; Dan 7:14. David, in spirit, called him Lord, and (as Dr. Pocock observes) he witnessed of himself, and his witness was true, that he was greater than Solomon, none of their dominions being like his for extent and duration. The common people welcomed Christ into Jerusalem with hosannas to the son of David, to show that it was the first dominion that came to the daughter of Zion; and the evangelist applies it to the promise of Zion's king coming to her, Mat 21:5; Zac 9:9. Some give this sense of the words: To Zion, and Jerusalem that tower of the flock, to the nation of the Jews, came the first dominion; that is, there the kingdom of Christ was first set up, the gospel of the kingdom was first preached (Luk 24:47), there Christ was first called king of the Jews.

II. This is illustrated by a prediction of the calamities of the literal Jerusalem, to which some favour and relief should be granted, as a type and figure of what God would do for the gospel-Jerusalem in the last days, notwithstanding its distresses. We have here,

1. Jerusalem put in pain by the providences of God. "She cries out aloud, that all her neighbours may take notice of her griefs, because there is no king in her, none of that honour and power she used to have. Instead of ruling the nations, as she did when she sat a queen, she is ruled by them, and has become a captive. Her counsellors have perished; she is no longer at her own disposal, but is given up to the will of her enemies, and is governed by their counsellors. Pangs have taken her." (1.) She is carried captive to Babylon, and there is in pangs of grief. "She goes forth out of the city, and is constrained to dwell in the field, exposed to all manner of inconveniences; she goes even to Babylon, and there wears out seventy tedious years in a miserable captivity, all that while in pain, as a woman in travail, waiting to be delivered, and thinking the time very long." (2.) When she is delivered out of Babylon, and redeemed from the hand of her enemies there, yet still she is in pangs of fear; the end of one trouble is but the beginning of another; for now also, when Jerusalem is in the rebuilding, many nations are gathered against her, Mic 4:11. They were so in Ezra's and Nehemiah's time, and did all they could to obstruct the building of the temple and the wall. They were so in the time of the Maccabees; they said, Let her be defiled; let her be looked upon as a place polluted with sin, and be forsaken and abandoned both of God and man; let her holy places be profaned and all her honours laid in the dust; let our eye look upon Zion, and please itself with the sight of its ruins, as it is said of Edom (Oba 1:12, Thou shouldst not have looked upon the day of thy brother); let our eyes see our desire upon Zion, the day we have long wished for. When they hear the enemies thus combine against them, and insult over them, no wonder that they are in pain, and cry aloud. Without are fightings, within are fears.

2. Jerusalem made easy by the promises of God: "Why dost thou cry out aloud? Let thy griefs and fears be silenced; indulge not thyself in them, for, though things are bad with thee, they shall end well; thy pangs are great, but they are like those of a woman in travail (Mic 4:9), that labours to bring forth (Mic 4:10), the issue of which will be good at last." Jerusalem's pangs are not as dying agonies, but as travailing throes, which after a while will be forgotten, for joy that a child is born into the world. Let the literal Jerusalem comfort herself with this, that, whatever straits she may be reduced to, she shall continue until the coming of the Messiah, for there his kingdom must be first set up, and she shall not be destroyed while that blessing is in her; and when at length she is ploughed as a field, and become heaps (as is threatened, Mic 3:12), yet her privileges shall be resigned to the spiritual Jerusalem, and in that the promises made to her shall be fulfilled. Let Jerusalem be easy then, for, (1.) Her captivity in Babylon shall have an end, a happy end (Mic 4:10): There shalt thou be delivered, and the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of thy enemies there. This was done by Cyrus, who acted therein as God's servant; and that deliverance was typical of our redemption by Jesus Christ, and the release from our spiritual bondage which is proclaimed in the everlasting gospel, that acceptable year of the Lord, in which Christ himself preached liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those that were bound, Luk 4:18, Luk 4:19. (2.) The designs of her enemies against her afterwards shall be baffled, nay, they shall turn upon themselves, Mic 4:12, Mic 4:13. They promise themselves a day of it, but it shall prove God's day. They are gathered against Zion, to destroy it, but it shall prove to their own destruction, which Israel and Israel's God shall have the glory of. [1.] Their coming together against Zion shall be the occasion of their ruin. They associate themselves, and gird themselves, that they may break Jerusalem in pieces, but it will prove that they shall be broken in pieces, Isa 8:9. They know not the thoughts of the Lord. When they are gathering together, and Providence favours them in it, they little think what God is designing by it, nor do they understand his counsel; they know what they aim at in coming together, but they know not what God aims at in bringing them together; they aim at Zion's ruin, but God aims at theirs. Note, When men are made use of as instruments of Providence in accomplishing its purposes it is very common for them to intend one thing and for God to intend quite the contrary. The king of Assyria is to be a rod in God's hand for the correction of his people, in order to their reformation; howbeit he means not so, nor does his heart think so, Isa 10:7. And thus it is here; the nations are gathered against Zion, as soldiers into the field, but God gathers them as sheaves into the floor, to be beaten to pieces; and they could not have been so easily, so effectually, destroyed, if they had not gathered together against Zion. Note, The designs of enemies for the ruin of the church often prove ruining to themselves; and thereby they prepare themselves for destruction and put themselves in the way of it; they are snared in the work of their own hands. [2.] Zion shall have the honour of being victorious over them, Mic 4:13. When they are gathered as sheaves into the floor, to be trodden down, as the corn then was by the oxen, then, "Arise, and thresh, O daughter of Zion! instead of fearing them, and fleeing from them, boldly set upon them, and take the opportunity Providence favours thee with of trampling upon them. Plead not thy own weakness, and that thou art not a match for so many confederated enemies; God will make thy horn iron, to push them down, and thy hoofs brass, to tread upon them when they are down; and thus thou shalt beat in pieces many people, that have long been beating thee in pieces." Thus, when God pleases, the daughter of Babylon is made a threshing floor (it is time to thresh her, Jer 51:33), and the worm Jacob is made a threshing instrument, with which God will thresh the mountains, and make them as chaff, Isa 41:14, Isa 41:15. How strangely, how happily, are the tables turned, since Jacob was the threshing-floor and Babylon the threshing instrument! Isa 21:10. Note, When God has conquering work for his people to do he will furnish them with strength and ability for it, will make the horn iron and the hoofs brass; and, when he does so, they must exert the power he gives them, and execute the commission; even the daughter of Zion must arise, and thresh. [3.] The glory of the victory shall redound to God. Zion shall thresh these sheaves in the floor, but the corn threshed out shall be a meat-offering at God's altar: I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord (that is, I will have it consecrated) and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth. The spoils gained by Zion's victory shall be brought into the sanctuary, and devoted to God, either in part, as those of Midian (Num 31:28), or in whole, as those of Jericho, Jos 6:17. God is Jehovah, the fountain of being; he is the Lord of the whole earth, the fountain of power; and therefore he needs not any of our gain or substance, but may challenge and demand it all if he please; and with ourselves we must devote all we have to his honour, to be employed as he directs. Thus far all we have must have holiness to the Lord written upon it, all our gain and substance must be consecrated to the Lord of the whole earth, Isa 23:18. And extraordinary successes call for extraordinary acknowledgments, whether they be of spoils in war or gains in trade. It is God that gives us power to get wealth, which way soever it is honestly got, and therefore he must be honoured with what we get. Some make all this to point at the defeat of Sennacherib when he besieged Jerusalem, others to the destruction of Babylon, others to the successes of the Maccabees; but the learned Dr. Pocock and others think it had its full accomplishment in the spiritual victories obtained by the gospel of Christ over the powers of darkness that fought against it. The nations thought to ruin Christianity in its infancy, but it was victorious over them; those that persisted in their enmity were broken to pieces (Mat 21:44), particularly the Jewish nation; but multitudes by divine grace were gained to the church, and they and their substance were consecrated to the Lord Jesus, the Lord of the whole earth.

Verse 3

rebuke—convict of sin (Joh 16:8-9); and subdue with judgments (Psa 2:5, Psa 2:9; Psa 110:5-6; Rev 2:27; Rev 12:5).

many people . . . strong nations afar off—In Isa 2:4 it is "the nations . . . many people."

Verse 4

sit every man under his vine, &c.—that is, enjoy the most prosperous tranquillity (Kg1 4:25; Zac 3:10). The "vine" and "fig tree" are mentioned rather than a house, to signify, there will be no need of a covert; men will be safe even in the fields and open air.

Lord of hosts hath spoken it—Therefore it must come to pass, however unlikely now it may seem.

Verse 5

For—rather, Though it be that all people walk after their several gods, yet we (the Jews in the dispersion) will walk in the name of the Lord. So the Hebrew particle means in the Margin, Gen 8:21; Exo 13:17; Jos 17:18. The resolution of the exile Jews is: As Jehovah gives us hope of so glorious a restoration, notwithstanding the overthrow of our temple and nation, we must in confident reliance on His promise persevere in the true worship of Him, however the nations around, our superiors now in strength and numbers, walk after their gods [ROSENMULLER]. As the Jews were thoroughly weaned from idols by the Babylonian captivity, so they shall be completely cured of unbelief by their present long dispersion (Zac 10:8-12).

Verse 6

assemble her that halteth—feminine for neuter in Hebrew idiom, "whatever halteth": metaphor from sheep wearied out with a journey: all the suffering exiles of Israel (Eze 34:16; Zep 3:19).

her . . . driven out—all Israel's outcasts. Called "the Lord's flock" (Jer 13:17; Eze 34:13; Eze 37:21).

Verse 7

I will make her that halted a remnant—I will cause a remnant to remain which shall not perish.

Lord shall reign . . . in . . . Zion—David's kingdom shall be restored in the person of Messiah, who is the seed of David and at the same time Jehovah (Isa 24:23).

for ever— (Isa 9:6-7; Dan 7:14, Dan 7:27; Luk 1:33; Rev 11:15).

