Micah 5:4

And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(4) He shall stand and feed—i.e., He shall stand with the majesty of an assured sovereignty, uniting the dignity of king with the tenderness of a shepherd’s care—a thought which, underlying the notion of a Jewish monarch (see Psalm 78:70-72), becomes a distinguishing attribute of the King Messiah (Isaiah 40:2; see also Note on Ezekiel 34:2).

His God.—The Messiah was to be subordinate to the Father in heaven—“My Father is greater than I”—and they—i.e., His subjects—shall abide. It is impossible to conceive this prophecy as satisfied by any event short of that which is the foundation of the Christian faith.

Benson Commentary

Micah 5:4. And he shall stand and feed — Or rule as the word רעה, here rendered feed, often signifies: that is, he shall go on, he shall continue to rule, or feed, his people. Christ shall diligently perform the office of a shepherd, or governor, over his church. In the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord — God, or the indwelling Deity, strengthening and exalting his human nature. The expression, the name of the Lord his God, might be intended to signify the Messiah’s acting by commission from the Father, in whose name he came, preached, wrought miracles, and instituted his gospel church. And they shall abide — His church, made up of converted Jews and Gentiles, shall continue; the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. For now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth — Some interpret this as signifying the making the true God known over all the earth: but it seems rather to be intended of the Messiah; for the angel, who foretold his conception to his virgin mother, as is related Luke 1:32-33, seems plainly to allude to this prophecy, saying, He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest, &c. And he is dignified with such titles as were never given to any creature, as the apostle proves at large, Hebrews 1:4-14.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

5:1-6 Having showed how low the house of David would be brought, a prediction of the Messiah and his kingdom is added to encourage the faith of God's people. His existence from eternity as God, and his office as Mediator, are noticed. Here is foretold that Bethlehem should be his birthplace. Hence it was universally known among the Jews, Mt 2:5. Christ's government shall be very happy for his subjects; they shall be safe and easy. Under the shadow of protection from the Assyrians, is a promise of protection to the gospel church and all believers, from the designs and attempts of the powers of darkness. Christ is our Peace as a Priest, making atonement for sin, and reconciling us to God; and he is our Peace as a King, conquering our enemies: hence our souls may dwell at ease in him. Christ will find instruments to protect and deliver. Those that threaten ruin to the church of God, soon bring ruin on themselves. This may include the past powerful effects of the preached gospel, its future spread, and the ruin of all antichristian powers. This is, perhaps, the most important single prophecy in the Old Testament: it respects the personal character of the Messiah, and the discoveries of himself to the world. It distinguishes his human birth from his existing from eternity; it foretells the rejection of the Israelites and Jews for a season, their final restoration, and the universal peace to prevail through the whole earth in the latter days. In the mean time let us trust our Shepherd's care and power. If he permits the assault of our enemies, he will supply helpers and assistance for us.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And He shall stand - The prophet continues to speak of personal acts of this Ruler who was to be born. He was not to pass away, not to rule only by others, but by Himself. To stand is the attitude of a servant, as Jesus, although God and Lord of all, said of Himself, "He shall come forth and serve them" Luke 12:37; "The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister" Matthew 20:28. "He shall stand" as a Shepherd Isaiah 61:5, to watch, feed, guard them, day and night; "He shall stand," as Stephen saw Christ "standing on the Right Hand of God" Acts 7:55, "to succor all those who suffer for Him." : "For to sit belongs to one judging; to stand, to one fighting or helping." "He shall stand," as abiding, not to pass from them, as Himself saith, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world" Matthew 28:20 : and He shall feed His flock by His Spirit, His Word, His Wisdom and doctrine, His example and life; yea, by His own Body and Blood John 6. They whom He feedeth "lack nothing" Psalm 23:1.

In the strength of the Lord - He, who feedeth them with divine tenderness, shall also have divine might, His Father's and His own, to protect them; as He saith, "My sheep hear My Voice, and I know them and they follow Me, neither shall any man pluck them out of My Hand. My Father Which gave them Me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's Hand. I and My Father are One" John 10:27-30. With authority, it is said, "He commandeth even the unclean spirits and they come out" Luke 4:36. His feeding or teaching also was "with authority, and not as the scribes" Matthew 7:29.

