TEXT [Commentary]

  B.   Israel’s Return from Exile (4:6–5:1)

6 “In that coming day,” says the LORD,

“I will gather together those who are lame,

those who have been exiles,

and those whom I have filled with grief.

7 Those who are weak will survive as a remnant;

those who were exiles will become a strong nation.

Then I, the LORD, will rule from Jerusalem[*]

as their king forever.”

8 As for you, Jerusalem,

the citadel of God’s people,[*]

your royal might and power

will come back to you again.

The kingship will be restored

to my precious Jerusalem.

9 But why are you now screaming in terror?

Have you no king to lead you?

Have your wise people all died?

Pain has gripped you like a woman in childbirth.

10 Writhe and groan like a woman in labor,

you people of Jerusalem,[*]

for now you must leave this city

to live in the open country.

You will soon be sent in exile

to distant Babylon.

But the LORD will rescue you there;

he will redeem you from the grip of your enemies.

11 Now many nations have gathered against you.

“Let her be desecrated,” they say.

“Let us see the destruction of Jerusalem.[*]”

12 But they do not know the LORD’s thoughts

or understand his plan.

These nations don’t know

that he is gathering them together

to be beaten and trampled

like sheaves of grain on a threshing floor.

13 “Rise up and crush the nations, O Jerusalem!”[*]

says the LORD.

“For I will give you iron horns and bronze hooves,

so you can trample many nations to pieces.

You will present their stolen riches to the LORD,

their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.”

CHAPTER 5

1 [*]Mobilize! Marshal your troops!

The enemy is laying siege to Jerusalem.

They will strike Israel’s leader

in the face with a rod.

NOTES

4:6 that coming day. The phrase is repeated in 2:4; 4:6; 7:11 and is “shorthand” in the OT prophets for “the day of LORD” (cf. “last days” in 4:1).

says the LORD. The divine utterance formula (ne’um yhwh [TH5002/3068, ZH5536/3378]) is a nominal exclamation in the OT prophets and affirms the divine source and authority of the prophet’s message.

gather. The two verbs (’asap [TH622, ZH665] + qabats [TH6908, ZH7695], “I will assemble” and “I will gather”) are rendered in the NLT by the single expression, “I will gather together.” The same two verbs are paired in 2:12 (see note).

exiles. These were the Hebrews banished or scattered (nadakh [TH5080, ZH5615]) into foreign lands as punishment for the sin of idolatry. Such exile is one of the curses threatened by Yahweh for violation of his covenant (Deut 28:36-37, 64; cf. Lev 18:24-30, where the land of covenant promise “vomits out” those who defile it).

4:7 strong nation. The expression goy ‘atsum [TH1471/6099, ZH1580/6786] is used to describe the growth of the nation of Israel during their Egyptian sojourn, which threatened Pharaoh and the people of Egypt (Deut 26:5); it echoes the promise made to Abraham to make a mighty nation from his descendants (Gen 18:18).

I, the LORD, will rule. The kingship of God is a central theme in OT theology. The Lord reigns over heaven and earth by virtue of his work as creator and sustainer of all that exists in the universe (Pss 93:1; 97:1; 99:1; Col 1:15-17; cf. NIDOTTE 2.960-961). (See further the discussion about “king” in the note on 2:13.)

4:8 The kingship. This is a reference to the promises associated with the Davidic covenant for perpetual kingship in Israel (2 Sam 7:16). The day of the Lord will witness the emergence of a shepherd-king like David who will rule in righteousness over Israel (5:2; Jer 33:15-18; Ezek 34:23-24).

4:9 wise people. The counselor or adviser (yo‘ets [TH3289A, ZH3446]) was usually a member of the royal cabinet or part of the council of elders who advised the king (cf. NIDOTTE 2.490-491). The counselor or sage was one of the three major leadership offices in Hebrew society responsible for instructing the people (along with prophet and priest, cf. Jer 18:18; Ezek 7:26).

4:10 exile . . . Babylon. The reference to Babylon is a metaphor for a dark and distant pagan land (cf. Alexander, Baker, and Waltke 1988:179; see note on 4:6 above).

rescue. The verb natsal [TH5337, ZH5911] means “to save, deliver” and is ascribed to Yahweh “as the deliverer par excellence” by the OT prophets (cf. NIDOTTE 3.144-145). The word recalls the deliverance Israel experienced by the mighty hand of Yahweh at the time of the Exodus from Egypt (Exod 3:8; 18:9-10; Deut 32:39).

redeem. The verb ga’al [TH1350, ZH1457] can mean “to deliver, redeem, ransom.” Theologically, the word attests God’s faithfulness to his election of Israel and his identity as a compassionate husband who takes back his erring wife (see further the excellent theological discussion of this rich term in NIDOTTE 1.789-794).

4:12 the LORD’s thoughts. The Lord’s thoughts or purposes (makhashabah [TH4284, ZH4742]) are different than and far beyond human thoughts (Ps 92:5; Isa 55:8-9). His thoughts for Israel were ultimately for good, for a future and a hope (Jer 29:11).

plan. The plans (or “counsel”; ‘etsah [TH6098, ZH6783]) of the Lord cannot be thwarted and stand forever (Ps 33:11; Isa 46:10). The Spirit of this counsel rests upon the Messiah (Isa 11:2) as a part of God’s plan for “the whole earth” that will be accomplished (Isa 14:26).

gathering. The day of the Lord is not only a day of “gathering” and restoration for scattered Israel (see note on 2:12), but also a day of “gathering” (qabats [TH6908, ZH7695]) the nations for judgment (cf. Isa 66:16-18; Joel 3:2).

threshing floor. The crushing of grain and sifting of chaff associated with the threshing floor (goren [TH1637, ZH1755]) is symbolic of divine judgment (Isa 21:10; Jer 51:33; Amos 1:3; cf. NIDOTTE 1.893).

