1Und es wird geschehen am Ende der Tage, da wird der Berg des Hauses Jehovas feststehen auf dem Gipfel der Berge und erhaben sein über die Hügel. Und Völker werden zu ihm strömen; 2und viele Nationen werden hingehen und sagen: Kommt und laßt uns hinaufziehen zum Berge Jehovas und zum Hause des Gottes Jakobs! Und er wird uns belehren aus seinen Wegen, und wir wollen wandeln auf seinen Pfaden. Denn von Zion wird ausgehen das Gesetz , und das Wort Jehovas von Jerusalem; 3und er wird richten zwischen vielen Völkern und Recht sprechen mächtigen Nationen bis in die Ferne. Und sie werden ihre Schwerter zu Pflugmessern schmieden, und ihre Speere zu Winzermessern; nicht wird Nation wider Nation das Schwert erheben, und sie werden den Krieg nicht mehr lernen . 4Und sie werden sitzen, ein jeder unter seinem Weinstock und unter seinem Feigenbaum, und niemand wird sie aufschrecken. Denn der Mund Jehovas der Heerscharen hat geredet. 5Denn alle Völker werden wandeln, ein jedes im Namen seines Gottes; wir aber werden wandeln im Namen Jehovas, unseres Gottes, immer und ewiglich. - 6An jenem Tage, spricht Jehova , werde ich das Hinkende sammeln und das Vertriebene zusammenbringen, und dem ich Übles getan habe. 7Und ich werde das Hinkende zu einem Überrest und das Weitentfernte zu einer gewaltigen Nation machen; und Jehova wird König über sie sein auf dem Berge Zion, von nun an bis in Ewigkeit. 8Und du Herdenturm, du Hügel der Tochter Zion, zu dir wird gelangen und zu dir wird kommen die frühere Herrschaft, das Königtum der Tochter Jerusalem. 9Nun, warum erhebst du ein Geschrei? Ist kein König in dir? oder ist dein Ratgeber umgekommen, daß dich Wehen ergriffen haben der Gebärenden gleich? 10Kreiße und stöhne , Tochter Zion, gleich einer Gebärenden! denn nun wirst du aus der Stadt hinausziehen und auf dem Felde wohnen und bis nach Babel kommen. - Daselbst wirst du errettet werden, daselbst wird Jehova dich aus der Hand deiner Feinde erlösen. 11Und nun haben sich viele Nationen wider dich versammelt, die da sprechen: Sie werde entweiht, und unsere Augen mögen an Zion ihre Lust sehen! 12Aber sie kennen nicht die Gedanken Jehovas und verstehen nicht seinen Ratschluß; denn er hat sie gesammelt, wie man Garben auf die Tenne sammelt. 13Mache dich auf und drisch, Tochter Zion! Denn ich werde dein Horn zu Eisen und deine Hufe zu Erz machen, und du wirst viele Völker zermalmen; und ich werde ihren Raub dem Jehova verbannen , und ihr Vermögen dem Herrn der ganzen Erde. - 14Nun dränge dich zusammen, Tochter des Gedränges: man hat eine Belagerung gegen uns gerichtet; mit dem Stabe schlagen sie den Richter Israels auf den Backen.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 TRANSITION TO THE GLORY, PEACE, KINGDOM, AND VICTORY OF ZION. (
Mic 4:1-
Mic 4:13)
Almost identical with
Isa 2:2-
Isa 2:4.
the mountain of the house of the Lord--which just before (
Mic 3:12) had been doomed to be a wild forest height. Under Messiah, its elevation is to be not that of situation, but of moral dignity, as the seat of God's universal empire.
people shall flow into it--In Isaiah it is "all nations": a more universal prophecy.
3 rebuke--convict of sin (
John 16:8-
John 16:9); and subdue with judgments (
Ps 2:5,
Ps 2:9;
Ps 110:5-
Ps 110:6;
Rev 2:27;
Rev 12:5).
many people . . . strong nations afar off--In
Isa 2:4 it is "the nations . . . many people."
4 sit every man under his vine, &c.--that is, enjoy the most prosperous tranquillity (
1Kgs 4:25;
Zech 3:10). The "vine" and "fig tree" are mentioned rather than a house, to signify, there will be no need of a covert; men will be safe even in the fields and open air.
Lord of hosts hath spoken it--Therefore it must come to pass, however unlikely now it may seem.
5 For--rather, Though it be that all people walk after their several gods, yet we (the Jews in the dispersion) will walk in the name of the Lord. So the Hebrew particle means in the Margin,
Gen 8:21;
Exod 13:17;
Josh 17:18. The resolution of the exile Jews is: As Jehovah gives us hope of so glorious a restoration, notwithstanding the overthrow of our temple and nation, we must in confident reliance on His promise persevere in the true worship of Him, however the nations around, our superiors now in strength and numbers, walk after their gods [ROSENMULLER]. As the Jews were thoroughly weaned from idols by the Babylonian captivity, so they shall be completely cured of unbelief by their present long dispersion (
Zech 10:8-
Zech 10:12).
6 assemble her that halteth--feminine for neuter in Hebrew idiom, "whatever halteth": metaphor from sheep wearied out with a journey: all the suffering exiles of Israel (
Ezek 34:16;
Zeph 3:19).
her . . . driven out--all Israel's outcasts. Called "the Lord's flock" (
Jer 13:17;
Ezek 34:13;
Ezek 37:21).