In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God - As John says, "We beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only-Begotten of His Father" John 1:14; and He saith, "All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth" Matthew 28:18; so that the divine glory should shine through the majesty of His teaching, the power of His Grace, upholding His own, and the splendor of the miracles wrought by Him and in His Name. "Of the Name of the Lord;" as He saith again, "Holy Father, keep through Thine own Name those whom Thou hast given Me, that they may be one as We are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Thy Name" John 17:11-12. : "Whoever then is sent to feed His flock must stand, that is, be firm and unshaken; feed, not sell, nor slay; and feed in might, that is, in Christ." His God, as our Lord Himself, as Man, saith, "Unto My Father, and your Father, and to My God and your God" .

But that Majesty He Himself wields, as no mere man can; He Himself is invested with it. : "To ordinary kings God is strength Psalm 28:7; Psalm 140:7, or gives strength 1 Samuel 2:10; men have strength in God; this Ruler is clad in the strength of the Lord, that same strength, which the Lord hath, whose is strength. Of Him, as Israel's King, the same is said as of the Lord, as King of the whole earth Psalm 93:1; only that the strength of the Messiah is not His own, but the Lord's. He is invested with the strength of the Lord, because He is Man; as Man, He can be invested with the whole strength of the Lord, only because He is also God."

And they shall abide - (Literally, sit, dwell) in rest and security and unbroken peace under Christ their Shepherd and their King; they shall not wander to and fro as heretofore "He, their Shepherd, shall stand; they shall sit." "The word is the more emphatic, because it stands so absolutely. This will be a sitting or dwelling, which will indeed deserve the name. The original promise, so often forfeited by their disobedience should be perfectly fulfilled; "and ye shall dwell in your land safely, and I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid" . So Amos and Micah had before promised . And this is the result of the greatness of the promised Ruler, as the like promise of the Psalm is rested on the immutability of God; "Thou art the Same, and Thy years shall have no end. The children of Thy servants shall dwell, and their seed shall be established before Thee." Psalm 102:27-28. For it follows,"

For now - (In the time which Micah saw as did Abraham with the eye of faith,) "now," in contrast to that former time of lowliness. His life shall be divided between a life of obscurity, and a life of never-ending greatness.

Shall He be great unto the (very) ends of the earth - embracing them in His rule, (as David and Solomon had foretold ,) and so none shall harm those whom He, the King of all the earth, shall protect. The universality of protection is derived from an universality of power. To David God says, "I have made thee a great name, like the name of the great that are in the earth" 2 Samuel 7:9. Of Uzziah it is said, "His name went forth far; for he was marvelously helped, until he was strong" (2 Chronicles 26:15, add 2 Chronicles 26:8); but of the Messiah alone it is said, that His power should reach to the ends of the earth; as God prophesies of Himself, that His "Name should be great among the pagan" Malachi 1:11, Malachi 1:14. So Gabriel said to His Mother, "This," whom she should bear, "shall be great" .

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

4. he shall stand—that is, persevere: implying the endurance of His kingdom [Calvin]. Rather, His sedulous care and pastoral circumspection, as a shepherd stands erect to survey and guard His flock on every side (Isa 61:5) [Maurer].

feed—that is, rule: as the Greek word similarly in Mt 2:6, Margin, means both "feed" and "rule" (Isa 40:11; 49:10; Eze 34:23; compare 2Sa 5:2; 7:8).

in the majesty of the name of the Lord—possessing the majesty of all Jehovah's revealed attributes ("name") (Isa 11:2; Php 2:6, 9; Heb 2:7-9).

his God—God is "His God" in a oneness of relation distinct from the sense in which God is our God (Joh 20:17).

they shall abide—the Israelites ("they," namely, the returning remnant and the "children of Israel previously in Canaan) shall dwell in permanent security and prosperity (Mic 4:4; Isa 14:30).

unto the ends of the earth—(Mic 4:1; Ps 72:8; Zec 9:10).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

He, the Ruler born in Bethlehem, the Messiah, shall stand: sometimes this posture denoteth the ministry of a servant, but here it speaks the readiness, cheerfulness, firmness, and stability of both the ruler, his government, and kingdom.

