Chapter One:
INTRODUCTION

Let me introduce myself in order that you may understand the aching of my heart for the chosen people of the Eternal and for the centuries of anguish that they have suffered. I am a Christian Hebraist who has studied the Tanach for nearly fifty years. I have taught it in the Hebrew, Aramaic and in the English languages to many young men who were preparing to serve the Eternal. In the nearly fifty five years that I have walked with Him, I have found that He always is faithful to His Word. "You have dealt with Your servant, Oh Eternal Lord, according to Your Word" (Psa. 119:65). I have seen His faithfulness displayed in countless ways in those many years. He is faithful. He keeps His word. Therefore "I am a companion of all those who fear You, and of those who keep Your precepts" (Psa. 119:63).

Has the Eternal been faithful to His promises to His chosen people that He made long ago or has He failed? Has the One Who showed love and compassion to the offspring of Jacob long ago long closed His heart to those whom He called "My people?" The words that He spoke to David long ago are very suggestive of the correct answer. Concerning the rejection of the Eternal and His Messiah, the Eternal laughs at mankind who think that they can thwart His eternal purposes. After considering the rejection (and death) of His Messiah He says to the peoples of the earth, "Yet will I establish My King upon Zion, mount of My holiness" (Psa. 2:6). (The translation of the underlined verb as past tense, have, in the King James Version and others that thoughtlessly have followed it, utterly ignores the future time flow of the context of verses 4-9 in the Psalm. The first verb of verse 4 must be translated as a future in the light of this). The early church immediately recognized that Psalm 2:1-3 spoke of the rejection and crucifixion of Israel's Messiah, and they say so very plainly in Acts 4:25-28. In Psalm 2:4-6 the Father scorns feeble man's attempt to thwart the many Old Testament promises concerning the Eternal's plans concerning Messiah's earthly rule in the kingdom. And it is in that setting where the Eternal Lord not only mocks mankind's futile attempt to thwart the will and plan of God that He says: "Yet will I establish My King [Messiah] upon Zion, mount of My holiness." And the quotation in Hebrews 1:7 of part of Psalm 2:7 plainly shows that it is the Son of God Who quotes the decree in verses 7-9. And the Son's continuing quotation of the Father's promises in the decree demonstrate clearly the very basis for the Father's assurance of Messiah's yet future rule over the whole earth from the earthly city of Jerusalem in spite of His rejection and crucifixion seen in verses 1-3. Acts 4:25-28 clearly demonstrates the meaning of Psalm 2:1-3. The eternal promises, given so many ways and so many of Israel's prophets, will be fulfilled. The future of the descendants of Jacob in an earthly kingdom under the Messiah is as assured of certain fulfillment as is any subject covered in the Eternal Decree by the counsel of the Godhead. Man in his rebellion against the Lord cannot thwart the eternal purposes of the Eternal.

Is there something that still hinders the fulfillment of the great promises that the Eternal One has made to His chosen people? Unquestionably, apart from some of the painful distortion intruded into His great kingdom promises by those who still follow the errant eschatology of the fourth century, the Eternal Lord will send the Messiah back to earth to fulfil those great promises made centuries ago to His earthly people. He promises that, in a yet future day, He will change the fortunes of His people. After He has described the way that His people have departed from Him, He describes what He will do for that wayward nation in Hosea. (13) "...She went after her lovers and she forgot Me, says the Eternal Lord. (14) Therefore, see, I will be alluring her and I will bring her [out of] the wilderness and I will speak to her heart. (15) And I will give her vineyards to her from there, and for a doorway of hope the valley of Achor. And there she will respond [to Me] in the way that she did in the days of her youth, even like the day of her coming up from the land of Egypt. (18) ...And I will cut a covenant with them in that day with the living creatures of the field and with the birds of the heavens and with the creeping things of the ground. And I will proceed to break bow and sword and battle out of the land, and I will to lie down in safety. (19) Then I will betroth you to Myself for ever; (20) yes, I will betroth you to Myself in righteousness and in justice and loving kindness and in compassion. Yes, I will proceed to betroth you unto Myself in faithfulness, and you will know the Eternal Lord" (Hos. 2:13b-20).

No, the Eternal has not forgotten His promises or His people. Already in this very day He has brought a remnant of His chosen people, back from their exile to the Valley of Achor. These are the descendants of those to whom He had given the land of Israel, His land, long ago. Already He has begun fulfilling the promises that He had given through the prophet Ezekiel. To that prophet He had promised that finally, long after the great Babylonian exile, He would begin returning them to their land. In Ezekiel 35 He even describes the scene that they would face as the tattered remnant would begin streaming back to their inheritance in unbelief. Another people, the descendants of the Edomites and their relatives, would be in control of the land, claiming the right of inheritance to Israel because it would have been in their hands for centuries. To the prophet Ezekiel it is made clear that, when Israel finally would begin their return to the promised land, another people would be occupying that land and would be claiming it as their own.

The prophet Ezekiel in chapter 35:2-6 records the words that were brought through him concerning hagalut, the return that already is underway in our day. (2) "Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir [Petra] and prophesy against it, (3) and say to it: `This is what the Lord, the Eternal One says. Behold, I am against you, oh Mount Seir, and I will stretch out My hand against you and I will make you desolate and an astonishment. (4) I will proceed to make your cities a wasteland and you will become an appalling thing, and you will know that I am the Eternal Lord! (5) The reason is that you have been having a perpetual hatred, and you have given over the children of Israel to the power of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time of the end of [their] iniquity.(6) For this reason, as sure as I live, declares the Lord, the Eternal One, most assuredly I will come to prepare you to blood, and blood will pursue you. Most assuredly blood will come to pursue you."

The expression in verse 5, "in the time of their calamity, in the time of the end of [their] iniquity," undoubtedly was applied to the onset of the Babylonian captivity by some interpreters in the past. However, a thoughtful consideration of the following context should demonstrate that the events prophesied in these verses yet await their fulfillment. Theoretically they could have been applied to Daniel 9:24 and that time when Messiah came. (24) "[Daniel,] Seventy sevens [of years] have been decreed upon your people and upon your holy city [Jerusalem], to complete the transgression and to make an end of sins and to provide a covering for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal vision and prophet and to anoint the most holy place." But it is obvious, both from the historical record as well as from the record found in the New Testament that the rejection of the One Who came "...to make an end of sins...and to bring in ever-lasting righteousness..." brought about the delay to that fulfillment clearly anticipated in the decree (Psa. 2:8-9) and in Psalm 110.

