Micahchapter 5
15 verses · BSBMicah book hub →
Speaks with:Luke 1×3Zechariah 10×2Lamentations 3×1John 18×1Isaiah 33×1Matthew 2×1
Summary
Chapter summary
The judge of Israel is struck with a rod on the cheek, and out of that humiliation comes the promise: 'But thou, Beth-lehem Ephrathah, which art little to be among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall one come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting' (5:2). Herod's scribes quote it to locate the newborn King (Matthew 2:6), and 'from everlasting' says who he is. He shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of Jehovah, and 'this man shall be our peace.' Horses, chariots, strongholds, witchcrafts, and graven images are all cut off together.
Context
Prophecy · Micah — Micah overview
- A. 1–6 Bethlehem Ephrathah, little among the thousands of Judah
- B. 7–9 A remnant like dew, and like a lion among the flocks
- C. 10–15 Horses, cities, sorceries, and carved images cut off
The outline
A.Bethlehem Ephrathah, little among the thousands of Judahvv. 1 to 6
Read vv. 1 to 6 →B.A remnant like dew, and like a lion among the flocksvv. 7 to 9
Read vv. 7 to 9 →C.Horses, cities, sorceries, and carved images cut offvv. 10 to 15
Read vv. 10 to 15 →
The world behind this chapter
Micah 5The history
Striking the judge of Israel on the cheek with a rod is a description of public humiliation of a ruler, and 701 BC supplies the occasion. Sennacherib's own account, preserved on clay prisms, boasts that he took forty-six of Judah's fortified cities and shut Hezekiah up in Jerusalem like a bird in a cage — his words, in his own records.
Bethlehem Ephrathah is called little among the clans of Judah, and the description is accurate. It was a village of a few hundred people about six miles south of Jerusalem, with no strategic value and no administrative role. Its only claim was that David had come from there three centuries earlier.
The phrase about the ruler's goings forth being from of old, from ancient days, uses language that elsewhere describes what belongs to eternity rather than to history. Whatever else it says, it says this ruler's origin is not measured from Bethlehem.
The list of things to be cut off at the end is a list of what a nation trusted for security: horses and chariots, fortified cities and strongholds, and then the sorceries, soothsayers, carved images, and Asherah poles. Military hardware and magical hardware are put in the same pile, because they served the same function.
What it meant to them
For hearers under siege, the promise of seven shepherds and eight princes raised up against the Assyrian said that the empire in their fields was not the last word. That year, Sennacherib withdrew without taking Jerusalem — a fact his own prism quietly confirms by never claiming the city.
The Bethlehem promise was read by Jewish scholars as pointing to the Messiah's birthplace, and Matthew records the chief priests quoting this exact verse to Herod when the wise men asked where the king was to be born. They knew the answer without needing to look it up.
Sources cited
- The Taylor Prism of Sennacherib (Assyrian royal annals)
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Micah 5. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
Connections from this chapter
v. 2 · A stop on the Messiah's trail
root of Jesse -> birthplace: 'Bethlehem Ephrathah... goings forth from of old'
Isaiah 11:1→Then a shoot will spring up from the stump of Jesse, and a Branch from his roots will bear fruit.
MT-ASV; Targum Jonathan
v. 2 · A picture of Christ
Born in Bethlehem Ephrathah
Luke 2:4→So Joseph also went up from Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, since he was from the house and line of David.
MannaFest topical index
v. 2 · A stop on the Messiah's trail
The prophecy lands: 'the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham' - the genealogy collects the line.
Matthew 1:1→This is the record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham:
MT-ASV; public-domain quotation
v. 2 · Spoken beforehand, fulfilled here · Quoted here
Bethlehem; chief priests cite to Herod; Targum reception.
Matthew 2:6→‘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.’”
quoted explicitly in the New Testament; Edersheim, Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Appendix IX (public domain)
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.