Micah 5:1-5

According to the NKJV, a much-improved translation over the KJV, chapter 5 of Micah is divided into two parts.

1. A ruler to be born in Bethlehem: two subsections:
2. A remnant to be delivered

It would be nice if Micah 5 was so simple, but it is not. One can conclude without reading the text of this short chapter in Micah by simply reading the subtitles. This may be fine for a speed reader trying to read through the Bible in a specific period-of-time, but it is not something a student of the Bible should do possibly drawing unsupported conclusions.

Example: In Micah 5:1 who is the daughter? Who are the troops? What judge will block a blow from a rod with his cheek? Who is the “HE” who has laid siege against us? As do most bible-reading people, we read right past this due to the difficulty of understanding this very first verse. If a reader has difficulty in verse one, s/he is not alone. Commentators do not agree either. Several main-line commentaries simply avoid the details of verse one. We will teach but you will need to decide.

Micah 5:1 Now gather yourself in troops, O daughter of troops; He has laid siege against us; They will strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek.

..gather yourself in troops: There are only 9 uses of this word gaw-dad (troops) in the Bible [Strong: H1814]. It can mean either to crowd together as in an assembly or (something a bit more difficult to understand) to gash or cut sleeves. When one compares it to Strong H1461 we can understand it to mean to roll up one’s sleeves and dig in. It is a warning or signal to get prepared for the challenge. The challenge according to most if not all of Micah’s prophesies is to a future event or events. Let’s “troop/gaw-dad” rolling up our sleeves and dig in.

 O’ daughter of troops: Most troops of Israel-past gathered in (mother) Jerusalem to prepare for war or the defense of this city. With this being a prophetic passage, it is a gathering yet to happen. Jerusalem will be conquered multiple times prior to Jesus leading that final battle…from a future New Kingdom and New Jerusalem. “O’ daughter” means a future event just as offspring (daughters) are the future. In this case it is specific. Be prepared for a time yet-to-come.

He has laid siege against ‘us’: Micah is talking past and future tense. Who is the “he” who lays siege? This takes us back to Genesis. Satan and Eve are next to the tree of right and wrong. She takes and eats the forbidden fruit. Genesis 3:15 says And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel (NKJV) Obviously, a serpent with a crushed head is no longer capable of doing anything. Satan has battled to deceive, subtly lead astray, compromise a Godly stance, and to destroy God’s chosen and God created man. A siege is a time-consuming event. Satan since creation has laid siege to all mankind and is focused on Israel as God’s chosen. His siege has not terminated. It is ongoing today. Micah is prophesying to Israel. In End Time this battle will be over Jerusalem and Israel.

[They] Shall strike the cheek of the judge… Here is where many commentaries do not agree or, totally avoid any attempt at expanding on this statement. We begin explaining this passage by asking, is there to be but one judge of Israel that THEY will strike? Note the plural “they”. There are many who strike the cheek of the judge but only one judge. Some commentaries compare this to the treatment Jesus received prior to his crucifixion. Take note of the use of the word “rod” in Micah appears to conflict with the crucifixion passages found in Matthew 26:67, Luke 22:64 and John 18:22: they (those under the authority of the High Priest) struck Jesus in the face…with their fists and the palm of their hands. The “they” is those standing in judgement of Jesus who is in front of the High Priest of Israel. BUT… He was struck by soldiers in a similar manner when in front of his gentile Roman judge Pontius Pilate while in the governor’s headquarters. The word rod (reed) is used. Same crucifixion scene but two different “they” crowds. Duel implication: The civil government PLUS the civil religious establishment.

A ruler born in Bethlehem

Jesus is the obvious in this passage, but he never ruled during his 30 plus years on earth. This makes the entire passage in Micah a prophecy of a future event. King David was born in Bethlehem and he ruled over Israel. Elimelech, the husband of Naomi (Ruth 1:1 & 2) was born in Bethlehem. When Rachel died according to Genesis 35, she was buried near Bethlehem but then she was not a ruler.