For that matter, the Arab peoples were not even in the land until centuries after the death and resurrection of the Messiah. And this prophecy in Ezekiel 35-36 makes it very clear that they would be in control of the land when the return of the exiled people began. Furthermore, that prophecy makes it clear that The Lord has several reasons why the Arab peoples would come to be desolated and removed from the land in the ultimate fulfillment of Ezekiel's prophecy of their continuing return to the land. The Eternal actually gives six reasons for the dispossessing of the Arab peoples in Ezekiel 35 and 36 as He will bring Israel's first great wave of exiles back to their own land which He had given to them long, long ago. These reasons even include their occupation of the Holy Mount where Solomon had built the first temple. The Eternal also promises the ancient people of Israel that the land that He gave to them long ago, a land that largely has been desolated by the great flocks of the Arabs, would begin to produce for the returning Jewish exiles.

The scene that the prophet Ezekiel describes is precisely that which the world has been observing for the last century and particularly for Israel's first Jubilee as an independent nation after her long exile. No, the Eternal has not become unfaithful. In spite of the unbelief of many who have persisted to believe in ha'aliah, the return of the exiles of the nation of Israel, the Eternal obviously has remained faithful to His word. In spite of the attitude of independence from the Eternal that is expressed in the "We can do it by ourselves!" attitude of modern day Zionism, He will keep His word. He and He alone will bring about the fulfillment of His great words, "Yet will I establish My king on Zion, mount of My holiness" (Psa. 2:6).

As I intently have studied the Tanach for nearly half a century,, I have developed a burden, a longing to see the Eternal One fulfil those promises that He made so long ago to the fathers of the peoples of Israel. My burden for Israel became so great some years ago that I began to wonder about my own ancestors from the Stahl and Weichert families and about their ethnic roots. Could it be that there was a link here with descendants of Abraham and Sarah long ago? Could that be one of the reasons for the continually growing burden of concern that I have had for His exiled peoples? I do not know. But I do know that the burden has been there and that it has continued to grow over the years.

When I began studying the Tanach in Dallas Theological Seminary (Th.M. and Th.D.) in that beautiful language in which the Old Testament for the most part was written, I began to recognize that my understanding of those great things that He had promised to His ancient people, Israel, had been very vague and almost empty. As I now read in the ancient Hebrew language the very words of the Eternal, words that had been brought to His people by their heavy hearted prophets, my heart also began to become heavy for the people of Israel.
After serving as an Old Testament professor for years, the door opened for me to work with godly pastors in India, the Philippines and in Africa, men who preached to their congregations only out of a trade language. My responsibility was to check the accuracy of their translation work of the Tanach and the New Testament into their own languages, many of which previously had been unwritten languages. My burden for the people of hagalut, the exile, increased greatly on my last trip into the high foothills of the Himalayas of India to check work done on the great book of Leviticus by men from three tribes of the hill country of East India and western Myanmar or Burma.

One with whom I had worked for many months was Mani Singh. He is a pastor in the Manipuri tribe of East India. He was retranslating His work in His own language for me into English, the trade language of India, the translation work that he had done in translating Leviticus into Manipuri, his mother tongue. At the same time I was reading the Hebrew text to be sure that his work had been accurate. He had just finished back-translating the initial instructions concerning the feast of unleavened bread in Leviticus 23:5-6 into English when he hesitated. He turned to me with a very strange look on his face. Then, before I could comment on the accuracy of his translation, he said: "Uncle, we do exactly the same thing in our tribe every spring!" Once again before I could respond, Jam Kothang, who was the pastor/translator for the Paite tribe, interrupted and said: "We do too in our tribe, Uncle!" And just as quickly Thang, the spirited little translator from the Tedim Chin tribe of western Myanmar piped up and said: "Why, we do too, Uncle!"

In a flash I recognized that this could mean only one thing. Only those who had been exiled from the land of Israel, who once faithfully had kept His word but had drifted away from its tenants, could possibly still have a memory of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. I suddenly realized that I had been having the priceless privilege of working with descendants of God's exiled people from the northern ten tribe kingdom, Israel. Without previously knowing these things, I had been helping them to have an accurate translation of their Tenach and of the New Testament in their own languages!

But why would I find them so many hundreds of miles from their own land? The words that were spoken through the agonizing prophet, Hosea, by the Eternal concerning the daughter of Hosea's harlot wife tell the story simply. "...Call her name `Lo-Ruhama' because no longer will I continue to have compassion upon the house of Israel, that I should continue to lift them up" (Hos. 1:6). Because of the continual disobedience of the ancestors of these exiles to the Eternal Lord, He had given them into the hand of the Assyrian king when he had conquered the northern kingdom, Israel, in 722 B.C. The Assyrian king is called the rod of the Lord's anger and the staff of discipline in the hand of the Eternal. The Assyrian king had bragged, ". . . In the strength of my hand I will accomplish [it], even in my wisdom, because I am perceptive and I will get rid of borders of peoples and I will plunder their treasures and I will bring down their inhabitants like a bull" (Isa. 10:13). The Assyrian king had no idea whatsoever that he and his army were nothing more than a tool in the hand of the Eternal Lord. These are the words that the Eternal says to the Assyrian king through the prophet Isaiah. "Oh Asshur, [you are] the rod of My anger, and the staff which is in their hands is My fury. I will send him against a godless nation. I have given him a charge, even against the people of My wrath, in order to take a spoil and to seize plunder and to make them a treading down like muck of the streets." (Isa. 10:5-6),

In 722 B.C. the Assyrian had carried the northern Kingdom away, scattering them to the east, to the far corners of the world that he knew. And now once again faithful men among these long forgotten exiles in India were teaching the distant descendants of those exiles the things of the Eternal Lord and were seeking to lead them into ways of righteousness! How my heart was touched with the privilege of ministering to these people of hagalut, the exile, so far away from their ancestral homes! I have not been able to return to be with my beloved brothers of East India because of a heart attack and a major heart operation in November of 1993.How my heart longs for the day that those exiled peoples will hear the trumpet call of assembly on that day when He will fulfill His ancient promises of reassembling all of His chosen people in His land! Of that regathering He says through the prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel 36:22-27, (22) "Therefore you say this to the house of Israel: This is what the Lord, the Eternal One, says: 'I will not be doing this for your sake, O house of Israel, but rather for My holy name's sake, which all of you have profaned among the nations wherever you went. (23) For I will utterly set apart My great name, that has been profaned among the Gentiles, which all of you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the Eternal Lord,' says the Lord, the Eternal One,' when I have been set apart in all of you before their eyes.

