Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. Therefore will he give them up until the time that - `Therefore (because of His settled plan) will God give up to their foes His people Israel, until,' etc.
She which travaileth hath brought forth-namely, "the virgin" mother, mentioned by Micah's contemporary (Isaiah 7:14). Zion "in travail" (Micah 4:9-10) answers to the virgin in travail of Messiah. Israel's deliverance from her long travail-pains of sorrow will synchronize with the appearance of Messiah as her Redeemer (Romans 11:26) in the last days, as the Church's spiritual deliverance synchronized with the virgin's giving birth to Him at His first advent. The ancient Church's travail-like waiting for Messiah is represented by the virgin's travail. Hence, both may be meant. It cannot be restricted to the Virgin Mary; because Israel is still "given up," though Messiah has been "brought forth" eighteen and a half centuries ago. But the Church's throes are included, which are only to be ended when Christ, having been preached for "a witness unto all nations" (Matthew 24:14), shall at last appear as the Deliverer of Jacob, and when "the times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled," and Israel as "a nation shall be born in a day" (Isaiah 66:7-11; Luke 21:24; Revelation 12:1-2; Revelation 12:4; cf. Romans 8:22). Sufferings are, in the purpose of God, the necessary travail-pains that precede the joy of the birth (cf. Micah 4:9, "Now, why dost thou cry out aloud ... for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail;" cf. John 16:20, "Ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice; and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world").
Then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel - (cf. Micah 4:7). The remainder of the Israelites dispersed in foreign lands shall return to join their countrymen in Canaan. The Hebrew for "unto" х `al (H5921)] is, literally, upon, implying super-addition to those already gathered.