TEXT [Commentary]

black diamond   D.   Hope for Restoration (2:12-13)

12 “Someday, O Israel, I will gather you;

I will gather the remnant who are left.

I will bring you together again like sheep in a pen,

like a flock in its pasture.

Yes, your land will again

be filled with noisy crowds!

13 Your leader will break out

and lead you out of exile,

out through the gates of the enemy cities,

back to your own land.

Your king will lead you;

the LORD himself will guide you.”

NOTES

2:12 gather. The gathering (qabats [TH6908, ZH7695]) of the Hebrews scattered in exile due to covenant disobedience is an eschatological motif in the OT prophetic books (e.g., Isa 11:12; Jer 31:8; Ezek 34:13). The theme is consistent theologically with the teaching of Moses’s prophetic sermon that God would one day gather his people from exile among the nations and restore their fortunes in their ancestral homeland (Deut 30:3-5).

remnant who are left. The “remnant” (she’erith [TH7611, ZH8642]) motif implies both doom and salvation and is directly related to Yahweh’s covenant faithfulness. The remnant motif is rooted in the saving work of a merciful God and serves to bridge the threat of punishment with the promise of restoration (see further the discussion in NIDOTTE 4.14-17 and the commentary below).

sheep . . . flock. The pastoral imagery portraying Israel as God’s flock is common in the Psalms and the OT prophetic books (e.g., Pss 77:20; 79:13; Ezek 34:15, 22). Micah’s prophecy overturns the vision of Israel—scattered on the mountain like sheep without a shepherd—seen by Micaiah the prophet (1 Kgs 22:17).

2:13 leader will break out. Lit., “the one who breaks through” (happorets [TH6555, ZH7287]). Kaiser (1992:45) understands “the Breaker” as a title for God and sees the role of “Breaker” fulfilled ultimately in the ministry of Jesus the Messiah.

king. The parallelism “LORD” (yhwh [TH3068, ZH3378]) in the following line suggests that the prophet understands God as the king who will lead the Hebrew people out of exile and back to their homeland. The pastoral imagery gives way to a military one, since Yahweh is both shepherd and king of his people (cf. Ps 100:3). The passage may anticipate the Messianic shepherd introduced in 5:4.

the LORD himself will guide you. Lit., “Yahweh is at their head” (yhwh bero’sham [TH7218, ZH8031]). Yahweh himself “leads the column of march, like a general or a shepherd” (Andersen and Freedman 2000:341). The passage recalls the Exodus from Egypt when Yahweh led his people in the fire and the cloud (Exod 13:21).

COMMENTARY [Text]

God’s promise to preserve a segment of his people through the punishment of his divine judgment for covenant trespass introduces the remnant theme (2:12), prominent in Old Testament prophetic literature (e.g., Isaiah, who popularized the idea by naming his son Shear-jashub, or “a remnant will return,” Isa 7:3). The remnant motif implies both judgment and deliverance. The very existence of a remnant of Hebrews is based on the mercy of God. The Old Testament prophets apply the remnant motif to three types of groups: (1) the historical remnant composed of survivors of the catastrophe of God’s judgment (Jer 23:3); (2) the faithful remnant of Hebrews who maintain a true faith relationship with Yahweh (Amos 5:15); and (3) an eschatological remnant of Hebrews and Gentiles who will participate in the blessing of the restored Davidic kingdom (Amos 9:12; cf. NIDOTTE 4.14-15).

Micah refers to a “remnant” (she’erith [TH7611, ZH8642]) five times (2:12; 4:7; 5:7, 8; 7:18), and each is connected with oracles of hope (see Waltke’s discussion in NIDOTTE 4.938-939). The remnant purified, who go out strong as a lion (5:7-8), represent the eschatological remnant who will share in the blessing of the restored Davidic kingdom (cf. 5:2-5). The remaining four references to the Hebrew remnant appear to combine type one (a historical remnant of those who survive the Assyrian and Babylonian exiles) and type three (an eschatological remnant who will be purified and experience the restoration of the Davidic kingdom). Such telescoping of near historical fulfillment and distant eschatological fulfillment is not uncommon in biblical prophecy.

Theologically, the remnant theme is important because it mediates the tension of the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants. The first “guaranteed Israel an everlasting status in God’s program of redemption,” while the second “threatened a sinful nation with death” (NIDOTTE 4.938). God’s true prophets resolved the theological tension by espousing the doctrine that he would preserve a godly remnant of Israelites through the judgment associated with the curses of the Mosaic covenant (Deut 28; cf. Deut 30:1-5).

The remnant theme testifies to God’s faithfulness in keeping his covenant promises (Ps 145:13; Dan 9:4), and it displays his great mercy because he does not remain angry with rebellious Israel forever (Isa 57:16; Jer 3:12). In the New Testament, the remnant of Israel (i.e., the Jews) is not displaced or eliminated, but stands united with those Gentiles (or wild olive branches grafted into Abraham’s tree, Rom 11:17) called to be one people of God (cf. Rom 9–11; see further DPL 796-805). There is a sense in which Jesus the Messiah is himself the ultimate “remnant of Israel” because he fulfilled the Law of Moses as the lone righteous Hebrew (Matt 5:17-18; Heb 7:26), and as the firstborn from the dead he is “head” of the church (Col 1:18).