(24) Then I will take all of you out from the Gentiles and I will completely gather all of you out of all of the countries and I will bring all of you to your land. (25) And I will sprinkle clean water upon all of you and all of you will be clean from all of your filthiness and I will cleanse all of you from all your idols. (26) I will give all of you a new heart and put a new spirit within all of you. I will remove the heart of stone out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh. (27) I will put My Spirit within you and I will cause you to begin to walk in My statutes, and you will begin to keep My judgments and will do them. Then you will live in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you will be My people, and I will be your God.'"

I attempt to capture the innate bent toward rebellion and evil that is in every descendant of our forefather Adam in the garden in this poem. And this rebellion is not merely in the hearts of His exiled, chosen people but in every man's heart.

Out of the many years that I have taught Israel's Tanach, the Old Testament, to young Gentile spiritual leaders, my burden for God's chosen people has grown greater and greater. When I would read in the words of a prophet like Micah concerning his agony for the troubled events that still lay in the future of that nation even before Ezekiel's prophecy would come to pass, my heart would ache for God's people still in exile. More and more it became my longing that somehow Israel might learn to read their ancient prophecies meaningfully with tender hearts, accepting at face value the revealed word of their Lord. I long that they might come to full understanding of the causes of the long delays in the fulfillment of those ancient prophecies. More and more I realized the crucial importance of the agony that Micah expressed over that long and trying chain of events that lay between Micah's own day and the ultimate fulfillment of the kingdom promises which had been given to him.

It is for this reason that I now share with Israel, the chosen people of the Eternal Lord, Who keeps His word forever, this study from Micah 4-7. This section of Micah carefully sets forth the long, sad event series that is preceding the fulfillment of the parallel prophecies of Isaiah and Micah. These are prophecies concerning that yet future day when (2) "the mountain of the house of the Eternal Lord will be established on the top of the mountains, and it will become exalted above the hills, and all nations will flow to it. (3) Many people will come and they will say, 'Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Eternal Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways and we will walk in His paths. The reason is that out of Zion the law will go forth and the word of the Eternal Lord will go forth from Jerusalem. (4) He will judge between the nations and will rebuke many people. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up a sword against another nation, neither will they learn war anymore" (Isa. 2:2-4).

These two parallel prophecies literally begin at the turn of a single word. Both Isaiah and Micah have previously been describing the awful chaos that would come to the nation of Israel because of their persistent waywardness. Micah has described exactly that which happened to the capital of Israel, the Northern Kingdom. "Therefore I will make Samaria into a heap of the field for the planting of vineyards, and I will cause the pouring of its stones into the valley, and I will come to uncover its foundations" (Mic. 1:6). He has described the dreadful ruin of Jerusalem by the Romans because of the terrible sins of the peoples of Judah, the southern kingdom. "Therefore Zion will be plowed like a field for your sakes and Jerusalem will become heaps, and the mountain of the house [the temple site. Compare a similar description of the temple in Zechariah 11:1-3] will become like the high places in a forest" [i.e., used for pagan worship] (Mic. 3:12).

Yet at the turn of a tiny word, the simple Hebrew conjunction, here properly translated "but," the Eternal turns to the latter days and to His great promises of the kingdom that are found in Isaiah 2:1-4 and in Micah 4:1-8. The Eternal is not finished with His people! He will restore them to their land in the great and glorious kingdom age that had been promised for so long by the Hebrew prophets. And yet once again at the turn of a word, the prophet is led to write of a great event series of not less than fifteen events that which would precede the golden age of Israel. That word is "now." The prophet is led to write from the perspective of his own day about the painful event series that would intervene before the glorious promises of the Eternal would be fulfilled. The primary purpose of this study will be to examine this long, drawn out event series and to determine, if possible, how many of these events already have taken place. That will enable poor Israel to evaluate how near they are to the glorious fulfillment of the kingdom promises of the great prophets of old.

Chapter 2:

THE GLORY OF ISRAEL'S LATTER DAYS (Mic. 4:1-8)

A. THE YET FUTURE ESTABLISHMENT OF ISRAEL'S KINGDOM TEMPLE (4:1)

Micah's heart has poured out its grief as he has been instructed by the Eternal Lord to call all of earth's peoples and the earth itself to listen to the Lord's charge in His court that was to be executed against Judah and Israel (Mic. 1:2-5). Micah, in bringing the Lord's sentence against His people, has reported His promise to pour the stones of Samaria, the capital of the Northern Kingdom, down into the valley below (Mic. 1:5-7). He has agonized over Judah as he has reported in Micah 3 the waywardness of Judah's kings and prophets. He has brought the sentence coming from the court case of the Eternal against them in this terrible declaration. "Therefore because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field. Jerusalem will become heaps of ruins and the mountain of the house [the temple, the house of the Lord] will become like the high places of the forest [used for pagan worship]" (Mic. 3:12).

With such a terrible backdrop, the words of the prophet from the Eternal Lord that open Micah 4 are utterly startling. In the light of the preceding context they are the most improbable words that he possibly could have uttered. Yet the Spirit of the Eternal Lord has lead him to say this: "But in the latter days it will come to pass that the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established on the top of the mountains and will be exalted above the hills and many peoples will flow into it" (Mic. 4:1).

There have been many Gentiles who have been touted as great Old Testament scholars, but who have refused to believe that the words of the Eternal Lord would ever be fulfilled concerning the rebuilding of the ancient temple of God's people on earthly Mount Zion. Somehow, wholly without justification except that they follow traditional theology, they have sought to transfer the meaning of these words to the Church,. They have denied in the process that God would ever deal with His ancient people, the nation of Israel, once again. They have sought to transfer Mount Zion to heaven. I regret that many churches still sing "We are marching to Zion," not realizing that they are continuing the false teaching of the Amillennialists. Those misguided teachers have supported the claims of Israel's ancient Arab enemies, not only to the land but even to that holy site Mt. Moriah where the temples of Solomon, Zerubbabel and Herod once stood. They have even dared to say that the Eternal Lord never would respond to the agonizing contemplation of Asaph when he cried: (1) "O God, why have You cast us off forever? Why does Your anger continue to smoke against the people of Your pasture? Remember Your congregation which You purchased long ago, the tribe of Your inheritance that you redeemed [out of Egypt]. Remember this Mount Zion where You dwelt! Lift up Your feet toward the perpetual desolations. (2) The enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary. Your enemies have roared in the midst of Your meeting place. (8a) They have said in their hearts, 'Let us destroy them altogether!'

