The Book of Micah with Brit-Am/Hebrew Awareness Commentary
Continued from Micah ch.5. part 2.
ch. 5. Part Three.
Micah (ESV) 5:
6 they shall shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword,
and the land of Nimrod at its entrances;
and he shall deliver us from the Assyrian
when he comes into our land
and treads within our border.
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.
Abarbanel gives as one the understanding of these verses as if to say:
The remnant of Jacob in the End Times may be few in number but they will be able to defend themselves. They will not need the help of others. The Almighty will help them.
9 Your hand shall be lifted up over your adversaries,
and all your enemies shall be cut off.
The Israelites will be victorious.
10 And in that day, declares the LORD,
I will cut off your horses from among you
and will destroy your chariots;
The Prophets spoke of the future in terms of their own times.
Hoses, and chariots mean motor cars and maybe tanks.
The implied meansing of these verses in light of what went before them and the general contexts is:
The Almighty will give victory to the Israelites over their enemies.
The Israelites themselves will have to repent. Their places of idolatry and vice and their cities that were built in such a way not conducive to a God-Fearing life will be destroyed.
Things will have to change.
11 and I will cut off the cities of your land
and throw down all your strongholds;
12 and I will cut off sorceries from your hand,
and you shall have no more tellers of fortunes;
13 and I will cut off your carved images
and your pillars from among you,
and you shall bow down no more
to the work of your hands;
14 and I will root out your Asherah images from among you
and destroy your cities.
15 And in anger and wrath I will execute vengeance
on the nations that did not obey.
The word translated as "nations" here in Hebrew is "goyim" often understood to mean "Gentiles" i.e. non-Israelites. Nevertheless, the term is also applied to Israelites.
ALL ISRAELITE NATIONS WILL NEED TO REPENT.
In our time repentance also means striving to know who the Ten tribes are and internalizing this information!
Not only the Hebrews but ultimately all peoples of the earth will have to reform themselves.
What are sorceries, tellers of fortunes, carved images, pillars, in our time?
Possible parallels may well include New Age type psychology and sociology, misleading sciences, gambling, places of assembly for immoral purposes, wasted energy gatherings, and the like.
CONTINUED at Micah chapter 6, part 1.