But it shall come to pass in the end of days [that] the mountain of Jehovah's house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and the peoples shall flow unto it.
Micah 3 ends with Zion sentenced to be ploughed like a field. This verse answers that ruin with a promise. Has the promise already come through the gospel, or does it still lie ahead of us?
The promise stands right after the sentence passed on the city. One writer also notes that those drawn to the mountain are plural — "peoples," as the ESV has it, not one nation:
Micah 4… denounces Jerusalem and declares that she will be ploughed as a field. It then declares that in the last days all will be changed. The mountain of Jehovah's house will be established on the tops of the mountains, and exalted above the hills. And the peoples (not "people" — a frequent unhappy mistake in the English version) will flow to it. Many nations will come, and full blessings are promised to Zion in the last days after judgment.
The mountain is a real place. One writer separates the two hills in Israel's story: the hill of worship and the hill of the throne:
The meaning seems to be the supremacy God will give, in the last days, to Mount Moriah. That mountain is the seat and centre of the worship of Jehovah. Zion was and will be the seat of royalty, given in the grace of God after man's king had failed. When the mountain of Jehovah's house is so exalted above all rivals, great or small, all nations shall flow to it. For the city of the great king — the earthly Jerusalem under the Messiah and the New Covenant — is the destined capital of the world during the millennium. The New Jerusalem of John is another and a higher thing, not referred to here.
The verse says the peoples will flow to the mountain. Water does not run uphill on its own:
Rivers naturally flow down. Instead, the peoples will flow up around the sanctuary of Jehovah, then indeed a house of prayer for all. The change will be supernatural everywhere. Heaven and earth will gladly witness to the glory and the power of Jehovah — yet displayed in the man Christ Jesus, and in those who are His above and below. That day will proclaim the Lord. It will sweep away everything man prides himself in. Man may have done his best, but the time has come for God to show His unquestionable superiority.
Isaiah gave the same prophecy. One writer explains how that happened, and when these days arrive:
Not that Micah copied Isaiah, nor Isaiah Micah, but the same Spirit gave to the men the same prophecy. It concerns the latter days, which means the coming of Messiah's kingdom on earth. These days are not yet here. To apply these words, even in a spiritual way, to the present age, or to the Church, is a serious mistake. The house of the Lord is not the Church, but the house in Jerusalem, to which in the kingdom the nations will come to worship the Lord of hosts.
"The last day" sounds one way to a man without God, and another to a believer:
The last day to man has always the sound of death and judgment: to him no funeral note is so terrible. In other days he may find fuel for pride. This one rings his own death-knell, with a dread of eternity he cannot describe… To the believer, the last day is a prospect of perfect unending joy, blessedness, light, and glory. It is the day when righteousness and truth will have the upper hand. It is the day when man will be most truly lifted up, because God is exalted. How can there be real order and due honour if God does not have His supremacy?
This promise is for Israel and the nations. The Christian is not left out, but has a different portion:
Of course, God has His thoughts and counsels for His heavenly people, as well as for those whose blessing will be on the earth. … We are to bear the image of that Son, and as His brothers to share His place in the Father's love. … All this (and there is more that might be told) far surpasses the portion that will be given to Israel, which the prophets describe. But the same glorious Person will be the centre of both the heavenly and the earthly spheres of blessing. And He is worthy!
- Ruin first. The promise comes straight after Zion's sentence to be ploughed like a field. Full blessing belongs to the last days after judgment, never in place of it.
- One mountain. The site is Mount Moriah, the centre of worship. Zion is the seat of royalty. Neither one is the New Jerusalem, which this verse does not describe.
- Uphill. Rivers run down; the peoples will flow up. The whole movement is supernatural, and it ends man's boasting rather than crowning it.
- Not yet. These days have not arrived. Reading them as the Church age, even in a spiritual sense, misses the prophecy.
- Two spheres. The believer's hope is higher than Israel's earthly glory. Yet one and the same Person stands at the centre of both.
And many nations shall go and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and Jehovah's word from Jerusalem.
Micah has just said that Zion will be plowed like a field and Jerusalem left in ruins. Without a pause, chapter 4 opens on the same city, lifted to the head of the nations. So when does this happen? Who does the teaching? And why do the nations come gladly, instead of being driven?
The chapter turns from ruin to glory. One commentator places that reversal in a future kingdom on earth, not in anything present.
The last verse predicted the long desolation and ruin of Zion. At once a great prophecy follows, about the future glory in store for Zion... It concerns the latter days, which means the coming of Messiah's kingdom on earth. These days are not yet here. To apply these words, even in a spiritual way, to the present age, or to the Church, is a serious mistake. The house of the Lord is not the Church, but the house in Jerusalem, to which in the kingdom the nations will come to worship the Lord of hosts.
Isaiah 2 carries this prophecy almost word for word. Commentators differ on which prophet spoke it first.
The certain fact is that one prophet uses another prophet's words. The only changes are the ones the inspiring Spirit was pleased to allow. In the same way we find Daniel drawing light from the word of Jehovah to Jeremiah, which was still waiting to be fulfilled (Daniel 9:2).
Here the peoples themselves speak the invitation. Water does not move like this.
Rivers naturally flow down. But the peoples will flow up around the sanctuary of Jehovah, which will then truly be a house of prayer for all. The change will be supernatural everywhere.
The nations do not name the house after Israel's best days. They name it after Jacob, and that name carries a reason.
It means much that the house of the Lord is called here "the house of the God of Jacob." By then God will have plainly triumphed over the self-centred crookedness that marked Jacob and has carried on in his descendants. This will be so clear that all nations will flow to the house to learn of God, so that they may walk in His law. Once God has carried out judgment, men will be marked by obedience toward Him, and as a result by peace among themselves.
The nations ask to be taught before they promise to walk. The order matters. Real peace grows out of that instruction, and nothing else can produce it.