(10) "O God, how long will the adversary reproach? Will the enemy continue to blaspheme Your name forever? (18) Remember this, O Lord, that the enemy has reproached and that a foolish people has blasphemed Your name! (19) Oh do not deliver the life of Your turtledove to the wild beast and do not forget the life of Your poor one forever. (20) Have respect to the covenant, for the dark places of the land are full of the haunts of cruelty. (21) Oh do not allow the oppressed ones to return ashamed! Let the poor and needy ones praise Your name. (22) Arise, O God, plead Your own cause! Remember the way that the foolish ones reproach You daily. (23) Do not forget the voice of Your enemies for the tumult of those who rise up against You continues to increase" (Psa. 74:1-2, 8a, 18-23).

Has the Eternal Lord forgotten? No! Or is it that His people have forgotten His promises? Moses warned of that. He said: "I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt and will turn away from the way that I have commanded you. Then evil will come upon you in the latter days because you will practice evil in the sight of the Eternal, provoking Him to anger through the works of your hands" (Deut. 31:29).

The Eternal Himself has said to His people Israel through Moses: (36) "For the Eternal Lord will judge His people. But He will have compassion on His servants when He sees that their strength is gone and no one is remaining shut up or left at large. (39) Now see that I Myself am He and there is no other God besides Me. I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal, neither is there anyone who can deliver another out of My hand. (40) The reason is that I have raised My hand and I have said: (41) 'If I whet my glittering sword and My hand takes hold on My judgment, I will begin rendering vengeance on my enemies and I will repay those who have hated Me'" (Deut. 32:36, 39-41).

He will keep His promise in that time that is promised in the words of the New Testament, "...when the fullness of the times is come..." (Gal. 4:4). How beautifully this matter of the Lord's controlling of the timing of events is stated in the Tanach! "When I choose the proper time, I will judge uprightly. The earth and all of its inhabitants will be dissolved. I have set it up on its pillars firmly. Selah" (Psa. 75:3).

But perhaps the words of the Eternal Lord to Messiah best demonstrate His complete control over the timing of such events as His having compassion on His wayward people. His words follow the recommissioning of the Messiah and are addressed to Him. Whereas Messiah formerly had been commissioned to regather the nation of Israel, in the light of His coming rejection by Israel He is recommissioned in Isaiah 42:6 and especially in 49:6 to be a light of the Gentiles (Isaiah 42:6). The Father then speaks to the Messiah concerning the yet future time when Israel would receive through Him the fulfillment of the kingdom promises. (8) "In an acceptable time I will hear you, and in the day of salvation I will help you. I will preserve you and will give You as a covenant to the people [of Israel] to restore the land [of Israel], to cause them to inherit the desolate heritages, (9) in order that you may say to the prisoners, 'Go forth;' to those who are in darkness, 'Show yourselves!' They will feed in the ways and their pastures will be in all high places" (Isa. 49:8-9). That promise relates to the yet future day of which Micah speaks in the rich truths unfolded in Micah 4:1-8.

The Eternal Lord, Who promised to have compassion on His servants, has promised this through Micah: "But it will come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of house of the Eternal Lord will be established on the top of the mountains and it will be exalted above the hills. Then peoples will flow into it" (Mic. 4:1). He will keep His word. He has assured the nations of the world and His own nation of that which yet would come to pass even yet in our future. "Yet will I establish My King [Messiah] on Zion, mount of My holiness" (Psa. 2:6).

This mount is the one where David established his rule over the United Kingdom. Most certainly it is not speaking of some mythical and remote rule of the Messiah from heaven as imagined by amillennial scholars. These have chosen to insist that there never will be an earthly kingdom in the land of Israel over the restored nation of Israel. Most certainly they are not justified in ignoring all of the curses that were imposed upon Israel for disobedience while transferring only the blessings to the church!

The assurance of the future of the nation of Israel will be found to be established in the divine decree which He made in eternity past concerning the future of the land of Israel and concerning her long promised King, the Messiah. Messiah, the son of David, had been rejected exactly as David had prophesied long ago (Psalm 2:1-3 and Acts 4:25-28). In that future day when the Eternal Lord would establish the Messiah and His great kingdom on earth, He would establish that rule exactly as He had promised the Messiah in the decree. (8) "Ask of Me for I am determined to give [a determinative cohortative verb form] to You the nations for Your inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for Your possession. (9) You will break them with a rod of iron. You will smash them into pieces like the vessel of a potter" (Psa. 2:8-9).

In that future day, as prophesied by Isaiah and Micah, the peoples of the earth will flow into Jerusalem and into the presence of the King of the entire earth. (20) "This is what the Eternal Lord of Hosts says: 'Peoples still will come, even the inhabitants of many cities. (21) The people who live in one city will go to another saying: 'Let us go and pray before the Eternal Lord and seek the Eternal Lord of Hosts. I myself also will go with you.' (22) Indeed, many peoples and strong nations will come to seek the Eternal Lord of Hosts.' (23) This is what the Eternal Lord of Hosts says: 'In those days ten men from every language of the nations will take hold of the sleeve of a Jewish man and will say: 'Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you'" (Zech. 8:20-23).

B. THE RESPONSE OF GENTILE NATIONS (4:2a)

The prophet Micah, along with Isaiah in Isaiah 2:3, now prophesies precisely the same thing. "Many nations will come and they will say: 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Eternal Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways, and we will begin to walk in His paths . . .'" (Mic. 4:2a).

In 1965 when I first came to the land of Israel on a scholarship with the State of Israel and the United States, I heard the president of the Israeli Bible Society teach the group of college and seminary professors with whom I traveled. He spoke from this verse but misapplied it to events that were happening in Israel at that time. He spoke of how Israel had shared their technology and skills of farming in a very arid country with those of the nations that lay around the perimeter of the great Sahara Desert. He spoke of the many young scholars from places like that who were flowing to Israel for the excellent education that they could receive from the great schools of the land of Israel. But then, regretfully, he limited the text entirely to that present scene, totally ignoring the greater context of the Lord's work of restoring the temple and Messiah's kingdom when this verse would see its fulfillment.

Micah plainly had said: (6) "The Eternal Lord says that in that day I will gather the lame ones and will assemble the outcasts, even those whom I have afflicted. (7) I will make the lame ones a remnant and the outcasts a strong nation. In this way the Eternal Lord will begin to reign over them in Mount Zion from now on, even forever. (8) And you, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, to you it will come, even the former dominion will come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem" (Mic. 4:6-8).

Later, after everyone had left the room but the speaker, I dared to point out to the President of the Israeli Bible Society that Micah actually prophesied that there would be fifteen crucial events that had to precede that glorious day. I showed him that Micah prophesied that these promises would be fulfilled only in the latter days. It was only then that the mountain of the house of the Eternal Lord would be established on earthly Mount Zion. That promise certainly is not fulfilled today since an Arab structure stands on the platform where once the temples of Solomon, Zedekiah and Herod had stood, one after another. Only at that future date would peoples flow into it to fulfill Isaiah's great prophecy in his great second chapter.

