Micah 5
Micah 5 opens in the middle of a siege. The enemy has surrounded the city, and the worst of it is the insult laid on Israel's leader: they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek (v. 1). A blow on the cheek was the ancient world's gesture of contempt, the humiliation of a captive. Israel's king is mocked, the nation is brought low, and there is no help in sight from any earthly quarter.
It is precisely here, at the bottom, that the prophet lifts his eyes and speaks the promise that has echoed down every Christmas since.
The promise looks to a small town tucked into the hills south of Jerusalem: But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting (v. 2). The Ruler will come from the least likely place - the town of David, easily overlooked - and His origin reaches back further than any human line, from of old, from everlasting. He will stand and feed His people in the strength of the LORD, He will be great unto the ends of the earth, and the chapter folds its whole hope into one short sentence: this man shall be the peace (v. 5).
From the Ruler the prophecy widens to the people He gathers. The remnant of Jacob will be set among the nations in two images held together - as a dew from the LORD, gentle and life-giving, falling without waiting for any man (v. 7); and as a lion among the beasts of the forest, before whom enemies cannot stand (v. 8). And the chapter ends with the LORD himself doing a deep work of cleansing: He will cut off the horses and chariots, the strongholds, the witchcrafts and soothsayers, the graven images and the groves (vv. 10-14) - every prop His people had trusted in His place - until there is nothing left for them to lean on but Him.
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People in this chapter
Micah 5:1-2But Thou, Bethlehem Ephratah
1Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: he hath laid siege against us: they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek. 2But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
The chapter opens at the lowest point a nation can reach: Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: he hath laid siege against us: they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek (v. 1). The city is encircled; the call to muster the troops has the ring of desperation, a people scrambling to defend what is already surrounded. And the sharpest detail is saved for last - the judge of Israel, the very leader who should embody the nation's strength, is struck with a rod upon the cheek. In the ancient world a blow to the cheek was an act of pure contempt, the way a master strikes a slave or a captor humiliates a prisoner.
Israel's ruler is shamed. This is the dark canvas Micah paints first, and it matters, because the promise about to come does not float above the trouble - it answers it. Into a scene of siege and humiliation, where every earthly source of help has failed, the prophet is about to point to the one place nobody is watching.
Against that backdrop, the prophet turns and addresses a town: But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel (v. 2). Everything about the choice is deliberate. Israel's humiliated king sits in the capital; the rescue is promised from a village. Bethlehem was little among the thousands of Judah - too small to be reckoned among the clan-units the nation was counted by, easily passed over on any map of importance.
Micah names it the way you would name the least likely candidate in the room. And yet out of thee shall he come forth… that is to be ruler in Israel. The God who works here does not reach for the obvious instrument. He reached for Bethlehem once before, when He sent Samuel past the impressive sons of Jesse to anoint the shepherd boy David; now He points to the same little town for a greater King still.
The pattern runs all through Scripture: God delights to bring His greatest works through what the world counts small, so that the glory plainly belongs to Him and not to the instrument.
Then the verse says something that lifts this Ruler entirely out of the ordinary line of kings: whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. A new king is born and his story begins; this Ruler's story reaches back before the world. His goings forth - His origins, His comings-out - reach back from of old, from everlasting, into ancient days, into eternity itself. The line holds two things at once, and the chapter means for both to stand.
He comes forth from Bethlehem - a real birth, in a real town, at a point in time. And His goings forth are from everlasting - older than the town, older than the line of David, older than the world. The prophecy does not pause to explain how these fit together; it simply lays them side by side and lets the wonder sit. The One who will be born in the little town has, in some way the text leaves open and vast, always been.
This is no ordinary heir to a throne. This is the eternal One stepping into time.
The place was named seven hundred years in advance, and so it came to pass: Joseph also went up from Galilee… unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)… And she brought forth her firstborn son (Luke 2:4-7). The Ruler was born in David's little town, exactly as written. But the prophecy claimed more than a birthplace. It said His goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting - and the Gospel takes up that very note.
Of the One born in Bethlehem it is written, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (John 1:1, 14). He said of Himself, Before Abraham was, I am (John 8:58); and the apostle says, he is before all things, and by him all things consist (Col. 1:17). Here, then, is the wonder Micah held out and the Gospel unfolds: the One whose origin reaches into eternity is the same One who came forth, truly born, from a small town in Judah.
