(2) Chapter 4 : Verse 3 – For the last two verses, prophet Micah has been describing the glories of the forthcoming Kingdom of God. He says God would judge many peoples and would settle disputes regarding strong nations, far and wide. What is Micah referring to here? Be it the historic past or even now in the present, enmities and hostilities have prevailed and continue to prevail among nations and peoples. When all the people of the world come back resurrected in the Kingdom of God, wouldn’t they be returning with their old hostilities and enmities still burning in their hearts? In present times, it has proven to be impossible to take such hostilities to an impartial judge and get justice delivered. We have to say that neither do such impartial adjudicators exist nor are the nations prepared for such settlements. That’s why countless wars and massacres dot the history of mankind. Even till today, conflicts across the world – be it the Israeli-Palestine dispute, or the India-Pakistan conflict, or the Sinhalese-Tamil issue – continue to simmer without any proper resolution. And they result in frequent wars as well. But this pathetic situation is not going to continue in the Kingdom of Heaven. Yes, that’s what Micah proclaims. He says God Himself would be the impartial adjudicator of such conflicts. God would determine what is right/wrong. He would rebuke nations found in the wrong even if they are strong and would make them ask forgiveness to the people(s) they had victimized before. Truly, in present times it’s impossible to judge strong nations when they commit atrocities. For instance, it’s very true today that no nation can contend either with the present superpower USA or with the superpower-in-waiting China when they do wrong. This power gap would completely disappear in the Kingdom of God. And even strong nations would be made to repent and ask forgiveness for their wrongs. If they resist in their old pride and refuse to ask for forgiveness, they would be punished. And when the victims of their unjust actions see justice being delivered, their wounds would heal. Those victims too should be prepared to forgive. Otherwise, God would rebuke them as well. To sum it up, instead of the might-centred unfair peace that we see in the present world, God would create a fair and just peace that would be the result of nations understanding each other, confessing their wrongdoings, forgiving one another and forgetting the past. And since such a peace would be resulting in a state of goodwill among nations, Micah says that they would put their weapons of war that had been prepared for hostile purposes – like swords and spears – for constructive uses. He says that they would use their swords as plowshares and spears as pruning hooks. He further declares that there would be no more wars between nations and they would not train for war any more. Prophet Micah uttered this prophecy some 2600 years ago. And it’s relevant even now. Doesn’t he prophesy that a time would come when nations would use their weapons of destruction for constructive purposes? Let us think about this for a moment! If the effort and money being spent on nuclear weapons were rather spent on nuclear energy, mankind would immensely benefit. Even though the technology is the same for both of them, Man has so far given more importance only to nuclear weapons. From Micah’s prophecy we know that this would change. Likewise, even if ten percent of the money that nations currently spend on weapons were to be diverted for medical research initiatives, cures could be discovered for all incurable diseases. Do you know how much the nations of the world spend on their militaries? – It’s 2 Trillion, 157 Billion and 172 Million Dollars. Indeed, the creativity and wisdom of mankind is being primarily wasted in inventing weapons. But in the Kingdom of God, Micah proclaims that this situation would change and men would channel their powers in constructive works. So world would become such that the abilities of Man would be used only to enrich human life. Moreover, at present there are numerous universities that teach the art of war. Experts in War Strategy are treated with respect. But in the Kingdom of God, such universities would be shut down. The acclaimed war experts of today would have no job then. Truly, Micah declares that mankind would not learn war any more. A permanent golden age of warless peace would prevail across the entire world.
(3) Verse 4 – Having prophesied a war-free peaceful state of affairs prevailing among the nations/peoples in the last verse, Micah continues in this verse to say that even individual human beings would live in the Kingdom of God without any fear or worry. Here the vine and fig tree denote the benefits/properties that are the fruits of each person’s work. In the present world, many a time we see powerful people or thieves seize the things which people have rightfully earned. So we have to live in constant fear. There are institutions of law enforcement and courts, but fear continues to persist due to corruption in even such places. But in the Kingdom of God, justice would be enforced wholesomely. So everyone would enjoy the fruits of their work with no fear of any kind. Moreover in present times, unexpected natural calamities like the recent Japan tsunami cause untold destruction to people’s lives and properties. And people are afraid of such disasters. But in the Kingdom of God, even such fears would not be there. Micah says that God, who is the Lord of the heavenly angelic armies, has proclaimed it as a promise from His mouth. Thus, those heavenly hosts would act to fulfill the things spoken by God here.