According to the Bible, that is the reign of peace — then, and not before. In the meantime, every effort of peace societies is at best a pleasant illusion, at worst an unbelieving trust in man, and always ignorance of God's word... It is certain that wars have their roots in the passions and lust of man: to escape the bad fruit you must first make the tree good.
The verse names two places as the source of instruction. Each has its own history.
The meaning seems to be this: the supremacy God will give, in the last days, to Mount Moriah. That mountain is the seat and centre of the worship of Jehovah, just as Zion was and will be the seat of royalty, given in the grace of God after man's king had failed... The city of the great king, the earthly Jerusalem under the Messiah and the New Covenant, is the appointed capital of the world during the millennium. The New Jerusalem that John describes is another and a higher thing, and is not in view here.
If the word goes out from Zion to the nations, something must first clear the ground. One writer says preaching is not what brings this scene about.
It is quite true, and agreed, that there is to be a millennial time of blessing on the earth. How will it be brought in? The same Scripture that reveals that blessed change tells us. The Lord Himself will bring it in when He comes and strikes down the wicked one. In other words, it comes by judgment, and not by the preaching of the gospel... When judgment has had its full course, then the Lord will send out His servants. The Lord will give the word, and great will be the company of those that publish it.
- Ruin first. The promise here follows straight after the sentence of ruin on Zion. God lifts up the very place He judged.
- Judgment clears. The nations do not stream up because someone persuaded the world. The Lord's coming in judgment opens the scene, and only then does the word go out.
- Teaching given. The peoples ask for instruction — His ways. They receive it from the God who has triumphed over Jacob's crookedness.
- Walking follows. They pledge to walk in His paths. That obedience ends war, not human peace efforts. Bad fruit stops only when the tree becomes good.
- Zion the centre. Jerusalem becomes the world's capital, and the temple mount a house of prayer for all. The peoples run uphill, against nature, by God's power.
And he shall judge among many peoples, and reprove strong nations, even afar off; and they shall forge their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-knives nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
This verse is one of the best known promises of world peace. But commentators press one question first: who ends the wars, and when? Micah puts a Judge at the centre of the scene, and everything else in the verse follows from His decisions.
The chapter opens with the words "in the latter days." One writer takes that dating at face value. He ties the whole passage to a kingdom still to come and to a house of God in Jerusalem:
It concerns the latter days, which means the coming of Messiah's kingdom on earth. These days are not yet here. To apply these words, even in a spiritual way, to the present age, or to the Church, is a serious mistake. The house of the Lord is not the Church, but the house in Jerusalem, to which in the kingdom the nations will come to worship the Lord of hosts. He will judge and rebuke the nation, and His glorious throne will stand in Jerusalem. Then, and only then, comes the time of universal, world-wide peace.
"He shall judge" and "He shall decide disputes" describe settled government. One writer describes how that rule begins, and where its capital will be:
The Lord Jesus will have dealt with every expression of Satan's power and control in the world, through the terrible judgments we read of in Revelation. He will deliver His people and establish righteousness in the whole world, and so the blessing of God will flow out through Zion to the ends of the earth. The centre of government during the reign of Christ will not be Washington, London or Moscow, or any other powerful place, but it will be Jerusalem. The whole world will come to acknowledge it and so will be blessed.
Micah's picture is of weapons beaten into farm tools. That has not happened yet, and one writer names the reason:
Then, under His generous rule, men will hurry to beat their swords into ploughshares. His judgments will have subdued them, and His mercy will have spared them. Each man will invite his neighbour to sit with him under the vine and fig tree. Riots, bloodshed, turmoil, strife and crime continue in the world to this day, despite all its boasted progress. The reason is that men reject the rightful King. They refuse to acknowledge the Prince of Peace. They will not have Jesus as Lord.
Gaebelein also points to what the Lord Jesus foretold for this whole age, and to the day it stops:
Our Lord predicted that throughout this age, down to its end, nation would lift up sword against nation. That prediction then comes to an end, and a new order of things begins.
So what about human efforts to bring this peace in early? One writer weighs them, then digs to the root of war:
Such, according to the Bible, is the reign of peace then, and not before. Meanwhile, the efforts of peace societies are at best a pleasant illusion. At worst they are a faithless trust in man. They always show ignorance of God's word. They may possibly have influence in isolated cases. It is certain that wars have their roots in the passions and lust of man. To escape the bad fruit, you must first make the tree good. But the day of the Lord will deal with man in righteousness and power, and peace will result according to His mind and glory.
How, then, do the weapons get broken? One writer points to Psalm 46, where wars stop because God has acted:
"Come, behold the works of the LORD, how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire." The slow and gradual progress of peaceful principles will not end the strife and wars that have ruined the earth for so many ages. God's solemn intervention in judgment at the coming of the Lord will. That is what brings in the period of universal peace.
Another writer explains why that judgment cannot be skipped:
This blessedness is not introduced by the gospel of grace. The special teachings of faith come to an end first. Then comes the time when the nations are judged. Only after that does the glory of Christ as King appear. During that terrible period, sin will reach its fullest growth, so these judgments are a divine necessity. Otherwise there could be no joyful time of peace for the earth. So judgment is first, then peace.
- Judge. Everything in the verse hangs on the first clause. Christ Himself judges between the nations, and His throne is in Jerusalem, not in any world capital.
- Judgment. Peace comes by God's intervention, not by gradual improvement. First He judges the nations, then peace follows.
- Disarmament. Only then do weapons become farm tools. Nations stop training for war because one King has settled the disputes that fed it.
- Delay. Wars continue now because men refuse the rightful King. The tree must be made good before the bad fruit stops.
- Day. This is "the latter days," a kingdom still ahead. Reading it as a picture of today, or of the church, misses what Micah promised.
And they shall sit every one under his vine, and under his fig-tree; and there shall be none to make [them] afraid for the mouth of Jehovah of hosts hath spoken [it].
Micah 4 paints the world's future. Nations stream to the Lord's house. Weapons become farm tools. Then the picture narrows to one man, one plot of land, and no fear. When does this happen? What do the vine and fig tree stand for? And why should anyone believe it?
