The Coming Peace Series

Micah 5:2-5a [2] But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. [3] Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. [4] And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. [5] And he shall be their peace. (When the Assyrian comes into our land and treads in our palaces, then we will raise against him seven shepherds and eight princes of men) (ESV)

Economists are sharpening their knives to cut growth forecasts as the threat of the new COVID variant Omicron looms over the world. Everybody agrees it’s too early to judge the health implications. There is no evidence yet on whether Omicron is more transmissible, has more severe symptoms or whether existing vaccines will work or not… yet governments are already reacting to Omicron by bringing back restrictions, especially on foreign travel. “The latest development underscores that the path to normalcy will continue to be bumpy and uncertain,” said Ben May and Innes McFee of Oxford Economics. In the most optimistic view, Oxford says Omicron could turn into a blessing in disguise. If vaccine efficacy holds up and symptoms are less serious, the economists argue it could speed up the transition back to normalcy and any curtailment of economic activity from renewed restrictions could easily be made up early in the new year. (In this there is a great hope for general peace in this coming year). https://financialpost.com/executive/executive-summary/posthaste-how-omicron-could-knock-our-recovery-from-the-pandemic-off-track-the-best-and-worst-scenarios

For the people of Israel in the 8th Century BC, Micah gives the setting for a remarkable messianic coming. Yet, he calls upon his people to prepare for an attack and a siege, the impending siege of Jerusalem by Sennacherib in 701 B.C. The enemy would “strike Israel’s ruler on the cheek,” that is, humiliate him in his office. King Hezekiah was forced to pay tribute to the Assyrians. The shameful and painful exile followed, a thousand miles away from home. The people of Judah had to submit to the power of Persia, then to Alexander and the Greeks, finally to Rome. The scepter of ruling power had departed from Judah. All that was left of a once great nation was a stump of Jesse, the royal family of King David (Isaiah 11:1). At such a time of deep humiliation and degradation, the Messiah would come! His birthplace would be Bethlehem of the clan of Ephrathah, to distinguish it from the other Bethlehem in Zebulun, up near Nazareth (Joshua 19:15). Bethlehem had a notable history. Benjamin, a son of Jacob, was born near the town; his mother, Rachel, was buried here. Ruth gleaned the fields of Boaz at Bethlehem; here King David was born. Yet Bethlehem had remained a small town, too small to be named among the more than one hundred cities belonging to the clans of Judah (Joshua 15:20–62) (Spaude, C. W. (1987). Obadiah, Jonah, Micah. The People’s Bible (144). Milwaukee, WI: Northwestern Pub. House.).

Perhaps you don’t think of yourself as significant. You may not come from a significant family, hold a significant job or wield much power. You may not anticipate amounting to much and don’t see much coming. The picture in Micah 5 is of a simple town, being used by God at a particular time, through a particular people to achieve a significant result. “The Coming Peace” is to see and experience the wonder of the Messiah’s birth and be a part of the radical change that God can bring through that which the world sees as insignificant.

God calls us to experience “The Coming Peace” that the birth of Christ offers through: 1) The Coming Town (Micah 5:2), 2) The Coming Time (Micah 5:3), 3) The Coming Tenant (Micah 5:4), and 4) The Coming Tranquility (Micah 5:5a).

God calls us to experience “The Coming Peace” that the birth of Christ offers through: 1) The Coming Town (Micah 5:2), Micah 5:2 [2] But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. (ESV)

The opening and emphatic ‘But you …’ is the hinge of the passage, leading into the (Coming Peace), in contrast to the disastrous ‘now’ situation of verse 1. The prophet speaks to a town, ‘Bethlehem’, and includes with it what was probably its older name, ‘Ephrathah’ (see Gen. 35:19; 48:7). Specifically, Ephrathah, meaning ‘fruitful’, is the name of a district in Judah where Bethlehem was located (Ps. 132:6) (Wiseman, D. J., Alexander, T. D., & Waltke, B. K. (1988). Vol. 26: Obadiah, Jonah and Micah: An introduction and commentary. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (199). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.) But Micah is doing more than just referring to a town five to six miles south of Jerusalem. The mention of Bethlehem has a slightly ominous ring to it: ‘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 the said birth is to spring, will have lost the throne, and have fallen into poverty. It’s as if the quest for the coming king must go all the way back to the ‘stump of Jesse’ (Isa. 11:1). There will be no royal ‘starter kit’ still available in Jerusalem; the Davidic dynasty will have been cut off (Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets, vol. 1, p. 483.).