God's Plans for Israel
Notes
Transcript
I. Israel’s future role, 4:1-5.
I. Israel’s future role, 4:1-5.
in the last days — this is the beginning, speaks of the certainty of the following coming to pass
the mountain of the house of the LORD
established as chief of the mountains
people will stream to it
Many nations will come
“Come, let us go up . . .”
nations will come to Jerusalem to learn the ways of the LORD.
The Word of God will go forth from Jerusalem.
The LORD will judge the nations, then
All war machinery will be converted to implements of peace.
World-wide peace and prosperity.
Israel will walk in the name of the LORD alone.
II. Israel’s future greatness, 4:6-8.
II. Israel’s future greatness, 4:6-8.
In that day . . .
The LORD will take the lame and the rejected and make them into a strong nation, over which He Himself will rule.
from now on and forever . . .
The former dominion will come — rulership from an earlier time will come to Migdal-eder (by Bethlehem).
May be a reference to David’s descendent promised in the Davidic covenant.
III. Israel’s future might, 4:9-5:1 [4:14 Heb.].
III. Israel’s future might, 4:9-5:1 [4:14 Heb.].
Rhetorically, Micah asks why the Israelites were crying out in agony, her present sufferings are like that of a woman with labor pains who can do nothing to relieve her misery. Their condition in captivity was without a king to lead them and provide them counsel.
The LORD’s promise is rescue and restoration of His people Israel.
IN the near future, Micah sees primarily the Babylonian captivity:
you will go out of the city (taken from Jerusalem)
dwell in the land (traveling in exile) and go to Babylon.
Yet Babylon was, in Micah’s time, part of the Assyrian Empire. The exile of Judah under the reign of Nebuchadnezzar came a century later. Babylon is also used in Scripture as the symbol of Gentile power that has held Israel captive ever since Nebuchadnezzar.
“God chose Babylon because in Micah’s pagan world it functioned as the equivalent of Rome in the Middle Ages and of Mecca in Islam. The darkest land will become the place where the daylight of the new age dawns.”
“You will be rescued;” “redeemed” from the hand of your enemies.
There is going to be a reversal of Israel’s present hopeless situation.
In the latter days,
Now the prophet looks beyond the current situation to the future in verse 11, picturing the last great attack of the nations of the world against Israel.
“Many nations have been assembled against you”
They may make plans to pollute Zion and their eyes gloat over her destruction but they do not know the LORD neither His thoughts nor His purposes.
They believe they have assembled together for their nefarious purposes, but the LORD has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor.
This speaks to the time when the nations have gathered together to destroy the nation, but the return of Christ will make their plans of naught.
He will enjoin His people to “Arise and thresh.”
In the future the LORD would use Israel as His instrument to thresh the nations. He will strengthen Israel to overcome (“pulverize”) them, and to turn over (“dedicate”) their wealth to Him, bringing them into subjection to the sovereign LORD. This fulfillment lies in the future, when Messiah returns to reign, Zech. 14:12-15
Now this will be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the peoples who have gone to war against Jerusalem; their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongue will rot in their mouth.
It will come about in that day that a great panic from the Lord will fall on them; and they will seize one another’s hand, and the hand of one will be lifted against the hand of another.
Judah also will fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered, gold and silver and garments in great abundance.
So also like this plague will be the plague on the horse, the mule, the camel, the donkey and all the cattle that will be in those camps.
The judgment of the nations will be followed by a universal peace in the Millennium, describe earlier in verses 3 and 4.
Chapter 5:1 is the last verse in chapter 4 in the Hebrew Bible, which continues the theme of Zion’s might.
Micah calls on the Israelites to prepare for war, reminding them that they had often engaged in war (referred to as a “daughter of troops”). Jerusalem was a city marked by warfare. Micah preached against the rich and powerful who had been at war with the poor, but it is their external enemies that now will wage war against them. Those enemies have laid siege against them and would even strike Israel’s judge on the cheek — a picture of humiliation.
Who is this judge? It appears to refer to King Zedekiah, the last king of Judah for they following reasons:
the time of the smiting is when Israel is under siege.
5:2-6 jump to a time in the distant future; verse 1 describes a time in the near future.
The word “judge” is different from “ruler” in verse 2, probably describing a different individual. Micah may have chosen the Hebrew word shopet (“judge”) because of its similarity to shebet, which means “rod.”
IV. Israel’s eternal Ruler, 5:2 [5:1 Heb.]-5a.
IV. Israel’s eternal Ruler, 5:2 [5:1 Heb.]-5a.
Another ruler of Israel is now mentioned who, unlike Zedekiah, would effectively lead the LORD’s people.
