#1158 Micah 5 Part 2 Until The Time

 

 Now muster your troops, O daughter of troops;

siege is laid against us;

with a rod they strike the judge of Israel

on the cheek.

2  But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,

who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,

from you shall come forth for me

one who is to be ruler in Israel,

whose coming forth is from of old,

from ancient days.

3 Therefore he shall give them up until the time

when she who is in labor has given birth;

then the rest of his brothers shall return

to the people of Israel.

4 And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord,

in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.

And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great

to the ends of the earth.

5 And he shall be their peace.

When the Assyrian comes into our land

and treads in our palaces,

then we will raise against him seven shepherds

and eight princes of men;

6 they shall shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword,

and the land of Nimrod at its entrances;

and he shall deliver us from the Assyrian

when he comes into our land

and treads within our border. Micah 5: 1-6 ESV

Micah 5: 1-6

…23How miserable those days will be for pregnant and nursing mothers! For there will be great distress upon the land and wrath against this people. 24 They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive into all the nations. And Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. 25There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among the nations, bewildered by the roaring of the sea and the surging of the waves.… Luke 21: 23-25

Therefore he shall give them up - The time of the gentiles, when Israel no longer had a king or national sovereignty over the promised land. For the northern kingdom this happened with the Assyrian captivity, and for Judah, especially Jerusalem, this did not occur until the Babylonian captivity. They imitated the nations, worshiped their pagan gods, apostatized Judaism and often times it was their own kings and "prophets" who led the way in these departures from the covenant.  

1Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the number of worshipers there. 2But exclude the courtyard outside the temple. Do not measure it, because it has been given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for 42 months. 3And I will empower my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”… Revelation 11: 1-3

…15For the LORD will strike Israel as a reed is shaken in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land that He gave their fathers, and He will scatter them beyond the Euphrates, because they have made their Asherah poles, provoking the LORD to anger. 16So He will give Israel over on account of the sins Jeroboam has committed and has caused Israel to commit.” 1 Kings 14: 15-16

When she who is in labor has given birth - In verse 2 we already saw that Messiah would come from Bethlehem, but the prophets Isaiah and Zechariah, along with the Psalmist in Psalm 22 have predicted how He would be received at His first advent:

10Then I will pour out on the house of David and on the people of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and prayer, and they will look on Me, the One they have pierced. They will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son. 11On that day the wailing in Jerusalem will be as great as the wailing of Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.… Zechariah 12: 10-11

…10He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. 11He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 12But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God—… John 1: 10-12

Who is she? She is Israel, now many say she is Mary, and yes, Mary gives birth to the Messiah aforementioned in verse 2, the "One Who is to be ruler in Israel", yet this rule did not occur at His first coming, it couldn't, and even when they wanted to make Him king, yet He was the Lamb of God, there to take away the sins of the world. He came like the ram caught in the thicket, that took the place of Isaac, and after the time of the gentiles is complete, and the time of Jacob's trouble is finished, then Messiah will reign. Here is an eternal shot of this, and the economy of words that only God could use, but read these passages. Note the woman in Revelation is wearing a crown of twelve stars, representing the twelve tribes of Israel.

A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. 4 Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. 5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. 6 The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days. Revelation 12: 1-6

5 Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. 6 He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: 7 We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”

8 His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.

9 Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”

10 When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” 11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind. - Genesis 37: 5-11

Now some have also said that "she" is the church, but the church is seen in scripture as the bride to be, yet Israel is referred to as a wife, and the figure in Revelation 12 is not only pregnant and in travail, but had been before Christ was born and would know much travail all the way till the worst of her labor pains in the Great Tribulation. Satan followed the woman (Israel) from the first knowledge of the Seed of the woman. He knew that Messiah would come and he went after Him, from the murder of Abel to Pharaoh's edict to kill the male children, to Athaliah's attempted termination of the Davidic line, to Herod's order to massacre all the little boys in Bethlehem. Satan is more enraged and incensed over God's chose people and their Messiah than Joseph's brothers were of him. 

