Micah 5
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His Birth in Bethlehem
His Birth in Bethlehem
So in the past chapters we have seen God point out the sin of the people, the rich and even the rulers who did nothing but help themselves in these matters of sin.
Understand sin has consequences my friends....
But God has promised a time of restoration, a remnant would be saved in the future days.
The Lord himself would ensure that these things would take place.
But now today we see that God is again looking toward a future day. a Day when the world, and His people Israel would be blessed to day the least. what day is that, when the Shepherd king comes...
So lets open the text and see that the Lord is saying here...
1 Now muster your troops, O daughter of troops;
siege is laid against us;
with a rod they strike the judge of Israel
on the cheek.
Well a couple of thoughts here. his “seige” might refer to Sennacherib push to try and over take Jerusalem in 701 bc. As we have seen in this passage.
10 “Thus says Sennacherib king of Assyria, ‘On what are you trusting, that you endure the siege in Jerusalem?
But more likely it is a prophetic look forward to Nebuchadnezzar army coming to invade and ultimately carry the nation into captivity in 605BC.
The strike of the judge on the cheek, suggests that the king (physical one) would be humiliated. This might be a look at Zedekiah, the last king of Judah.
But there again some people suggest this could be a future look at Christ as he is beaten and bruised before being crucified for the sins of the world.
The traditional view is that it is Zedekiah, the last king of Judah.
Verse 2
2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel,
whose coming forth is from of old,
from ancient days.
Now this is one of those verses that speak to the coming of Jesus, the Messiah into the world. And it tells the nation from where inside its boundaries he will arise.
So lets look at it....
There is a strong contrast here between verses 1 and 2. In verse one you had a weak ruler, one who would be afflicted by others. And here in verse two you see a strong ideal king and ruler.
So the attention turns form Jerusalem and goes to the little town of Bethlehem. Now we know that Bethlehem is the ancestral home and birthplace of David. Now the name of Bethlehem means house of bread. It is interesting that Jesus was refer to himself as the bread of life in the gospel of John.
But here the town is referred to a s Bethlehem Ephrathah, which means the fruitless city. But it will not be fruitless long, instead of being a barren city, She is about to bring forth another ruler.
From this little small city, a ruler is coming forth Micah prophecies, and while he will be born there, He is the ruler from old, He is the ancient of Days. He is the God of the Old Testament, Listen to this from Matthew chapter 1, verse 1
1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
This messages reminds the people that Jesus is the one was promised to Abraham, He is the Lord himself.
Verse 3
3 Therefore he shall give them up until the time
when she who is in labor has given birth;
then the rest of his brothers shall return
to the people of Israel.
There is that all important word, “therefore” because they will be punished, before delivering them up.
So affliction is coming for a while, it will be temporary my friends, It will last at least until the time of His coming then she who is in labor has given birth.
A glorious birth will take place my friends, but the future reveals a time when the nation will return to the same lands that bring forth the Messiah.
Verse 4
4 And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great
to the ends of the earth.
He is the coming ruler of verse 2, namely the Messianic Son of David. So as the people return to him, He will help them and bless them.
Look at what it says...
A. He shall stand.... that is a metaphor of coming into the place of power, like being installed as King. But nonetheless, he will be king and his reign will endure for ever.
B. He will be their Shepherd king. He will feed them, he will lead them and He will protect them. Here you get a picture of this king like David, who fought off the lion and the bear to protect the flock while he was leading them out grazing. The truth is He will take good care of them.
The Lord God will enable the Shepherd King to do this work, and he will do it in the “strength of the Lord.”
Do you remember what the Lord says to the disciples in Matthew 28:18
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
And then if you look to Isaiah, you see the Holy Spirit ....at work.
2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
The Lord will carry our the ministry of the Lord in majesty, a regal power and authority, He will also do this in the name of the Lord.
The result of all this, the Shepherd’s people will live securely. But the last thing I will tell you is this, His rule will be universal. He will rule not just Isreal but the the whole world.
Isn’t the whole world his? yes it is!
Verse 5
5 And he shall be their peace.
When the Assyrian comes into our land
and treads in our palaces,
then we will raise against him seven shepherds
and eight princes of men;
I love the beginning of that verse, He shall be their peace. When you look at Israel today, there is no peace there. The nations are against them, when you look at those who are around Israel, you see they hate them.
But while the world will not give peace, the Prince of Peace (Isa 9:6) will be their peace.
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility
Then as you see Assyria mentioned, when the enemies of the Land, of the Lord and of the Lord come to trample upon them, God will rais eup many, more than enough that is what is meant by “7”. He will take care of them in that time of trouble.
He will take the times of war and bring about his rule and peace.