When that great leader of Israel suddenly saw from Micah that not only the Babylonian captivity but the birth and the rejection of Israel's king was promised in Micah's future, Israel's birth pains in the tribulation, and other painful events were in that great prophecy, he abruptly had to leave. I sadly watched as he departed with his hat shaking in his hand. My heart long has ached for the scene that I saw the next day. He stood with our group of visiting teachers on the top of a building near the artificial dividing line that at that time divided the people of Israel from old Jerusalem and from the site of the temple where his ancestors once had worshiped. There was a look of longing anguish on his face as he looked across the little valley that lay between us and that great ruined city where so many crucial events had taken place in the past.

Since then, even though I have been privileged to walk through that old city's streets and visit so many of its sacred sites several times, my heart still longs for that day when not only Israel in exile but hordes of Gentiles will flow through its gates to worship the Messiah, their long promised, Davidic King.

C. MESSIAH TO BEGIN HIS RULE OVER THE WORLD (4:2b-3)

The reason for the flood of Gentiles pouring into Jerusalem now is plainly stated by Micah. He continues to speak of the work of the Messiah. He says: "For the law will go forth out of Zion and the word of the Eternal Lord will go forth from Jerusalem" (Mic. 4:2b). How these words are like the words that the Eternal Lord speaks as He introduces His Servant, the Messiah, in Isaiah 42:1, 3-4! (1) "Behold My Servant Whom I will uphold, My Elect One in Whom My soul delights! I will place My Spirit upon Him. He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. (3b) He will bring forth justice for truth. (4) He will not fail nor will He become discouraged until He has established justice in the earth and the isles continue to wait for His law."

The "reformed" or "covenant" theologians (what misnomers!) imagine that this promise is being fulfilled in an imagined reign by the Messiah as king over the earth from heaven today. How little the chaotic scene here on earth today is like the glorious kingdom promises given so long ago to the nation of Israel! These who follow the errors of Augustine utterly ignore the unchangeable, the non-revocable Word of the Eternal Lord which He spoke in the Biblical covenants to the ancestors of the nation of Israel. Because of their misguided eschatology, these scholars attempt to rewrite the intent of the Divine Author in the words of the prophets and transfer their promises to the Church. It is fascinating to note how carefully they skirt the curses and judgments of the great Biblical covenants and refuse to apply them to the Church!

But that perversion of the original intent of this revelation from the Eternal Lord utterly ignores the impact of the following verses and their yet future fulfillment. "He [Messiah] will judge between many people and He will rebuke strong nations that are far off. They will beat their swords into plowshares and they will beat their spears into hooks for pruning trees. One nation will not lift up a sword against another nation, neither will they learn war anymore" (Mic. 4:3). How far we are from that day! It most certainly is not being fulfilled today! Instead, nations war against nations. Helpless believers are slaughtered by their enemies. Nations tremble in fear of other nations.

How this great prophecy, found also in Isaiah 2:4, parallels that which has been found in Psalm 2:6-9! There a careful examination will reveal that the promises of the earthly Messianic kingdom are directly based upon decisions made by the Godhead in the decree in eternity past! It is the Messiah Himself Who utters the details of the decree relative to the yet future establishment of the kingdom under His rule in ancient Zion (Psa. 2:7). The rejection of the Messiah by Israel and by the Gentiles is described in Psalm 2:1-3. This interpretation is confirmed by the prayer of the early church in Acts 4:25-28. Immediately after that description, the Eternal Lord expresses His determination to establish His king upon Mount Zion. "Yet will I establish My King [Messiah] upon Zion, mount of My holiness" (Psa. 2:6). And immediately following in the Psalm, David is led to speak the words of the Messiah as He gives the decreed basis for that determination and the assurance of the Eternal Lord concerning Messiah's future kingdom. "

The great book of Hebrews in the New Testament confirms the fact that verses 7-9 of the Psalm are spoken by the Messiah in its quotation of part of these words in Hebrews 1:5. In the Psalm Messiah emphatically says: "I am determined to relate the details of the decree [very emphatic syntax]: 'The Eternal Lord said to Me [the Messiah], 'You are My Son. This day [note that this is part of the decree!] I do become Your Father. [This describes an economic (a working) relationship between members of the Godhead in the decree.] Ask of Me for I am determined to give to You [This is another emphatic determinative in the Hebrew text. The Father's determination will be fulfilled!] the heathen for Your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Your possession. You [the Messiah] will break them with a rod of iron. You will smash them in pieces like the vessel of a potter'" (Psa. 2:7-9).

The beautiful epistle that was written to the Hebrews says this of the Messiah. "God, Who at different times in different ways spoke in past times by the prophets, has spoken to us by means of a Son [the Messiah] in these last days, Whom He has appointed heir of all things, through Whom also He made the worlds [or "fashioned the ages']. He Who, being in the brightness of His glory and in the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. He is so much better than the angels, in as much as He has, by means of inheritance, received a more excellent name than they have. For unto which of the angels did He [the Eternal Lord] ever say [as He did to the Second Person of the Godhead in eternity past]: 'You are My Son. This day I do become Your Father.' And again [He said], 'I will be to Him as a Father, and He will be a Son to Me" (Heb. 1:1-5). This last verse is quoted from the great Davidic Covenant in Second Samuel 7. The Covenant promises that, one day in the future, a descendant of David would sit upon the throne of Israel, and that He would rule there forever.

The expression, "this day," in Psalm 2:7, quoted by Hebrews, does not refer to some point in the time which lies between the eternities. It is part of the eternal decree that the Eternal Lord made before the foundation of the earth. Failure to recognize the implications of the clause that introduces this great statement by the Eternal Lord to the Messiah in eternity past has resulted in all kinds of theological confusion.

The prophet Micah speaks of the establishment of that glorious, Messianic kingdom in the land of Israel in this way. He focuses on the result of that great battle in which Messiah would subdue the nations and deliver the ancient people Israel from their enemies "around about" (Zech. 12:2, 6). "He will judge between many people and will rebuke strong nations that are far off. They will beat their swords into plowshares and they will beat their spears into hooks for pruning trees. One nation will not lift up a sword against another nation, neither will they learn war anymore" (Mic. 4:3).

But how unlike Micah's words are the words that were spoken through the prophet Joel in Joel 3:9-16 (in the English text) concerning the divine invitation that would bring the nations together to the battle of Armageddon. This would bring about the subjection of the nations of the world to Messiah's rule! There that prophet looks forward to the final battle before the Kingdom age. Using remarkably similar language to that used by Micah, Joel focuses upon the call of the Eternal to the nations to gather for that battle in which Messiah would subdue them!