Verse 8

tower of the flock—following up the metaphor of sheep (see on Mic 4:6). Jerusalem is called the "tower," from which the King and Shepherd observes and guards His flock: both the spiritual Jerusalem, the Church now whose tower-like elevation is that of doctrine and practice (Sol 4:4, "Thy neck is like the tower of David"), and the literal hereafter (Jer 3:17). In large pastures it was usual to erect a high wooden tower, so as to oversee the flock. JEROME takes the Hebrew for "flock," Eder or Edar, as a proper name, namely, a village near Beth-lehem, for which it is put, Beth-lehem being taken to represent the royal stock of David (Mic 5:2; compare Gen 35:21). But the explanatory words, "the stronghold of the daughter of Zion," confirm English Version.

stronghold—Hebrew, "Ophel"; an impregnable height on Mount Zion (Ch2 27:3; Ch2 33:14; Neh 3:26-27).

unto thee shall . . . come . . . the first dominion—namely, the dominion formerly exercised by thee shall come back to thee.

kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem—rather, "the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem shall come (again)"; such as it was under David, before its being weakened by the secession of the ten tribes.

Verse 9

Addressed to the daughter of Zion, in her consternation at the approach of the Chaldeans.

is there no king in thee?—asked tauntingly. There is a king in her; but it is the same as if there were none, so helpless to devise means of escape are he and his counsellors [MAURER]. Or, Zion's pains are because her king is taken away from her (Jer 52:9; Lam 4:20; Eze 12:13) [CALVIN]. The former is perhaps the preferable view (compare Jer 49:7). The latter, however, describes better Zion's kingless state during her present long dispersion (Hos 3:4-5).

Verse 10

Be in pain, and labour—carrying on the metaphor of a pregnant woman. Thou shalt be affected with bitter sorrows before thy deliverance shall come. I do not forbid thy grieving, but I bring thee consolation. Though God cares for His children, yet they must not expect to be exempt from trouble, but must prepare for it.

go forth out of the city—on its capture. So "come out" is used Kg2 24:12; Isa 36:16.

dwell in the field—namely, in the open country, defenseless, instead of their fortified city. Beside the Chebar (Psa 137:1; Eze 3:15).

Babylon—Like Isaiah, Micah looks beyond the existing Assyrian dynasty to the Babylonian, and to Judah's captivity under it, and restoration (Isa 39:7; Isa 43:14; Isa 48:20). Had they been, as rationalists represent, merely sagacious politicians, they would have restricted their prophecies to the sphere of the existing Assyrian dynasty. But their seeing into the far-off future of Babylon's subsequent supremacy, and Judah's connection with her, proves them to be inspired prophets.

there . . . there—emphatic repetition. The very scene of thy calamities is to be the scene of thy deliverance. In the midst of enemies, where all hope seems cut off, there shall Cyrus, the deliverer, appear (compare Jdg 14:14). Cyrus again being the type of the greater Deliverer, who shall finally restore Israel.

Verse 11

many nations—the subject peoples composing Babylon's armies: and also Edom, Ammon, &c., who exulted in Judah's fall (Lam 2:16; Oba 1:11-13).

defiled—metaphor from a virgin. Let her be defiled (that is, outraged by violence and bloodshed), and let our eye gaze insultingly on her shame and sorrow (Mic 7:10). Her foes desired to feast their eyes on her calamities.

Verse 12

thoughts of the Lord—Their unsearchable wisdom, overruling seeming disaster to the final good of His people, is the very ground on which the restoration of Israel hereafter (of which the restoration from Babylon is a type) is based in Isa 55:8; compare with Mic 4:3, Mic 4:12-13, which prove that Israel, not merely the Christian Church, is the ultimate subject of the prophecy; also in Rom 11:13. God's counsel is to discipline His people for a time with the foe as a scourge; and then to destroy the foe by the hands of His people.

gather them as . . . sheaves—them who "gathered" themselves for Zion's destruction (Mic 4:11) the Lord "shall gather" for destruction by Zion (Mic 4:13), like sheaves gathered to be threshed (compare Isa 21:10; Jer 51:33). The Hebrew is singular, "sheaf." However great the numbers of the foe, they are all but as one sheaf ready to be threshed [CALVIN]. Threshing was done by treading with the feet: hence the propriety of the image for treading under foot and breaking asunder the foe.

Verse 13

thresh—destroy thy foes "gathered" by Jehovah as "sheaves" (Isa 41:15-16).

thine horn—Zion being compared to an ox treading corn, and an ox's strength lying in the horns, her strength is implied by giving her a horn of iron (compare Kg1 22:11).

beat in pieces many— (Dan 2:44).

I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord—God subjects the nations to Zion, not for her own selfish aggrandizement, but for His glory (Isa 60:6, Isa 60:9; Zac 14:20, with which compare Isa 23:18) and for their ultimate good; therefore He is here called, not merely God of Israel, but "Lord of the whole earth."

Next: Micah Chapter 5