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Third Millennium Study Bible
Notes on Micah 7:8-20

Hymn of Praise for God's Victory - Micah 7:8-20

This concluding liturgical hymn consists of four stanzas: (1) Lady Jerusalem in her fallen status confessed her faith in the Lord (Micah 7:8-10), (2) in response to this faith the prophet promised that she would become the eschatological sheepfold, offering salvation to a whole world under judgment (Micah 7:11-13), (3) Micah prayed that the Lord would miraculously shepherd his people (Micah 7:14), the Lord responded that he would do so (Micah 7:15, and Micah reflected that believing Israel would be saved but the unbelieving enemy conquered (Micah 7:16-17), and (4) the people celebrated the wonder that God would hurl their sins into the sea in order to fulfill his covenantal promises to the patriarchs (Micah 7:18-20).

Regarding Micah 7:8-10 Wiseman says:

In the first strophe humiliated Lady Jerusalem commands her blasphemous rival not to gloat (Micah 7:8), explains that she suffers for her sins only for a season (Micah 7:9), and that at the time of salvation her rival will be put to shame (Micah 7:10).

In this imaginary dialogue with her enemy, Jerusalem represents herself as in the dark and as fallen on the ground before her rival (Micah 7:8). The figure of darkness evokes the imagery of a dungeon-prison without light, an apt figure for a trapped city under siege. The repentant city affirms in the darkness, 'the Lord is my light' (cf. JB, NAB, NEB).

The faithful remnant within the city accepts the prophet's inspired interpretation of history that Jerusalem fell not by chance (cf. 1 Sam. 6:9) nor by the Lord's impotence (cf. 2 Kings 18:22-35), but because of the Lord's wrath against her sins (Micah 7:9). With such a world-view, misery can take on spiritual meaning and lead to repentance, endurance and hope. Her hope rests on God doing what is right. If he punished Israel for wrongdoing, then how much more will he punish those who have wronged his elect city and blasphemed him (cf. Micah 7:10). Whereas light in Micah 7:8 spoke of God as the present source of salvation, in Micah 7:9 it speaks of his future act of salvation.

So, at first the covenant community ("Zion"), is heard challenging her enemies and expressing her confidence in the LORD'S intervention to deliver her from her plight (Micah 7:8-10). To this confidence Micah responds with a positive declaration of the covenant community's restoration and return (Micah 7:11-13). McComiskey says:

In Micah 7:11-12, the clouds of gloom have completely gone, and the remainder of the chapter is an exultant description of the eventual triumph of the remnant. The prophet envisions a great extension of the remnants influence as he sees a future day when the nation will grow in area and numbers. In this terminology the prophet pictures the then-despised and persecuted remnant as occupying a position of broadest influence in the future.

The future nation, cleansed of her sin and ruled by the King born in Bethlehem, will be greatly increased in population by an influx of people from Gentile nations, symbolized by Assyria and Egypt, though another view believes that the people returning from these nations are actually Judean exiles. This latter view complements the message of Micah 4:1-4 in that it gives to the revived nation of Israel a prominent role in the era of universal peace.

That the Gentiles are to become partakers of the promise through faith is a cardinal doctrine of both OT and NT (Gen 12:3; Amos 9:11-12; Rom 9:30; Gal 3:6-9). The passage is similar to Amos 9:11-12, where the inclusion of Gentiles in the promise is rooted in the era of peace, when Israel's fortunes will be restored (Amos 9:13-15).

At the same time that God's people prosper, however, the judgment of God will fall on the sinful world, for "the earth will become desolate." Like Isaiah (Isa 34-35), Micah sees a future judgment on the earth. Out of the decay of a crumbling society, Micah perceives the emergence of the kingdom of God. The prophet can be optimistic, for he knows that his lot is not with the impermanent society in which he lives but with the kingdom of God.

