Making sense of prophecy requires a different way of looking at history: the texts can refer to both the people's current situation and the near or distant future at the same time. Put differently, we need both a view from below and a view from above...

The beginning of Micah chapter 5 brings us to one of the best known passages from the book: the prophecy of the one who would come from Bethlehem to rule God's people, the prophecy cited by the advisors of Herod the Great in the gospel of Matthew. This episode begins our exploration of Micah's prophecy against the background of that New Testament story.

Unless God fights their battles, the people of Judah have no hope against the forces of Assyria or Babylon. Yet this is what Micah promises. Using the metaphor of threshing grain, Micah promises that God will give them a stunning victory against impossible odds.

Doom and gloom, heartache and hope. The oracles of Micah ping back and forth. We've seen some remarkable words of hope in recent verses--but now its time to go back to words predicting destruction and exile, even mentioning Babylon by name. And still there is hope, for Micah promises that God will rescue the people from Babylon.

We've raised the question of how long it would take for Micah's prophecy to be fulfilled. In Micah, God is portrayed as the Shepherd-King--and followers of Jesus should remember this when reading references in the New Testament to Jesus as Shepherd and King. In this episode, we'll explore some of those references.

Micah's oracle promises God's care for his flock, for the remnant of the people left after the exile. None of this would happen in Micah's lifetime. And although the people did return little by little when Persia defeated Babylon and ended their exile, the promise that Jerusalem's royal status would be restored still wasn't fulfilled. How long would it take?

We've already seen how the closing verses of chapter 2 uses the metaphor of God as the Shepherd-King. And we've seen how the opening verses of chapter 4 paint a beautiful picture of the eventual restoration of Jerusalem. That oracle of hope in chapter 4 continues in verses 6 to 8, again bringing in the metaphor of God as the shepherd who watches over the flock, the remnant who will return from exile.

In previous verses, we've seen how Micah both predicts the punishment that is coming to Jerusalem and Judah, and yet also a future in which the nations will actually seek God. In the meantime, what? Do the people just wait for disaster or peace to come? No: they are to to walk in God's way, as they were always called to do.

Imagine living (as many in the world do) under the constant threat of war. Then imagine having that burden lifted, so that you were free to relax in your garden and take it easy. That's the image Micah uses to speak of the hope that still lay in the future...

The oracle at the beginning of chapter 4 envisions Jerusalem a place to which the nations stream. Not only do they come to learn from God, they come seeking justice. And when this happens, there will no longer be any need for war: weapons will be exchanged for the tools needed for farming.