seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Micah 5:1 [a]Marshal your troops now, city of troops,
for a siege is laid against us.
They will strike Israel’s ruler
on the cheek with a rod.
for a siege is laid against us.
They will strike Israel’s ruler
on the cheek with a rod.
2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans[b] of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times.”
though you are small among the clans[b] of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times.”
3 Therefore Israel will be abandoned
until the time when she who is in labor bears a son,
and the rest of his brothers return
to join the Israelites.
until the time when she who is in labor bears a son,
and the rest of his brothers return
to join the Israelites.
4 He will stand and shepherd his flock
in the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they will live securely, for then his greatness
will reach to the ends of the earth.
in the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they will live securely, for then his greatness
will reach to the ends of the earth.
5 And he will be our peace
when the Assyrians invade our land
and march through our fortresses.
We will raise against them seven shepherds,
even eight commanders,
when the Assyrians invade our land
and march through our fortresses.
We will raise against them seven shepherds,
even eight commanders,
6 who will rule[c] the land of Assyria with the sword,
the land of Nimrod with drawn sword.[d]
He will deliver us from the Assyrians
when they invade our land
and march across our borders.
7 The remnant of Jacob will be
in the midst of many peoples
like dew from the Lord,
like showers on the grass,
which do not wait for anyone
or depend on man.
8 The remnant of Jacob will be among the nations,
in the midst of many peoples,
like a lion among the beasts of the forest,
like a young lion among flocks of sheep,
which mauls and mangles as it goes,
and no one can rescue.
9 Your hand will be lifted up in triumph over your enemies,
and all your foes will be destroyed.
in the midst of many peoples
like dew from the Lord,
like showers on the grass,
which do not wait for anyone
or depend on man.
8 The remnant of Jacob will be among the nations,
in the midst of many peoples,
like a lion among the beasts of the forest,
like a young lion among flocks of sheep,
which mauls and mangles as it goes,
and no one can rescue.
9 Your hand will be lifted up in triumph over your enemies,
and all your foes will be destroyed.
10 “In that day,” declares the Lord,
“I will destroy your horses from among you
and demolish your chariots.
11 I will destroy the cities of your land
and tear down all your strongholds.
12 I will destroy your witchcraft
and you will no longer cast spells.
13 I will destroy your idols
and your sacred stones from among you;
you will no longer bow down
to the work of your hands.
14 I will uproot from among you your Asherah poles[e]
when I demolish your cities.
15 I will take vengeance in anger and wrath
on the nations that have not obeyed me.”
and demolish your chariots.
11 I will destroy the cities of your land
and tear down all your strongholds.
12 I will destroy your witchcraft
and you will no longer cast spells.
13 I will destroy your idols
and your sacred stones from among you;
you will no longer bow down
to the work of your hands.
14 I will uproot from among you your Asherah poles[e]
when I demolish your cities.
15 I will take vengeance in anger and wrath
on the nations that have not obeyed me.”
a. Micah 5:1 In Hebrew texts 5:1 is numbered 4:14, and 5:2-15 is numbered 5:1-14.
b. Micah 5:2 Or rulers
c. Micah 5:6 Or crush
d. Micah 5:6 Or Nimrod in its gatesMicah
e. 5:14 That is, wooden symbols of the goddess Asherah
I haven't posted anything from Bible.org in a while. This commentary was the first to make sense this morning.
This chapter is very specific about the birthplace of the Messiah. Micah wrote in the eighth century b.c. and precisely predicted the village of Jesus' birth. Some will deny the date of Micah, but if you do not accept the 750's then Micah was translated into Greek (i.e., the Septuagint in 250-150 b.c.). This is still well over a hundred years before His birth.
The predictive element unique to the Bible shows:
- the inspiration of the Bible
- the sovereignty of YHWH over history
- the reality of the Messiahship of Jesus
This chapter also predicts the pre-existence (v. 2, lines 4,5) of the Messiah as well as the type of reign He will employ (vv. 4-5, line 1). This is shockingly specific prophecy. What a wonderful and accurate Bible we have been given by God.
This is from the easy English site.Soon Micah will describe future salvation by the Messiah. But here Micah describes an army which was attacking Jerusalem. The attack is like the time when Sennacherib, king of Assyria, attacked Jerusalem. That happened in the year 701 BC. ‘Now, people in the strong city, gather your soldiers. The soldiers of the enemy are surrounding us. They are preparing for the attack.’ The ‘strong city’ means Jerusalem. The walls that surrounded Jerusalem shut its people in. So the walls made the city strong.
