Reflections on Micah 4

 Micah 04  (Contemporary English Version)

1. In the future, the mountain with the LORD's temple will be the highest of all. It will reach above the hills, and every nation will rush to it.
   
2. People of many nations will come and say, "Let's go up to the mountain of the LORD God of Jacob and worship in his temple." The LORD will teach us his Law from Jerusalem, and we will obey him.
   
3. He will settle arguments between distant and powerful nations. They will pound their swords and their spears into rakes and shovels; they will never again make war or attack one another.
   
4. Everyone will find rest beneath their own fig trees or grape vines, and they will live in peace. This is a solemn promise of the LORD All-Powerful.
   
5. Others may follow their gods, but we will always follow the LORD our God.
   
6. The LORD said: At that time I will gather my people-- the lame and the outcasts, and all into whose lives I have brought sorrow.
   
7. Then the lame and the outcasts will belong to my people and become a strong nation. I, the LORD, will rule them from Mount Zion forever.
   
8. Mount Zion in Jerusalem, guardian of my people, you will rule again.
   
9. Jerusalem, why are you crying? Don't you have a king? Have your advisors gone? Are you suffering like a woman in childbirth?
   
10. Keep on groaning with pain, you people of Jerusalem! If you escape from your city to the countryside, you will still be taken as prisoners to Babylonia. But later I will rescue you from your enemies.
    
11. Zion, because of your sins you are surrounded by many nations who say, "We can hardly wait to see you disgraced."
    
12. But they don't know that I, the LORD, have gathered them here to grind them like grain.
    
13. Smash them to pieces, Zion! I'll let you be like a bull with iron horns and bronze hoofs. Crush those nations and bring their wealth to me, the LORD of the earth.

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As was typical with God's message of judgment to Israel, there was also a message of hope and restoration. Because of the nation's sins judgment would come, but God had no intention of doing away with Israel altogether. So Micah paints a picture of how things will be at some point in the future. This future will be what God has intended for Israel from the beginning but was not possible under the original covenant He had with the nation. This covenant actually made the point that man is powerless to keep any set of rules sufficiently enough to save himself. Therefore it was necessary for God to send His Son who would pay the penalty of sin on man's behalf for he cannot keep from sinning and death is his only alternative apart from Christ's sacrifice.

Although God was preparing to bring destruction and exile upon both Judah and Israel, "In the last days," both nations would again be united and would prosper. At that time, people of the world will be drawn to Israel and make their way "to the mountain of the Lord," The word of the Lord will go out from Jerusalem and everyone will be taught in His ways. Under the Lord's rule worldwide peace will finally occur and nations will "beat their swords into plows . . . Nation will not take up the sword against nation." Instead of making war, people will enjoy peace with no fear of aggression. Until that time, the idea of worldwide peace is just a fantasy. Man is not at peace even with his neighbor, who he knows, how will he have peace with other nations whom he does not know?

Israel, whom the Lord had injured and scattered, will be gathered and once again made into a strong nation. But the Lord will rule them "from this time on and forever."

Meanwhile, however, Judah must suffer "so that anguish grips you like a woman in labor." She would be taken away to Babylon and eventually rescued from there by the Lord's hand. A further aggression will threaten the nation when "many nations" will assemble against her. But these nations who gather against Israel do not realize that the Lord will be behind their gathering for the purpose of "threshing" them.