(4) Verse 5 – It is to be noted that Micah’s next prophecy begins here. The earlier prophecy that began in Micah 3:9 was completed in the last verse with the words ‘for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it’ (KJV). Micah had been prophesying about the Kingdom of God till then. Now he starts uttering a prophecy about the people of Judah and regarding the Babylonian captivity that was to fall upon them. In certain translations like the KJV, this verse has been rendered as ‘For all people will walk, every one in the name of his god’. In that sentence, ‘will walk’ is an incorrect rendering. It’s an erroneous translation that gives an impression that somehow Micah is indicating that all nations would be worshipping their own favorite gods in the Kingdom of Heaven. That’s wrong. Other translations like the NIV have it right – ‘All the nations may walk in the name of their gods, but we will walk in the name of the LORD our God forever and ever’. This is the correct rendering. That is, during the times of Micah, why, even now, the people of the world continue to worship their own favorite gods due to their ignorance. And this is what Micah is pointing out. Only in the Kingdom of God, all such people would realize who the true God is. But as Israelites, Micah proudly declares that they are the only people who are blessed to walk then, now and forever in the name of Yahweh, the only true God.
(5) Verses 6, 7 – In these verses God is essentially talking about the people of the Southern Kingdom of Judah who were soon to go into Babylonian exile. This is obvious from the following verses, especially the 10th verse that directly mentions the Babylonian captivity. Whom does God refer to here as ‘the lame’, ‘the exiles’ and ‘those I have brought to grief’? It’s essentially the people of Judah who were to go into Babylonian captivity and experience many sufferings. Truly, God was to allow them to be taken as captives to Babylon as a punishment for their sins. That’s why He says ‘those I have brought to grief’. Therefore the people of Judah were to be exiled out of their native country and to suffer grief like the lame, in a foreign land. This Babylonian exile prophesied by God was to last from 587 to 539 B.C. God says He would assemble a remnant from those people who are to experience that captivity and that He would make them a strong nation in that day i.e. in the Kingdom of Heaven. Here, remnant denotes those people who were to remain faithful to God during the period of exile. We might remember studying in our last issue about how to determine who constitute this remnant based on the context of the word’s usage (See Scripture Study – Blossom 16: May 11, Para 05). In that manner, since the assembling that God mentions here is something that is to occur in the Kingdom of Heaven, the remnant mentioned in this context essentially means the people who are to remain faithful to God during the Babylonian exile. Those people would rise to eternal life as Ancient Worthies in the Kingdom of God and be a strong nation, acting as representatives of God. From that day and forever, God Himself would be their King, ruling over them in the New Jerusalem (Mount Zion).
(6) Verses 8, 9, 10 – Here the watchtower of the flock refers to the watchtower used during those times to guard the flock from wolves. Furthermore, God calls them the stronghold of Daughter Zion, essentially the protector of Israelites. So it’s obvious that He is addressing the tribe of Judah whom He had appointed as the kings of Israelites. Isn’t it the job of the kings to protect their people like watchtowers! This prophecy was uttered a long time before the Babylonian captivity happened. But God takes Judah in a vision into the times of that captivity and prophesies. Therefore, in the times of this prophecy the reign of Judah has been put to an end by the Babylonians in 587 B.C. So God comforts Judah by assuring them that their former dominion would be restored to them and that they would rule from Jerusalem. Accordingly we know that Christ, the Lion of the tribe of Judah would reign from Jerusalem in the Kingdom of God. This prophecy would be fulfilled only then. Furthermore, God enquires the people suffering in Babylonian exile, ‘Why do you now cry aloud– have you no king? Has your ruler perished?’ and tells them that pain would seize them like that of a woman in labor which was indeed a punishment for their sins. God tells the people of Judah that they would writhe in agony like a woman in labor and be taken captives from their native cities to Babylon. There they would live homeless encamped in open fields. But He promises them that He would rescue them from Babylon finally and redeem them out of the hand of their enemies there. We know this prophecy was so accurately fulfilled later. Indeed, the Jews who went into Babylonian captivity in 587 B.C., as God says here, lived there encamped in the open fields in much agony. Finally, as He had promised, God defeated Babylon by using the Persian king Cyrus and liberated the Jewish people. The accuracy seen in the fulfillment of this prophecy is an amazing thing. Why so? Although we might not be able to pinpoint the exact year when God delivered this prophecy to Micah, since we know that Micah prophesied during the period till 687 B.C., God must have handed it to him before that time (See Scripture Study – Blossom 15: Apr ’11, Para 01). To our astonishment, when we study historical records we find that Babylon was not even a sovereign nation during Micah’s lifetime. It was just a part of the larger Assyrian Empire. So, almost a 100 years ahead of its fulfillment, this prophecy declared that such a Babylon would become powerful, gain freedom from Assyria which was then the superpower of Micah’s times, turn into a sovereign nation and then capture the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Isn’t that remarkable!
