From Bethlehem Will Come the Ruler – Micah 5:1-6

Present day Bethlehem is a thriving Palestinian city that houses the Church of the Nativity, the traditional site of Jesus’ birth.  From this video you can see it has considerable size.  But in Jesus’ and David’s day it was just a small village with little to commend it.  But since David the king came from Bethlehem, so must Messiah, as Micah prophesies.

Now muster your troops, O daughter of troops; siege is laid against us; with a rod they strike the judge of Israel on the cheek.  2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,

from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.  3 Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth;

then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel.  4 And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.  And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth.  5 And he shall be their peace.

When the Assyrian comes into our land and treads in our palaces, then we will raise against him seven shepherds and eight princes of men; 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. (Micah 5:1-6)

How will God bring about Israel’s rescue forever from her enemies?  Who will lead her in her task of carrying out Yahweh’s judgment?  Messiah.  The anointed king David, who also came from Bethlehem, will yield yet another from this small clan who is intended to be the ruler in Israel, predicted from of old.  Yahweh will give up Israel to her enemies until the new ruler is born and then he will unite the divided kingdom once again, Israel and Judah, Israel being the “rest” of Judah’s brothers.  He will be their peace, the one whom they all can follow as God’s chosen regent.

But now the city is besieged or about to be and Micah is foretelling it.  The Assyrians actually did besiege Jerusalem and humiliated Hezekiah before his people (“struck him on the cheek” figuratively speaking).  God rescued them because Hezekiah and the people had put away idols and the high places.  Later, around 136 years later, God gave Jerusalem and Judah over to the Babylonians.  Their idolatry had returned.

But in the future day the son of David, Jesus, will shepherd his flock in Yahweh’s strength and bring complete security to a reunited Israel.  He will have help from other faithful shepherds and princes and take back to the Assyrians what they brought to the Holy Land, that is, the sword and warfare.

This prophecy began to be fulfilled when a star (comet?) appeared in the east and the Magi saw it as the signal of Israel’s coming Messiah.  In Jerusalem they were told where Israel’s king was to be born and quoted this passage from Micah.  What they acknowledged then they have trouble acknowledging now.  We have made the name of Jesus odious to them in many cases by our attitude and actions toward the Jews.  But they also were unwilling to embrace Jesus when he came because he called them to repentance.  Let us not reject him for the same reason.