Commentators place this scene in a kingdom still to come, not in the present age or in the church.
This prophecy concerns the latter days, which means the coming of Messiah's kingdom on earth. These days are not yet here. To apply these words, even in a spiritual way, to the present age, or to the Church, is a serious mistake. The house of the Lord is not the Church. It is the house in Jerusalem. In that kingdom the nations will come there to worship the Lord of hosts... Then, and only then, comes the time of universal, world-wide peace. How blind the Christian world is! It does not see where that favourite text about peace on earth belongs!
The picture is a man sitting on his own ground. One writer reads it as contentment. He pairs it with Zechariah's promise about inviting your neighbour under the vine.
In the day when THE TRUE KING rules with fairness, men will no longer rebel. "They shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree" (Mic. 4:4). That is, each will be content with the plot of land given to him. He will not try to go beyond its limits. But that will be because he has found his satisfaction in God. "In that day, declares the LORD of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor to come under his vine and under his fig tree" (Zech. 3:10). That is, all will recognise that they are of one blood, and will seek each other's good.
The same writer notes that owning land is not the same as being satisfied.
Alexander the Great conquered and owned the world. Then he wept like a disappointed child, because there was no more world to conquer. But if earthly possessions cannot satisfy the heart, God can. When Christ reigns supreme He will not only fill the earth with peace. He will also fill the hearts of men with satisfaction, for He will fill their hearts with the love of God.
Three things change together in that day: the ground itself, the way it is shared, and the way wrong is handled.
The curse is removed, so the ground yields rich harvests, and everything will be shared out justly. Under His righteous rule there will be no taking advantage of one another. Where unrighteousness breaks out, it will be judged at once. Because judgment holds evil down at once, there will be peace and quiet, and freedom from fear and anxiety.
One writer looks at the walled cities in Israel's law. The wall itself shows that this promise has not yet arrived.
The "walled city" shows that the enemy's power is present, even if it is not in control. So the people fall back on a human means of protection. That shows how little the Israelite yet enjoys his full privilege. That privilege is the day when each man will sit under his own vine and fig tree, with no one to make him afraid. No doubt this will be because a King will reign in righteousness, far beyond David or Solomon, who were only faint pictures of Him.
The verse does not rest its case on probability. It ends with who said it.
Change and decay may mark human history. Death and ruin may sweep like a scorching wind over the loveliest places on earth. But the Lord will make good His every word, and Israel's twelve tribes will yet enjoy the promised land, in all its length, breadth and fullness... And why? What makes us so sure? How can we speak with such absolute certainty? Simply because the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. We can be more sure that Israel's tribes will yet enjoy their fair inheritance than that the Tudors once ruled England. We believe the first on the testimony of God, who cannot lie. We believe the second on the testimony of man, who makes mistakes.
If God alone brings this in, human plans for the same goal cannot reach it.
By their own efforts and wisdom, through leagues, pacts and conferences, men are trying to bring in worldwide peace. They want a golden age of prosperity without God and without Christ. The Christian sees that his blessing is tied to the city of God. He knows that God will deal with the evil of this world. So he refuses to join man's useless efforts to end the world's unrest.
- King first. Peace comes only after a righteous King reigns. No human plan can produce it.
- Land next. Each man sits under his own vine and fig tree — content with the plot of land given to him, and not reaching past its limits.
- Neighbour next. Zechariah adds the invitation: each man invites his neighbour under the vine and seeks his good.
- Fear gone. No one makes them afraid, because evil is judged the moment it breaks out.
- Because He said so. The verse ends with its own proof: the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken it, and God cannot lie.
For all the peoples will walk every one in the name of his god; but we will walk in the name of Jehovah, our God for ever and ever.
Micah 4 turns from ruin to the glory promised to Zion in the last days. Verse 5 says what will mark out the Lord's people then. Two questions follow: when does this belong, and what does walking in a name mean?
Many readers apply this promise to the church age. One writer treats verses 1–5 as one prophecy and rules that out:
Verses 1–5. The last verse predicted the long desolation and ruin of Zion. This is followed at once by a great prophecy of the future glory in store for Zion. Isaiah gave the same prediction. Micah did not copy Isaiah, nor Isaiah Micah; the same Spirit gave both men the same prophecy. It concerns the latter days, which means the coming of Messiah's kingdom on earth. These days are not yet here. To apply these words, even in a spiritual way, to the present age or to the church, is a serious mistake.
The verse assumes a world where every people owns a god of its own, and one people owns the LORD. That arrangement was Israel's whole assignment:
The unity of God is the foundation truth of the Old Testament. It was also the central testimony the Jewish people were responsible for, in a world everywhere else given over to idolatry. We must add this: Jehovah, the God of Israel, was that one Jehovah. Jehovah is His proper name in relationship with His people on earth.
Older translations print the divine name as "Jehovah" where the ESV has "the LORD".
One commentator finds the weightiest change of that day here: idolatry comes to an end. He ties it to what God then does for a people He had cast off:
What weighs even more morally is that idolatry will cease. … "And I will make the lame the remnant, and the one who was cast off, a strong nation; and the LORD will reign over them in Mount Zion from this time forth and forevermore." Such will be the final restoration of Israel by divine grace and power.
Commentators put the accent differently. Another hears the words as speech from Israel's own lips — a boast answered by a better boast:
Israel would dwell in perfect peace, because God rebukes the strong nations and judges among the peoples (v. 3–4). The LORD is exalted among them. Each nation, they say, will boast of its god: but the LORD is our God for ever and ever. The LORD is the glory of His people.
Zechariah carries a parallel promise: "I will make them strong in the LORD, and they shall walk in his name." One writer explains where that strength comes from, and what freedom goes with it:
Now they will learn that their strength is not in their armies, or in their alliances, but in the Lord alone. Free before Him, they will walk up and down. They will not walk to please themselves, or to serve their own ends, but as His servants and representatives, and so in His name. And this, as we gather from Micah, is what will distinguish them as the Lord's people… So along with their restoration, their hearts will be changed, on the terms of the new covenant: "I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."