4:13 riches . . . wealth to the Lord. The day of the Lord is characterized by reversal. God will turn the tables and do to the nations as they have done to the people of Israel. The flow of the wealth of the nations into Jerusalem overturns the looting of the city that was implied in the destruction of Mount Zion announced earlier by the prophet (3:12). Zechariah’s reference to the great quantities of gold and silver coming to Jerusalem (Zech 14:14) recalls Haggai’s prediction that one day the “treasures of all the nations” would come to Yahweh’s Temple (Hag 2:7-8).

5:1 [4:14] Israel’s leader. Lit., “the judge of Israel” (shopet yisra’el [TH8199, ZH9149]), a reference to the Hebrew king as the supreme judge of the land.

strike . . . the face with a rod. The act signifies humiliation because “the victim is so defenseless he cannot even defend his face” (Alexander, Baker, and Waltke 1988:182; cf. Job 16:10; Ps 3:7; Isa 50:6. See further the discussion of the ritual abasement of the king from Mesopotamian sources in McKeating 1971:177). Isaiah likened the Assyrian army to a rod (shebet [TH7626, ZH8657]; Isa 10:5, 15). Kaiser (1992:63-64) sees the passage fulfilled in Nebuchadnezzar’s treatment of King Zedekiah of Judah, but the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem during the reign of King Hezekiah seems a more likely reference (cf. Allen 1976:341).

COMMENTARY [Text]

This section of Micah’s message (4:6–5:1) continues the salvation oracle begun in 4:1-5. The three speeches of the passage (4:6-8, 9-10; 4:11–5:1) are connected by references to Jerusalem as “daughter of Zion” in the Hebrew text (4:8, 10, 13, NRSV), and each begins with the present distress before contrasting the prospects for the future (cf. Allen 1976:332, 335). The first speech is a message of hope promising a restored Jerusalem (4:6-8), the second speech emphasizes the present suffering (with pastoral empathy, 4:9-10), and the third speech is a message of reversal for Jerusalem from siege to victory (4:11–5:1). The entire unit “is a summons to faith in the God who is able to transform the powerlessness of his people into power and glory” (Allen 1976:329).

This lengthy salvation oracle provides considerable grist for theological reflection. First, the phrase “last days” (4:1) introduces the theme of “the day of the LORD” (or “the day of Yahweh”). This expression “was used by the prophets to indicate the time when the current state of affairs will be replaced by the Lord’s intended order of things. Most of the oracles in the prophetic literature represent movement toward this ideal condition” (Walton and Hill 2000:523). The day of the Lord is a day of justice, where the God of justice will intervene in history for the purposes of vindicating the righteous and judging the wicked (Mal 3:18). The day of the Lord is a process, a sequence of events over indefinite periods of time—not a single cataclysmic event. The day of the Lord is also a time of great upheaval and reversal of fortune in the cosmic, spiritual, social, and political realms.

Beyond all this, it is Yahweh’s day! God is the lead actor on the stage of history and all the “press” rightly belongs to him (Zeph 1:14; 3:8). The prophetic understanding of the day of the Lord also reminds us that history is linear, that it continues to move to a climax or denouement. The day of Yahweh culminates in a new creation, a new heaven and a new earth (Isa 65:17; 2 Pet 3:13; Rev 21:1). This is an important lesson for our times, given the influence of enlightenment ideas such as “Hegelian synthesis” and Eastern ideas of reincarnation on the contemporary understanding of history in North America. (On “the day of the LORD,” see further the commentary on Amos 5:18-27; 9:11-15; Zech 9:9-17; 12:1-14; 13:1-6; Mal 3:13–4:3.)

Second, Simundson (1996:569) calls attention to the theological tensions emerging from the complicated relationship between human freedom and God’s sovereignty. For example, the nations gathered to gloat over Israel’s destruction (4:11), unaware that God was gathering them for their own judgment and destruction (4:12-13). One thing is certain: God habitually turns what people intend for evil into something good for the faithful of God and to accomplish his redemptive purposes for history (cf. Gen 50:20; see further the discussion of human freedom and divine sovereignty in the commentary on Zech 13:7-9).

Third, Micah introduces us to the “mind” of God (4:12). Elsewhere we learn that God’s thoughts are categorically different than those of mortals (Isa 55:8-9), deep and innumerable (Pss 40:5; 92:5; 139:17). “Who can know the LORD’s thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him?” (1 Cor 2:16; cf. Isa 40:13). This portion of Micah’s sermon should give us pause and instill a deep sense of humility in us, much like the psalmist who determined not to concern himself with matters too great for consideration (Ps 131:1). Job learned this lesson the hard way, challenging and critiquing the thoughts and plans of God from his fallen and finite perspective (cf. Job 40:2; 42:2-6). The apostle Paul wrote “no one can know God’s thoughts” (1 Cor 2:11). Yet, the marvel and the mystery is that as Christians “we have the mind of Christ . . . and we have received God’s Spirit . . . so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us” (1 Cor 2:16, 12). In light of this truth, how much more should we walk humbly with our God? (6:8).