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.
The verse opens with an army around Jerusalem and ends with a blow to one man's face. Everything turns on who that struck "judge of Israel" is.
The picture is an army massing outside Jerusalem. One writer places this attack not in Micah's own day but at the end of the age.
The daughter of troops gathers herself in troops to besiege Jerusalem. It is the Assyrian army gathering before the city. But this is not the Assyrian of the past, whose invasion both Isaiah and Micah foretold. It is the Assyrian of the future, the great troubler who invades the land of Israel at the end-time. That is the time of Jacob's trouble, the great time of labour pains and final deliverance… The reason for all of it — their long history of trouble, ending in the great tribulation — is the rejection of the judge of Israel. He is the Messiah, our Lord.
Another writer sets it beside the earlier Assyrian attack under Sennacherib, and says what had changed since.
But here it is quite a different thing from the attack of Sennacherib. Judah had now sunk much deeper into sin and rebellion. The true Judge of Israel would be struck with a rod on the cheek. They would mock and beat the Christ.
Both the title and the blow carry weight. "Judge" named the highest office in Israel, and a strike to the face was the sharpest insult of all.
Scripture calls Him the judge of Israel, because the judge held the highest official position in Israel; the king of Israel held this office. People counted a blow on the cheek the greatest disgrace. So Zedekiah struck the prophet Micaiah on the cheek and asked him, "How did the Spirit of the LORD go from me to speak to you?"
One writer points to the hour when these words came true.
"With a rod they strike the judge of Israel on the cheek" — an amazing prophecy. It came true when they took the reed they had put in His right hand as a mock sceptre, and struck Him on the head.
What makes it more striking is who carried it out.
This is striking when we look at the Roman soldiers — men who did not even know the Scriptures existed… Micah 5:1 said that someone would strike the Judge of Israel "with a rod on the cheek." The soldiers did it… We think we are right in saying that at least 24 prophecies came true in the 24 hours of the day Jesus died.
Everything depends on who this struck man is.
Clearly this is the humiliation of the Messiah — One born in Bethlehem, One belonging to Judah, who, though born here, was still from everlasting. He was as truly divine as He was human… This is what shows how serious Israel's guilt is: that He, being what He is in His own person, and their Judge as well, should be struck by them, of all people, with a rod on the cheek.
One writer names who struck Him, and what followed for the nation.
It is His people who do this — His own, to whom He came, and they did not receive Him… Meanwhile God gives up the nation as such. Micah tells them plainly that this would happen. He also tells them the reason for it, and the limit God has set to it… True, some Jews are still saved. "At the present time," as the apostle says, "there is a remnant, chosen by grace." But these no longer share Jewish hopes: blessed be God, they have better ones.
The story does not end with the blow. The face they insulted becomes the delight of the nation when their eyes open.
In her blindness, the daughter of Zion despised and rejected Him because He came so low… But after all this hatred and cruelty, the daughter of Zion will be deeply sorry then. The veil will drop away… Then, instead of saying of Him, "no beauty that we should desire him," they will say, "He is altogether desirable." The cheek once marred, insulted and struck is to the heart of the nation like beds of spices.
- Siege — Writers see a future invader gathering against Jerusalem, not only Sennacherib's army of Micah's own day.
- Insult — "Judge" was the highest office in Israel, and a blow to the cheek was its deepest disgrace.
- Fulfilment — The rod became a reed placed in His hand as a mock sceptre. Men who had never read the prophets acted out their words.
- Identity — The struck man was born at Bethlehem, yet He is from everlasting. That is what makes the blow Israel's gravest sin.
- Outcome — So He gives them up, but only "until." The struck cheek is the very face Israel will one day call altogether desirable.
(And thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, little to be among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall he come forth unto me [who is] to be Ruler in Israel whose goings forth are from of old, from the days of eternity.)
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
Therefore will he give them up, until the time when she which travaileth shall have brought forth and the residue of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel.
Micah's prophecy moves from a besieged city and a rejected Judge to a birth. One word ties them together: "therefore." The verse tells us why God set His people aside, how long that lasts, and what happens when it ends.
Verse 3 does not follow verse 2 as a new thought. It finishes the sentence begun in verse 1, which points to how Israel treated their Judge. In between comes a description of who that Judge is.
Why is it that the Lord allows the last siege of Jerusalem? He says it is because of their conduct towards their ruler and judge. Who was the judge? He was born in Bethlehem. But that is not all, for "his goings forth have been of old from everlasting." He was a divine person. He in grace became a baby in Bethlehem; but He was Jehovah the true God of Israel. Then follows the conclusion of the sentence begun in the first verse.
Giving them up is God's answer to what Israel did to His King. One writer names the exchange, then names its limit.
He is Israel's divine-human King, yet they rejected Him. And because they rejected Him, He rejects them: "therefore does He give them up." Here is the secret of their condition as a nation ever since. It is a secret still to them, sad to say, though it is declared so plainly. Here too is the reason for their final sorrows. But there is a limit: He cannot always give them up: His promises to the fathers must find their fulfilment.
Another writer names the woman in labour, then shows what God is doing while Israel is set aside.
It is Zion who is in labour. This is a most important statement to understand… Christ ascended to the right hand of God. There He began a new work: the calling out of a heavenly people to share His portion on high. This is what is going on now… He has given them up for a time, because they did not believe and rejected Him. But He does not give them up for ever. "The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable."
Do the labour pains belong to the night at Bethlehem? One writer sets the two events far apart.
The labour and the pain refer to Israel's coming hour of trial, the Great Tribulation. But before that great event the Messiah, the Man-Child, is born… The woman's labour comes at least two thousand years after the birth of the Messiah. It points to her sorrow in the coming Tribulation.