The everlasting Ruler stepped into time. The prophet wrote it; the manger fulfilled it; and the reader is asked only to hold the eternal King and the newborn child together, and worship.
Micah says the opposite. So this week, resist the lie that your small place is too small for God to use. The faithfulness no one sees - the quiet prayer, the unglamorous duty, the kindness with no audience - is exactly the kind of soil from which He has always brought His best work. Do the small, hidden, faithful thing in front of you, and trust that the God who chose Bethlehem is not measuring by size.
He delights to come through what the world walks past.
Micah 5:3-6This Man Shall Be the Peace
3Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. 4And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth. 5And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men. 6And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders.
Before the Ruler comes, there is a season of waiting and of pain: Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel (v. 3). The LORD will give them up for a while - hand His people over to the trouble Micah has been describing, the siege and the shame. But the giving up has a fixed limit, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth. The image is of childbirth: a span of real anguish that ends in new life, in a child delivered.
The waiting is the waiting of a birth. And on the far side of it comes a homecoming - the remnant of his brethren shall return. The scattered are gathered; the lost are brought back to the family. Micah will not let the dark middle have the last word. The travail is real, but it is bounded, and it opens onto the coming of the One who makes the gathering possible.
Now the prophet describes what this Ruler will actually do, and the picture is of a shepherd: And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth (v. 4). He will stand - settled, secure, unshaken - and he will feed his flock, the ancient word for a shepherd tending sheep, leading them to pasture and water and guarding them through the night.
But notice the source of his strength. He feeds in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. His power is borrowed from God and bears God's own majesty. And the result for the flock is rest: they shall abide - they shall dwell secure, no longer scattered and afraid. The reach of this Shepherd is not local but total: now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth. The Ruler from the little town will shepherd a people that stretches to the limits of the world.
At the heart of the passage stands a sentence as short as it is staggering: And this man shall be the peace (v. 5). He Himself, in His own person, shall be the peace. The verse then sets that peace against the great threat of Micah's day: when the Assyrian shall come into our land… then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men. And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword… thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian (vv. 5-6).
Assyria was the terror of the age, the empire that swallowed nations whole. The numbers seven… and eight are a Hebrew way of saying more than enough - a full and overflowing supply of deliverers raised up to meet the threat. The point is not military tactics but assurance: against even the most fearsome enemy, the people under this Ruler will not be left defenceless. The One who is their peace will also be their deliverance, and the empire that treads within their borders will not have the final word.
He feeds His flock and leads them to rest, and He draws His strength from the Father, doing nothing of himself but what He sees the Father do (John 5:19). Second, and more wonderful still, the prophecy says this man shall be the peace (v. 5) - He is the peace, in His own person. The apostle says the very same thing of Christ in person: For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us (Eph. 2:14).
He is our peace, reconciling us to God and to one another in Himself. This is the gift the angels announced over the fields outside that same little town: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men (Luke 2:14). The Shepherd-King who feeds His flock in the strength of the LORD, and who is Himself the peace He brings, is the One born in Bethlehem - and to come under His care is to find both the shepherd and the peace the prophet promised.
Micah 5:7-15As a Dew from the LORD
7And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the LORD, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men. 8And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver. 9Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off.
The promise widens now from the Ruler to the people He gathers, and Micah paints the remnant of Jacob in two images that seem opposite until you hold them together. First: the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the LORD, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men (v. 7). Dew is gentle, life-giving, and - the point Micah presses - it comes down from heaven on its own, that tarrieth not for man. It does not wait for human permission or depend on human effort; it falls as a gift from the LORD, quietly making things live.
So the LORD's people, scattered among the nations, will be a source of refreshment and life that the world neither controls nor produces. Then the second image, very different: the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles… as a lion among the beasts of the forest… who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver (v. 8). The same people who are gentle as dew are also, against their enemies, strong and unstoppable as a young lion.
The two images are the two faces of a people whose strength is God's - tender and reviving to the world that receives them, yet invincible against all that would destroy them, until all thine enemies shall be cut off (v. 9).