But is seems that this verse does not describe that particular attack. Sennacherib did not overcome Jerusalem. But these armies will strike the king of Jerusalem. They will hit him with a rod. They will strike him on the cheek. It means that the king cannot defend himself. He cannot even defend his face. (Compare that with Isaiah 50:6.) This rod means something special. The person who holds it has rule and authority. That is what it means. But the king of Jerusalem here did not have a rod to defend himself. That meant that he had no rule or authority.
The message now goes on to mention the town called Bethlehem. Israel’s people can have hope for future success. And the reason for their hope will come from Bethlehem. Bethlehem has the name ‘Ephrathah’, which means ‘fruitful’. ‘Ephrathah’ was the name of a district in Judah. Bethlehem was in that district. (Look at Psalm 132:6.) The names ‘Bethlehem’, ‘Ephrathah’ and ‘Judah’ remind us about Jesse, David’s father. Jesse was from Ephrathah. He was from Bethlehem in Judah (1 Samuel 17:12). King David’s descendants have not obeyed God’s laws. They are like a tree that someone has cut down. But from that tree’s roots (from David’s family), a branch (a new King) will grow up. And on that branch, fruit will grow (Isaiah 11:1). In other words, that new King will be successful.
In ancient times, Bethlehem was small. It was the smallest among the families (Hebrew ‘thousands’) in Judah. It was not even in the long list that contained Judah’s 115 towns (Joshua 15:20-63). It was very small. It was not important. But the most important person would come from it.
Israel’s leaders ruled to get their own advantage. But the Messiah would come ‘for me’. That means ‘for God’s advantage’. The Messiah’s origin was in an ancient time. That means a very long time ago. The last words in this verse are ‘in an ancient time’. These words connect the Messiah with Jesse and with David. They lived a long time before Micah lived.
In chapters 4 and 5, there is a message about hope. This message refers to a certain time in the future. Micah refers to the same time again here (‘that day’, verse 10). This is the time when the Messiah will win over the nations. He will bring together the remnant. He will regather them. They will be under the shepherd from Bethlehem. Now here, after those promises, we read the words ‘the LORD says’. Those words refer to the certainty that these things will happen.
The message here means that God will protect Israel in two ways:
1) God will make Israel’s people spiritually clean (verses 10-14). That will certainly happen. It will happen from the inside (verses 10-14). Yes, God will punish Israel’s people because of their sins. But that is for their benefit.
2) God will punish the nations that refuse to obey him (verse 15). Because they refuse to obey, he will consider them guilty. Therefore he will punish them severely.
Each part of this message starts with these words. ‘I will destroy’ (verses 10-14). God will free the city from all evil things. He will destroy certain things. He will destroy them in order to make the nation spiritually clean. There are four types of evil thing. The people in Israel trust in:
1) Their own powers and strength.
2) Their military power. The people in *Israel have trusted in that. But their certainty needs to be in God alone (verses 10-11).
3) Magic, which people used to try to discover the future (verse 12).
4) Idolatry, which means that the people trusted in false gods. And they made images of false gods (verses 13-14).
The people in Israel have confidence in those 4 kinds of things. But God will take away that feeling, so that they cannot be proud in those ways any longer. They were trusting in their own powers. But God will make them stop that.
This is from bibletrack.org.
Just as the other prophets referred to the remnant of Israel who would fear the one true God, here they are again. We now know that this remnant will consist of those who are saved at the end of the tribulation who move right on into the millennium. The millennium starts out with all saved people on the earth. The unsaved are removed from earth at the end of the tribulation. There will be no worship of false gods or idols during that time.
This goes back to David's family in their old hometown. Jacob [the one God renamed Israel] had a son named Jesse. Jesse had a son named David. David wasn't perfect but he really loved God. God made a promise to David.... someone in his family would be the Messiah. All through the Old Testament I have been looking for a direct connection that the preachers have been claiming all along.... but that connection alluded me until now. Here it is. I know other prophets talked about it.... but it wasn't this clear to me. Now I see it.
Micah also talks about a slaughter.... look at verses 7-9.... It talks about a lion among the sheep.... When I read this.... I see a lion that got into the sheep pen and he's having a ball.... he's mauling animals left and right.... there's just a blood bath. Is that the millennium? Now I have to keep reading.
IMHO... it makes sense that Jesus was around when all this was decided. IMHO.... it makes sense that David's family would come out of the smallest town. IMHO.... it makes sense that the Messiah would come out of the smallest town. IMHO.... people have been hating and laughing at Israel for millenniums so it makes sense that the Messiah would get a millennium to rule the way He chooses.... to give people a real taste of the "good life".
So there it is... the Bethlehem connection.
