Micah 4:8-13

Micah 4:8

And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.

 

For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.  (Psalm 61:3)  The strong tower in view may have had the tower of Edar in view as a place where shepherds watched their flocks from a high position.  The tower of the flock is the Lord Jesus Christ himself who watches over his flock from Heaven until the time when we are united with him.  The LORD is also the strong hold of his people.  The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.  (Nahum 1:7)  Then there is going to be a time when like akin to David’s reign over Israel and it may include Solomon’s reign when there was total peace in the land under the united Monarchy, before the Lord had divided the kingdom into two separate kingdoms.  The kingdom will come to the daughter of Jerusalem which is speaking of the time when the Lord Jesus Christ would be born there and then the kingdom of God would have officially come to them.  From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.  (Matthew 4:17)  Many in Israel will then become saved and be made part of the strong nation.

 

Micah 4:9

Now why dost thou cry out aloud? is there no king in thee? is thy counseller perished? for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail.

 

Micah now reverts back to the present situation.  Micah had just prophesied that there was still a future for Judah and within that future the Messiah would come to Jerusalem but even in the light of these prophecies the people were still lamenting and crying aloud as if they had no hope.  They will lose King Zedekiah who will see his children be killed by the Babylonians and then he himself will have his eyes put out.  And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon.  (2 Kings 25:7)  Normally the king would receive instruction from the true prophets of God but here with the king dead, there is no chance of that.  Were there no counsellors left that they had to rely only on the king?  The true counsellor was the Lord Jesus Christ himself.  For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.  (Isaiah 9:6)  Just as birth pangs take a woman who is about to deliver and causes increase in pain, so they were worried as if they were all in great pain wondering about what was going to happen to them.  Instead of them seeking the counsel of the LORD, in its place they continued in idolatry and false religion instead of coming back to the LORD.

 

Micah 4:10

Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the LORD shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies.

 

To be in pain and labor is to bear your troubles and calamities since it was they who departed from the Lord and chose to live in idolatry.  Now they are in travail because of the prophecy of their removal from the land which will come upon them.  Instead of them dwelling in houses they will now be like the ancestors to dwell in tents in the field while they are in captivity in Babylon.  God tells them that they will be delivered to Babylon because it will not be by their own desire but by the hand of God who orchestrates this punishment for their sins.  However, the LORD does tell them that they will be redeemed from the hands of their enemy and will return to the land because the Messiah must be born in Bethlehem in Judah.  God makes no such promise to the ten northern tribes because their banishment from the land will be permanent.

 

Micah 4:11

Now also many nations are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion.

 

All that pass by clap their hands at thee; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?  (Lamentations 2:15)  Many nations had tried to come against Israel such as the Edomites, Phoenicians, Amorites, Ammonites, Tyre, Sidon but failed to take them away or destroy them.  Then in the present Micah would be referring to Assyria and Babylon who will carry them away.  They will treat Judah with contempt just as the true church is treated with contempt in the present world.  Sodomites, atheists, world governments, local governments, world religions have all come against the church with an eye to destroy it but that will never happen.  These have also tried to defile the church through false teachings, false teachers, false pastors, etc. but the true church will never be moved.

 

Micah 4:12

But they know not the thoughts of the LORD, neither understand they his counsel: for he shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor.

 

All of those nations which surrounded Israel and wanted to destroy her completely had failed because they did not know the plans of the Lord in that Judah could not be completely destroyed because it was through the tribe of Judah that her Messiah would come but 37 years after the Messiah would return to Heaven, Judah would be wiped off the map by the Romans who killed about 1.2 million Jews and carried the rest of them off as slaves.  The pagan nations did not understand the Lord’s counsel because they would be unable to.  It is like an unbeliever trying to understand the Bible.  They would not be able to because the spiritually dead could not understand something which spiritual life as required.  When the time comes for Judah to be freed from bondage so they could return to the land, then God will deal with them as the farmer deals with the harvest.  He will take them like sheaves to the threshing floor and bring them down. 

 

Micah 4:13

Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass: and thou shalt beat in pieces many people: and I will consecrate their gain unto the LORD, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth.

 

Since Judah was not strong enough to actually beat the army of Babylon this is speaking of a spiritual battle which will be between the church and the false religions.  For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; The daughter of Babylon is like a threshingfloor, it is time to thresh her: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come.  (Jeremiah 51:33)  God here prophesies the end of Babylon which will be beaten as one beats grain on a threshingfloor.  The horn in Scripture speaks of the strength of something and the LORD is going to make their horn as iron which is a very strong metal.  The brass hoofs means they will be able to trample anything since they will beat down anything they come in contact with.  They shall beat the people into pieces which means they will do this by the power of God.  And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.  (Daniel 2:44)  The only kingdom which possesses such power is the kingdom of God.  All the spoils of the earth will be given unto the Lord which means that all those who become saved will be given to the Lord Jesus Christ who will be the king over the entire world.  All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.  (John 6:37)  All the possessions that the Christian has will be used to further the kingdom of God.

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