- Name owned. Every people walks in the name of the god it owns. Israel's God is the LORD — His proper name in relationship with His people on earth.
- Name defended. The nation was responsible for one testimony: that God is one, in a world given to idolatry.
- Name cleared. In the day Micah describes, the weightiest change is moral. Idolatry ends, and the LORD reigns in Mount Zion from that time and forever.
- Name boasted. Commentators read the verse in two ways: as the end of idolatry, and as Israel's own confession while each nation boasts of its god. The LORD is ours for ever, and He is the glory of His people.
- Name walked in. Walking in that name means strength from the Lord, not from armies or alliances. It means living as His servants, with hearts changed under the new covenant.
In that day, saith Jehovah, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted;
In one line Micah names three groups — the lame, the driven out, the afflicted — and God says He will gather every one of them. Three questions follow. When does this happen? Who are these broken people? And why does God call the affliction His own work?
Where the ESV has "the lame," older translations read "her that halts." One writer keeps that word, names who the limping one is, and shows where the gathering ends:
In that day Jehovah will accept the remnant of His people. He will gather poor, feeble, limping Jacob, and bring back together those He had scattered and afflicted. They will be the remnant He desired. The people He had cast off will become a strong nation. Jehovah Himself will reign over them in Zion for ever.
God does not make this promise to the nation at its proudest. He makes it to the small, God-fearing few inside it.
The regathering of all Israel then takes place. Not the boasting, proud, unbelieving portion of the nation as it is today... But there is a feeble, God-fearing remnant, and the promises belong to that remnant. In His grace He will make the remnant a strong nation and reign over them in the established kingdom.
God does not blame their scattering on anyone else. He says He did it — and then, in the same breath, He promises to gather them. That pattern of a sudden "I will" after a record of chastening runs through the prophets:
One very striking thing is this. These promises of future blessing often come in suddenly, right after a word about the chastening God had to bring on them for their sins. They often begin with the words "I WILL do so and so." This shows us that the blessing of the people rests on pure grace and sovereign mercy. It is also a moving proof of God's willingness to forgive — yes, His delight to bless — wherever there is real repentance and self-judgment.
One writer sets Micah's promise beside the life of Jacob, the father of the nation, and then points forward to the next chapter of Micah:
So clearly God gave Micah to prophesy of the flock of Israel, and in the next chapter of the Shepherd. Only through His sufferings could such blessing and glory come. Meanwhile Jacob himself, the father of the twelve tribes, limped along in a loss he felt deeply, and he had known both being driven out and being afflicted.
Another writer names the person who carries this gathering out:
Because of sin, Israel and Judah were driven out of their land. It could not be their rest; they had to get up and go. But the prophecy looks on to the future. Then Jehovah will assemble the remnant of Israel and gather them like sheep of Bozrah. Here we see a beautiful picture of Christ, for Israel's restoration will be His work.
The verse sets up what follows. One writer traces Israel's restoration through to the rule that returns to Zion:
This will be the final restoration of Israel by divine grace and power... "the first dominion." Not just first in the sense of being highest on the earth, but first also, it seems, because it renews what they knew in the days of David and Solomon... The first dominion they held then, for every Jew looked back longingly to those bright days. Those days will return, and more than before, under a greater than David or Solomon.
One writer sets Israel's hope beside the Christian's and finds one ground under both.
God really is the God of all grace, and not one of His purposes will ever fail. Israel's goal is full blessing on earth under Immanuel's rule. We look forward to the Father's house, to be there with Christ for ever. But whether they or we, we will all alike be debtors to the sovereign grace of our God.
- Afflicted — God claims the wound as His own. The scattering was discipline, not accident.
- Assembled — God's promise reaches the lame, the driven out and the afflicted. He names the least able to come back first.
- Remnant — the ones gathered are the feeble, God-fearing few, not the proud majority.
- Strong nation — grace and power turn that remnant into a nation. The old rule returns to Jerusalem, under one greater than David or Solomon.
- Shepherd — the blessing comes only through the sufferings of the Shepherd in the next chapter. Israel's restoration is His work, and grace is its only ground.
and I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation; and Jehovah shall reign over them in mount Zion, from henceforth even for ever.
Micah's picture of the last days ends with the weakest people of all. The lame, the scattered and the cast off become a strong nation, with God Himself as their King in Zion. Who are these people? How does their weakness turn into strength? And whose kingdom is this?
The lame and the outcast are not a general picture of needy people. One writer identifies them, and says what God will finally do:
This is the Jewish people... Such will be the final restoration of Israel by divine grace and power.
The word "remnant" narrows the promise. It marks off who inherits it, and who does not:
The regathering of all Israel takes place — not of the boasting, proud, unbelieving part of the nation as it is today. But there is a feeble, God-fearing remnant, and to that remnant belong the promises. "In that day, says the LORD, I will assemble the lame; I will gather those who are driven out, and those I have afflicted." In His grace He will make the remnant a strong nation and reign over them in the established kingdom.
The limping here is not a new picture. One writer sets Micah's promise beside Jacob himself, and points on to the Shepherd of the next chapter:
Micah was given to prophesy so clearly of the flock of Israel, and in the next chapter of the Shepherd through whose sufferings alone such blessing and glory could come. Meanwhile Jacob, the father of the twelve tribes, limped slowly along in his deeply felt grief. He had known what it is both to be driven out and afflicted.
The limp was a lesson, and it was meant to last:
From then on Jacob limped on his thigh. God would have him learn the lesson permanently: His strength is displayed in human weakness... And it is not only Jews who need to learn this great truth.
The verse holds two things together. God scattered and afflicted this people. God is also the one who makes them strong. One writer keeps both, and ties the strength to God's acceptance of them:
In that day the LORD will accept the remnant of His people. He will assemble poor, feeble, limping Jacob, and bring back together those He had scattered and afflicted. They would be the remnant of His desire, and the people He had cast off would become a strong nation. The LORD Himself would reign over them in Zion for ever.
