Micah 5:1

The word ‘now’ links this message with the previous one (Micah 4:9; Micah 4:11). Soon Micah will describe future *salvation by the *Messiah. But here Micah describes an army which was attacking Jerusalem. The attack is like the time when Sennacherib, king of Assyria, attacked Jerusalem. That happened in the year 701 *BC. (Look at Micah 1:9; Micah 1:12; Micah 4:11.) ‘Now, people in the strong city, gather your soldiers. The soldiers of the enemy are surrounding us. They are preparing for the attack.’ The ‘strong city’ means Jerusalem. The walls that surrounded Jerusalem shut its people in. So the walls made the city strong.

But is seems that this verse does not describe that particular attack. Sennacherib did not overcome Jerusalem. But these armies will strike the king of Jerusalem. They will hit him with a *rod. They will strike him on the cheek. It means that the king cannot defend himself. He cannot even defend his face. (Compare that with Isaiah 50:6.) This *rod means something special. The person who holds it has rule and authority. That is what it means. But the king of Jerusalem here did not have a *rod to defend himself. That meant that he had no rule or authority.

In Micah 4:9-5, we see the word ‘now’ four times. Each time, Micah describes some results that will happen for a certain reason. They will happen because people do not obey God. These results are:

• We have pains, like a woman’s pains when she is having a baby (4:9).

• We are separate from God. And we are separate from his people (4:10).

• Everything seems to cause difficulty for us. It seems as if things are striking our bodies (4:11).

• We feel that walls surround us. We cannot escape. We hate the way that we live. We even hate ourselves (5:1).

But there is hope that a new leader will come. When Micah describes this event, he is also looking towards a future time. He links King David’s *descendants to the future Ruler. That ruler is David’s greater Son (*descendant). He is the perfect ruler. He is Jesus Christ, the *Messiah. When he was on the Earth the first time, God’s enemies struck Jesus too. They insulted him (Matthew 26:67; Matthew 27:26; Matthew 27:30).

v2 But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, are small. You are so small that one would not include you among Judah’s families. But out of you will come a man who is for me. He will be the ruler over *Israel. His origin was a long time ago in the distant past. It was in an ancient time.