Micahchapter 4
13 verses · Micah · 750 to 686 BC · The Twelve
Key verse
But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.
It stands in The mountain of the LORD's house lifted above the hills, verses 1 to 5.
The chapter
Chapter summary
From plowed Zion straight to the mountain of Jehovah's house established in the top of the mountains in the latter days, with peoples flowing to it: 'out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem.' He judges between many peoples, and 'they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more' (Isaiah 2 sounds the same oracle). Micah adds his own village detail: every man under his vine and under his fig-tree, with none to make them afraid. The lame are gathered as a remnant, and Jehovah reigns in mount Zion for ever.
Context
Prophecy · Micah · Micah overview
The world behind this chapter
Micah 4The history
The opening oracle appears almost word for word in Isaiah 2, and the two prophets were contemporaries. Whether Micah drew on Isaiah, Isaiah on Micah, or both on an older oracle they shared is not settled and the text does not say; what is clear is that two prophets in the same generation were given the same picture.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
The metalwork is village metalwork. A plough point and a pruning hook were the two most valuable iron tools a farming family owned, and both were made and remade at the local smith's forge; beating a sword into a plough point is a job an ordinary blacksmith could do in an afternoon. The image is of an economy converting itself, not of weapons being locked away.
Every man under his vine and under his fig tree is the standard picture of peasant security in that world, used elsewhere of Solomon's reign. A vine takes years to bear and a fig tree longer; sitting under your own means nobody has burned them, nobody has confiscated the land, and you expect to be there next year.
The threshing image at the end is a working animal. Grain was trodden out by oxen on a hard floor, and Micah pictures Zion given a horn of iron and hooves of bronze, a threshing ox rebuilt as a war machine.
What it meant to them
The chapter is placed immediately after the announcement that the temple mount will become a wooded ruin, and the contrast is the point. The same hill is both the ploughed field and the mountain the nations stream to.
The prophecy is not yet fulfilled. Micah names Babylon as the road there, a startling thing to say a century before Babylon mattered, when Assyria was the threat everyone feared, and says the LORD will reign over them in Mount Zion from that time forth and forever. The peace described comes when the King does.
Sources cited
- Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament: The Minor Prophets
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
Where the chapter sits
Micah 4 falls in Three judgment-and-hope cycles (chapters 1–7). Judgment on Samaria and Jerusalem (1–2); hope of the latter-day mountain (4); Bethlehem and the Ruler out of her (5); the LORD's controversy and ‘what doth the LORD require’ (6); hope closing with ‘who is a God like unto thee?’ (7).
The whole shape of Micah→The structure of this chapter
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A. The mountain of the LORD's house lifted above the hills
1. (vv. 1-2)
Micah 4:1
“Almost identical with Isa 2:2-4. the mountain of the house of the Lord--which just before (Mic 3:12) had been doomed to be a wild forest height. Under Messiah, its elevation is to be not that of situation, but of moral dignity, as the seat of God's universal empire. people shall flow into it--In Isaiah it is "all nations": a more universal prophecy.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Micah 4:1
“In the last days - Or, in the latter days, at the expiring of the seventy years captivity, near two hundred years from Micah's time, a type of the days of the Messiah's kingdom. The mountain - The mountain on which the temple stood, the type of the church of Christ. Established - Literally fulfilled when the second temple was built by the Jews.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Micah 4:2
“And when the Spirit of prophecy speaks as predicting things that are to come to pass, He speaks in this way: "For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." And that it did so come to pass, we can convince you.”
Justin Martyr· written before 165· The First Apology, Chapter XXXIXpatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Micah 4:2
“And many nations shall come - Isaiah Isa 2:2 added the world all to Micah’s prophecy. So our Lord said, “This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations” Mat 24:14; and the elect are to be gathered out “of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues” Rev 7:9. All nations shall flow into it. The all might be many or few. Both prophets say that those all should be many. Judah probably knew already of many.”
the mountain of the house of the Lord: The oracle turns from the ruined hill-shrines of chapter 3 to a mountain established above every hill in the last days, with nations streaming to it rather than being driven from it. Isaiah 2:2-3 carries the same vision in close to the same words, two prophets of the same era delivering one shared oracle, and the bench reads the parallel as evidence of a common prophetic word rather than of one man copying the other. The nations come to be taught the Lord's ways and to walk in his paths, and the law goes forth from Zion, reversing every direction judgment had run in the book so far.
2. (vv. 3-4)
Micah 4:3
“And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off,.... That are in the most distant parts of the world; not only the isles afar off, but the remotest parts of the continent, the American nations found out since.”
