Micah

Chapter 4:8-10 (ESV) - 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.

Now why do you cry aloud?
    Is there no king in you?
Has your counselor perished,
    that pain seized you like a woman in labor?
Writhe and groan, O daughter of Zion,
    like a woman in labor,
for now you shall go out from the city
    and dwell in the open country;
    you shall go to Babylon.
There you shall be rescued;
    there the Lord will redeem you
    from the hand of your enemies.

Question to consider: Why would the Lord ask whether there was a king in Jerusalem when He already knew there was one?

In today’s passage, Micah was still giving the LORD’s word to the lost sheep of Israel– those who had been oppressed and afflicted and were being led off to Assyrian captivity. The promise given was that one day, they would be regathered by a king who would reign over them and all nations forevermore from Mount Zion.

While Israel regathered from all the nations to which they had been dispersed at the time of Zerubbabel, the promise ultimately pointed to Christ. As I demonstrated yesterday, the New Testament authors proclaimed that Christ’s reign began at His ascension from the heavenly Jerusalem. As Christ taught His disciples to pray, we pray for this kingdom to come, and God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

The tower of the flock was the perch used by shepherds to watch over a large flock of sheep, and the LORD assured the flock that the daughter of Zion, Jerusalem, would again provide true kingship for the people.

In the meantime, Micah reacted to the cries of the oppressed and posed the rhetorical question, “Is there no king in you?” Even though there was obviously a king from the line of David ruling from Jerusalem at that time, the lack of justice in Israel would suggest otherwise. Not only did the king allow these afflicted sheep to be oppressed by those who claimed to be their brothers, but the religious counselors affirmed them in their unjust rule. So Micah questioned whether they were still alive.

While the city of Jerusalem survived the Assyrian siege that overtook the northern kingdom and bled down into the countryside of Judah, its judgment would come by way of the Babylonians more than a century later. Even if someone could guess the rise of the Assyrians in that generation to take over the northern kingdom, who could predict that Jerusalem could survive this siege only to fall to the Babylonians several generations into the future?

To those in Jerusalem, it must have been strange to hear about their eventual regathering to the land generations before their exile, but in receiving this word of judgment, the LORD was giving the kings of Judah the opportunity to repent. One of the reasons the judgment did not come for three more generations was because Hezekiah heeded the word of the LORD. It’s unfortunate that his son, Manasseh, did not do the same.

Prayer

Dear heavenly Father, thank You that Your word is faithful and true in its judgments and yet mighty to save. May we read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest this word that we may abide in Christ and receive new life in Him. Amen.