Feed; as a Shepherd that does diligently watch over, guide, preserve, and feed his sheep, or as rulers are called shepherds. Christ is that good Shepherd, John 10:14; and he is the righteous and holy Governor, and his government shall have no end, Isaiah 9:7.

In the strength of the Lord; in the assistance which God shall give him, for Christ-man was carried through this great work, redeeming, setting up, establishing his church by the power of the Father, who was with him, and upheld him, as was promised, Isaiah 61:1-3. All power in heaven and earth was given to Christ our Mediator, who being eternal God, of equal power with his Father, doth in his own strength overcome all enemies, removeth all difficulties, gathereth and governeth his church, and will do so to the end of the world; such visible, convincing tokens of a Divine power and glory working in him, and with those he sendeth to preach the gospel, I mean apostles, and all managed to the glory of God.

In the majesty of the name; by commission from the Lord, in whose name Christ came, preached, wrought miracles, and instituted his gospel church.

Of the Lord his God, i.e. God the Father.

They shall abide; his sheep, his subjects, his redeemed Israel, his church made up of converted Jews and Gentiles, shall continue, the gates of hell shall not prevail against them.

For; the church is so redeemed and established, that Christ the Messiah might be glorified; God will give him a glorious name, therefore these things are disposed in this manner.

Now, either ere long, or in due time, at the set time,

shall he, Messiah,

be great unto the ends of the earth; whose redeeming grace shall be published to the ends of the earth, said his dominion, his spiritual kingdom, shall be enlarged wide as the world itself. All here spoken in this verse is too great any way to be applied to Zerubbabel, as some Jews themselves confess.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord,.... The ruler in Israel, before described and prophesied of; the Messiah, as Kimchi himself interprets it, and other Jewish writers. Kimchi's note is,

"after the affliction, the King Messiah shall stand and feed Israel in the strength of the Lord;''

and so R. Isaac (t) paraphrases the words exactly in the same way: wherefore, as another learned Jew (u) observes, these expressions evince that the ruler here spoken of can be no other than the Messiah; not Zerubbabel, who never attained to this height and happiness. He is both King and Shepherd, and to each of these the act of feeding is ascribed. The same word, in the Greek language, signifies both to rule and to feed and is used by Matthew, Matthew 2:6; and kings are often compared to shepherds. Christ feeds his people, his brethren, his flock, his sheep, and lambs all truly converted ones; and this takes in the whole office of a shepherd, and the care he has of his flock; he takes an exact account of them, goes before them, and leads them out into good pastures; sets under shepherds over them; protects them from, all their enemies; looks after what is lost or driven away; heals the sick, strengthens the weak, binds up the broken, and watches over his flock continually: he feeds them with, himself, the bread of life, with his flesh and blood, which are meat and drink indeed; with the doctrines and ordinances of the Gospel; and which are found to be spiritual, savoury, strengthening, satisfying, and soul nourishing food: and he "stands" and does this, being raised from the dead, and possessed of all power in heaven and in earth; which designs not the position of his body, but the ministration of his office, and his alacrity and readiness to perform it, and his constancy in it: and all this "in the strength of the Lord"; in his own strength, as a divine Person, which is the same with the strength of Jehovah; and in the power and strength that is dispensed to him as Mediator; and with his Gospel, the rod of his strength, and in such manner as to defend his flock from all that would devour them:

in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God; Jehovah the Father is the God of Christ, as is Mediator; and his name is in him, even the majesty of it; for, as a divine Person, he has the same nature and perfections with him; and as man, exalted at his right hand, has a name above every name in this world, or that to come; and it is by authority from him, in his office capacity, that he rules and feeds his people, having all judgment committed to him:

