Micah 5:2-6 meaning

In Micah 5:2-6, Micah used the phrase But as for you (v. 2) to signal a dramatic shift from discussing the humiliated Judean ruler/“judge” of Micah 5:1 to speak of a future ruler who will be the Messiah, the One that will restore Israel.

Though the near future of Jerusalem and Judah looked bleak (Micah 4:10, 5:1), the distant future was filled with optimism (Micah 4:1).

Micah said that this Ruler would come from Bethlehem Ephrathah, about five miles south of Jerusalem. Ephrathah was the ancient name for Bethlehem (“house of bread”) (Genesis 48:7). It was added here to distinguish it from other towns named Bethlehem (Ruth 4:11).

Though it was known as the birthplace of David (1 Samuel 16:18-19, 17:12), Bethlehem was still Too little to be among the clans of Judah. To be little here meant that the town was small in population and therefore politically insignificant.

In spite of its seeming insignificance, it would be that From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. This would be no ordinary Ruler because His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity (v 2). This means that He has been active since eternity past, so this could only be the coming Messiah (Isaiah 9:6). This predicts that the Messiah who was to come will be divine, since He has activities that go all the way back to the days of eternity.

Before this Messiah-Ruler becomes the sovereign Ruler, certain events must occur. Micah starts the description of this with Therefore (v. 3), telling the reader that what follows would be a result of the Messiah-Ruler’s coming as well as the fact that He is eternal. Two things will happen. First, He will give them up until the time When she who is in labor has borne a child (v 3).

The eternal Messiah sees all of history. It is revealed according to His sovereign plan. He has for His people good things in store, even though He has turned them over to judgement (give them up), according to the terms of the covenant/treaty into which He entered with Israel (Jeremiah 29:11, Deuteronomy 28:36). But this exile and judgement is all part of a plan. A restoration will begin when she who is in labor has borne a child (v 3).

Using the picture of childbirth, Micah stated that the Messiah-Ruler would allow His people to endure painful judgment because of their sin (Micah 1:5, 6, 2:1, 5, 3:4). His turning over of His people to exile would cause them pain and suffering like a woman experiencing severe labor pains during childbirth.

But the period of suffering will eventually have an end, and then the remainder of His brethren Will return to the sons of Israel (v 3). After enduring the LORD’s judgment, there will be a regathering of the remainder (or “remnant”) with their Israelite brethren (Isaiah 11:12-13; Jeremiah 31:2-6; Hosea 1:11).

Verses 2-5 probably refer to both advents of Jesus the Messiah. It was in Jesus’s first coming to earth that He was born as a child (Luke 2:7). However, as prophesied, the time of His visitation was not recognized, and He was rejected (Luke 19:44, Isaiah 53:3). Jesus was crucified, resurrected from the dead, then ascended to heaven (John 19:18, Matthew 28:6-7, Acts 1:9).

In the future, Jesus will return to the sons of Israel (v 3). This return will be after Israel realizes they rejected God when they rejected the One whom they pierced (Zechariah 12:10). Then all Israel will be saved (Romans 11:26).

The reconciliation and restoration of Israel will occur fully at the Second Coming of Christ. It will be at that time when He sets up His Messianic Kingdom. He will restore Jews scattered all over the world back to the Promised Land. Jesus will take up David’s throne and all promises made to Israel will be completely fulfilled.

Jesus’s second coming had not happened in Paul’s day, but he looked forward to it (2 Thessalonians 2:1-4). Jesus asserted that there would be speculation about whether Jesus had actually returned, but when He actually returned there would be no doubt—it would be clear to all (Matthew 24:27).

Once the Israelites have been reunited and Israel restored, the Messiah-Ruler, Jesus Christ, will arise (or “stand”) and shepherd His flock (v. 4). His sovereign rule, pictured as a loving and protective Shepherd, will be done In the strength of the Lord, and In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God. These two phrases describe His overwhelming power and authority to rule. In this era, Jesus will reign physically upon the current earth (Matthew 28:18, Revelation 20:4).

The result of His sovereign rule was that they (i.e., the Israelites) will remain. This means that the Messiah-Ruler’s covenant people will survive all attempts at destroying them and will live in peace and security. This will be possible Because at that time He will be great To the ends of the earth. His rule will cover the whole earth, and because of this, His people will be delivered, protected, and provided for.

Micah stated that this Messiah-Ruler will be our peace (v. 5). The Hebrew word translated our peace is “Shalom,” which is a Hebrew concept of wholeness and harmony, where everything is working according to God’s design. In the time of Micah, physical shalom was missing. The world power Assyria conquered and exiled Israel, the northern kingdom in 722 BC.