10And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots: 11And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strong holds: 12And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand; and thou shalt have no more soothsayers: 13Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands. 14And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee: so will I destroy thy cities. 15And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathen, such as they have not heard.
The chapter ends with a list of things the LORD will cut off, and the list is more searching than it first appears. I will cut off thy horses… and destroy thy chariots… throw down all thy strong holds… cut off witchcrafts… soothsayers… graven images… standing images… groves (vv. 10-14). At a glance this looks like judgment, and there is severity in it. But look at what is being removed. Horses and chariots were a nation's military might - the things people trusted for safety instead of God.
Strongholds were their fortified security. Witchcrafts and soothsayers were the false ways of seeking guidance, knowledge sought anywhere but from the LORD. Graven images and groves were the idols, the work of their own hands set up as gods. Every item on the list is something His people had leaned on in the place of God. So this cutting off is a deep cleansing. The LORD strips away every false security, every false source of guidance, every counterfeit god, until thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands (v. 13).
He loves His people too much to leave them propped up on things that cannot save. The final word, I will execute vengeance… upon the heathen (v. 15), turns toward the nations that opposed Him - but for His own people, the great work of the chapter's close is to clear away everything that stands between them and trust in Him alone.
He forgives and clears the heart of its lesser trusts so that it rests wholly in God. The apostles call believers to that same purging: Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth… and covetousness, which is idolatry (Col. 3:5), and John ends his letter, Little children, keep yourselves from idols (1 John 5:21). What the LORD promised to do for Israel, He goes on doing in His people: emptying their hands of every counterfeit, that they may hold to Him alone.
It is more often a bank balance, a reputation, a relationship, a plan B kept in reserve in case God does not come through - the modern horses and chariots we trust to keep us safe. So take an honest inventory this week. Name the one false security you reach for first when you are afraid, the thing you run to before you run to God. Then ask Him, deliberately, to loosen your grip on it - not because it is necessarily evil, but because it has crept into a place that belongs to Him alone.
The cleansing the LORD promised is severe, but its aim is tender: a people with nothing left to lean on but Him, and therefore nothing left that can fail them.
Where this echoes in Scripture
But Thou, Bethlehem Ephratah
- Matthew 2:5-6And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda... out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.The chief priests quote verse 2 to Herod - the birthplace named centuries in advance.
- Luke 2:4-7Joseph also went up... unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem... And she brought forth her firstborn son.The fulfilment of verse 2 - the Ruler born in David's little town, exactly as written.
- John 8:58Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.The Ruler whose goings forth are “from everlasting” (v. 2) - existing before His birth in time.
- 1 Samuel 16:1I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons.God once raised a king from little Bethlehem before (v. 2) - the shepherd David, anointed in the same town.
- Colossians 1:17And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.The eternal origin of verse 2 echoed - the One whose goings forth are from everlasting, before all things.
This Man Shall Be the Peace
- John 10:11I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.The Shepherd who will “feed” the flock (v. 4) named in person - the good shepherd who lays down His life.
- Ephesians 2:14For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us.The promise of verse 5 fulfilled - this man shall be the peace, which He is in His own person (Eph. 2:14).
- Luke 2:14Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.The angels announce over Bethlehem's fields the peace this Ruler would be (v. 5).
- Isaiah 9:6his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.The same Ruler of verses 4-5 - the child given who is the Prince of Peace.
- Ezekiel 34:23And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them... he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.The one Shepherd who will feed the flock (v. 4) - the promised King from David's line.
As a Dew from the LORD
- Revelation 5:5the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book.The lion image of verse 8 gathered up in Christ - the Lion of Judah who has prevailed.
- 1 John 5:21Little children, keep yourselves from idols.The cleansing of verses 12-14 carried into the heart - the call to keep clear of every false god.
- Psalm 20:7Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.The false security the LORD cuts off in verse 10 - chariots and horses trusted in place of God.
- Colossians 3:5Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth... and covetousness, which is idolatry.The purging of idols in verses 13-14 worked inwardly - the putting to death of every hidden idol.
- Isaiah 2:18And the idols he shall utterly abolish.The same promise as verses 13-14 - the day the LORD removes every graven thing His people had made.