In response to the oracle promising salvation to the elect, the prophet responds in praise and prayer. Wiseman says:

Shepherd, a common figure in the ancient Near East for an ideal king, depicts an inward spiritual relationship of love and trust between king and people, outward protection (Micah 7:14a; note staff = sceptre), and provision (Micah 7:14b; note feed). Inheritance metaphorically signifies their permanent position by virtue of ancient right. Carmel (see NIV mg.) suggests a garden-like forest (cf. 2 Kings 19:23 = Isa. 37:24), a place fit for the King's sheep to live. Bashan and Gilead evoke both the memory that Moses at the beginning of Israel's history gave Israel these lands by mighty wonders (note as in days long ago), and the desire for their famous pastures and fertile lands.

The Lord, using the first person, interrupts the petition (cf. Pss 12:5; 60:6-8; 87:4) and promises to show Israel in the future such salvation-wonders as when he smote the first-born of Egypt, provided a way through the Red Sea and Jordan river, preserved them in the wilderness and overthrew numerous nations mightier than they. Israel saw that same outstretched arm when the Lord miraculously smote Sennacheribs army at Jerusalems gates; again when Cyrus commanded that the exiles be restored and their temple rebuilt; and, above all, when the Lord Jesus vanquished death and Satan in his death and resurrection.

Micah responds to the oracle with a meditation: the nations will be humiliated, vanquished and in turn fear the Lord. Micah 7:16-17 link closely with Micah 7:10, but widen the humiliated enemy from one (Assyria) to all nations. In Micah 7:10 Assyria fell in defeat, here the nations renounce their power and pride. Lay their hands on their mouths and 'make their ears deaf' (NEB) signifies their humiliation: they themselves will no longer either taunt Israel as the rival did in Micah 7:10, or listen to the vain boasts of others. Lick dust, as seen from other parts of Scripture (Gen. 3:14; Psa. 44:25) and in many reliefs from the ancient Near East, depicts the vanquished kings grovelling before their overlord. Confronted with the Lord's power, they realize their impotence and in that spiritual state prepare to move out of their old strongholds to worship the Lord. The Lord so utterly vanquished Satan and death in the resurrection of Christ that nations today also learn to fear him.

In Micah 7:18, we observe the phrase "Who is a God like you?" Micah - whose name means "Who is like the LORD?" - artfully associated God's name with his pardoning grace (cf. Exod 15:11). Without that quality Micah's ministry would have been pointless. See WLC 179; HC 19, 56. As Israel's journey had begun by God hurling the Egyptians into the Red Sea, so God would consummate her history by hurling her iniquities into the metaphorical depths (Micah 7:19). In Micah 7:20, we see that God's loving fidelity to the patriarchs constitutes the basis of the Church's hope (Rom 4:17; Gal 3:7-29). Allen states:

Martin Luther provided what amounts to a remarkable summary of the whole passage, Micah 7:8-20:

Though great our sins and sore our wounds
and deep and dark our fall,
his helping mercy hath no bounds,
his love surpasseth all.
Our trusty loving Shepherd he,
who shall at last set Israel free
from all their sin and sorrow. (E.T. by Catharine Winkworth)

The piece forms a worthy climax to the book of Micah. It builds upon the prophetic word with the assurance and tone of spiritual reality that marked Micah's own ministry. It is a monument to the faith of men who transcended their earthly woes and climbed to a spiritual vantage point. From there they could survey the present in the reassuring light of God's past and future dealings with his covenant people. As Micah's prophesying was marked by a holy boldness that enabled him to confront a corrupt society as fearlessly as Peter, John, and Paul in a later age, so here is an earnest of boldness toward God in approaching "the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace in the form of timely help" (Heb. 4:16).

Soli Deo Gloria!

Related Resources

• The Already and the Not Yet
• The Kingdom of God: Is God's Kingdom Now or Later?
• The Plan of the Ages: Are We in the Last Days?
• Covenant Curse Types and Restorative Blessings

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