In our last blog, we covered the first half of the book of Micah. And if you remember, things got pretty rough!
Micah was writing in the 700s BCE to the southern kingdom of Yehudah (Judah). His basic message was that the same sins that led to the exile and destruction of the northern kingdom had now reached the south. Judah was guilty of idolatry and social injustice, much of it being fueled by scheming, money-hungry leaders. And by the end of chapter 3, Micah warns that Jerusalem itself could be destroyed.
But then we get to chapter 4, and it’s really something how the Neviim take us on a roller coaster ride! It doesn’t get much more somber than Micah chapter 3. But in chapters 4 and 5, we ascend…and get a vision of God’s Messianic Kingdom.
As we saw at the end of the last blog, Micah 4 describes the acharit hayamim, the “latter days” or “end of days.” Micah sees a time when the nations will flow to Jerusalem and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” (Micah 4:2)
And remember the question we ended with last time. Why does HaShem suddenly give this beautiful picture of the future immediately after three chapters describing horrific corruption? Well, I think the answer is that HaShem, like a good Father, doesn’t just tell us what we are doing wrong. He shows us how we can get back on the right path. But now notice something else in Micah’s vision:
There is a spotlight on the nations, and not just Israel.
HaShem is revealing that a central and essential component of Messianic times is the nations flowing to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem to learn Torah. That’s important!
According to the prophets, the Messianic Kingdom involves non-Jews properly connecting with the Jewish God, the Jewish King, the Jewish people, the Jewish land, and the Jewish Torah, while remaining members of the nations. This is part of what Paul speaks about in Ephesians when he says that “in Yeshua,” Gentiles who were once strangers to the covenants of promise have been brought near and joined to the commonwealth of Israel. So the nations have an important place in Micah’s Messianic vision.
Moving on, chapter 5 contains another famous Messianic text. This is the prophecy about a ruler coming from Bethlehem, which Matthew later quotes in his Gospel in connection with Yeshua. Now, despite this being a well-known and beloved prophecy, I’d like to share a word of caution.
Sometimes we make mistakes with prophecies like this. We tend to look at them in isolation. But…the power of these texts is truly found when we understand them in context and how they fit into the broader prophetic message being communicated. So why does HaShem communicate this message involving Bethlehem at this point?
Micah 5 speaks of a ruler coming from Bethlehem whose “origin is from of old, from days of yore.” Then Micah describes redemption as a woman giving birth. That’s an interesting (and vivid) image. Redemption is being described as a painful and laborious process. And notice also that the redemption involves “brothers” returning. Why would Micah emphasize returning?
Remember, Micah and Judah had just seen the ten northern tribes taken into exile. And Micah has already warned that the same thing could happen to Judah. So Micah’s Messianic vision involves the unification of Israel.
The famous and highly influential medieval Jewish commentator, Rashi, offers an important take on this text. He says that Judah and Benjamin will join the other tribes and form a single kingdom, rather than remain divided. But there’s something else in Micah 5 that I find incredibly important. Micah says this coming ruler will become great “to the ends of the earth.” And this harmonizes beautifully with chapter 4. In chapter 4, the nations come to Jerusalem to worship the God of Israel. And here in chapter 5, Israel’s Redeemer and King is known around the world.
I’d like to share something from my personal experience with this text. Through the years, as I’ve discussed why I believe in Yeshua with other Jewish people, I don’t point to the fact that Yeshua was born in Bethlehem as proof that He is the Messiah. But I absolutely do point out that Yeshua has become great to the ends of the earth, and that countless millions have left idols and turned to the God of Israel because of and through Yeshua. In other words, there are some clear ways Yeshua has fulfilled this prophecy!
Now I’d like to land the plane with two famous passages from Micah that not only express the heart of this sefer (book), but really get to the heart of the entire prophetic project. The first is Micah 6:8:
“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
What is Micah getting at here? And why does he say these words as he is bringing his sefer to a close? Micah is getting to the heart of the flawed view of religion that was pervasive in his day. Now, I want to be clear on what Micah is NOT doing. He is not denigrating the korbanot (sacrifices) or the Temple. Rather, he is emphasizing what Yeshua calls the “weightier provisions of Torah”: justice, lovingkindness, and walking humbly with God.
This is the heart of the prophets…and it’s the heart of Yeshua.
And remember the corrupt leaders we talked about in Part One? This is how they should have been leading! In other words, our “religion” and “observance” must start with these things. If they are absent, we’ve missed the mark…or worse.
Lastly, in chapter 7, Micah lands the plane with words that we traditionally say during Tashlich (a special ceremony near a body of water) on Rosh Hashanah:
“Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us…You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” (Micah 7:18-19)
What a way to end this sefer!
Think about where we started. Micah has cataloged the idolatry, injustice, greed, corruption, and terrible leadership of Judah. He has even warned that Jerusalem and the Temple could be destroyed. But forgiveness and mercy are the final word. A day will come when God will have compassion, and the sins of Israel will be washed away.
That’s the prophetic vision of Micah. And it’s a pretty incredible one!