He will emerge later in history.
He would be the LORD’s representative, John 17 4
“I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.
and Heb 10:7
“Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come (In the scroll of the book it is written of Me) To do Your will, O God.’ ”
He will arise from the comparatively insignificant town of Bethlehem Ephrathah. Ephrathah (or Ephrath) was an old name of the district in which Bethlehem of Judah lay, distinguishing it from other Bethlehems in the land. Bethlehem of Judah is the hometown of David. As David had been the least notable of his brothers, so Bethlehem was the least honorable (“little”) among the towns in Judah. Just five mile north was Jerusalem, the home of those nobles who oppressed the poor in the land. This one, born among the people, sharer of their toils and of their wrongs, would be the hope of all the people, not just the peasants.
He is divine, since He had been conducting activities on the LORD’s behalf “from long ago from the days of eternity.”
For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
This Ruler is identified in the New Testament as the Messiah, Jesus Christ, Matt 2:1
Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying,
When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.
They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been written by the prophet:
‘And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, Are by no means least among the leaders of Judah; For out of you shall come forth a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.’ ”
This Messianic prophecy gives the birthplace of Messiah, assuring us of His humanity, as well as asserting His deity.
Dr. Charles Feinberg writes:
“The preexistence of the Messiah is being taught here, as well as His active participation in ancient times in the purposes of God. (The Minor Prophets, p. 95)”
The LORD will give the Israelites over to their enemies until the promised Ruler is born (1st advent) and begins His rule (2nd advent). It is then that the remainder of His brethren will return to the sons of Israel (the regathering of Israel into the land). Messiah will then shepherd His people (protect and direct) and will be their Peace, whose greatness will impact all people.
V. Israel’s future peace, 5:5b-6.
V. Israel’s future peace, 5:5b-6.
Assyria was the main threat in the days of Micah, but this prophecy predicts Israel’s victory over the Assyrians. This has not happened in history yet. This then looks to the future, a continuation of the vision Micah was given from the LORD.
These future ‘Assyrians’, representative of Israel’s powerful, hostile enemies, once again invade the Promised Land and break down its citadels (or palaces), the Israelites will rise up against them with more than enough leaders to then defeat her enemy. Following this, they will lead and care for the land of ‘Assyria’, bringing it under Israelite control, led by their Redeemer, and the LORD behind Him in that day.
Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle.
This time to come will be one of peace and security for God’s people where their Messiah prevents the lion-like “Assyrians’ from terrorizing helpless sheep. (Chisholm, Handbook on … , pg. 424.
VI. Israel’s future vindication, 5:7-9.
VI. Israel’s future vindication, 5:7-9.
“The remnant of Jacob” will then be living among the other nations. Micah uses this term for the believing Jews living in the last days; this refers to them after God judges the nations.
Micah pictures them as a divine gift to the people of the world, the LORD sending them among the nations like He sends the dew and rain.
They will be a dominant and powerful people in an irresistible sense, Deut. 28:13
“The Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you only will be above, and you will not be underneath, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I charge you today, to observe them carefully,
They will now have the upper hand, their enemies unable to rise up against them. This a complete 180 compared to the conditions the Jews experienced in the world since Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple.
VII. Israel’s future purification, 5:10-15.
VII. Israel’s future purification, 5:10-15.
In that future day, the LORD promises that war machinery will be destroyed, removing those vain sources of security that Israel was tempted to lean upon. These are represented by horses, chariots, cities and fortifications. He will be their true security.
The false religion and the idolatry that has plagued Israel will also be removed by the LORD:
Sorceries - seeking information from demonic sources, 2 Kings 9:22
When Joram saw Jehu, he said, “Is it peace, Jehu?” And he answered, “What peace, so long as the harlotries of your mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?”
Fortune-tellers - they cast spells by calling demonic spirits to influence other people, Deut. 18:10
“There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer,
carved images - pagan idols, Exod. 20:4
“You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.
Memorial stones and Asherim - stone and wooden symbols of the male and female Canaanite deities, Deut. 16:21-22
“You shall not plant for yourself an Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of the Lord your God, which you shall make for yourself.
“You shall not set up for yourself a sacred pillar which the Lord your God hates.
Cities were infamous as places where spiritual impurity flourished, and so God would destroy them.
These were Israel’s internal enemies; the other nations were her external enemies.
All those nations which did not obey the Lord’s will would have the LORD take vengeance angrily upon them. The Hebrew word translated “vengeance” is “a legal term for the action of a royal suzerain against rebels who will not acknowledge his sovereignty” (Allen, Leslie C. The Books of Joel, Obadiah, Jonah and Micah, pg. 360.)
Quote from Bruce Waltke: