Daily Bible Reading Friday 27th December 2024
by William Moody
Micah 5:1–6
The Ruler to Be Born in Bethlehem
5:1 1 Now muster your troops, O daughter2 of troops;
siege is laid against us;
with a rod they strike the judge of Israel
on the cheek.
2 3 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.(ESV)
Micah speaks of a time of siege (v1). This could be from the Assyrians or Babylonians. The striking of ruler speaks of defeat and subjection. But then there comes hope from Bethlehem (v2-5a). This was from an unexpected source as Bethlehem was an insignificant place (v2). Also, unexpected source as this future ruler is from ancient days which means He is eternal. In backwater place Bethlehem was, something amazing would happen with the eternal God humbly taking on human nature with all its limitations.
Micah speaks of God’s people in Exile (v7-9) and the phrase ‘like dew from the Lord’ (v7) speaks of the exiles being a blessing to the nations. The phrase ‘like a lion among the beasts’ (v8) speaks of the fight still remaining in God’s people. They are not destroyed but still by God’s grace a mighty force for whom one day victory will come (v9)
Due to God’s faithfulness, exile will just be for a while and God’s purposes in exile will be fulfilled which include destruction of the defences they rely on (v10-11), the destruction of witchcraft (v12) and idolatry (v13-14) and finally the destruction of their enemies (v15). The great purpose of the exile is to purify God’s people. We will never understand trials, we will never understand Christmas, unless we come to understand God’s great passion to make us a holy and pure people.
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