Micah 5
THE reference in verse 1 is to the warlike Assyrians (“daughter of troops”) and their king. They attacked and carried off as captives the now lost ten tribes of Israel, and shortly afterward came against Judah and Benjamin under Sennacherib (2 Kings 17 and 18). It is clear, however, from what follows in the chapter that this Scripture looks on to the last days, as does chapter 4. Then the prophetic Assyrian, or king of the north, will invade the land, but he will come to an unlooked for end. The divine reason for this invasion is given in the first verse, —the treatment accorded the Judge of Israel when He came in lowly grace to the Jews, and they had Him crucified, saying,
“We will not have this Man to reign over us.”
Verse 2 is a parenthesis, naming the place where the Messiah was to be born; the chief priests and scribes were familiar with the passage so as to tell Herod their king, but they would not trouble themselves to go there to pay the child Jesus homage (Matthew 2:5, 6). The reader will note the reference to the deity of the Lord here as elsewhere in Scripture, where His partaking of human nature is spoken of, “Whose goings forth are from of old, from the days of eternity.” (N. T.)
He—the Judge or Ruler of Israel, will give them up until the time when she which travaileth shall have brought forth (See Isaiah 9:0, 7, Revelation 12:1-6, and the story of Naomi (whose history presents a picture of that of the children of Israel) in the book of Ruth, culminating in chapter 4:14-17).
The long centuries before the second coming of the Messiah are passed over by Micah to tell of the time yet to come, when the “remnant of His brethren shall return unto the children of Israel.” The Church of God will then be complete, the coming of the Lord for His heavenly saints will have taken place, and the Jews will be in Palestine in large numbers, with a temple at Jerusalem.
The Lord as Israel’s once rejected Messiah now appearing shall stand and feed [His flock] in the strength of Jehovah (verse 4). He shall be Peace. The Assyrian will have come into the land of Israel shortly before this, but the Lord, using the believing remnant of the Jews, and perhaps also of the ten tribes, then returning from their long banishment, will destroy his power.
Two figures are used to characterize the Israel to come: they shall be as “dew” (verse 7), and as a “lion” (verse 8), telling of them as the channels of blessing, as well as the agents of divine governmental dealing in the earth, even to cutting off their enemies—(verse 9). There will, however, be a thorough cleansing of the people and the land of Israel, (verses 10-14), with vengeance executed upon the nations, accomplished by God through His Son.
ML 04/18/1937