And when you move into verse 6
Verse 6
6 they shall shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword,
and the land of Nimrod at its entrances;
and he shall deliver us from the Assyrian
when he comes into our land
and treads within our border.
This really reiterates the thoughts of verse 5. He will rule over these areas in the future. Assyria is the first kingdom and then Nimrod refers to Babylon, who is the second kingdom. But the Shepherd king will deliver them from those who have sought to rule over them and will bring them to victory and to peace.
Of His kingdom (Jesus) there will be no end!
Now lets move on to verses 7-9 in this next section.
Verse 7
7 Then the remnant of Jacob shall be
in the midst of many peoples
like dew from the Lord,
like showers on the grass,
which delay not for a man
nor wait for the children of man.
The survivors of the persecution are referred to as the remnant of Jacob, It refers to his people, it refers to all the peoples ( all 12 tribes). People or peoples as you here in this verse speaks to many peoples, as in the nation or nations.
There is a word of blessing here. Like dew and like showers, remember in many of the Biblical lands, they were in a arrid place and thus rain and dew was really an important thing to bless the nations.
The Lord will make his people a blessing. Remember that was one of the promises God made to Abraham, I will make you and your descendants a blessing to the whole world. The Lord promises to bless the nations through His people.
6 May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass,
like showers that water the earth!
Verse 8
8 And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations,
in the midst of many peoples,
like a lion among the beasts of the forest,
like a young lion among the flocks of sheep,
which, when it goes through, treads down
and tears in pieces, and there is none to deliver.
So the remnant of Jacob, will have a positive influence on the nations, on the world, they will also be a source of death.
Just as lions maul the sheep and tears down many animals So Israel will fight and will live.
In the Maccabean period between the old and New Testament, The people fought and was victorious against those who were after Israel.
So what are we saying… The Messianic kingdom will be one that will triumph over all opposition
Listen to Zech 8:13
13 And as you have been a byword of cursing among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you, and you shall be a blessing. Fear not, but let your hands be strong.”
Now verse 9
9 Your hand shall be lifted up over your adversaries,
and all your enemies shall be cut off.
Micah is directly speaking to the remnant of Isarel. There is a promise, your hand will be lifted up. It is like the end of a fight when the winner is announced and their hand raised in victory.
The hand is symbolic of power, and when His kingdom comes in its fulness, he will enable the people to be victorious over all its foes as well.
Now verses 10-15 sum up the last section...
Pagan worship, and the military power that is against God will be stopped and whipped out.
Verse 10-11
10 And in that day, declares the Lord,
I will cut off your horses from among you
and will destroy your chariots;
11 and I will cut off the cities of your land
and throw down all your strongholds;
Here the Lord is speaking directly to His people, in that day.. He is announcing that word. Just as the promise of his enemies being destroyed in verse 9. There is a repetition here, he says I will cut off their horses and chariots, cut off their cities and tear down their strongholds , but he is speaking to his people.
Israel often trusted in their military, but horses and chariots but the Lord will wipe all this out so that all they can trust in is Him and He will be enough.
Verses 12-14
12 and I will cut off sorceries from your hand,
and you shall have no more tellers of fortunes;
13 and I will cut off your carved images
and your pillars from among you,
and you shall bow down no more
to the work of your hands;
14 and I will root out your Asherah images from among you
and destroy your cities.
All these detestable practices that they have participated in, practiced. God will purge them from their people.
His people will no longer be unfaithful, they will no longe commit spiritual adultery with false gods, idols, cult objects and the occult
Asherah was a Canaanite fertility or mother goddess and consort of El
(cf. Ugaritic ʾatrt, Athirat), and also the wooden cult object or “sacred
pole” by which she was represented. Apparently, the plurals Asherim
and Asheroth refer only to her images or cult objects. The contexts
show that Asherah was a goddess (or an object representing her) who
was worshiped along with Baal
The law of God prohibited this, they were guilty of these practices. He will put it to a stop so on that day, they will look only to Him.
The Lord will stop all this..
and then we come to verse 15
15 And in anger and wrath I will execute vengeance
on the nations that did not obey.
On that day, it is a future day of judgement, the Lord will take vengence on the disobedient Gentile nations.
Some people do not like the word vengeance, but understand God can execute vengeance since He is a holy and righteous God.
So of these Gentile nations are the one who taught Israel what false worship was and was the source of things like Baal or asherah worship.
He is calling for the nations to obey Gen 49:10 says
10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
until tribute comes to him;
and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
The Lion of the Tribe of Judah will have obedience, Yahweh will be satisfied with nothing less than a world wide kingdom, He will be Sovereign over all.