Micah 5:2 · Passage · Featured Study
The Ruler from Bethlehem
The verse the chief priests and scribes quoted when Herod asked them where the Christ was to be born.
Gustave Doré, Micah Exhorts the Israelites to Repent, 1866, from Doré's English Bible. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
THE ARTWORKDoré drew the prophet on a stone platform with both arms raised over the crowd he warns, and one man below him holds his head in his hand. The engraving illustrates Micah 7.
Rachel was buried on the road to Ephrath, the small town from which Micah says Israel's ruler will come.
Summary
Micah promises Israel a ruler from Bethlehem Ephrathah, the home of David's family, a ruler whose origins are from the days of eternity. He spoke it to a Jerusalem under siege in the days of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
- The verse follows a siege in which the judge of Israel is struck on the cheek.
- Ephrathah is the old name of Bethlehem and of the clan David came from.
- Matthew's form of the verse calls Bethlehem by no means least, where Micah calls it small.
- The last line, whose origins are of old, has three readings with named holders.
A Siege, Then a Ruler
Micah 5:1-2, the verse in its place
Micah speaks to Jerusalem under siege. The verse before this one lays a siege against the city and has the judge of Israel struck on the cheek with a rod.
Now, O daughter of troops, mobilize your troops; for a siege is laid against us! With a rod they will strike the cheek of the judge of Israel.The low point the promise answers: the judge of Israel shamed by his enemies.
Against that shame the LORD turns to a small town.
But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come forth for Me One to be ruler over Israel—One whose origins are of old, from the days of eternity.The promise: a ruler from a small clan, whose origins are of old.
The Hebrew text numbers this verse 5:1 and the siege verse before it 4:14, so a Jewish commentary on 5:1 is a commentary on this verse.
How the Gospels Use the Verse
Matthew 2:4-6 and John 7:42
When the Magi ask where the King of the Jews has been born, Herod calls the chief priests and scribes. They answer from this verse: in Bethlehem of Judea.
And when he had assembled all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of My people Israel.’”The scribes quote Micah to Herod to name the birthplace of the Christ.
Their words differ from Micah's. Micah calls Bethlehem small among the clans of Judah, and the quotation in Matthew calls it by no means least among the rulers of Judah. Its last line echoes what the LORD told David, that he would shepherd His people Israel.
Even in times past, while Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel out and brought them back. And to you the LORD said, ‘You will shepherd My people Israel, and you will be ruler over them.’”The words to David that the last line of the quotation in Matthew echoes.
In John the crowd argues over Jesus from the same verse. Some ask how the Christ can come from Galilee, since Scripture says he comes from David's line and from Bethlehem.
Doesn’t the Scripture say that the Christ will come from the line of David and from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?”The crowd knows the verse and holds it against a teacher from Galilee.
Bethlehem Ephrathah, the Town of David
why the prophet names this town and this clan
Ephrathah is an old name for Bethlehem. Genesis calls the place Ephrath and adds that it is Bethlehem.
So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).Rachel is buried on the way to Ephrath, which the text names as Bethlehem.
David's family came from that town. The LORD sends Samuel to Jesse of Bethlehem to anoint a king from his sons, and First Samuel calls Jesse an Ephrathite from Bethlehem of Judah.
Now the LORD said to Samuel, “How long are you going to mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem, for I have selected from his sons a king for Myself.”The LORD chooses a king from the sons of Jesse of Bethlehem.
Now David was the son of a man named Jesse, an Ephrathite from Bethlehem of Judah who had eight sons in the days of Saul. And Jesse was old and well along in years.David's father, an Ephrathite from Bethlehem of Judah.
So a ruler from this town is a ruler from David's own house. Rashi and the Steinsaltz Tanakh both read the town this way, as the place David's family came from.
A Shepherd Who Is Their Peace
Micah 5:4-5, what the ruler does
The verses after the promise say what the ruler does. He stands and shepherds the flock in the strength of the LORD, his greatness reaches the ends of the earth, and he is their peace.
He will stand and shepherd His flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majestic name of the LORD His God. And they will dwell securely, for then His greatness will extend to the ends of the earth. And He will be our peace when Assyria invades our land and tramples our citadels. We will raise against it seven shepherds, even eight leaders of men.The promised ruler is a shepherd, and his people dwell securely.
Matthew reads that ruler as Jesus, born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod.
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem,The birth in Bethlehem that sends the Magi to Jerusalem.
Three Voices on the Verse
Ishodad of Merv, Matthew Henry and Adam Clarke
Ishodad of Merv reads the ruler's beginning as the promises made to Abraham and David.
The text says, "His origin is from the beginning," the beginning, that is, according to the promises made to Abraham and David.
Ishodad of Merv · Commentary on Micah · on Micah 5:2patristic
Matthew Henry notes that the scribes answered Herod from this verse with full confidence.
This was the scripture which the scribes went upon when with the greatest assurance they told Herod where Christ should be born ( Matt. ii. 6 ), and hence it was universally known among the Jews that Christ should come out of the town of Bethlehem where David was, John vii.
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible · on Micah 5:2puritan
Adam Clarke adds that the name Ephratah tells this Bethlehem from a second Bethlehem in Zebulun.
But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah - I have considered this subject in great detail in the notes on Mat 2:6, to which the reader will be pleased to refer. This verse should begin this chapter; the first verse belongs to the preceding chapter. Bethlehem Ephratah, to distinguish it from another Beth-lehem, which was in the tribe of Zebulun, Jos 19:15. Thousands of Judah - The tribes were divided into small portions called thousands; as in our country certain divisions of counties are called hundreds.
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible · on Micah 5:2evangelical
Whose Origins Are of Old
three readings of the verse's last line, each with its holders
The last line says the ruler's origins are of old, from the days of eternity. Readers divide over how far back those origins reach.
His life before all ages
Cyril of Jerusalem quotes the verse in his eleventh Catechetical Lecture to teach that the Son did not begin to be at Bethlehem and is before all ages. John Chrysostom reads the line the same way in his Demonstration against the Pagans.
The objection: Micah twice speaks of the days of old for Israel's own past, so words of this kind can mean long ago.
You will show faithfulness to Jacob and loving devotion to Abraham, as You swore to our fathers from the days of old.The days of old here are the days of the oath to the fathers of Israel.
His descent from David's ancient house
Malbim reads the origins as the days of David and Solomon, whose kingdom the ruler will match. Ishodad of Merv holds this reading too, in the words quoted under Three Voices on the Verse.
The objection: the line calls the origins from the days of eternity, which is a stronger phrase than one family's past.
His name before the world
Rashi reads the ruler as the Messiah, son of David. He explains the origin from of old by Psalm 72:17, which he reads as the ruler's name standing before the sun.
The objection: Radak, David Kimhi, reads the Hebrew lifnei shemesh in Psalm 72:17 as while the sun exists, a name that lasts as long as the sun.
May his name endure forever; may his name continue as long as the sun shines. In him may all nations be blessed; may they call him blessed.The line Rashi reads beside Micah, in the Berean text, which reads it as Radak does.
From the Least of the Clans
The promise turns on smallness. The LORD answers a king struck on the cheek with a ruler from a town small among the clans of Judah, as He once sent for David, Jesse's youngest son, from the sheep.
Matthew and John show that the people of Jesus' day still looked to this small town for the Christ.
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