CRITICAL NOTES.
Micah 5:10. Horses] All human resources on which to depend (Isaiah 2:6-8; Psalms 20:7). “The Church will never be safe till she is stripped of all creature-trusts, and rests on Jehovah alone” [Calvin].
Micah 5:11. Cities] Salvation so complete that neither forces nor strongholds would be wanted.
Micah 5:12. Witch.] Such offences would be no more found amongst them (cf. Isaiah 2:6-8) Sooth.] Signmongers by hand and observations of the sky.
Micah 5:13. Images] Graven idols made of wood or metal. Stand.] Statues, stone images, or stones dedicated to idols (1 Kings 14:23). “Thou shalt no more be an idolatrous people” [A. Clarke].
Micah 5:14. Groves] Lit. “Stems of trees, or posts standing upright, or set up as idols, which were dedicated to the Canaanitish goddess of nature” (cf. Exodus 34:13) [Keil]. Cities] In or near which idolatrous groves were planted (2 Kings 10:25). “These two rather subordinate objects are mentioned instar omnium, to express the entire abolition of war and idolatry” [Keil].
Micah 5:15.] The Lord will take vengeance upon nations that have not heard, i.e. not hearkened or obeyed his voice. “In other words, he will exterminate every ungodly power by a fierce judgment, so that nothing will ever be able to disturb the peace of his people and kingdom again” [Keil].
EXTERMINATION OF WAR AND IDOLATRY.—Micah 5:10-15
Jehovah will secure the peace of his people by the destruction of war instruments, the extermination of idolatry, and the infliction of judgment upon resisting nations. Appliances of war will not be required in universal peace and security.
I. War abolished. God will deprive them of everything to make war, that they may depend upon him alone.
1. Human aids will be taken away. Men multiply horses and chariots, and trust in them (Psalms 20:7). Israel was accustomed to rely on Egypt and Assyria (cf. Isaiah 31:1-3; Hosea 14:3), but the time will come when the Church of God will not lean on an arm of flesh.
2. Outward defences will be destroyed. Strongholds and fortified cities will be demolished. “And throw down all thy strongholds.” God will teach his people not to look to war-chariots and secular allies, not to seek refuge in temporal support. He will be their garrison and deliverer. Cities have been provisioned and besieged for years and yet have fallen: but God defends his people, “all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates.”
II. Idolatry destroyed. In the Church of God there may be illicit intercourse with idols. When men are impatient in affliction, restless in their mind, and curious to know the future, they set up gods and groves of their own.
1. Systems of divination will be destroyed. Witchcraft, conjuring, and fortune-telling will be cut off. The work of men’s hands shall not be worshipped. Necromancy, pyromancy, and astrology are diabolical arts. Such tricks are abomination to God, who will judge them in his wrath.
2. Idolatrous worship destroyed. Graven images will be demolished. Groves and plantations will be plucked up, and not a remnant of idolatry left behind. God will cut off whatever hinders his purpose and corrupts his people. Confidence in creatures is idolatry. Holiness before God is essential to victory over the foe. Every curious art and devilish practice is destined to fall before the preaching of the cross (Acts 19:19).
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Micah 5:10-14. The purification of the Church. Everything of an ungodly and idolatrous nature must be taken away before it can conquer the world and be fit for God’s residence. This is,
1. A necessary work.
2. A painful work.
3. A Divine work. “The greater the glory and purity of the Church, the less it needs or hangs upon human aid. The more it is reft of human aid, the more it hangs upon God. So God promises, as a blessing, that he will remove from her all mere human resources, both what was in itself evil and what, although good, had been abused” [Pusey].
Micah 5:15. The doom of heathen nations and ungodly opponents.
1. Vengeance without mercy.
2. Vengeance unprecedented. “Such as they have not heard.” “In like way, the woe on those who obey not the truth, also looks on to the end. It too is final. There is nothing to soften it. Punishments in the course of life are medicinal. Here no mention is made of mercy, but only of executing vengeance; and that with wrath and fury; and that such as they have not heard. For as eye hath not seen, nor heart conceived, the good things laid up in store for those who love God, so neither the evil things prepared for those who in act show that they hate him” [Pusey].
The Prince of peace.
1. His coming, (a) In lowly guise, Micah 5:1; humble. (b) And yet to the throne, Micah 5:1; glorious. (c) Because he was appointed to this form of old; eternal. (d) At the appointed fulness of time, Micah 5:2; temporal.
2. His work. (a) To seek and save that which was lost, Micah 5:2. (b) To be a shepherd in truth, Micah 5:3. (c) To prepare God’s kingdom even to the ends of the world, Micah 5:3. (d) To give peace to his followers through the protection which he will afford and the bestowment of power, Micah 5:4. (e) To judge the world, Micah 5:5; Micah 5:14.
3. His congregation. (a) A spiritual congregation, Micah 5:6. (b) A powerful congregation, Micah 5:7-8. (c) A holy congregation:
(1) trusts in God alone, Micah 5:9-10;
(2) inquires after God’s will alone, Micah 5:11;
(3) fears God alone, Micah 5:12-13 [Lange].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 5
Micah 5:10-15. Christianity is by its nature adapted to effect these and similar changes in the physical, intellectual, and social state of our world, and by the decree of the Eternal it is hastening their accomplishment. It came into the world not only to reinstate man in his proper relationship to God, but to restore to him the forfeited inheritance of earth. It has already done much. Europe has been indebted to it for most of its civilization. England owes to it most of its elements of happiness and security. Within our own time it has achieved much good in the enfranchisement of the slave, in the partial civilization of Polynesia, in a thousand instrumentalities of blessing that are now at work in almost every quarter of the globe. It shall go on until it has attained all its happy and benign results. It shall yet enter, penetrate, and suffuse the entire frame of mind and existence. The Church shall become an eternal excellence, and a joy of many generations. The field of the world shall present the aspect as of a paradise regained. The race of man shall appear as the ransomed of the Lord, joy and gladness on their heads, sorrow and sighing for ever fled away [Legge].
“O Scenes surpassing fable and yet true,
Scenes of accomplished bliss, which who can see,
Though but in distant prospect, and not feel
The soul refreshed with foretaste of the joy,—
The joy of an assembly such as earth
Saw never; such as heaven stoops down to see! [Cowper.]