and they shall abide; that is, his people, his flock, his sheep fed and ruled by him; these shall continue and persevere under his care and keeping; in him, in whom they are chosen and preserved; in his love, from which they can never be separated; in his hands, out of which none can pluck them; in his church, where they shall ever remain; and so may be considered as a promise of the perseverance of the saints in faith and holiness to the end: or, "they shall sit" (w); quietly and securely, being freed from persecution, with which the Christians were at, ended in the first three centuries: this began to be accomplished in the times of Constantius Chlorus, who helped the Christians in the times of Dioclesian, and with whom the persecutions ended, and peace and prosperity followed:

for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth; as, he was in the times of Constantine, and will be again. Christ is great in himself, in, his person and offices; and will appear to be so unto all men, even unto the ends of the earth, when his Gospel shall be preached and spread, everywhere; when his kingdom shall be enlarged, and be from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth; even then shall he appear to be a great King over all the earth, and, the great Shepherd of the sheep, the man, Jehovah's fellow; and to have such a flock, and so large, as never any had; when there will be one fold, and one shepherd; for this prophecy respects the latter day glory. Kimchi's gloss is,

"the name of the Messiah shall be magnified, after the judgment of the wicked.''

(t) Ibid. (Chizzuk Emunah, par. 1. p. 281.) (u) Tanchuma apud Pocock in loc. (w) "sedebunt", Tigurine version, Vatablus, Drusius; "considebunt", Cocceius; so R. Isaac, "they shall sit safely in his time", as is said above, ch. iv. 4. "they shall sit every man", &c. Chizzuk Emunah, ut supra. (par. 1. p. 281.)

Geneva Study Bible

And he shall {e} stand and feed in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.

(e) That is, Christ's kingdom will be stable and everlasting, and his people, the Gentiles as well as the Jews, will dwell in safety.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

4. And he shall stand and feed] viz. his flock, as a shepherd. Over this restored and regenerate people the Messiah shall preside in the plenitude of Divine power. ‘Stand,’ as a shepherd amidst his flock, Isaiah 61:5.

in the majesty of the name, &c.] This is not at all an otiose feature of the description. The ‘Name’ of Jehovah is an appellation of the self-revealing aspect (one might almost say, Person) of the Godhead. Comp. Isaiah 30:27, ‘Behold, the Name of Jehovah cometh from far … his lips are full of indignation,’ &c. In fact, the Messiah, who is ‘God the Mighty One,’ may be said to be an incarnation of the Name of Jehovah.

abide] i.e. remain undisturbed in their land.

now shall he be great] ‘Now,’ from the point of view of the fulfilment of the prophecy (instead of ‘then’).

unto the ends of the earth] The Messiah’s kingdom will more than supplant Assyria’s; comp. Psalm 2:8; Psalm 72:8. Obs. how the Messianic hope developes and gathers strength in the atmosphere of Assyrian conquest.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 4. - He shall stand. The Ruler, Messiah, shall stand as a good shepherd, guiding and ordering his flock, watchful and ready to aid and defend (comp. Ezekiel 34:23; John 10:11). Septuagint, στήσεται καὶ ὄψεται, "shall stand and see." Feed; i.e. his flock. Septuagint, ποιμανεῖ τὸ ποίμνιον αὐτοῦ. In the strength of the Lord, with which he is invested and which he displays in the care of his people. In the majesty of the Name of the Lord his God. Messiah shall rule in all the power and glory with which God hath revealed himself on earth (comp. Isaiah 9:6; Matthew 28:18; John 1:14). They shall abide; Septuagint, ὑπάρξουσι "they shall be." The children of Israel shall sit, dwell, in rest and peace in their own land (Micah 4:4; Leviticus 26:5, 6; Joel 3:20; Amos 9:14, 15). The Vulgate, from a different pointing of the Hebrew, renders, convertentur. With this the Chaldee and Syriac agree. But this idea is already expressed in ver. 3. Now shall he be great. When the prophecy is fulfilled and Messiah is feeding his flock, his dominion shall extend unto the ends of the earth (comp, Malachi 1:11, 14; Psalm 2:8; Psalm 72:8; Luke 1:32). Micah 5:4