The suffering is not only punishment. It has a goal.
Israel… must pass through all the afflictions, the anguish, the judgments, the chastening of God. These are needed to bring her to accept the punishment of her sin. At last His grace convinces her that she needs that grace, and needs the mercy of God. So she is made fit to be the vessel through whom that Son who was to be born to her is shown to the world.
The last clause names a direction of travel, and it reverses what happens today.
How deep will be the joy when He whom they had rejected of old is once more restored to them, the Judge of Israel! Today Jews are taken out of their Israelite position and brought into the church of God, which began at Pentecost and has gone on ever since. Then it will be the other way round: the remnant of His brothers shall return to the children of Israel. They go back to their Jewish hopes… No one can understand the verse, or explain it rightly, unless he sees the difference between the heavenly calling now and the earthly calling by and by.
His brothers are not the whole nation. They are a remnant God raises up by grace.
At length another godly remnant shall be raised up by grace, not to form part of the church as now, but to be the nucleus of the generation to come. Micah 5:3 speaks of these as the remnant of His brothers. At that time the Ruler in Israel is about to stand and feed His flock in the strength of Jehovah, in the majesty of the name of Jehovah His God. And they shall abide… "for now shall He be great even to the ends of the earth."
- Cause. They struck the Judge; therefore He gives them up. Verse 2 breaks in to say who that Judge is: born at Bethlehem, yet from everlasting.
- Limit. "Until" governs the whole sentence. The setting aside is real, but it has a date. God will keep His promises to the fathers.
- Interval. While Israel is set aside, Christ is calling out a heavenly people to share His portion on high.
- Labour. The pains are Israel's coming hour of trial. God's chastening brings her to accept His hand and to own that she needs His grace.
- Return. The remnant does not join the church then. It goes back to Israel, and the Ruler they rejected stands and feeds His flock, great to the ends of the earth.
And he shall stand and feed [his flock] in the strength of Jehovah, in the majesty of the name of Jehovah his God. And they shall abide; for now shall he be great even unto the ends of the earth.
Micah's promise of a ruler born in Bethlehem does not stop at His birth. It moves straight on to His work — He stands, He feeds a flock, and the people He feeds live in safety.
Israel refused this Ruler, and God gave the nation up for a time. The shepherd care here belongs to the very One they refused:
He, then, who had been rejected becomes the Shepherd of Israel, and that according to the strength of Jehovah in the majesty of the name of Jehovah His God. Israel dwells in safety, for His King becomes great to the ends of the earth.
Another writer traces the same turn from rejection to public honour, and notes what will change in Israel's own attitude:
The consequence of Israel's rejection of Christ is that the nation is given up by God (v. 3), for the time. The day will come, however, when the nation that refused Him will acclaim Him as Ruler. Then He shall stand and feed them, as a shepherd does his flock.
Commentators differ over the timing. One reads the whole passage as future:
Verses 4-6. This refers to His second coming. He will stand and feed in the strength of Jehovah, for He is the LORD; and they (saved Israel) shall abide. Yes, more than that, "He shall be great to the ends of the earth."
Another finds both comings here, and reads what follows as future:
These words surely have a bearing on both the first and second comings of the Lord Jesus. What follows has to do with His second coming: "This Man shall be the Peace when the Assyrian shall come into our land". He will deal with the Assyrian, the rod of His anger. He will judge them for their sins before bringing them into blessing along with Israel and Egypt.
Standing and feeding is a gentler picture than a throne. It meets two needs at once:
There seems to be some distinction between the Lord viewed as Shepherd and as King. The nature of the offices of the Shepherd, taken as a whole, is more peaceful than that of the King of Israel... Just as the King's energies work in two directions, so the Shepherd shows a twofold care. First, He protects His own from the raiding enemies of the flock... But He not only protects, He also preserves and provides food. The Shepherd brings His flock into the green pastures and beside the still waters.
The Lord chose a title that suited the hour of His death. One writer sets Micah's glory beside it:
He does not call Himself either the "chief" or the "great" Shepherd, but the "good" Shepherd, as laying down His life for the sheep. The time had not yet come for titles like these. He is not thinking here of the glories that belong to the "Shepherd of Israel." Then He will stand and shepherd them in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord His God. The sheep will then wander no more, "they shall abide."
The people's safety does not rest on themselves. It rests on their Messiah:
They shall be purified, while their enemies shall be destroyed. The remnant will now "abide," because their Messiah in strength and majesty "shall be great to the ends of the earth." They shall also be as "dew from the Lord," and as "a young lion among the flocks." To all around them they will bring either blessing or judgment.
This greatness adds nothing to His Person. It shows itself in the place that shamed Him:
Hallelujah! Let this word sink into your rejoicing souls, you who love the Lord. He shall be great! Personally great He always was. But here, where He was belittled and put to shame, among the people who crowned Him with disgrace and contempt, He shall be great.
One writer sets this greatness beside the glory of the first man, Adam:
The glory of Adam, seen that day in Eden, passed away, never to be restored. The glory of the Lord, displayed on earth in a brief, passing way, can never grow stale, can never decay. "He shall be great to the ends of the earth."
- Rejected — the nation refused Him, and the One they refused is the same One who stands to shepherd. Their refusal delayed His rule; it did not cancel it.
- Standing — He does not rule from a distance. He stands over the flock, guards it from enemies, and feeds it in green pastures.
- Strength — He shepherds in the strength of the LORD, and in the majesty of that name, not in strength of His own.
- Abiding — because He stands, the flock settles. The sheep wander no more, and His greatness keeps the nation safe, not their own.
- Great — His greatness reaches the ends of the earth, never decays, and shines out in the very place that despised Him.