"In Mount Zion" is not decoration. The verse names the place of the throne and the people ruled. That is why one writer will not hand this promise to the church:
Micah gives the same bright vision as Isaiah, and paints a vivid picture of the millennial reign. "And the LORD will reign over them in Mount Zion from this time forth and forevermore." He does not say this of the Church. He says, "The kingdom will come to the daughter of Jerusalem."
That reign is the centre of a settled world, not a local arrangement:
So we see the whole earth at rest under the peaceful rule of Jesus. Israel, His favoured nation, is most blessed of all. Zion is the place of His throne, and Jerusalem the chief city of the millennial earth.
"From this time forth and forevermore" has not yet begun. One writer says it plainly:
Micah 4:1-8. This has not yet come to pass. It is, so to speak, a description of the literal geography of Jerusalem, when her first dominion is restored.
- Limping. God names this people by their injury. Jacob carried the same limp, a lasting reminder that God's strength shows itself in human weakness.
- Gathered. God assembles the very people He scattered and afflicted. The outcast becomes "the remnant of His desire."
- Strengthened. The strong nation is not self-made. Grace turns a feeble, God-fearing remnant into it. The proud part of the nation has no share in the promise.
- Reigned over. The King is the LORD and the throne is Mount Zion. The kingdom comes to the daughter of Jerusalem, and commentators refuse to read the church into it.
- Forever. None of this has happened yet. It describes a restored Jerusalem at the centre of an earth at rest. It comes through the Shepherd whose sufferings Micah announces next.
And thou, O tower of the flock, hill of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, yea, the first dominion shall come, -- the kingdom to the daughter of Jerusalem.
The last verse of a long promise section speaks to a watchtower — a shepherd's lookout — and tells it that royal rule is coming back. It closes Micah's picture of a restored Jerusalem and raises two questions: what does the address mean, and when does it come true?
The name is a place name as well as a picture. Writers connect it to a spot in Israel's history known from Jacob's travels:
This name occurs only in Genesis 35:21, and means "Tower of the flock." It was probably a tower the shepherds built to protect their flocks. It seems to have stood a little south of Bethlehem. Jacob stopped there with his flocks. The expression "tower of the flock" occurs in Micah 4:8 (Edar in the margin) as the stronghold of the daughter of Zion.
The tower existed to keep the flock safe, and that same care now rests with the exalted Lord:
Such towers were built to keep the flock safe, and to give a better watch against animals or men. With Micah the "tower of the flock" is "the stronghold of the daughter of Zion." (Micah 4:8.) The exalted Lord holds all power in heaven and on earth. So He cares for His people, and no one can pluck them out of His hand.
One writer traces the name to the city's own hills, then rules out a popular misreading:
In the plain sense, Zion was the south-eastern hill called David's city, and Moriah was the north-eastern hill where the LORD's house stood. But the prophets often use Zion as a picture, and as another name for Jerusalem as a whole (Isaiah 1:27). "Daughter of Zion" is a poetic expression for the inhabitants of the Jewish capital, and so for the people in general… We may add that it is nothing but ignorance to assume that Zion anywhere means the church of God, even as a picture.
Older translations read "first dominion" where the ESV has "former dominion," and "stronghold" where the ESV has "hill." The verse also promises the daughter of Jerusalem her kingship back. The word "first" carries two ideas: rank, and the return of something once held.
It is not merely first in the sense of being highest on the earth. It is first also, it seems, because it brings back what was known in the days of David and Solomon. They had the first dominion then, for every Jew looked back with longing to those bright days. They will return again, and yet more, under a greater than David or Solomon.
Has any of this happened yet? One writer answers for the whole opening section of the chapter:
Micah 4:1-8. Nor is this yet brought to pass. It is, so to speak, a description of the layout of Jerusalem, when her first dominion is restored.
Verse 8 closes the bright part of the chapter. What comes next is the road to it: captivity first, then the nations gathered against Jerusalem:
The prophet announces that "the first dominion," the kingdom of David and Solomon, will return to Jerusalem. With this statement the direct announcement of the millennial state of blessedness closes. But meanwhile the kingship, which Jerusalem's glory hung on, had to be set aside (v. 9). A double judgment on Jerusalem went with it. The daughter of Jerusalem must go to Babylon, and there God's power will deliver and redeem her from the hand of her enemies… But another event was to mark these last days of her history. Many nations would be gathered against her. Those who came up against her did not know the thoughts of the LORD. He had gathered them together as sheaves onto the threshing floor. The daughter of Zion would trample on them and break them in pieces.
One writer places the verse inside God's plan for the whole earth:
The people of Israel are the necessary centre in God's plan for dealing with the nations of the earth… To the tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, must come the first dominion. God keeps His choicest earthly blessing for Israel, though it will flow far and wide to the nations. For now, their serious presumption and their refusal to submit to God have frustrated it all. But in time mercy will triumph. The day is coming when God will prove what He is for Israel, despite what Israel has been against Himself.
- Tower — the name points to a real shepherd's lookout near Bethlehem, built to guard the flock. God names His people by the place that stood for their safety.
- Flock — the picture is care and watching. The exalted Lord holds all power, and no one can pluck His people out of His hand.
- First — "first dominion" means highest on earth. It also means the return of what David and Solomon once held, under someone greater than either.
- Not yet — the promise still waits. The same chapter puts Babylon first, then the nations gathered against Jerusalem, before the kingdom comes.
- Flowing out — the blessing does not stop at Jerusalem. Mercy triumphs for Israel, and the blessing flows far and wide to the nations.
Now why dost thou cry out aloud? Is there no king in thee? is thy counsellor perished, that pangs have seized thee as a woman in travail?
Micah has just shown Zion at her highest — nations streaming to the mountain of the Lord, the first dominion returning to the daughter of Jerusalem. Then the tone breaks. The prophet turns to the city with three questions: why the loud crying, where is her king, where is her counsellor?