Micah 5:2 could be argued that the person identified by Micah 5:1 is David, son of Jesse, King of Israel. That would take Micah 5:2 out of context. The last sentence in Micah 5:23 reads: [NKJV] “…Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.” This is someone who had no beginning…from everlasting. David may be argued as from of old but he certainly wasn’t from everlasting. Scripture study should never be made to be what one wants it to mean but what it does mean. To make scripture be what one wants it to be is why there are so many denominations identified as Christian. Let’s keep this passage honest. King David had died many years before Micah was even born.

Micah is better understood when one reads Isaiah at the same time as one reads Micah. Isaiah was a contemporary of Micah. They prophesied at the same time.

Micah 5:3 [NKJV] “Therefore He shall give them up, Until the time that she who is in labor has given birth; Then the remnant of His brethren Shall return to the children of Israel.” Who is the “HE” in this verse? This is God. He tries one more time during the Time of the Gentiles, Daniel’s 69th week, to be their Lord.  Does he actually “give them (Israel) up?” YES! He left hundreds of thousands of the Kingdom of Judah in Babylon after Cyrus writes a decree, by request of Daniel, to release all captives (Ezra 1). This is something Micah is prophesying will soon happen to Judah. Until the return of Jesus as King of Kings, no one else will sit on the throne of Israel/Judah. God has given them up to their own ways and will. It will remain that way up to the end of Jacob’s Trouble as written in Jeremiah 30:7. At the time of the analogous “given birth” Israelis are not united. Then as Micah puts it, Jesus “shall return to the children of Israel” along with the rest of the DNA of Jacob. Might we add that Israel, their *Promised land, will also be returned to them.

*Israel’s Promised land far exceeds what they ever occupied prior to End Time Jacob’s trouble.

Micah 5:4 helps one to understand the narrative commentary in the previous paragraph. Let us take a pause and clear the understanding of the “HE” mentioned in Micah. In Exodus 3:14 God tells Moses he is “I AM who I AM” (“Ehyeh asher Ehyeh”). From this we get YWHW. This is what Moses was to tell the Israelis being held captive in Egypt if they asked who sent him to be their leader. In the New Testament Jesus also identifies himself as the “I AM.” John 8:58 is the best example of this. Jesus states that he is the “I Am.” Now we know God and Jesus are both the “I AM.” They are one and the same: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

“He shall be great to the ends of the earth.” Jesus, ruling from Jerusalem, will be known in every heart in every land. We could elaborate of this principle but have already done so in other narrative commentaries in ahabiblemoments.

Micah 5:5 ends the section identified in the NKJV as “a ruler born in Bethlehem.” “And this man shall be the peace…” This again takes us back to the Bethlehem scene and the birth of Jesus. The angels on high proclaimed him (Jesus) to be the peace on earth. There was no peace on earth then or now. Not be until Christ returns (2^nd Advent). He will rule the world while Satan is held in utter darkness, bound in chains with no ability to influence anyone or anything for 1,000 years. During the Millennial Reign no one can say in his or her defense: The devil made me do it. We will truly be left to our own choices.

Next…”a remnant to be delivered.”

Rev. Dr. Jstark
2021

(Most quotes are from the NKJV)

Right from the start Micah points out that those of authority in Israel and Judah were taking advantage of their own people. Does the reader of this chapter’s narrative commentary think that today is bad times? Keep reading!

Micah 2:1 singles out those in Israel with authority who devise plans while in bed to gain possessions and wealth. At sunrise, they get up and proceed to fulfill their plans of gain. Against whom? Their own fellow Israelis.

“Woe to those who devise iniquity, And work out evil on their beds! At morning light they practice it, Because it is in the power of their hand.” (NKJV)

This is not a people united. Class distinction is the norm. This may also be why, when speculating, the Northern Kingdom of Israel, ten tribes in all, struggled to hold their own against Damascus (Syrian) aggression then finally their total defeat by the Assyrians. The kingdom of Israel was not a kingdom united. It was distinctly divided by class warfare. The military was comprised mostly of the lower-class citizenry. Why other than for their own lives would they fight to protect the upper class who leveraged them? They wouldn’t!