Micah 4:4
“Under his vine and under his fig tree - A proverbial expression, indicative of perfect peace, security, and rural comfort. See on Isa 2:1 (note). This verse is an addition to the prophecy as it stands in Isaiah. See Clarke on Mic 4:1 (note).”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Micah 4:4
“They - The redeemed of the Lord, redeemed from Babylonish captivity, the type of a greater redemption by Christ. Shall sit - That is, they shall enjoy peace, security and plenty. This was more fully made good in the gospel-days.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
beat their swords into plowshares: The Lord himself judges among the nations and rebukes them, and their own weapons become farm tools, sword to plowshare and spear to pruninghook, with the practice of war given up rather than merely lost. Every man sits under his own vine and fig tree with none to make him afraid, the stock Old Testament picture of settled peace and personal security (1 Kings 4:25), extended here to the whole earth rather than one kingdom. The mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it closes the promise on his own authority, the same formula the prophets use to mark a certain word.
3. (v. 5)
Micah 4:5
“For all people well walk, every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God - Hitherto unsteadfastness had been the very characteristic sin of Israel. It was , “constant only in its inconstancy,” ever “falling away like their forefathers, starting aside like a broken bow” Psa 78:57. The pagan persevered in their worship, because it was evil or had evil in it, not checking but feeding their passions.”
1 more voice on this verse
Micah 4:5
“So the Hebrew particle means in the Margin, Ge 8:21; The resolution of the exile Jews is: As Jehovah gives us hope of so glorious a restoration, notwithstanding the overthrow of our temple and nation, we must in confident reliance on His promise persevere in the true worship of Him, however the nations around, our superiors now in strength and numbers, walk after their gods [ROSENMULLER].”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
we will walk in the name of the Lord our God: Against the picture of every nation walking after its own god, Israel answers with its own resolve, to walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever. The verse reads as the congregation's own response inserted into the oracle, a pledge of covenant loyalty spoken back to the vision just given rather than a further promise from the Lord. The older writers take it as the fitting reply of a people who have just heard what the nations will one day do, choosing now what the world will choose only in that day.
B. The lame gathered; dominion returns to the tower of the flockvv. 6-8
assemble her that halteth: In that day the Lord gathers the halting and the driven out and the afflicted, turning what was cast off into a strong nation over which the Lord himself reigns in Zion from that time forward. The tower of the flock, Migdal-eder, is addressed directly as the place to which the first dominion returns, the same watchtower name Jacob camped near outside Bethlehem (Genesis 35:21), which the bench sets beside the ruler who will come from that same district in the next chapter. The kingdom returning to the daughter of Jerusalem answers the fallen dominion of the house of David that the book has assumed throughout.
Micah 4:6
“THIS is spoken, I suppose, in the first place, of the Jewish people who have been so afflicted on account of their sin that they almost cease to be a nation. They are driven here and there among the lands and made to suffer greatly. In the last time, when Christ shall appear in His Glory in the days of halcyon peace, then shall Israel partake of the universal joy. Poor, limping, faltering Israel, afflicted with tempest, shall yet be gathered and rejoice in her God!”
Charles Spurgeon· written before 1892· The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3201: “Mercy for the Meanest of the Flock” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition)Particular Baptist
Micah 4:7
“And her that was cast off a strong nation - The prophecy, that there should be a remnant, was depressing. Yet what a remnant should it be! A remnant, which should multiply like the stars of heaven or the sand on the sea-shore. Israel had never been “a strong nation,” as a kingdom of this world. At its best estate, under David, it had subdued the petty nations around it, who were confederated to destroy it.”
Micah 4:8
“O tower of the flock - I think the temple is meant, or Jerusalem; the place where the flock, the whole congregation of the people assembled to worship God. Newcome retains the Hebrew word עדר eder, a tower in or near Beth-lehem, Gen 35:21 or, as some think, a tower near the sheep-gate in Jerusalem, I believe Jerusalem, or the temple, or both, are meant; for these were considered the stronghold of the daughter-of Zion, the fortress of the Jewish people. Even the first dominion - What was this?”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Micah 4:8
“The strong-hold - Ophel, a strong fort, is likewise put for the whole city. The first dominion - The former dominion; the government (after seventy years captivity) shall return to the former royal family, and continue in it 'till Shiloh come. This, in the type was fulfilled, under Zerubbabel and his successors; but the whole antitype concerns the Messiah's kingdom.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Micah 4:8
“In large pastures it was usual to erect a high wooden tower, so as to oversee the flock. JEROME takes the Hebrew for "flock," Eder or Edar, as a proper name, namely, a village near Beth-lehem, for which it is put, Beth-lehem being taken to represent the royal stock of David (Mic 5:2; compare Ge 35:21).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
C. Pangs like a woman in travail, then a horn of iron
1. (vv. 9-10)
Micah 4:9
“Now - The prophet places himself in the midst of their deepest sorrows, and out of them he promises comfort. “Why dost thou cry out aloud? is there no King in thee? is thy Counsellor perished?” . Is then all lost, because thou hast no visible king, none to counsel thee or consult for thee? . Very remarkably he speaks of their “King and Counsellor” as one, as if to say, “When all beside is gone, there is One who abides. Though thou be a captive, God will not forsake thee.”