…5For your husband is your Maker—the LORD of Hosts is His name—the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; He is called the God of all the earth. 6For the LORD has called you back, like a wife deserted and wounded in spirit, like the rejected wife of one’s youth,” says your God. 7“For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will bring you back.… Isaiah 54: 5-7

…15There I will give back her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor into a gateway of hope. There she will respond as she did in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt. 16 In that day,” declares the LORD, “you will call Me ‘my Husband,’ and no longer call Me ‘my Master.’ 17For I will remove from her lips the names of the Baals; no longer will their names be invoked.… Hosea 2: 15-17

1I hope you will bear with a little of my foolishness, but you are already doing that. 2 I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. For I promised you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. 3I am afraid, however, that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may be led astray from your simple and pure devotion to Christ.… 2 Corinthians 11: 1-3

7“Before she was in labor, she gave birth; before she was in pain, she delivered a boy. 8Who has heard of such as this? Who has seen such things? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be delivered in an instant? Yet as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children. 9Shall I bring a baby to the point of birth and not deliver it?” says the LORD. “Or will I who deliver close the womb?” says your God.… Isaiah 66: 7-9

Then the rest of His brothers shall return to the people of Israel - The regathering of His brothers happens at the second advent.

20On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer depend on him who struck them, but they will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel. 21A remnant will return— a remnant of Jacob— to the Mighty God. 22Though your people, O Israel, be like the sand of the sea, only a remnant will return. Destruction has been decreed, overflowing with righteousness.… Isaiah 10: 20-22

…11On that day the Lord will extend His hand a second time to recover the remnant of His people from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. 12He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; He will collect the scattered of Judah from the four corners of the earth. 13Then the jealousy of Ephraim will depart, and the adversaries of Judah will be cut off. Ephraim will no longer envy Judah, nor will Judah harass Ephraim.…

…14They will swoop down on the slopes of the Philistines to the west; together they will plunder the sons of the east. They will lay their hands on Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites will be subject to them. 15The LORD will devote to destruction the gulf of the Sea of Egypt; with a scorching wind He will sweep His hand over the Euphrates. He will split it into seven streams for men to cross with dry sandals. 16There will be a highway for the remnant of His people who remain from Assyria, as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt.… Isaiah 11: 11-16

Therefore (term of conclusion) He will give them up until (expression of time) the time when she who is in labor has borne a child. - Why the "therefore?" What is Micah concluding? Barker explains that "because God has designed to punish his people before delivering them and because the Deliverer is to arise from the little town of Bethlehem, not the great city of Jerusalem—God will abandon Israel (Judah) by handing them over to their enemies. That condition will last until the promised Ruler is born and begins His rule." (Editorial Note: The Ruler has been born but He has not yet begun His rule over ALL His enemies as prophesied by the Apostle John in Rev 11:15-17-explanatory note) (Logos Link) - Precept Austin

McGee - You may think that this verse still has reference to the birth of Christ. Well, it is true that it speaks of the fact that Mary travailed, but you can’t read this passage without realizing that it also refers to the nation of Israel. It speaks not only of their worldwide dispersion—they were scattered by the judgment of God—but of their travail. The Great Tribulation Period is the travail through which the nation must pass. “Then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel.” The Jews will be regathered from their worldwide dispersion. (Thru the Bible) - Precept Austin

He shall stand and shepherd His flock - Christ will come to rule from Zion in the Millennial reign, and He will be their protector, their peace. 

…5“In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: 6‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of My people Israel.’” 7Then Herod called the Magi secretly and learned from them the exact time the star had appeared.… Matthew 2: 5-7

31 When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne. 32All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.… Matthew 25: 31-32

And He shall be their peace - Christ has brought peace between God and man through His atoning sacrifice and sinless life, and when He returns He will bring peace between Israel and her neighbors, between men.

…6For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from that time and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this. Isaiah 9: 6-7

Seven shepherds and eight princes of men - Seven is the number of completion, of perfection, eight symbolizes more than enough, they will be well protected from every enemy.

When the Assyrian invades our land, when he tramples on our citadels, then we will raise against him seven shepherds and eight leaders of men. - This is a difficult verse in my opinion. To whom does Assyria refer? While one might consider the Assyrian at the time of Micah's prophecy, the next verse says they (7 shepherds and 8 leaders ~ idiomatic way of saying that Israel had an adequate numbers for the task) will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword, something that did not happen in Micah's day. This fact supports the interpretation of a future, yet unfulfilled prophecy. Most conservative commentators agree with MacArthur who says "Assyria, God’s instrument against Israel (722 B.C.) and Judah (Sennacherib’s siege in 701 B.C.) is here used as a representative of enemy nations in opposition to the Lord." - Precept Austin

And the land of Nimrod - Nimrod founded Babel which became Babylon and Nineveh which was a capital of Assyria. 

Nimrod

…9He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; so it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD.” 10 His kingdom began in Babylon, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11From that land he went forth into Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah,… Genesis 10: 9-11