Micah 5:5,6 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

When the Assyrian shall come, &c.— Instead of, Shall we raise against him, &c. in Micah 5:5. Houbigant reads, Seven shepherds and eight princes of the people shall be raised against them; Micah 5:6 who shall feed upon the land of, &c. And the land of Nimrod with the edge thereof; and shall deliver us from the Assyrian, when, &c. Micah now returns, says he, to the last times of the Jewish republic, which were spoken of at the end of the preceding chapter; and, after the ruin of the Assyrians, foretels the kingdom of the seven Magi in Persia, afterwards of the eight leaders, whereof Darius the son of Hystaspes was one; by whom the Jewish republic returned to its ancient splendour. If we admit our interpretation, this deliverance must be referred to the goings-forth of the Word, which he was to accomplish before he was made flesh, and dwelt among us. Dr. Sharpe observes, "Since no person whatever was raised up to deliver the Jews when the armies of Nebuchadnezzar laid waste Jerusalem, and made the inhabitants thereof captives, in which state they continued seventy years, and as what follows manifestly relates to some future period, I cannot help thinking that the seven shepherds are the seven Maccabees; namely, Mattathias and his five sons, with Hyrcanus the son of Simon; and the eight princes, the Asmonean race; beginning with Aristobulus, and ending with Mariamne, who was married to Herod. This interpretation connects the several oracles in this and the foregoing chapter, and leads us naturally, and in due order of time, from the destruction of Jerusalem under Nebuchadnezzar, to the birth of Christ; for, when she who travailed had brought forth in Beth-lehem, then the goings-forth of him, who in the fulness of the dispensations of God's providence was to be ruler in Israel, or king of the Jews, were perfected. Let it be observed here, that a chain of prophesy, extending from the days of Micah to those of Herod, or much longer, from Balaam to Titus, confirmed in every part by events absolutely out of all human power to have foreseen, is such an evidence of these ancient records, as ought not to be rejected." See much more on the subject, in Sharpe's Second Argument, p. 172.