Prior To His Coming YHWH Will Bring About The Wasting Of The Assyrians By Means Of Seven Shepherds and Eight Principal Men But His People Will Nevertheless End Up In Exile Among The Nations. (Micah 5:5-8).
The total change of subject, and the lack of any mention of the Ruler previously described, combined with the fact that at this stage the people will not yet have returned from exile (Micah 5:7-8), indicates that what follows comes prior to the coming of the expected King.
God will bring about deliverance from the hands of the Assyrians, but nevertheless His people will have been carried off into exile in order that their sins might be rooted out (Micah 5:10-15).
‘And this shall be peace. When the Assyrian shall come into our land, and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.'
However, peace will be accomplished, and Assyria defeated, prior to this coming of the King, by means of treaties with other nations against the Assyrians. Such attempts were constantly made as we know from Isaiah 39. And it is probable that Josiah joined in with such a confederacy and that his death later came about because as a member of such a confederacy he was seeking to prevent the Egyptian army from bringing aid to the Assyrians, who were under attack from the confederacy (2 Kings 23:29, where ‘against' (‘al) the king of Assyria could be translated ‘with regard to'. Josiah would have had no reason for preventing Egypt from attacking Assyria, but every reason for preventing them from helping them). His action and death may well have sealed the fate of Assyria.
Thus Micah is making clear that while Assyrian depredations will continue into the future, it will be combated by an alliance of kings and chieftains.
Note on the position of Assyria in Josiah's time.
Nearly two hundred years after Micah began prophesying, during the reign of Josiah (640-609 BC), Assyria was still the predominant force in Mesopotamia and after bitter struggles was continuing to maintain its hold on its empire and exact tribute. But its empire had become too large to control and although there was no single rival empire, its own empire was creaking at the seams. The Egyptians had become strong and had exerted their independence, and the Medes, Elamites and Babylonians were constantly causing trouble to the east, while the Lydians were doing the same to the north. Palestine just sat and waited, no doubt being ‘reminded' every now and again by the Assyrians that it was necessary to remain loyal.
The death of Asshurbanapal in around 633 BC was the beginning of the end. Herodotus mentions a Medan attack on Nineveh and depredations by hordes of Scythians, and around that time Babylon struck for independence. In 626 BC the Babylonians defeated an Assyrian army, and asserted their independence, and all attempts by Assyria to reverse the situation proved in vain. Babylon then prepared to invade Assyria, with the Medes looming in the background, and the danger was so great that the Egyptians, fearing a new emerging power, went to the assistance of Assyria and together in 616 BC they drove back the invading Babylonians. But this was then followed by an attack on Asshur, the Assyrian capital by the Medes in 614 BC, at which point Babylon and the Medes entered into an official alliance. In 612 BC Nineveh was taken by siege and destroyed.
It seems probable that Josiah entered into an official alliance with them, for he would have been seen as a valuable ally who was in a position to keep an eye on the Egyptians and prevent further interference from them. And he certainly played his part, at the cost of his life, in ensuring that the Egyptians did not arrive in time to bolster up the failing Assyrian forces. (The alternative possibility is that as a tributary of Assyria he loyally tried on Assyria's behalf to prevent Egypt from combining with the confederacy forces. But that seems unlikely).
The final attempts of the severely weakened Assyrian army to retake lost ground failed, and without the prompt assistance of the Egyptians, delayed by Josiah, the Assyrian centuries of dominance were over. The future lay with the confederacy. But from then on Babylon would become the new empire builder, for loyalties were temporary and soon forgotten. Had Josiah not intervened it might well have been better for Israel/Judah.
End of note.
So the constant depredations of the Assyrians against Judah will eventually be met by partaking in a confederacy of ‘seven kings and eight principal men'. The phrase need not be taken literally. It indicates a sufficiency of kings, and an even greater sufficiency of tribal leaders and chieftains. We can be sure that in view of the way in which the once invincible Assyrians were seen, the confederacy would gain as much support as possible, for their scattered forces once brought together were still strong. We have no certain knowledge of the make up of the confederacy, although it may well have included among others Lydia, Babylon, the Medes, the Elamites and Israel/Judah.
‘And they will waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in its entrances, and he will deliver us from the Assyrian, when he comes into our land, and when he treads within our border.'
The confederacy will attack Assyria and waste its land, and will reach its borders and even beyond. The land of the mighty Nimrod (Genesis 10:9; Genesis 10:11), which had for so long been invincible, will itself be invaded, and in this way will YHWH deliver His people from the Assyrians with their continual depredations on Israel/Judah.