We come to some familiar words, certainly at Christmas time (v1,2). However, the chapter starts with a negative – that Israel will be besieged by another army and will ‘strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek’. Things will be bad again!
Then comes the good news and its well into the future! This is such good news for us today and we look back to the event. If this never had happened where would we be today? This was the best news of all –“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.”
Bethlehem – not a prominent place, the hometown of David but not a great town, a little place by comparison, but chosen to be the birth place of the greatest ruler, the Messiah. Bethlehem means ‘house of bread’ and Ephrathah means ‘fruitfulness, abundance’. The Jews retained its old name of Ephrathah. Even the teachers of the law and chief priests, when asked by king Herod where the child should be born on the visit of the wise men (Matthew 2:5,6) quoted Micah’s words. Yet despite the prophecy being fulfilled before their very eyes they still do not believe.
He is ‘everlasting’ – He did not begin at Bethlehem, He took on humanity there but He existed from eternity, before creation, in fact He ‘created all things’. He is part of the Godhead. The name Jesus did not appear until the angel Gabriel told Mary (Luke 1:31), that was His earthly name, truly God and truly man. Taking on human flesh was something He had never done this before even though there were several pre-incarnation appearances. (Philippians 2:5-8 “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”)
If He had not come in human flesh He would not have gone to the cross and we would not have experienced salvation through His death and resurrection. He had never experienced death before, what a stoop for our LORD to make. A story is is told about the mayor of New York spending a day as a tramp on the streets. It was described as The Greatest Stoop Ever. It pales into insignificance alongside the stoop made by our LORD. No greater stoop ever made to save sinners like me. What a Saviour!
In v3-5 Micah states,
“Therefore He shall give them up, Until the time that she who is in labor has given birth; Then the remnant of His brethren shall return to the children of Israel. And He shall stand and feed His flock in the strength of the LORD,
In the majesty of the name of the LORD His God; And they shall abide, For now He shall be great To the ends of the earth; And this One shall be peace.”
This is looking to the birth of the Saviour and ultimately the Millennium, but it is also a future time fulfilled in the exile from Babylon. He will care for His flock and He will be peace, not just bring peace, but actually is peace. In Ephesians 2:14 Paul says, “He is our peace”.
Micah goes on to state that the Assyrian would come into their land but they would rise up against him (v5,6). He indicates that God would deliver them, even using Shepherds, who were usually despised as being the lowest class, as well princes.
‘He shall be great to the ends of the earth’. There is no one greater than our LORD and Saviour and there is no doubt that His greatness extends to the ends of the earth. His name is indeed majestic.
Micah continues, the remnant of Jacob, those whom God delivers, will become large – in the midst of many peoples, even among the Gentiles (v7-9) like dew and showers. It is not small but spreads everywhere. The Jews have populated most of the known world despite terrible persecution and God has kept them and caused them to grow. He will keep them and there seems to be a reference to the coming millennium, when the lion will lie down by the lamb. There is a promise that all their enemies will be cut off.
“And it shall be in that day,” says the LORD, “That I will cut off your horses from your midst and destroy your chariots. I will cut off the cities of your land and throw down all your strongholds. I will cut off sorceries from your hand, and you shall have no soothsayers. Your carved images I will also cut off, and your sacred pillars from your midst; you shall no more worship the work of your hands; I will pluck your wooden images from your midst; Thus I will destroy your cities. And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury on the nations that have not heard.” (v10-15)
It is clear that lsrael was involved in idolatry, this included ‘worship’ of power relying on horses and chariots, strongholds and cities. These were basically good but they were obviously trusting in them and themselves as opposed to God and anything that takes His place amounts to idolatry. In addition to these there were other things which we would readily identify as idols – sorcerers, soothsayers, carved images, sacred pillars, works of their own hands and wooden images. The LORD stated quite clearly that He would cut these things off and that they would be useless, however The LORD would execute vengeance on the nations that have not heard. God would care for them and if they trust Him they could rely on Him.