7 I will make her that halted a remnant--I will cause a remnant to remain which shall not perish.
Lord shall reign . . . in . . . Zion--David's kingdom shall be restored in the person of Messiah, who is the seed of David and at the same time Jehovah (
Isa 24:23).
for ever-- (
Isa 9:6-
Isa 9:7;
Dan 7:14,
Dan 7:27;
Luke 1:33;
Rev 11:15).
8 tower of the flock--following up the metaphor of sheep (see on
Mic 4:6). Jerusalem is called the "tower," from which the King and Shepherd observes and guards His flock: both the spiritual Jerusalem, the Church now whose tower-like elevation is that of doctrine and practice (
Song 4:4, "Thy neck is like the tower of David"), and the literal hereafter (
Jer 3:17). In large pastures it was usual to erect a high wooden tower, so as to oversee the flock. JEROME takes the Hebrew for "flock," Eder or Edar, as a proper name, namely, a village near Beth-lehem, for which it is put, Beth-lehem being taken to represent the royal stock of David (
Mic 5:2; compare
Gen 35:21). But the explanatory words, "the stronghold of the daughter of Zion," confirm English Version.
stronghold--Hebrew, "Ophel"; an impregnable height on Mount Zion (
2Chr 27:3;
2Chr 33:14;
Neh 3:26-
Neh 3:27).
unto thee shall . . . come . . . the first dominion--namely, the dominion formerly exercised by thee shall come back to thee.
kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem--rather, "the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem shall come (again)"; such as it was under David, before its being weakened by the secession of the ten tribes.
9 Addressed to the daughter of Zion, in her consternation at the approach of the Chaldeans.
is there no king in thee?--asked tauntingly. There is a king in her; but it is the same as if there were none, so helpless to devise means of escape are he and his counsellors [MAURER]. Or, Zion's pains are because her king is taken away from her (
Jer 52:9;
Lam 4:20;
Ezek 12:13) [CALVIN]. The former is perhaps the preferable view (compare
Jer 49:7). The latter, however, describes better Zion's kingless state during her present long dispersion (
Hos 3:4-
Hos 3:5).
10 Be in pain, and labour--carrying on the metaphor of a pregnant woman. Thou shalt be affected with bitter sorrows before thy deliverance shall come. I do not forbid thy grieving, but I bring thee consolation. Though God cares for His children, yet they must not expect to be exempt from trouble, but must prepare for it.
go forth out of the city--on its capture. So "come out" is used
2Kgs 24:12;
Isa 36:16.
dwell in the field--namely, in the open country, defenseless, instead of their fortified city. Beside the Chebar (
Ps 137:1;
Ezek 3:15).
Babylon--Like Isaiah, Micah looks beyond the existing Assyrian dynasty to the Babylonian, and to Judah's captivity under it, and restoration (
Isa 39:7;
Isa 43:14;
Isa 48:20). Had they been, as rationalists represent, merely sagacious politicians, they would have restricted their prophecies to the sphere of the existing Assyrian dynasty. But their seeing into the far-off future of Babylon's subsequent supremacy, and Judah's connection with her, proves them to be inspired prophets.
there . . . there--emphatic repetition. The very scene of thy calamities is to be the scene of thy deliverance. In the midst of enemies, where all hope seems cut off, there shall Cyrus, the deliverer, appear (compare
Judg 14:14). Cyrus again being the type of the greater Deliverer, who shall finally restore Israel.
11 many nations--the subject peoples composing Babylon's armies: and also Edom, Ammon, &c., who exulted in Judah's fall (
Lam 2:16;
Obad 1:11-
Obad 1:13).
defiled--metaphor from a virgin. Let her be defiled (that is, outraged by violence and bloodshed), and let our eye gaze insultingly on her shame and sorrow (
Mic 7:10). Her foes desired to feast their eyes on her calamities.
12 thoughts of the Lord--Their unsearchable wisdom, overruling seeming disaster to the final good of His people, is the very ground on which the restoration of Israel hereafter (of which the restoration from Babylon is a type) is based in
Isa 55:8; compare with
Mic 4:3,
Mic 4:12-
Mic 4:13, which prove that Israel, not merely the Christian Church, is the ultimate subject of the prophecy; also in
Rom 11:13. God's counsel is to discipline His people for a time with the foe as a scourge; and then to destroy the foe by the hands of His people.
gather them as . . . sheaves--them who "gathered" themselves for Zion's destruction (
Mic 4:11) the Lord "shall gather" for destruction by Zion (
Mic 4:13), like sheaves gathered to be threshed (compare
Isa 21:10;
Jer 51:33). The Hebrew is singular, "sheaf." However great the numbers of the foe, they are all but as one sheaf ready to be threshed [CALVIN]. Threshing was done by treading with the feet: hence the propriety of the image for treading under foot and breaking asunder the foe.
13 thresh--destroy thy foes "gathered" by Jehovah as "sheaves" (
Isa 41:15-
Isa 41:16).
thine horn--Zion being compared to an ox treading corn, and an ox's strength lying in the horns, her strength is implied by giving her a horn of iron (compare
1Kgs 22:11).
beat in pieces many-- (
Dan 2:44).
I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord--God subjects the nations to Zion, not for her own selfish aggrandizement, but for His glory (
Isa 60:6,
Isa 60:9;
Zech 14:20, with which compare
Isa 23:18) and for their ultimate good; therefore He is here called, not merely God of Israel, but "Lord of the whole earth."