Joel says: (9) "Proclaim this among the Gentiles: 'Prepare for war! Wake up the mighty men! Let all of the men of war come near. Let them come up. (10) Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak ones say: 'I am strong!' (11) Assemble yourselves and come, all of you heathen, and gather yourselves together around about. O Eternal Lord, cause Your mighty ones to come down there! (12) Let the heathen be awakened and let them come to the valley of Jehoshaphat [The Eternal Lord will judge!], for there I will sit to judge all of the heathen around about. (13) Put in the sickle because the harvest is ripe. Come! Get down because the winepress is full and the vats overflow because their wickedness is great. (14) Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision because the day of the Eternal Lord is at hand in the valley of decision. (15) The sun and moon will become darkened and the stars will withdraw their shining. (16) The Eternal Lord will also roar out of Zion and He will utter His voice from Jerusalem. Then the heavens and the earth will shake, but the Eternal Lord will become the hope of His people and He will be the strength of the children of Israel. (17) So you will come to know that I am the Eternal Lord your God who is dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain. Then Jerusalem will become holy and no strangers will pass through her any more" (Joel 3:9-17).

Joel, like Micah and Isaiah, is speaking of the initiation of that great battle that will bring in the kingdom for Israel. But Micah and Isaiah primarily look at the results of that great battle when the land of Israel will abound in that peace for which the nation long has longed. Joel looks at the invitation sent out by the Eternal that will gather Israel's enemies for their great judgment before the kingdom is established. That is the battle that is so powerfully described by the prophet Zechariah in chapter 14.

D. THE WONDER OF ISRAEL'S LATTER DAYS (4:4-5)

One of the remarkable themes found in several of the Old Testament prophets is the transformation of the land of Israel in that future day when the great Messianic kingdom will be established. It is obvious that the barren old hills of Israel would be totally transformed under the hands of the remnant of the exiled people that already have been returning and repopulating to the promised land. On my first trip to Israel in 1965 I watched one of the poorly trained professors who was traveling in our scholarship group as he looked out over the ruined terraces and desolate hills. He shook his head in amazement. Then he uttered that which has been on the minds of many tourists who have seen the same scene. "Land of milk and honey! What on earth?" He did not recognize the desperate ruin of the land that had been brought by the Arab occupation in the last millennium and more. This past October I stood once again in the same place. The barren hillside south of the Eeretz Ts'vie hotel now is filled with great condominiums that are filled with people that have returned to the land and who work to develop it in its beauty once again.

Years ago a British biologist, whom I have forgotten, was commissioned by the Arab king who then ruled the land the land of Israel to write a book about the land. His first statement in his book condemned the rape of the land by the tragic overgrazing of the land by the herds of sheep and goats of the Bedouin. He spoke of the destruction of the once beautifully terraced hills when their rich cover of grapevines were stripped away to satisfy the command of the Koran. Rain now washed away the soil as it was trampled by the sharp feet of the animals. The grass was eaten by them even below the surface and was killed. This destroyed the terracing which now lay without ground cover. He also spoke of the way that the sheiks in latter years found delight in pursuing the wild animals of the land in their automobiles and gunning them down with machine guns.

But it will not be so in the latter days. The prophet Micah briefly describes the idyllic scene of that future day in this way. "But everyone will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree and no one will make them afraid because the mouth of the Eternal Lord has spoken it" (Mic. 4:4). He is speaking of the same future period as Amos who makes it clear that he speaks of the day when the Eternal Lord will "raise up the tabernacle of David that has fallen, and I will close up the breaches of it and will raise up his ruins and will build it as in the days of old" (Amos 9:11). Amos describes the prosperity of that glorious future day in the close of that chapter. No amount of verbal shenanigans by the theologian who refuses to believe that hagalut, the exile, will be restored to its land can transform these words about the land of Israel to promises for the Church.

1. THE PROSPERITY AND PEACE OF THOSE DAYS (4:4a)

The description of the bounty of the land of Israel in that future day when the Davidic kingdom will be restored closes the book of Amos. "See, the Eternal Lord says, 'the days are coming when the plowman will overtake the one who is reaping and the one who treads the grapes will overtake the one who sows the seed. Then the mountains will drop sweet fresh grape juice and all of the hills will melt. Then I will bring the captivity of My people of Israel, and they will rebuild the waste cities and they will live in them. Then they will plant vineyards and they will drink the wine from them. Also they will make gardens and eat of the produce from them, and I will plant them upon their land, and no more will they be pulled up out of their land which I have given to them,' says the Eternal Lord your God" (Amos 9:13-15).

The bountiful richness, fertility and productivity of the land and the peace which will bless that old land, so long troubled by war, is delightfully summarized by the words of the prophet. Both the prophets Isaiah and Micah have spoken of the fact that, under Messiah's worldwide rule, the instruments of war will be converted into tools of agriculture (Isa. 2:4; Mic. 4:3). Isaiah describes the transformation of the land itself from a wilderness and a wasteland into a place of abundance and great joy at the arrival of their God in the day when He would bring vengeance on their enemies and salvation to His chosen people. "Wilderness and parched land will be glad and the Arabah will rejoice and it will blossom like the rose. It will blossom very abundantly and it will rejoice, even with joy and with singing. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it and the splendor of Carmel and of [the plain of] Sharon [will be given to them] (Isa. 35:1-2a).

Yes, the land will be gloriously transformed in that future day. Three of the prophets speak of the elevation of the water tables of the land that makes possible the transformation of the barren and fruitless places of the land of Israel. The great prophet Ezekiel devotes much of his forty seventh chapter to this geological phenomenon which will follow the arrival of the Messiah. He prophesies about "...water flowing from underneath the threshold of the temple toward the east for the front of the temple will face west. The water will be flowing from under the right side of the temple on the south side of the altar" (Ezek. 47:1).

Ezekiel describes the vision that he had of the continual swelling flow of this water as it flowed toward the east in this way. "And when the man went out to the east with the line in his hand, he measured one thousand cubits. Then he brought me through the waters. The waters came up to my ankles. Again he measured one thousand [cubits] and brought me through the waters. The waters came up to my knees. Again he measured one thousand and he brought me through it. The water came up to my waist. Again he measured one thousand [cubits] and it had become a river that I was not able to cross because the waters were too deep, waters in which a person must swim for it was a river that could not be crossed" (Ezek. 47:3-5).