Assyria subsequently invaded and conquered Judah, the southern kingdom, with the exception of Jerusalem, prior to God miraculously rescuing Judah and defeating Assyria (2 Kings 37:36-37). Further, Judah was full of corruption. These two circumstances mean that things were not operating according to God’s design.

God’s design is to have social harmony based on people loving others as themselves (Leviticus 19:18). Physical shalom was not the order of the day during Hezekiah’s reign, when Assyria invaded.

Notwithstanding these material, circumstantial departures from Shalom, God was their peace. There is a peace that “surpasses all comprehension” that comes from God (Philippians 4:7). This is a spiritual peace. This again alludes to the divinity of the Messiah, for it is only from God that such supernatural peace can come. We find this same concept in the New Testament, where Christ is our comforter, even when circumstances are exceedingly uncomfortable (2 Corinthians 1:5).

Paul says “He Himself is our peace” in Ephesians 2:14 to teach that Jesus Christ is our peace. This is true because He, the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6), removed the hatred between Jew and Gentile and unified the believers of both groups into one body called the Church (Galatians 3:28). Even in difficult circumstances, we can have peace/Shalom through our spiritual unity with Christ (2 Peter 5:7).

This was true in Micah’s day When the Assyrian invades our land and tramples on our citadels. The only comfort and hope found in Judah was in Yahweh, their God. Hezekiah cast himself and his kingdom upon God’s mercy, for it was his only hope (2 Kings 19:14-19).

This will also be the case when other “Assyrians”—Israel’s enemies—appear in the future (Isaiah 11:11; Zechariah 10:10). These future enemies include Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. Though the LORD allowed Israel to be conquered repeatedly in history, His program never ended, and this cycle of judgment (because of sin) and restoration would end only when the Messiah Jesus Christ assumes the earthly throne in the Millennial Kingdom. God’s protection has always delivered His people from being eliminated.

It would be Then that the Israelites would raise against him Seven shepherds and eight leaders of men. Then likely refers to the end times when Israel will face an invasion from the Beast or antichrist predicted in Zechariah, Daniel, and Revelation (Zechariah 12:2-5, Daniel 7:25, Revelation 19:19).

The him whom the Seven shepherds would raise against refers to the Assyrian, from the first part of verse 5, when the Assyrian invades our land. This also has a prophetic application to the end times. The reference to the Assyrian here as applied to the end times could be a symbolic reference to any of Israel’s enemies. But it particularly seems to allude to the Beast prophesied about in the New Testament.

It looks forward to the time When he attacks our land And when he tramples our territory. Whenever this takes place in the future, the Messiah-Ruler will fight the battle and win the victory (Daniel 7:11; Revelation 19:15, 19-21). The prophetic reference would appear to mean that the future world ruler who invades Israel will be very much like the Assyrian who invaded Israel during the time of Isaiah, Micah, and Hezekiah. These events are chronicled three times:

• In 2 Kings 18, 19 (see our 2 Kings 18 commentary)
• In 2 Chronicles 32
• In Isaiah 37, 38 (see our Isaiah 36 commentary)

It is particularly notable that in the poetic book of Isaiah, at chapter 37 there is a sudden turn to prose and an elevation of this story. This repetition and inclusion in Isaiah indicates that the story has a prophetic application. The pattern is that the Assyrian ruler Sennacherib is a tyrant bent on conquering all of Israel and has surrounded Jerusalem. His defiant and blasphemous mouthpiece Rabshakeh cursed God and threatened Judah, attempting to deceive them into surrendering.

This appears to foreshadow the “Beast” of Daniel and Revelation. The Beast is a similar tyrant who will rise to surround Jerusalem (Daniel 7:7, Revelation 13:1). He also has an agent that Revelation calls the “false prophet” (Daniel 7:8, Revelation 19:20).

The New Testament prophesies about this Lawless One, the Beast of Revelation, who is prefigured in the Old Testament by various characters. These Old Testament figures, such as Goliath and Sennacherib have arrogant words and blasphemy against Yahweh and His people. The historical figure Antiochus Epiphanes fulfilled a specific prediction made in Daniel 9:27 and was also a type or foreshadowing of the “Beast” who is to come.

Antiochus Epiphanes committed an initial "abomination of desolation" after Daniel’s prophecy by placing a statue of Zeus in the temple in Jerusalem and sacrificing a pig on the altar (see commentary on Daniel 8:23-27 ). However, we know this prophecy has another fulfillment that will take place at the time of the end, because Jesus referred to the “abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel” as being a sign that the “end of the age” is at hand (Matthew 24:3, 15, see commentary on Matthew 24:1-3).