(7) Verses 11, 12, 13 – In the last few verses, we saw God uttering prophecies by going into the times of the Babylonian exile, which was in the future as regards to Micah’s lifetime. Now God travels to a time further into the future from the times of Micah, a time which is in the future even to us. Indeed, He goes into the times of the Battle of Armageddon and prophesies. He says many nations would gather against Zion i.e. Jerusalem and cry out that their eyes would gloat over her destruction. But they would do so because they neither know the thoughts of God nor understand His plan. Because it was indeed God’s plan to gather them against Jerusalem in the battlefield like sheaves to the threshing floor to execute His judgment upon them. God has stated this through some other prophets as well (Zech 14:2, Zeph 3:8, See Grace – Blossom 15: Apr ’09, Para 11). God assures Jerusalem that He would strengthen her people (giving them horns of iron and hooves of bronze) when the nations gather against her and asks her to rise with courage and fight. Truly, during the end of the Battle of Armageddon, the Ancient Worthies and the Church of Christ would rise back to life, strengthen Jerusalem and fight for her. We shall see God declaring this beautifully in straightforward terms when we study the next chapter of the Book of Micah. As a result, God says that the Israelites would break the nations gathered against them to pieces. Not only that. God further says that the people of Jerusalem would seize the ill-gotten gains and the wealth of the other nations and devote them to Him. Zechariah also declares the same (Zech 14:14). This prophecy is to be fulfilled very soon. That’s why, in the newspapers of today, we find issues related to Jerusalem getting worse with no resolution in sight. We need to closely follow the news about Jerusalem through dailies, TV and Internet. Only then we would be able to realize how fast the prophetic clock is ticking along.
(8) Chapter 5: Verse 1 – This chapter continues the message from the last verse. God says that a siege would be laid against Jerusalem, the city of troops during the times of Armageddon. So He advises her to marshal her troops in order to be ready for battle. He forecasts that in the beginning of the war, her enemies would win and even a ruler of Israel would be humiliated (‘they will strike Israel’s ruler on the cheek with a rod’). Who is this ruler? And why is he being insulted? We will find the answers to these questions a bit later in this issue. Zechariah also prophesied about these times. And he too says that Israel would lose first and even half of Jerusalem would be taken into the hands of her enemies (Zech 14:2). Why does God let the nation of Israel spiral into such a state of defeat initially? A little later we will answer that question too in clear terms.
(9) Verses 2, 3 – Even as the leader of Israel is humiliated, the great one who is to rule Israel would protect her. God essentially refers to him here in the 2nd verse. Ephrathah is Bethlehem’s ancient name. This Bethlehem was an ordinary town, one among the many thousand small towns in Judea. But God says that it would be this town from which the one who would be ruler over Israel would come out of i.e. would be born in. It’s notable that this Bethlehem was also King David’s hometown (1 Sam 16:1, 18, 19; 17:12). But the one whom God is talking about here is much greater than the immensely popular David. God says that this person’s origins are from of old, i.e. from ancient times. As we know, this person is indeed Jesus, who was born in Bethlehem around 1 B.C. Since he was God’s first creation, he had been with Yahweh God from old, ancient times. And he is the one to defend the people of Israel. But God still says that Israel would be abandoned until the time when she who is in labor bears a son. And it’s essentially this statement which holds the answers to our earlier question on why God would let Israel be defeated initially and the other question on who is the leader of Israel to be humiliated. A woman who is in labor suffers till she bears her child. What does this symbolize in this context? Let us think! During the times of the Old Testament, God let the sinful Israelites undergo sufferings only for the purpose of making them repent and to seek Him again. That being the case, what is the wrong committed by the present-day Israelites? Indeed, it’s their refusal to accept Jesus as the God sent Christ. As a result of the sufferings they are to undergo like a woman in labor, a faith in Jesus Christ would be born among them as the fruit of that labor pain. God would abandon them to suffer till then. So who is the ruler of Israel to be humiliated then? Neither the people nor the State of present-day Israel accepts Jesus Christ. Rather they have placed their trust in their own military prowess and US aid. During the times of Armageddon, they would start fighting the war with the same misplaced trust indeed. But they would be defeated and their worldly leader at that time (their Prime Minister) would be humiliated. And that would rudely shock their people. It would make them think. Only then, they would realize that Jesus Christ is indeed their Messiah. What Micah says next is very important to us as the Church. He says – ‘and the rest of his brothers return to join the Israelites’. Since this verse is a continuation of its preceding verse, here ‘his’ essentially denotes the Messiah. That being the case, who are these brothers of the Messiah predicted to return and join the Israelites? Yes, it’s us – the resurrected Church – indeed! When the people of Israel recognize Jesus as the Christ as a result of their labor pains, the great chasm that presently exists between them and us who are Christ’s brothers would disappear (Luke 16:26, See Grace – Blossom 35: Nov ’10, Para 07). Indeed, this verse is talking about the time when the resurrected Church would start fighting in defense of the people of Israel. This is essentially the turning point of the Battle of Armageddon. Not only the Church, but wouldn’t the Ancient Worthies of the Old Testament times also be resurrected at the same time? Yes, isn’t that the time of the Resurrection? And yes, they too would fight on Israel’s side.
