Micah 4

Many Jewish worshipers recite the last two lines of this verse when a worship leader takes the Bible scroll from the cabinet (the Torah from the ark), to read aloud to the people. Their version may sound more like this: “Instruction will come from Zion. The word of the LORD from Jerusalem.” Zion is an endearing nickname for Jerusalem. Hebrew poetry is famous for repetition. What rhyming is to English poetry, parallelism is to Hebrew poetry. A second line might repeat the idea in the first line, contrast it, or expand on it.

“Plow tips” are metal shields that farmers put on the front of their wooden plow blades. It helps the blade drive through the dirt more easily and push rocks aside. Micah 4:2-4 is one of the Bible’s most famous word pictures of what life will be like in the future. Isaiah 2:2-4 says much the same, and scholars debate who wrote the description first. Micah’s version seems in better shape, some Hebrew-language specialists say, so they lean toward his version. Some say this passage describes a future that God creates at the end of human history, or some other time when he dramatically intervenes into human history. Others say it’s a future that people can create themselves if they can muster the common sense, compassion, and determination. Verses 2-4 are what Bible scholars call “eschatological.” That means the words refer to the end of life as we know it, Judgment Day, and the beginning of what comes next.

Farmers trimming tree branches often used poles with cutting blades at the tip. People called the curved blades pruning hooks.

Some scholars say this verse means that in Micah’s day people worshiped various gods, but in the future everyone on earth will worship the LORD. Others interpret it as it appears here. Flip a coin because Micah’s intent seems unclear. He seems to be talking about a revival of the Jewish nation after the coming destruction of the cities and deportation of their survivors. In which case, he’s at least recognizing that the rest of the world may respect Israel and yet stop short of becoming Jewish. But he could mean more than that, as well. Sometimes we read between the lines. Sometimes we guess.

Some scholars say Micah may have written this to encourage the people of Judah who were under attack by Assyrian forces led by Sennacherib in 701 BC. Assyrians had destroyed the northern Jewish nation of Israel about 20 years earlier. Judah, in the south, was the only surviving Jewish nation. Sennacherib destroyed most cities during that campaign. And he defeated Egyptians who tried to come to Judah’s rescue. Then he lay siege to Jerusalem when Hezekiah was king. But he and his army left suddenly. A Bible writer said an angel killed 185,000 of his soldiers (2 Kings 19:35). A Greek writer 250 years later, Herodotus, wrote that rats sent the army on the run—a rat infestation that killed some of the soldiers. Some speculate that the rats carried diseases—plagues such as bubonic, septicemic, pneumonic. Those three diseases—all from the same bacterium (yersinia pestis)—attack the immune system, blood, and lungs.

The Hebrew text doesn’t say how the Jewish people will use the wealth. But it says the wealth is “dedicated” or “devoted” to God. The Hebrew word is herem. By Micah’s time, this word had a long and well-established meaning among Jewish people. It means everything belongs to him. When Joshua and the Hebrews first invaded Canaan, they “devoted” all the enemy cities to God. They killed as a sacrifice everything in the cities: men, women, children, livestock. The soldiers took a vow to dedicate themselves to herem, the annihilation of the Canaanites. They didn’t keep any of the valuables for themselves. But in Micah’s passage, they do confiscate valuables, which they devote to the LORD. He doesn’t seem to need this in a realm of Spirit. But it sure comes in handy among the flesh and bone. Where would it go? Maybe to rebuild Jerusalem and the nation. Also, helpless people were one of God’s great concerns, according to Moses and other prophets (Deuteronomy 10:18; Isaiah 9:17; Malachi 3:5). In Micah’s day, the people at greatest risk and most easily exploited included widows, orphans, and immigrants. As it still is, today.