These questions mark a turning point. The promised glory now waits, and the long road to it begins here.
after
But meanwhile the royalty on which the glory of Jerusalem depended had to be set aside (v. 9). A double judgment on Jerusalem went with this. The daughter of Jerusalem must go to Babylon. There God's power will deliver her and redeem her from the hand of her enemies. She was to be their captive, far from Zion. That is, the prophet announces the captivity of Jerusalem among the Gentile monarchies.
So why is the pain needed at all? God will not restore a people He has not first searched.
Meanwhile they taste sorrow, for Jehovah will surely discipline His people. He will not take them up and restore them without moral testing and a deep spiritual work in their souls.
The image is childbirth: pain with an end in view. Zion's road to that end runs through captivity.
The prophet teaches the daughter of Zion that she must go to Babylon before she can come out in the majesty that will be hers in the days of the kingdom. In Babylon her pains, her labour, come to an end… Zion must reach her joy through captivity and come to honour through bitter sorrow. Long ago God told Abraham that his offspring would live in a foreign land for centuries before they came to their inheritance. And so it was. The brick-kilns of Egypt came before the victories of Joshua. Now again, Babylon is a second Egypt to the children of Zion. It comes before "the first dominion" reaches them, before the bright days of David and Solomon return.
Commentators differ on how far these labour pains reach. Some read the captivity in Babylon as the whole answer. Another writer says the promise is too large for that exile to fill.
Notice that verse 10 goes beyond the Babylonian captivity. No one could say that the Lord redeemed Israel from the hands of her enemies in that past captivity. Nor was it true then that many nations gathered against her. The Babylonian captivity is a type of the greater dispersion throughout this present age. It will end. When it does, the Lord will redeem His people. He will judge the opposing nations that gather against Jerusalem at the end.
This passage also clears up a puzzle elsewhere in Scripture. Revelation 12 shows a woman crying out in birth pains, yet Israel was in no such pain on the night Christ was born.
Who is this woman clothed with these signs of royal power? If we turn to Micah 4:8, there can be no doubt who she is… In Revelation 12:2 we see the pain and labour of Israel. An objector might say there was no uproar or labour among the Jews at the birth of Christ, the man-child. Jerusalem was asleep, and only a few peaceful shepherds were awake. Quite true… Micah 4:10 describes the labour of Israel, when she has gone out of the city, even to Babylon.
- Cry. Three questions expose an empty throne and an empty council chamber. Zion cries because the royal power on which her glory rested is gone.
- Cause. The pain is discipline, not accident. God will not restore His people without doing a deep spiritual work in them first.
- Captivity. The road from the cry to the crown runs through Babylon, a second Egypt. Zion reaches joy through captivity and honour through bitter sorrow.
- Compass. The promised redemption is larger than the return from Babylon. That exile pictures a longer scattering, which the Lord ends by judging the nations gathered against Jerusalem.
- Childbirth. The picture is childbirth, not death. Israel's labour still lay ahead on the night the Messiah was born, and labour ends in a birth.
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 Jehovah will redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies.
In verse 8 Micah promises the daughter of Jerusalem that her old kingdom will come back. Then the tone changes at once. Verse 10 holds both together. The city with a kingdom ahead of her must first leave her walls, camp in open country, and find her rescue in the land of her captors.
The order of events matters. The prophet does not soften the exile. He tells Zion where it ends, and points back to an older captivity.
The prophet speaks of all this. Then he turns to Judah, and leaves the Assyrian of his own day for the Babylonian of a day to come. The daughter of Zion is taught that she must go to Babylon before God brings her out in the majesty that will be hers in the days of the kingdom. It is in Babylon that her pains are to end. But the stages of her rescue are noticed too: out of the city, into the field, on to Babylon, and there the Lord redeems her. Zion must reach her joy through captivity and come to honour through deep sorrow. Long ago God told Abraham that his offspring would live in a foreign land for centuries before they came to their inheritance. And so it was: the brick-kilns of Egypt came before the victories of Joshua. And now again, Babylon is a second Egypt to the children of Zion, before "the first dominion" comes to them.
The enemy pressing Micah's own generation was Assyria. Verse 10 names a different power, and one writer warns us never to mix the two.
Later we find Babylon; but the case then is altogether different from Assyria. We must never confuse the two. The uses God turned Assyria and Babylon to in prophecy are as precise as they are different... Babylon rose to supremacy in another way. It was not merely an overlord of nations bound together by agreement. It was supreme head over subject kings. In short, an imperial dignity belonged not to Assyria but to Babylon. That power rose up after Israel had been swept away. It came to carry Judah captive, when the last hope of the house of David was completely gone.
Notice where the rescue happens: not on the road out, and not after the return, but in Babylon itself. The kingship is set aside, and God's own power delivers her.
The prophet announces that "the first dominion," the kingdom of David and Solomon, will return to Jerusalem... But meanwhile the kingship that Jerusalem's glory hung on had to go (v. 9), and a double judgment on Jerusalem went with it. The daughter of Jerusalem must go to Babylon. There God's power will deliver her and redeem her from the hand of her enemies. She was to be their captive, far away from Zion. That is, the prophet announces the captivity of Jerusalem among the empires of the nations. God would grant her deliverance while she was in that condition.
Verse 10 is only the first half of the picture. Verses 11-13 bring a second trouble on Jerusalem.
Micah 4:9-13 gives, in general, the two evils that judged Jerusalem had to face: Babylon, and the gathering of the nations in the last days, with her glorious deliverance. Micah 5 then shows how Messiah is connected both with the judgment and with the deliverance from the second of these evils.
The image of a woman in labour was not exhausted by the exile. One writer uses this verse to answer an objection about the birth pains described in Revelation 12.