(10) Verse 4 – After that, Jesus would stand and shepherd the people of Israel in the strength of his God and in the majesty of the name of Yahweh. That is, he would lead them to victory in the battlefield of Armageddon. And that’s exactly the reason why the people of Israel would escape destruction and prevail during the battle of Armageddon. Moreover, since Jesus is to deliver such an amazing and miraculous victory to the people of Israel, God says, his name would be glorified to the ends of the earth. Truly, the people of the earth are to recognize God and His Christ only by witnessing the miraculous and extraordinary victory to be achieved by the armies of God and Israel in the Battle of Armageddon. Infact, our readers might remember studying about this in an earlier issue of Grace as well (See Grace – Blossom 12: Feb ’09, Para 09).
(11) Verses 5, 6 – God says that ultimately Christ is the one who would deliver peace to the people of Israel. Next, God talks about the Assyrian invasion. We might remember studying in the earlier chapters of Micah that Assyria completely defeated the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 723 B.C. and that in 702 B.C. Assyrian armies had reached even the gates of Jerusalem in the Southern Kingdom of Judah. But God is not talking about that Assyrian invasion here. Because herein He says that Israelites would not only defeat the Assyrians but also rule even the land of Assyria with the sword. Such an event has not happened in history so far. In 723 B.C it was Assyria which defeated the Northern Kingdom of Israel. In 702 B.C., God indeed drove out the Assyrian armies from Jerusalem. But, the people of the nation of Judah did not go to the land of Assyria and rule those people with a drawn sword at that time. So this is an unfulfilled prophecy. There is a problem here. The Assyrian Empire of the times of Micah was destroyed by the Babylonians in 612 B.C. After that, no nation named Assyria has risen till today. That being the case, how would this prophecy from God saying that Israel will rule over Assyria be fulfilled? What we need to understand is that many prophecies of the Bible have been written as poetic texts. We know that poetic language is heavy in symbolism. In that manner, God is using Assyria as a symbol here. How do we understand the meaning behind this symbol? We have to study the history of Micah’s times and also try to understand God’s intended message in the context of these verses. As we know, for the past few verses, God had essentially been talking about the Battle of Armageddon that is to happen in the future. He had said that armies of many nations would gather against Jerusalem at that time (Micah 4:11). And in these verses too, the typical Assyria fights against Israel. So when He symbolically mentions Assyria here, God is essentially using it as a type to represent all the enemy nations that are to attack Israel during the Battle of Armageddon. This is fitting indeed. How so? During Micah’s times, Assyria was an archenemy to both the kingdoms – the Northern Israel and the Southern Judah. As we saw before, it was a nation that had destroyed the Northern Israel and one that had invaded the Southern Judah and had even come till the gates of Jerusalem. So to the Israelites of those times, the terms ‘enemy’ and ‘Assyrian’ were essentially the same and interchangeable. That’s why God uses the single word ‘Assyrians’ to symbolically represent all the enemy nations that are to lay siege to Israel during the Battle of Armageddon. But we also need to exercise caution in making sure that we do not consider Assyria as a type in every place it’s mentioned in the Old Testament prophecies. In this instance, what has been prophesied hasn’t been fulfilled yet. Moreover since the Assyria of those times has already been destroyed, there is no chance for this prophecy to be fulfilled literally anymore. Also, in this section, God has essentially been speaking about the Battle of Armageddon. That’s why we see Assyria as a type in this context. In other places, be it Assyria or any other nation for that matter, if there is a literal fulfillment then that’s the right interpretation. Only if there hasn’t been any literal fulfillment so far and there’s no possibility of such a fulfillment in the future as well, we should get into researching whether a prophecy has a typical application. In that manner, this prophecy has had no literal fulfillment in history. And it also does not have any possibility of being fulfilled in the future. And furthermore, it has been interspersed amidst the Armageddon prophecy. That’s why we consider Assyria as a type, strictly only in this context. So what’s God saying here? He prophesies that during Armageddon, the enemy armies (the Assyrians) would march through the fortresses of Israel, i.e. capturing the nation’s important places. In a similar manner, Zechariah – who also prophesied about the same times – says that half of Jerusalem would fall to the enemies (Zech 14:1 – 4). It’s notable that all the critical institutions of the nation of Israel today (‘fortresses’ or as the KJV renders – ‘palaces’) are located in the city of Jerusalem. But God declares that, right when the enemy armies capture half of Jerusalem and march through her fortresses and palaces, a major turning point would occur. He states that He would rise against them seven shepherds and eight commanders. How do we identify who these seven shepherds and eight commanders are? Micah 5:3 helps us do that. Didn’t that verse too talk about the same times? If we remember correctly, it said that the Israelites would be abandoned initially and then Jesus, the Messiah and his brothers i.e. the resurrected Church would join them (See this Blossom Para 09). Here too, don’t seven shepherds and eight commanders join the abandoned Israelites? We have seen the Bible calling Christ as the Shepherd. So, wouldn’t it be apt to call his brothers i.e. the Church too as shepherds? Of course, in the present-day world, Christ shepherds the Church as his flock. But in the next world, as Christ’s co-shepherds, we are to guide the world. So, the ‘seven shepherds’ indicates the resurrected Church that would join Christ. As a matter of fact, the KJV (and Hebrew) renders the following phrase ‘eight commanders’ as ‘eight principal men’, thereby explicitly declaring those commanders to be human. Thereby we can deduce that the preceding seven shepherds are not men. So the seven shepherds that God is going to raise for the defense of Jerusalem are indeed the resurrected Church members united with Christ. Micah 5:3 corroborates this. In the Bible, the number seven represents a measure of completion (Psa 12:6). That’s why here God uses the phrase ‘seven shepherds’ to refer to the completed Church. That being so, who are those eight human commanders then? Even as they are human, they must be special. That’s why they get a special mention from God. Also God says they are ‘commanders’. So it’s obvious that they would rule. So, at the end of the Battle of Armageddon as Christ and his Church rule spiritually, who would be on earth in the human form to command and rule? Yes, as we know, God is indeed referring to the Ancient Worthies of the Old Testament here. They would rise and fight on behalf of Jerusalem. And Micah 5:7-10 makes it even clearer. Having referred to them as ‘commanders’ here, the continuing verses of Micah 5:7-10 talk about the remnant of Jacob ruling the world. We might remember studying in an earlier issue of Scripture Study that ‘remnant’ in the context of prophecies on the Kingdom of God always refers to the Ancient Worthies of the Old Testament (See Scripture Study – Blossom 16: May 11, Para 05). So the ‘eight commanders’ refers to all the Ancient Worthies of the Old Testament. As a matter of fact, eight is an apt number for them. In the Bible, eight is a number representing salvation and a separation for the sake of God. Starting from Abraham, the circumcision that separated the Israelites as God’s own people was performed on the eighth day after birth (Gen 17:12). The number of people separated and saved from the first world was eight (1 Pet 3:20). Along those lines, here too the number eight denotes the Ancient Worthies, who are to be saved and resurrected as human beings. Maybe these Ancient Worthies would rise before the very eyes of the Israelites and make them repent and turn towards Jesus Christ. So the Church (seven shepherds) united with Christ and the resurrected Ancient Worthies (eight commanders) together would destroy the enemy nations (the land of Assyria and the land of Nimrod – Nimrod is the one who founded Nineveh, the capital of Assyria (Gen 10:9–11). So he is the father of the Assyrian nation. Since Assyria represents Israel’s enemy nations here, the father of such enemy nations is Satan indeed. Hence Nimrod essentially typifies Satan here) that would gather against Israel during the final Battle of Armageddon. As a matter of fact, the KJV renders it as ‘they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof’. What does that imply? Not only the armies of the nations gathered against Israel would be rooted out, but also the lands of those nations themselves would be destroyed by the forces of God entering their entrances. Since all the nations of the world would gather against Israel (Zech 14:2), this destruction would be on a global scale. Zechariah talks about this destruction coming upon those nations by means of God striking great panic among them and those nations ending up attacking each other (Zech 14:13). Maybe nuclear weapons would cause such a global destruction. Or even God Himself might make it happen miraculously as spiritual powers like the church are also on the side of Israel. In summary, this prophecy declares that the Messiah would save Jerusalem from her enemy nations during the times of the Battle of Armageddon.
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–To be continued in the next issue – |