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.
2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.”
3 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.
4 And He shall stand and feed His flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord His God; and they shall abide, for now He shall be great to the ends of the earth; and this One shall be peace.
We know and we love Micah 5:2. When Michael Cohen was with us in the fall of 2021, he talked of Micah 5:2 being the “go to” verse when dealing with a Jew for they see Isaiah 53 as a prophecy about them, not Jesus.
In Musing #615, I used Micah 5:2 to teach that the Child born of Mary and birthed at Bethlehem was fully human and named Jesus, was God’s anointed One and being from everlasting made Him God. Thus, the Baby of Christmas is Jesus Christ, the Lord!
This Christmas season it was the first word of 5:2 that struck me – the word “But.” Such means what is coming is in contrast to what was before. So I turned my attention to 5:1 where God was telling the Jews that their king, King Zedekiah, was going down. God had called in the Chaldean army to remove the king of the Jews – the king of man’s anointing. To strike the cheek or slap the face is to belittle, mock or insult and such was about to happen to their king!
So, the “But” of 5:2 marks a contrast. God was announcing a new King – one of His anointing! One who would be fully human – born of woman (Jesus) – and fully God (Lord).
Then I considered the next verses and here I highlight a few phrases:
- “He shall give them up”
- “Until the time – labor – birth”
- “remnant return – to children of Israel”
- “He shall stand”
- “feed His flock – they shall abide”
- “in the majesty of the name of the Lord His God”
- “great to the ends of the earth – shall be peace”
My summary:
The King of God’s choice will set His people aside (take them out of blessing – meaning the Jews scattered and Jerusalem decimated) until a time of rebirth (Isaiah 66:8, a nation born in a day). At that time will come a regathering of the Jews to Jerusalem (Ezekiel 38:12) and the King will then stand before them (Zechariah 14:4) Who will be accepted as their great Shepherd (Zechariah 12:10), as was David (Psalm 78:70-72), thus loved and worshiped by the Jews (and all men) and He will rule the entire world and be revered as great and bring worldwide peace.
What are we talking about? The 1,000-year reign of Jesus on earth talked about especially in Revelation 20, Isaiah 11:1-5, and in many other passages. This is about the Second Coming of Jesus as the Lion of the tribe of Judah to set up His Millennial reign on earth.
The King of Micah 5:2 will one day reign over all the earth and be received, loved and served by the Jewish people who at one time rejected, mocked and killed Him.
That is the Micah 5:2 King of God’s anointing, born of Mary in Bethlehem, and named Jesus!
a PK Musing 
Leave a comment