I personally have concluded that the waters which well up in northern Israel to supply the Sea of Galilee comes through the deep fractures of the great African Rift Valley from the highlands of Africa. Someone else has pointed out that there is a fish that is common only to the Sea of Galilee and to Lake Victoria. It appears that the raising of Israel's water tables at the arrival of Messiah will result from a change in the flow of this water at the great geological movement when the valleys are lifted up and the mountains are made low. "The voice of the one who (Isa. 40:3-4).
The prophets also describe the effect of Messiah's raising of the water tables of the land in that day. Ezekiel speaks of the transformation of the vegetation that will result from this remarkable event. "When I came back, there were very many trees there along the banks of the river on both sides. ... Along the banks of the river on both sides will grow all kinds of trees that are useful for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. They will continue to bear fruit every month because of the waters that will flow from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves will be for medicine" (Ezek. 47:12).

Isaiah indicates that the same remarkable change of water tables will transform the wilderness into a place with standing pools of water. (6b) "Waters will burst forth in the wilderness and streams [will flow] in the desert. (7) The parched ground will become a pool and the thirsty land [will develop] springs of water. There will be grass with reeds and rushes in the habitation of jackals where they lay" (Isa. 35:6b-7).

The prophet Joel turns to the mountains and hills of Judah, joining his description of the changed water tables with its effect on the productivity of the land. "And it will come to pass in that day that the mountains will drip with grape juice. The hills will flow with milk and all of the brooks of Judah will be flooded with water. A fountain will flow from the house of the Eternal Lord and it will water the Valley of Acacias" (Joel 3:18 Engl., 4:18 Heb.). But surely the words of the prophet Amos most graphically describe that which happens to the land of Israel when the Eternal Lord fulfills His ancient promises to reestablish the rule of the house of David over the land and indeed, over all mankind. But perhaps the words of Amos most graphically describe that glorious day yet in the future. "'Behold,' the Eternal Lord says, 'the days will be coming, when the plowman will overtake the reaper and the one who treads the grapes will overtake the one who sows the seed. The mountains will drip with grape juice and all the hills will flow'" (Amos 9:13).

2. THE SOURCE OF THE PEACE OF THAT DAY (4:4b)

Peace has been the longing of Jewish hearts for centuries as the ancient people have been driven, slain, tormented and uprooted from one land after another by Gentiles. These foolishly refused to believe that the Eternal ever would fulfill His great covenant promises to these blood descendants of Abraham. But the prophet Micah describes the peace of that future day in simple language which, without errant presuppositions, any child should be able to understand. "No one will make them afraid because the mouth of the Eternal Lord of Hosts has spoken it" (Mic. 4:4b).

No description of that great day of peace that yet is ahead for the nation of Israel is more beautiful than that brought by the prophet Hosea. He says: (4) "I will heal their backsliding. I will love them freely because My anger will have turned away from them. (5) I will be like the dew to Israel. He will grow like the lily and he will lengthen his roots like Lebanon. (6) His branches will spread. His beauty will be like an olive tree and his fragrance will be like Lebanon. (7) Those who live under His shadow will return. They will be revived like grain and they will grow like a vine. Their remembrance will be like the wines of Lebanon. (8) Ephraim will say: 'What do I have to do with idols anymore? I have heard and I have observed Him. I am like a green cypress tree. Your fruit is found in Me. (9) Who is wise? Let him understand these things. Who is prudent? Let him understand them because the ways of the Eternal Lord are right. The righteous ones will walk in them, but the transgressors will stumble in them" (Hos. 14:4-9).

Zephaniah speaks of that wonderful day when (17) "The Eternal Lord your God will be in your midst when "He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will quiet you with His love and He will rejoice over you with singing. (18) I will gather those that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly, even those who are of you to whom the reproach was a burden" (Zeph. 3:17-18). Imagine a day when the Eternal Lord will sing over His wayward people after He has brought them back to Himself! What a time that will be! The Eternal through Zephaniah says to Israel, (19) "See, at that time I will deal with all who afflict you. I will save the lame ones and will gather those who have been driven out. I will appoint them for praise and fame in every land where they had been put to shame. (20) At that time I will bring you back, even at the time that I will gather you because I will give you fame and praise among all of the peoples of the earth when I return your captives before your eyes' says the Eternal Lord" (Zeph. 3:19-20).

3. ISRAEL'S WORSHIP CONTRASTED WITH THAT OF THE PAGANS (4:5)

For centuries the exiles of the people of Israel rightly have scorned the vagrant worshipers who were dedicated to the worship of trees, animals and idols of plaster, even though at times they also became involved in this desperate degradation from true worship of the Creator. In Isaiah 48:1-5 the Eternal had mocked those who were satisfied to worship the things that they had made. (1) "Hear this, oh house of Jacob, the ones who are called by the name `Israel,' who have come forth out of the fountain of Judah, who swear by the name of the Eternal Lord but not in truth and not in righteousness. (2) For they name themselves as from the holy city and they stay themselves upon the God of Israel. The Eternal Lord of Armies is His name. Those things that came before, I have declared from [i.e, even before] then.

(3) Yes, from My mouth they went forth because I proceeded to cause them to be heard. Abruptly I did [these things] and they came to pass. (4) [I did this] because I knew that you were obstinate and that your neck was a sinew of iron and your forehead was brass. (5) Therefore I proceeded to declare [this] to you from old times. Before it came to be I caused you to hear it lest you should come to say: `My idol has done them and my graven image and my melted [and cast] image has commanded them [to be]'" (Isa. 48:1-5).

Yet a king like Manasseh and others who followed Manasseh turned to this very thing. (3) "Manasseh rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed. He built up altars for Baal and he made a wooden image. He made his son to pass through the fire, practiced soothsaying, used witchcraft and he consulted with the spiritists and the mediums. (7) He even set up a carved image of Asherah which he had made in the house about which the Eternal Lord had said to David and to Solomon, his son: 'In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all of the tribes of Israel, I will place My name forever'" (2 Kings 21: 3, 7).

The prophet Jeremiah was the prophet whom the Eternal Lord choose to record the New Covenant. In it He promises the chosen people of Israel these things. (31) "'See, 'the Eternal Lord says, 'the days are coming when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah. (32) It will not be after the manner of the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. That covenant of Mine they broke even though I was as an husband to them' says the Eternal Lord. (33) But this will be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. 'After those days' says the Eternal Lord, I will place My law in their inward parts and I will write it in their hearts, and I will be their God and they will be My people. (34) And they will teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying: 'Know the Eternal Lord!" The reason is that they all will know Me from the least ones of them to the greatest ones of them,' says the Eternal Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember no more their sin" (Jer. 31:31-34).