Micah 2:3 & 4 explain what was coveted by those who dreamed and planned how to gain wealth and possession while still in their beds.

JIV: The upper class during this time did not require their sons to fight in Israel’s military. Just as did King David gain Bathsheba, it was a simple thing to have the lower-class men killed off in wars and battles then take their lands and possessions for their own.

This is an aside from our Micah study but points out the value of knowing names mentioned in the Bible. Look at the names in the line of Shem then think about Bible characters. Of course, Shem had two brothers with descendants but today’s world population came from the sons of Noah and perhaps even Noah when he settled lands after the flood. Our point? Micah and all that he is discussing are from the line of Noah. Let’s not forget!

Verse five in the last sentence we read: “FOR THIS IS AN EVIL TIME.” We think of today as being evil, well Micah points out the evil of this time in the Kingdom of Israel and in the Kingdom of Judah. [For comparison read Jeremiah 1:15]

JIV NOTE: Verse five has some fascinating implications of the End Time antichrist. It reads in the NKJV:

“In that day one shall take up a proverb against you, And lament with a bitter lamentation, saying: ‘We are utterly destroyed! He has changed the heritage of my people; How He has removed it from me! To a turncoat He has divided our fields.’ “

How easy it is to read right past or through this verse without making any connections. We teach but YOU must decide. “IN THAT DAY” is a phrase we have discussed in previous commentary articles. These three words, In That Day, as Micah writes, is a reference to both the pending invasion of the Assyrians and the second 3 ½ years of the Tribulation. It is a parallel prophecy and about Israel, not Washington D.C., London, Berlin, or Moscow. One shall take up a proverb (truism) against you. So many commentaries walk right past the truisms of parallel prophecies. This is one of them. Who is the “He” in this verse? Be mindful that both the original YLT (Young’s Literal Translation) and the New King James Versions are as close to the original text as we can get using the English language. Both capitalize the “H” in He. Other translations often miss this in the Hebrew and write it as a common “he”. This is easily missed since there are no upper and lower-case distinctions in Hebrew other than proper names, places, and things which we assume in English.

In this verse it is He. In short, we read in Daniel 11:37 (see our commentary on Daniel) He shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall exalt himself above them all [note the correct use of the upper and lower case “G”]. We explained in our Daniel commentary that the one who deceives Israel into a 7-year pact of protection will be one of their own. A leader in his own rights but one with whom Israel will sign a peace agreement of 7 years only to be betrayed at the 3 ½ year mark of that agreement. Just as is true of the Muslims and true to character of Orthodox Jews, an outsider is not to ever be trusted. It must be one of their own.

“They will be utterly destroyed.” The Bible tells us that 2/3_rds of Jerusalem will be destroyed by invading (Assyrians) then and later by end time global armies. This final drastic design is needed for Israelis to decisively realize that Jesus is their Messiah. Prophetically they are painted into a corner with no chance to get out. This was true of the invading Assyrians and will be true when 200,000,000 armed forces line up against them in Megiddo [Revelation 9:13-21].

He has changed the heritage of my people. This is a direct result of the ten lost Tribes of Israel. Millions of DNA Israelis no longer realize their original heritage. Scattered to the four corners of the world they have long forgotten their roots.

To a turncoat He has divided our fields; this is the turncoat (Hebrew) antichrist deceiver of Israel who deceives them into signing that 7-year peace pact. A Hebrew who turns on his own people, rejects the God of his fathers (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob). For added insight read: https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-s-daniel-abraham-israel-s-looming-ruin-1.5288996

Micah 2:5 There is no longer a member of God’s prophetic line and leadership in Israel. The judgment of Israel will be the final judgement of God’s people in end time. The loss of possessions and land first occurred when the Assyrians destroyed then expelled them in 722 B.C. PS: At this dispersion, Idumeans (Esau) came in and occupied the empty cities.