In Revelation 13:5, the Antichrist, referred to as the Beast, is described as having "an arrogant mouth to blaspheme God, the Tabernacle, and His people." Rabshakeh, the spokesman for Sennacherib, King of Assyria (Isaiah 36:4-10), serves as a prototype of the False Prophet who will speak on behalf of the Antichrist, the Beast.

Isaiah also foretells a fiery end for the King of Assyria in Tophet, ignited by the breath of God:

"For Tophet was established of old,
Yes, for the king [of Assyria] it is prepared.
He has made it deep and large;
Its pyre is fire with much wood;
The breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone,
Kindles it."
(Isaiah 30:33)

Tophet, also known as the Valley of Hinnom, is a valley southwest of Jerusalem that served as a landfill and sewer, and a place of Molech worship where infants were burned (Tophet means "drums," as drums were beaten to drown out the cries of the burning infants). In the New Testament, Tophet is referred to as Gehenna (Ge = valley, Henna = Hinnom), often translated as "hell" in our Bibles. This place symbolizes the consequence of sin, which is death.

This might foreshadow the eventual judgment of the Beast of Revelation and Daniel. The Beast of Daniel 7 is destroyed by the fire of God’s throne (Daniel 7:9, 11). The Beast of Revelation is thrown alive into the lake of fire, along with his agent the false prophet (Revelation 19:20). These images all carry the same basic idea; there will be a monstrous world power that God utterly defeats at the end. This is the same basic outcome as in the story of the Assyrian king Sennacherib and his agent Rabshakeh. God slayed the Assyrian soldiers with His own hand and Sennacherib’s own sons assassinated him (Isaiah 37:36, 38).

This last fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy will happen during a seven-year period called the "70th week of Daniel." For more on this period, see our commentary on Daniel 9:24-25.

This seven-year period begins with the signing of a treaty between Israel and the Beast, although the significance of the treaty may not be evident until the 3½-year mark. The first half of the treaty period is likely prosperous, while the latter half is referred to by Jesus as a time of "great tribulation," and is marked by unprecedented suffering (Matthew 24:21). If the tribulation went on longer than 3½ years, humanity would not survive (Matthew 24:22). It is at the end of this period that Jesus will return to save Jerusalem once again, as He did in the time of Hezekiah (Zechariah 12:4-10, Revelation 19:11, 19-20).

The phrase Seven shepherds and eight leaders, refers to those God will raise up to resist the Assyrian, who likely prefigures the Beast of Daniel and Revelation. The inclusion of the number seven is a figure of speech that pictures completeness (Amos 1:3). This likely indicates that there will be an abundance of leaders to lead, provide, and protect the LORD’s covenant people in the Promised Land. This is also asserted in Zechariah 12:8, which says those at the end time in Judah who are “feeble” will be great warriors “like David,” while the “house of David” will be strong, “like the angel of the Lord before them.”

The leaders of Judah are called shepherds here, providing leadership, protection, and provision. In reality they will be under-shepherds led by the Great Shepherd (John 10:11-16; Hebrews 13:20, 1 Peter 5:4).

These leaders of Israel also will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword (v. 6). This means that (with the help of the Ruler/Messiah) they will subdue Assyria and exert control over it. The reference to Assyria here is best taken symbolically to refer to Israel’s future enemies. At the time of the end, this will include “all the nations of the earth” (Zechariah 12:3). The enemies of Israel will also be the enemies of Jesus, the Lamb of God. The “beast and the kings of the earth and their armies” will assemble against Him (Revelation 19:19).

These leaders will also control The land of Nimrod. Nimrod, the great-grandson of Noah, was a famous hunter and warrior who founded the kingdoms of Assyria and Babylon (Genesis 10:8-12), so the land refers to the area in and around the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers (currently in central and southern Iraq). This might be another symbol indicating that this ruler will have a world-wide reign.

Their control over The land of Nimrod will be at its entrances. This means that they will control many aspects of life, including who enters and exits the territory, its normal governmental activities, and its justice system. This is predicted in Revelation 13:17, that the Beast will prevent anyone from commercial activity unless they bear his “mark,” which will presumably include an oath of loyalty.

Micah declared that the Ruler/Messiah will deliver us from the Assyrian. This asserts that it will be Jesus, the Messiah, who will deliver Israel. The return of Jesus is prophesied many places in scripture, including by Jesus Himself, who declared:

“…they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory…”
(Matthew 24:30).

Jesus will return as King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Revelation 19:16). He will deliver Israel and set up His messianic kingdom. Thus He will be the peace of Israel when the Assyrian invades the land of Israel. The ultimate return of Christ is depicted in Revelation 19:11-21).