Week 8 - A Little Town - Micah 5:2-6

Read Micah 5:2 and then listen to how the chief priests and scribes of the New Testament twist Micah’s prophecy:

Matthew 2:3-6

When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the peo-ple, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:

“‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

    are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;

for from you shall come a ruler

    who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

They move the tiny Bethlehem from being a part of the house (not even a clan) of Ephrathah, to being a part of the kingdom of Judah.  Instead of highlighting how small it was, they make it bigger than an untold number of other towns.  They vault both its size and importance.  

More striking, they leave out the tiny phrase “for me”.  They leave out the divine purpose and delegation of authority and make the ruler self-appointed.

Micah’s prophecy concludes with what would happen in the near term.  In it Micah shows us how we are to act within that delegated authority.  Listen for “we will . . . he shall”:

Micah 5:5-6

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;

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.

We do not need to vault our own image and importance.  We need to vault God’s size and sovereignty.  We should never act out of our own importance.  Nor should we never not-act out of our own unimportance.  Instead, knowing God’s purpose and sovereignty, we should act.  

Week 7 - A Strong Nation - Micah 4:6-5:1

Micah, declares that it is God's plan to build a strong nation (Micah 4:3) from those who have been scattered far off (hālā'). 

Micah 4:6-7 

In that day, declares the Lord,
    I will assemble the lame
and gather those who have been driven away
    and those whom I have afflicted;
and the lame I will make the remnant,
    and those who were cast off, a strong nation;
and the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion
    from this time forth and forevermore.

That word (in scripture only used here) describes those who, even at a distance, will obey the Word of God.

He goes on to specifically predict how this nation will start.

Micah 4:8 

And you, O tower of the flock,
    hill of the daughter of Zion,
to you shall it come,
    the former dominion shall come,
    kingship for the daughter of Jerusalem.

Micah predicts that the former dynasty, that is the line of David, will once again be established.  This verse speaks both of Jerusalem itself as the "daughter Zion", but also of a specific daughter of Jerusalem. 

Luke 1:30-33

And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 

The British say “The proof is in the pudding” or the earlier version “The proof of the pudding is in the eating”.  Traditional British pudding is essential a sausage of various meats and cereals.  The infamous haggis, which is the national dish of Scotland, is a pudding.  And it is hard to tell from its looks or its smell, if it is going to be any good.  One must eat it.

The proof of the prophet is in the fulfillment.

Jeremiah 28:9

. . . when the word of that prophet comes to pass, then it will be known that the Lord has truly sent the prophet.”

What the prophet Micah boldly spoke 3,500 years ago came true in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.  What Micah spoke about our destiny on the Day of our Lord, will also come to pass.  A mighty prophet spoke it.  A mighty Christian believes it.

It is that proof, we carry into the battle that is at hand.  That battle might scatter us, kill us, but we know that we all will once again muster.

Week 6 - The Word of the Lord - Micah 4:1-5

The Word of the Lord has an effect even at a distance.  

We know this from the New Testament story of a civically important Roman Centurion, who once humbly asked the elders of the Jews to approach Jesus and to ask Him on his behalf to heal his servant.  

When Jesus obliged and started walking to his home, the Centurion sent friends to stop him along the way:

Luke 7:6-8 

“Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed. For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

Micah begins this chapter by quoting his contemporary Isaiah (Isaiah 2:2-4).  But Micah alters the quote slightly to highlight the power of that Word.

Micah 4:3

. . . and shall decide disputes for strong nations far away;

For a king to have dominion over a "strong" nation "far away" either he must have a stronger army to impose his will or that distant or that nation must voluntarily subjects itself.

If we subject ourselves to that Word, it will bring us to that place of peace:

Micah 4:4

. . . they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree,

    and no one shall make them afraid,

    for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.

Week 5 - As for Me - Micah 3

In this chapter Micah describes the actions of the leaders and the prophets.  They are exactly the opposite of what they should be.

• The leaders instead of shepherding the flock are slaughtering them and figuratively extracting as much wealth from them as possible.  Micah uses the analogy (Micah 3:1-4) of a cook preparing soup and extracting even the marrow of the bones.  God's punishment for them is to remove his favor and protection of their wealth.
• The prophets instead of sharing what God has revealed to them, they change (Micah 3:5-7) their message based on how well they are treated by their audience.  God's punishment for them it to remove his message.

But as for Micah, himself, he is empowered to fulfill his duty:

Micah 3:8

But as for me, I am filled with power,

    with the Spirit of the Lord,

    and with justice and might,

First with justice (mišpāṭ), which is applying judgement rightly, but he is also described as doing it with with might (gᵊḇûrâ), which is applying strength with virtue.  This normally describes the valor of a mighty warrior.  Only here is it applied to a prophet.

While he is surrounded by powerful people who corrupt with money.  He must be mighty to speak the truth.  When favoritism and money can change what is taught and what judgement is executed, he must stand his ground.

We are given the same task and equipped not with the physical armor of Goliath (1 Samuel 17:5-6) but with the spiritual armor (Ephesians 6:14-18).  Not wielding the huge sword of Goliath, now the precise but deadly stone of David, but rather the sword of the Spirit.  

I wrote a musing a while back to describe this battle, may it remind us of the battle lines, the true enemy and over what we are fighting.

Our best deeds are as filthy rags.  Instead, we are covered with the righteousness of Christ.  Secure with that truth, it is with peace that we run into battle.  It is in faith that we engage the enemy, and wield the Word of God. 

Though the battle is all around us, not a single person is an enemy.  Rather it is against our common enemy that we fight -- the one who uses lies, doubt, and fear to hold one captive. 

When we stand our hard-fought ground, he will flee at the sound of our Master's name. For it is in the name of Jesus we pray and it is for captive souls we fight.