2 more voices on this verse
Micah 4:9
“Now - Now I have promised such great things to you. No king - Thou hast lost thy king Zedekiah, but thy God, thy king is with thee. Thy counsellor - Hast thou none among thy wise counsellors left?”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Micah 4:9
“Addressed to the daughter of Zion, in her consternation at the approach of the Chaldeans. is there no king in thee?--asked tauntingly. There is a king in her; but it is the same as if there were none, so helpless to devise means of escape are he and his counsellors [MAURER].”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Micah 4:10
“Though God cares for His children, yet they must not expect to be exempt from trouble, but must prepare for it. go forth out of the city--on its capture. So "come out" is used 2Ki 24:12; Isa 36:16. dwell in the field--namely, in the open country, defenseless, instead of their fortified city.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verse
Micah 4:10
“In the field - In their journey to Babylon they were forced to lodge in the fields. Delivered - By Cyrus, by Darius, and by Artaxerxes; and this was a type of a greater deliverance. Redeem - The Hebrew word points out a redemption by the next kinsman, and so minds us of the Messiah, the great redeemer of the church.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Micah 4:10
“This was done by Cyrus, who acted therein as God's servant; and that deliverance was typical of our redemption by Jesus Christ, and the release from our spiritual bondage which is proclaimed in the everlasting gospel, that acceptable year of the Lord, in which Christ himself preached liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those that were bound, Luke iv.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
is there no king in thee?: The rhetorical questions, why criest thou, is there no king in thee, press the coming crisis: pangs seize the city like a woman in labor, and she is told to go out of the city and even go to Babylon, where she will at last be delivered from her enemies. Micah wrote generations before Babylon replaced Assyria as the threat to Judah, and the older commentators hold this a genuine prediction reaching past the visible danger of his own day to name the actual exile and the actual place of return; critical scholars who date the verse later read it instead as a detail added after the event, and the bench states both positions without settling the composition question. Either way the text ties the deliverance to the very place of the judgment, redemption following the people into the land of their captivity.
2. (vv. 11-13)
Micah 4:11
“Now also - (And now.) The prophet had already spoken of the future before them, with this word Now. Then, he distinctly prophesied the captivity to Babylon. Twice more he begins anew; as Holy Scripture, so often, in a mystery, whether speaking of evil or of good, of deliverance or of punishment, uses a threefold form. In these two, no mention is made of the enemy, and so there is some uncertainty. But the course must apparently be either backward or forward. They must either be two nearer futures before the Captivity, or two more distant after it.”
Micah 4:12
“The Hebrew is singular, "sheaf." However great the numbers of the foe, they are all but as one sheaf ready to be threshed [CALVIN]. Threshing was done by treading with the feet: hence the propriety of the image for treading under foot and breaking asunder the foe.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Micah 4:13
“Arise - (It may be,) from the dust in which they were lying, “I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass.” Threshing in the East is partly with oxen, partly with wheels of iron, or with planks set with sharp flints on an open place made hard to this end.”
1 more voice on this verse
Micah 4:13
I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord--God subjects the nations to Zion, not for her own selfish aggrandizement, but for His glory (Isa 60:6, 9; Zec 14:20, with which compare Isa 23:18) and for their ultimate good; therefore He is here called, not merely God of Israel, but "Lord of the whole earth."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
many nations are gathered against thee: Many nations gather against Zion wanting to see her defiled, but they do not know the thoughts of the Lord, who has gathered them himself as sheaves to the threshing floor. Zion is told to arise and thresh, her horn made iron and her hoofs brass, an image of overwhelming strength given to the very city the nations expected to trample. The chapter's last line turns the coming victory from plunder to worship, their gain and substance consecrated to the Lord of the whole earth, so that the fight itself serves an end larger than conquest.
This page carries no textual note on Micah 4. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
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