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

"Therefore will He give them up until the time when a travailing woman hath brought forth, and the remnant of His brethren will return, together with the sons of Israel. Micah 5:4. And He will stand and feed in the strength of Jehovah, in the majesty of the name of Jehovah His God, and they will dwell, for now will He be great to the ends of the earth." "Therefore" (lâkhēn): i.e., "because the great divine Ruler of Israel, from whom alone its redemption can proceed, will spring from the little Bethlehem, and therefore from the degraded family of David" (Caspari). This is the correct explanation; for the reason why Israel is to be given up to the power of the nations of the world, and not to be rescued earlier, does not lie in the appearance of the Messiah as such, but in His springing from little Bethlehem. The birth of the Messiah in Bethlehem, and not in Jerusalem the city of David, presupposes that the family of David, out of which it is to spring, will have lost the throne, and have fallen into poverty. This could only arise from the giving up of Israel into the power of its enemies. Micah had already stated clearly enough in what precedes, that this fate would fall upon the nation and the royal house of David, on account of its apostasy from the Lord; so that he could overlook this here, and give prominence to the other side alone, namely to the fact that, according to the counsel of God, the future Deliverer and Ruler of Israel would also resemble His royal ancestor David in the fact that He was not to spring from Zion the royal city built on high, but from the insignificant country town of Bethlehem, and that for this very reason Israel was to remain so long under the power of the nations of the world. The suffix attached to יתּנם points to ישׂראל in Micah 5:1; and נתן is applied, as in 1 Kings 14:16, to the surrender of Israel into the power of its enemies as a punishment for its sins. This surrender is not the last of many oppressions, which are to take place in the period before the birth of the Messiah (the Roman oppression), but a calamity lasting from the present time, or the coming of the judgment threatened in ch. 3, until the time of the Messiah's coming; and יתּנם points back not merely to Micah 5:1, but also to Micah 4:9-10. The travailing woman (yōlēdâh) is not the community of Israel (Theodoret, Calvin, Vitringa, and others), but the mother of the Messiah (Cyril, and most of the Christian expositors, including even Ewald and Hitzig). The supposition that the congregation is personified here, is precluded not only by the fact that in the very same sentence the sons of Israel are spoken of in the plural, but still more by the circumstance that in that case the bringing forth would be only a figurative representation of the joy following the pain, in which the obvious allusion in the words to the Messiah, which is required by the context, and especially by the suffix to אחיו, which refers to the Messiah, and presupposes that His birth is referred to in יולדה ילדה, would entirely fall away. But Micah had all the more ground for speaking of this, inasmuch as Isaiah had already predicted the birth of the Messiah (Isaiah 7:14). יולדה has no article, and the travailing woman is thereby left indefinite, because the thought, "till He is born," or "till a mother shall bring Him forth," upon which alone the whole turns, did not require any more precise definition.