Someone might object that there was no upheaval, or travail, among the Jews at the birth of Christ, the man-child. Jerusalem was asleep, and only a few peaceful shepherds were awake. Quite true. Turn to the prophets again, and you will see that the revelation is right to assume we should know this must be so. The travail of Israel does not come at the birth of Christ at all. Turn to Micah 4 again. The travail of Israel is described in verse 10, when she has gone out of the city, even to Babylon. "There you shall be rescued."
God does not simply hand the kingdom back. He works inside His people first.
Meanwhile His people taste sorrow, for Jehovah will surely deal with them in discipline. He will not take them up and re-establish them without inward testing and a deep spiritual work in their souls.
- Pain — Zion's exile is labour pain, not a dead end. Her pains end in Babylon itself.
- Place — God promises the rescue there, in the land of captivity. His power, not David's throne, redeems her from her enemies' hand.
- Precision — Assyria and Babylon are two different powers with two different roles. Babylon carried Judah away once the last hope of David's house had gone.
- Pattern — Egypt came before Joshua's victories; Babylon comes before the first dominion. Zion reaches joy through captivity.
- Purpose — God will not re-establish His people without deep inward work in them. The sorrow is discipline, and none of it is wasted.
And now many nations are assembled against thee, that say, Let her be profaned, and let our eye look upon Zion.
The prophet has just pictured Zion, the city of Jerusalem, at the centre of a world at peace. Now the scene darkens. Many nations ring the city, and they say out loud what they mean to do to her. One question runs under the whole scene: whose plan does this siege serve?
The verses around this one speak of exile and rescue. One writer says the timing does not fit the old exile in Babylon.
Notice that verse 10 goes beyond the Babylonian captivity. No one could say that the Lord redeemed Israel from the hands of her enemies in that past captivity. Nor was it true then that many nations were gathered against her. The Babylonian captivity is a type of the greater dispersion throughout this present age. When it ends, and it will end, the Lord will redeem His people. He will then judge the enemy nations that gather at last against Jerusalem.
Another reader of the chapter treats the verse the same way — as a quick backward look at the trouble that has to pass before the reign described earlier can begin.
From verse 11, we have a passing glance at the events which precede this peaceful reign.
This siege is more than politics. God uses it to deal with His own people, and one writer names the invader who leads it.
He will not take them up and restore them without moral testing and a deep spiritual work in their souls... Every Israelite who is saved then will face the question of his own sin. There will also be outward distress under the punishing hand of God, when the nations gather intending to defile and destroy Zion... It is the Assyrian who will then come up — the last king of the north... A siege of Jerusalem is still to come. The Jews will have returned to their land in unbelief, and God will be starting to work in some of their hearts.
The nations state their aim in the verse. The next verse states God's aim, and the two do not match.
They go there hoping to carry out their own aims of plunder and ambition. But it is God who gathers them there, like sheaves onto the threshing floor, to be threshed in judgment.
One writer sees the same pattern in Revelation. There, spirits go out and gather the kings of the earth.
Who is He? I take this to be the power and providence of God working by Christ. Satan may have had influence, or been the tool used, but the work was still Christ's, even when done through that. The spirits were to go out and gather, and they gathered. But in truth it was the Lord's doing in judgment. Compare Micah 4:11-13.
Enemies stand in front. A deceiver works behind them. Above both is a hand that disciplines but does not destroy.
The nations surround her in hatred, and Satan seeks to destroy. But above them all Jehovah disciplines her, and painfully, yet He does not hand her over to death. All the nations of the earth will stand around Jerusalem against her, but they will pass away like a dream before Jehovah.
The attackers want more than conquest. They want to watch Zion shamed. That is the wish that turns back on them.
The nations have sunk into the pit which they had made. They planned the destruction of Jehovah's sanctuary. Their thought had been, "Let her be defiled, and let our eyes gaze upon Zion." But the shame they hoped to gloat over suddenly became their own, and it stays with them.
The prophet does call Zion herself to rise and thresh. Yet the rescue does not start with her.
True, the prophet does call the daughter of Zion to "arise and thresh," and Israel will no doubt carry out God's vengeance. But the book of Revelation shows, along with certain Old Testament passages, that Christ Himself strikes the first blow against this wicked alliance. He comes down suddenly with His heavenly armies, when no one expects Him.
- Gathered — this siege is no accident of history. Commentators place it long after the captivity in Babylon, in the last crisis, when the Jews have come back to their land and the nations close in.
- Blind — the attackers say their plan out loud and never guess God's. They march out to plunder and arrive as sheaves on His threshing floor.
- Governed — enemies press in front and Satan works behind. Above them both, Jehovah disciplines His people and does not give them up to death.
- Reversed — they came to watch Zion shamed. The shame becomes theirs, and it stays.
- Delivered — Zion does rise and thresh. But the rescue starts when Christ appears suddenly with His heavenly armies.
But they know not the thoughts of Jehovah, neither understand they his counsel; for he hath gathered them together as the sheaves into the threshing-floor.
Micah's scene is a siege. Hostile nations have massed around Zion, sure that they decide how this ends. The verse cuts in to say they have read the moment backwards. They are not the harvesters here. They are the harvest.
The verse opens with ignorance. The nations have not weighed God's plan and rejected it. They do not know it is there. One writer explains why the two sets of thoughts never meet:
This must always be so, for man's thoughts centre around himself, whereas the thoughts of God are centred in Christ, the Son of His bosom. The prophet could say of the "many nations," "They do not know the thoughts of the LORD; they do not understand His plan."
The nations gather themselves. God also gathers them. Both are true at once, and the second one settles the outcome. Their march is real and their motives are their own. But God chose where it ends:
They go there hoping to carry out their own aims of plunder and ambition. But it is God who gathers them there, as sheaves to the threshing floor, to be threshed in judgment.
The picture comes from harvest, and nothing in it is accidental. Sheaves reach the threshing floor because someone carries them there. The armies think they are laying siege. In God's account they are already stacked for threshing.
