Micah 4-5
The very first expression of the goodly estate of Zion in the days of the kingdom, here called “the last days,” which Micah gives us in these chapters, is that fine one—presented also by Isaiah in his second chapter— that is, the peoples of the earth, and the world over, coming up to her to learn the ways or statutes of the king of glory then seated there.
This is highly characteristic. Now, in this time of the ministry of grace, the Saviour’s messengers go forth, carrying glad tidings with them, and beseeching sinners to be reconciled. For love is active in goodness; it busies itself at its own cost about the blessing of others. But royalty and judgment take a different attitude. Judgment enthrones itself, and will be waited upon and listened to. If a king reigns in righteousness, the people must be in attendance. His courts must be filled. His will is to be learned and observed and thus it is here.
But if it be a scepter of righteousness, it shall be also of peace; and a willing, happy world shall witness that a morning has risen without clouds, and that another Solomon, a greater than Solomon, has taken rule in Zion over the whole earth (2 Sam. 23:3-4). The remnant now scattered are brought home; and in Jerusalem the Lord, the Messiah, reigns over them, His natural-born subjects.
The prophet speaks of all this, and then turning to Judah, leaves the Assyrian of his day for the Chaldean of a coming day; and the daughter of Zion is taught to know that she must go to Babylon, before she can be brought forth in the majesty that is to be hers in the days of the kingdom. It is in Babylon her pains, her travailing is to end; but the progress of the delivery is noticed; “thou shalt go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon, and there shalt thou be delivered, there the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies” (Mic. 4:10). Zion must reach her joy through captivity and come to honor through sore sorrow. As it had been told Abraham of old, that his seed should sojourn in a strange land for centuries, before they came to their inheritance; so it was—the brick-kilns of Egypt went before the victories of Joshua. And now again, Babylon is as a second Egypt to the children of Zion, before “the first dominion” came to them, before the palmy days of David and Solomon are restored.
The day of the Chaldean leads the prophet to the day of Israel’s confederated enemies at the close. (Jer. 4:10-11. Between the times of these two verses there is a long interval, not noticed, however, by Micah.) This closing visitation will be severe, and the rejection of Christ is brought forward as the occasion and the warrant for this. Judah insulted Messiah when He came to them. The Judge of Israel was smitten on the cheek (Matt. 27:30). But the One whom they refused and insulted, shall be their only hope. This is Joseph again, and Moses again. Those whom the nation once refused, are their only strength and expectation in the day of their calamity. And thus, because of Messiah, whom they once insulted, the Assyrian of the last days shall seek to trouble Israel in vain.
The condition of the people under such a Messiah is then detailed. They shall be purified, while their enemies shall be destroyed. The remnant shall now “abide,” because their Messiah in strength and majesty “shall be great unto the ends of the earth” (Mic. 5:4). They shall be also as “dew from the Lord,” and as “a young lion among the flocks,” the occasion of either blessing or judgment to all around them (Mic. 5:7-8).
And in the midst of all this, Messiah the ruler is presented in various glories, personal and official; and poor Bethlehem, little in Judah, is honored because of Him. For as the poor carpenter’s wife of Nazereth, His mother, so the poor town of Bethlehem, His birth-place, take honor and blessing because of Him. This leaves us at the end of Micah 5.