In the second clause of the verse there commences the description of the blessing, which the birth of the Messiah will bring to Israel. The first blessing will be the return of those that remain of Israel to the Lord their God. אחיו, the brethren of the Ruler born at Bethlehem, are the Judaeans as the members of the Messiah's own tribe; just as, in 2 Samuel 19:13, David calls the Judaeans his brethren, his flesh and bone, in contrast with the rest of the Israelites. יתר אחיו, the remnant of his brethren, are those who are rescued from the judgment that has fallen upon Judah; yether, as in Zephaniah 2:9 and Zechariah 14:2, denoting the remnant, in distinction from those who have perished ( equals שׁארית, Micah 2:12; Micah 4:7, etc.). ישׁוּבוּן, to return, not from exile to Canaan, but to Jehovah, i.e., to be concerted. על־בּגי ישׂ, not "to the sons of Israel;" for although שׁוּב, construed with על, is met with in the sense of outward return (e.g., Proverbs 26:11) as well as in that of spiritual return to the Lord (2 Chronicles 30:9), the former explanation would not give any suitable meaning here, not only because "the sons of Israel," as distinguished from the brethren of the Messiah, could not possibly denote the true members of the nation of God, but also because the thought that the Judaeans are to return, or be converted, to the Israelites of the ten tribes, is altogether unheard of, and quite at variance with the idea which runs through all the prophetic Scriptures of the Old Testament, - namely, that after the division of the kingdom, Judah formed the kernel of the covenant nation, with which the rebellious Israelites were to be united once more. על signifies here together with, at the same time as (Hofmann, Caspari), as in Jeremiah 3:18 with the verb ילכוּ, and in Exodus 35:22 with בּוא; and "the sons of Israel" are the Israelites of the ten tribes, and, in this connection, those that are left of the ten tribes. There is no ground for the objection offered by Hengstenberg to this explanation, namely, that "it is absurd that the ten tribes should appear to be the principal persons redeemed;" for this is not implied in the words. The meaning "together with," for על, is not derived from the primary meaning, thereupon, in addition to, insuper, as Ewald supposes (217, i), nor from the idea of accompanying, as Ges. and Dietrich maintain. The persons introduced with על are never the principal objects, as the two passages quoted sufficiently prove. The women in Exodus 35:22 (על הנּשׁים) are not the principal persons, taking precedence of the men; nor is the house of Israel placed above the house of Judah in Jeremiah 3:18. The use of על in the sense of together with has been developed rather from the idea of protecting, shielding, as in Genesis 32:12, slaying the mothers upon, i.e., together with, the children, the mothers being thought of as screening the children, as Hosea 10:14 and other passages clearly show. Consequently the person screening the other is the principal person, and not the one covered or screened. And so here, the brethren of the Messiah, like the sons of Judah in Jeremiah 3:18, which passages is generally so like the one before us that it might be regarded as an exposition of it, are those who first receive the blessing coming from the Messiah; and the sons of Israel are associated with them as those to whom this blessing only comes in fellowship with them. In Micah 5:3 there follows what the Messiah will do for Israel when it has returned to God. He will feed it (עמר simply belongs to the pictorial description, as in Isaiah 61:5) in the strength of Jehovah. The feeding, as a frequent figure for governing, reminds of David, whom the Lord had called from the flock to be the shepherd of His people (2 Samuel 5:2). This is done in the strength of Jehovah, with which He is invested, to defend His flock against wolves and robbers (see John 10:11-12).

(Note: The word "feed" expresses what Christ is towards His people, the flock committed to His care. He does not rule over the church like a formidable tyrant, who oppresses his people by fear; but He is a shepherd, and leads His sheep with all the gentleness to be desired. And inasmuch as we are surrounded on all sides by enemies, the prophet adds, "He will feed in the strength," etc.; i.e., as much power as there is in God, so much protection will there be in Christ, whenever it shall be necessary to defend the church, and guard it against its foes (Calvin).)

This strength is not merely the divine authority with which earthly rulers are usually endowed (1 Samuel 2:10), but גּאון, i.e., the exaltation or majesty of the name of Jehovah, the majesty in which Jehovah manifests His deity on earth. The Messiah is El gibbōr (the Mighty God, Isaiah 9:5), and equipped with the spirit of might (rūăch gebhūrâh, Isaiah 11:2). "Of His God;" for Jehovah is the God of this Shepherd or Ruler, i.e., He manifests Himself as God to Him more than to any other; so that the majesty of Jehovah is revealed in what He does. In consequence of this feeding, they (the sons of Israel) sit (yâshâbhū), without being disturbed (cf. Micah 4:4; Leviticus 26:5-6; 2 Samuel 7:10), i.e., will live in perfect undisturbed peace under His pastoral care. For He (the Messiah) will now (עתּה, now, referring to the time when He feeds Israel, in contrast with the former oppression) be great (auctoritate et potentia valebit: Maurer) to the ends of the earth, i.e., His authority will extend over the whole earth. Compare the expression in Luke 1:32, οὗτος ἔσται μέγας, which has sprung from the passage before us, and the parallel in Malachi 1:14.