Chapter 5
2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. [Mic 5:2 ESV]
Micah is the one who foretells that the Messiah will be born in Bethlehem. There are very many demonstrable predictions in this book. Perhaps it should be read early and often, to maintain perspective.
2024 - As the previous chapter asked "Is there no king in you", this chapter identifies the coming king. What an amazing connection. The same King who comes as a baby in Bethlehem will come again to rule his people as King forever. Who but God could "connect" these scriptures in this way??? As you keep reading, this is surely about a King born in Bethlehem ruling in the Millennial.
Does verse 3 correspond to the Chapter in Revelation where the woman is with child as the beast waits? Worth a look!
3 Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. [Mic 5:3 ESV]
Perhaps this means that once the Jews reject Christ, he will blind them and leave them on their own during the Age of the Gentiles, until that time in the last seven years when he will once again own them and protect them from the beast that would destroy the Messiah and His people???
This is a great idea for a study!
2022 - Seems more likely today that since it says "...give them up until the time...then the rest of his brothers shall return..." that we are talking about God not "intervening" in the history of Israel again UNTIL the time of Christ. They sort of go through the motions, but in the last books of the OT, they don't really seem blessed. And then there are 400 years of silence. Doesn't that sound like giving them up until time for Christ to come, and open the way not only for Israel, but for all mankind - Jews and Gentiles alike?
2023 - I don't see how to tie this to anything but Revelation 12, even though Revelation won't be written for what, another 500 years? In Rev 12, the son is caught up to heaven, and THEN the woman - Israel - is nourished by God for 1260 days. But...it says until she has given birth...and truly, the Jews did not accept him. Yet again, that birth was God's redemptive plan not only for the church, but ultimately for the Gentiles. The birth of Christ, as heir to the throne of David, is in fact the beginning of God's recovery of Israel.
2023 - These verses:
7 Then the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples like dew from the LORD, like showers on the grass, which delay not for a man nor wait for the children of man. 8 And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep, which, when it goes through, treads down and tears in pieces, and there is none to deliver. [Mic 5:7-8 ESV]. This strikes me as God's way of "hiding and preserving" Israel through their time of blindness. While Satan is in power on earth, and could focus on destroying them much more easily if they were all in one place. he just cannot get them all if they are scattered all over the planet. He just does not have the power to do that. And it is worded as if the Jews will be a blessing to those peoples among whom they are scattered. They are lions, in that ultimately, they will be unassailably over all the nations.
So...Hitler...was perhaps taking advantage of the Jews being more concentrated, more identifiable in their ghettos and their villages, than they had been in centuries. Russia concentrated them, Poland concentrated them, Germany certainly did...They had no country, yet they were very concentrated in these three areas. So Satan struck, taking advantage of the best chance he'd had to get them all since perhaps 70 AD. Finally, Hitler makes sense.