Micah 2:6 [NKJV] “Do not prattle.” Micah is pointed in how the people to whom he is “preaching” look at his words. Nothing but prattle. It appears that this ends most if not all direct prophecy to the northern kingdom Israel. Micah states…”so they shall not prophecy to you…” He means the prophets of God shall no longer prophecy to them. It is only a few years later during the life of Micah, Israel falls to the ruthless captivity and dispersion by the evil and without mercy Assyrians. They are no longer a people in common.

Micah 2:7 is well stated by the Joseph Benson Commentary… “Certainly, both God’s laws, and the words delivered by his prophets, would do you great and lasting good if you would obey them.” (emphasis “IF” is mine). This cold still true today of the believer’s church and Israel.

F.B. Meyer Commentary explains Micah 2:8 this way.

His [Jehovah] words would still comfort humble souls. But the cruelty of men who despoiled their poor neighbors, not only of their ornaments but of the tunic covering their skin, would bring disaster upon the entire nation. [emphasis mine] The house of Jacob is true clarity as to whom Micah is prophesying. But be certain there is overlap. The Kingdom of Judah is also of the house of Jacob. The Book of Amos, a few years earlier, points out the guilt of Judah some 150 years later, that that their sins are seen by Jehovah-God as even greater than the dispersed northern Kingdom of Israel.

Micah 2:9 reverts back to earlier commentary comments on this chapter. The rich got richer by scheming while even in their beds. Women (Israeli) were cast out of their own homes by those in authority. This means the blessings of God to even the poorer of the kingdom have been *removed by being cast out of their own “pleasant” homes. Their children no longer have an inheritance. (see NOTE)

*NOTE: In the year of Jubilee all possessions were to be returned to their original owners and debt cancelled. This is every 50 years during Jubilee.

Micah 2:10 is reminiscent of sowing a bad seed and reaping its harvest. This was the basis of God’s judgment upon the lands of the Canaanites. Remember that the Canaanites also descended from Noah and should have known well their forefather’s (Noah) God Jehovah. God judged them when Joshua removed them from Canaan. Micah is telling the people of the Northern Kingdom that it will be likewise for them. The Canaanites did not regain their lands and neither did the people of Samaria (Northern Kingdom of Israel). Israel will regain their Promised Lands at the 2^nd advent of Jesus.

Micah 2:11 is a warning by analysis. It reminds us of verse 6 and the prattler declaration of those who refused Micah’s message to them. “If a man should walk in a false spirit And speak a lie, saying, ‘I will prophesy to you of wine and drink,’ Even he would be the prattler of this people.” In other words, Micah is throwing it back in the face of his opposition, a rebuke one might conclude. A false-spirit wolf-in-sheep clothing. The false prophet may look innocent but was and will be guilty of deceiving and lying. They are not prophets of God but a people whispering good things in the ears of the blinded in bad times. Ignore the sins of this kingdom and its leadership and peoples own judgment will go away. Today we simply call it wishful thinking. It might be better identified as hopeless self-deception.

Praise God for Micah 2:12. Israelis are told that there will be a time when [both] Judah and Israel will once again be one people. “I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob…” Note Micah uses the term ‘Jacob’. This means all 12 tribes. They will once again be assembled as a single flock of sheep. Take note of these words in verse 12… They shall make a loud noise because of so many people. This gathering will be enormous. The Hebrew word for noise is hûm. So the reader understands, this is not simply a loud noise of rejoicing or celebrating. The word hûm means a noise that annoys and greatly agitates. The world of anti-God Gentiles will be agitated at the success and gathering of Israelis back to Israel/Jerusalem. This is becoming true today even as this narrative commentary is being written.

Micah 2:13 is an even greater aha moment and PTL; a history soon to be today. In part C of this verse it reads in the NKJV…”and their king will pass before them, and the Lord at the head of them.” We at Ahabiblemoments suggest that the gate they will pass through according to verse 13 is the Eastern Gate in Jerusalem. It was bricked shut by the Turks in 1530 A.D. to prevent Jesus from entering through it. This is a picture of that exact gate. It is called the Golden Gate of Jerusalem. Isn’t it actually a testimony to the reality of something if one wants to deny CHRIST but builds a barrier to prevent him from entering and leaving Jerusalem?

Rev. Dr. Jstark
2021