Commentators read this as a scene still ahead. One writer traces the reason back to verse 10, whose promise Babylon never fulfilled:
Notice that verse 10 goes beyond the Babylonian captivity. No one could say that the Lord redeemed Israel from the hands of her enemies in that past captivity. Nor was it true then that many nations had gathered against her... He gathers the nations for the harvest time, when the sheaves are to be threshed.
The same crisis works on two fronts. God deals with the nations on the threshing floor. He also deals with His own people, and the pressure from outside is part of how He does it:
He will not take them up and restore them without moral testing and a deep spiritual work in their souls... The question of sin will be raised in the heart of every Israelite who is then saved. There will also be outward distress under the punishing hand of God, when the nations gather intending to defile and destroy Zion.
Micah next calls Zion to rise and thresh, which raises the question of whose hand actually executes the sentence. Commentators hold both together rather than choosing, with the order mattering:
True, in the prophet the daughter of Zion is told to "arise and thresh," and God will no doubt use Israel to carry out His vengeance. But Revelation shows, along with certain Old Testament passages, that Christ will overthrow the godless alliance first of all by His own sudden, unexpected descent with His heavenly armies.
The verse reads like a threat, and it is one. Yet its comfort runs the other way. What the nations lack — a share in God's thinking — is what God gives to His own:
God Himself will purge the land and the people... Even so, the true saint of God can enjoy the deepest rest and peace of mind. Grace has brought him into the secret of God's thoughts about everything. These mighty nations think they can carry out their own will and do as they like, "but they do not know the thoughts of the LORD; they do not understand His plan, that He has gathered them as sheaves to the threshing floor."
- Ignorance. The nations are not defying a plan they understand. They do not know God's thoughts at all. Their thinking circles around themselves, while His centres on Christ.
- Gathering. They assemble for plunder and ambition. God is the one assembling them, as sheaves carried to the threshing floor.
- Timing. The scene goes past the Babylonian captivity, which brought no such rescue and no such alliance of nations. It belongs to the harvest still ahead.
- Two edges. The same crisis judges the nations outside and works deep inside God's people. God does not restore them without it.
- Rest. What the nations lack, grace gives the believer — a place inside God's thoughts. So a believer can watch world events that look like chaos and still rest.
Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion, for I will make thy horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass; and thou shalt beat in pieces many peoples; and I will devote their gain to Jehovah, and their substance to the Lord of the whole earth.
Micah has just shown the nations massing against Zion with contempt, sure that the city lies open to them. The verse turns that scene inside out. God hands the intended victim a threshing floor, an iron horn and hooves of bronze. And the plunder she takes is not hers to keep.
The armies come with their own plans. What they do not know is whose harvest they are walking into.
They go to carry out, as they hope, their own plans of plunder and ambition. But God is really the one gathering them there, like sheaves onto the threshing floor, to be threshed in judgment.
The call to thresh rests on that. Threshing means crushing the cut grain on an open floor to separate it from the useless chaff. God stacks the invaders like cut grain, and only then does He speak to Zion.
God does not thresh over Zion's head. He gives her a share in the work, and He supplies the strength for it.
In the overthrow of these enemies, Israel plays some part. In Micah 4:13 the daughter of Zion is called to arise and thresh, with the promise that Jehovah will make her horn iron, and her hooves bronze, so that she may beat in pieces many peoples. In Micah 5:6 we read that Israel will lay waste the land of Assyria with the sword. That is how Jehovah will deliver His people from the Assyrian when he comes into their land.
The same picture belongs to a wider set of promises about that day, where a weak people is suddenly made irresistible.
When He has bent Judah for Him, and filled the bow with Ephraim — when they shall grow up as calves in the stall, and tread down the wicked under the soles of their feet — when his horn shall be iron, and his hoof bronze, and Zion shall break in pieces many people.
The order matters. Israel will thresh the nations, but not before God has dealt with her.
The picture of threshing comes up often in the prophets, and it nearly always applies to the nations. Israel herself will one day thresh the nations. But first she must pass through a purifying discipline of her own. It will drive the chaff away and leave only the pure grain. In that separating time of suffering and trial, the remnant will lay hold in faith of Him who is Lord of the threshing.
So the call to arise does not come to a nation in good standing. It comes to a people God has first put through His own hands.
Meanwhile they taste sorrow, for Jehovah will surely deal in discipline with His people. He will not take them up and restore them without moral exercise and a deep spiritual work in their souls… Every Israelite who is then to be saved will face the question of sin in his own heart. There will also be outward distress under the punishing hand of God, when the nations gather with the thought to defile and destroy Zion.
The people who thresh are the ones who have been threshed — few, scattered, then gathered.
So the first dominion will come to Judah's remnant. They are scattered like a flock without a shepherd. But once they are gathered and shepherded, few as they are, their horn will be iron and their hoof bronze, and they will beat many peoples in pieces.
The victory ends with a change of ownership. The nations gathered wealth for themselves, and Zion does not keep it either.
The wealth of the Gentiles, who wanted the world without God, is consecrated to the "Lord of the whole earth." (Micah 4:13.) "And the LORD will be king over all the earth. On that day the LORD will be one and his name one." (Zech. 14:9.)
Scripture has more than one title for God's link with the whole earth, and this verse uses a particular one.
There is the "God of all the earth," Isaiah 54. Otherwise, it is "King of all the earth" (Psalm 47)… Otherwise, it is "Lord" (Adon) "of all the earth," from Joshua 3:13, Micah 4:13, and here.
- Gathered. The nations march on Zion by their own choice, but God is stacking them like sheaves on a threshing floor.
- Given. Zion does not supply her own strength; the iron horn and bronze hooves are made for her by the Lord.
- Ground. She threshes only after God has threshed her. The chaff blows away, the pure grain stays, and the remnant clings in faith to the Lord of the threshing.
- Gathered again. The winners are a small flock, scattered without a shepherd, then gathered and shepherded — and the first dominion comes back to them.
- Given up. Zion keeps none of the plunder. The wealth of nations who wanted the world without God goes to the Lord of the whole earth.