Micah contrasts the way that the heathen continually have turned to idols and other abominations with the way that transformed Israel will worship the Lord in the future. "For all peoples do walk, each one of them, in the name of his god, but we [Israel] will walk in the name of the Eternal Lord our God forever and ever" (Mic. 4:5).

E. MESSIAH REGATHERS ISRAEL (4:6-7)

Already we have noted the great Aliyah, the regathering and return of Hagalut, the exiled peoples of the nation of Israel under their Lord. Micah describes that which will happen in the latter days. "The Eternal Lord says: 'In that day I will assemble the lame ones. I will gather the outcasts and those whom I have afflicted. I will make the lame a remnant and I will make the outcasts a strong nation. In this way the Eternal Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion from now on and even forever'" (Mic. 4:7).

This is the glorious day which Isaiah has described, directly linking it with the return of the Eternal Lord to the land of Israel in Isaiah 35:5-6. (5) "Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. (6) Then the lame man will leap like a deer and the tongue of the dumb man will sing because waters will burst forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert" (Isa. 35:5-6).

The New Testament scholar that reads this passage should remember that which is recorded in Luke 7 about this very passage. (19) "John, when he had called two of his disciples, sent them to Jesus saying: 'Are You the One Who is to come or do we look for someone else?' (20) When the men had come to Him [Jesus], they said: 'John the Baptist has sent us to You, saying: `Are you the Coming One, or should we look for someone else?' (21) And in that very hour He healed many who had infirmities, afflictions and evil spirits, and He gave sight to many blind people. (22) Then Jesus answered and said to them: 'You go and tell to John those things which you have seen and heard, that the blind people see, the lame ones walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf people hear, the dead are raised, the poor people have the gospel preached to them. (23) And he who is not offended because of Me will be blessed'" (Luke 7:19-23).

It is obvious that the Lord Jesus was telling John the Baptizer that the many healings that He had performed plainly indicated that He fulfilled the promises of the Tanach about the One Who was promised to come to them.

Jeremiah gloriously reports in chapter 31 that which the Eternal Lord declares to the Gentiles about this future day of the return of Israel.(10) "Hear the word of the Eternal Lord, O you nations, and announce it among the coastlands that are far off, and say this: 'He Who has scattered Israel will gather him and will keep him in the way that a shepherd keeps his flock. (11) For the Eternal Lord will redeem Jacob and will ransom him from the hand of one who is stronger than he is. (12) Therefore they will come and will sing in the height of Zion, streaming to the goodness of the Eternal Lord . . . " (Jer. 31:10-12a).

F. THE KINGDOM RESTORED TO JERUSALEM (4:8)

The Eternal Lord promises Israel and the old citadel of Zion through the prophet Micah. "And you, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, it [the kingdom] will come to you, even the former dominion will come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem" (Mic. 4:8). The final element of Micah's great description of the events that would come in the latter days is the re-establishment of the Davidic kingdom from the citadel that David had captured from the Jebusites. It is that of which Isaiah prophecies of the day when to Israel (6) " a Child will be born," when "...unto us a Son will be given, and the government will be upon His shoulder. For His name will be called 'Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, The Father of Eternity, the Prince of Peace.' (7) There will be no end of the increase of His government and peace upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from that time forward even forever" (Isa. 9:6-7).

It is of that day of which the Psalmist David reports in Psalm 2:6-8). "Yet will I [in spite of the rejection of the Messiah in verses 1-3] establish My King on My holy hill of Zion" (Psalm 2:6). Hebrews 1 in the New Testament makes it clear that it is the Messiah Who quotes that which the Eternal Lord had said to Him in the eternal decree. (7) "I am determined to relate the details of the decree: 'The Eternal Lord said to Me: 'You are My Son. At this time I do become Your Father. (8) Ask of Me for I am determined to give You the nations for Your inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for Your possession. (9) You will smash them with a rod of iron. You will dash them into pieces like a potter's vessel" (Psa. 2:7-9).

This quotation from Psalm 2 contains several crucial pieces of information.

1. It is the Son of God who is quoting that which the Eternal Father says to Him in the eternal decree. The quotation of Psalm 2:7 in Hebrews 1:4-5 leaves no doubt but that these words in the decree are spoken to the Messiah in eternity past. As the book of Hebrews shows the infinite superiority of the Messiah to the angels, it says of the Messiah, (4) "...Being made so much better than the angels, as He by inheritance has obtained a more excellent name than they have. (5) For unto which of the angels did He ever say at any time, `You are My Son. I this day do become Your Father.'"

2. It also is obvious that Messiah does not become the Son of God within the bounds of time. These words clearly are a part of the decree, for they are introduced by the One with Whom this relationship as Son with reference to the Father is established. This is a relationship between two members of the Godhead that was established in eternity past. And concerning this relationship the One Who now is called "Son" by the Father announces that He is relating that which was established in the eternal decree and not by some event within time as we humans know it. The One Who now will be called Son since that decree introduces this quotation from the decree very emphatically by a cohortative in this way: "I am determined to relate the details of the decree..." (Psa. 2:7).

3. A relation of dependence is being established within the Godhead by the establishing of this relationship in eternity past. As Son, the member of the Godhead being addressed now assumes a subordinate relationship with the Father. The implication of this subordination is seen in Psalm 2:8. The Father now says to the One who has assumed this relationship, "Ask of Me, for I am determined to give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth as Your possession." It is obvious that the Son now will request things of the Father, thus indicating this newly assumed relationship.

4. It is obvious that the decree that was established between the members of the Godhead in eternity past is the basis for the absolute assurance of the Father concerning Messiah's future ministry as king. It is the basis for His declaration which so often has been obscured by the translators in Psalm 2:6. "Yet will I establish My King on Zion, mount of My holiness." The rejection of the Messiah by Israel and the nations in no way will thwart the intent of the Father to fulfil His promises to the nation of Israel concerning the establishment of the Messianic kingdom. According to Psalm 2:9 the day is coming when Messiah will not be being rejected and overthrown as king as interpreted in Acts 4:25-28. Instead, the day is coming when, in taking possession of all of the earth as His inheritance, Messiah will smash those who attempt to withstand the future establishment of the Messianic kingdom. Psalm 2:9 says this. "You [the Messiah] will break them with a scepter of iron. Like a vessel of a potter You will utterly smash them into pieces."

All of the wonderful things concerning Messiah's future kingdom that Micah has described will take place in the latter days of the people of Israel. But Micah now suddenly is led to turn to reveal that an entire series of events will precede that glorious day when King Messiah will come to earth, will return the rest of the exiled people of Israel to their native land. Many terrible things still awaited Micah's people, which would take place before the establishment of that glorious kingdom. It is only then in Israel's latter days that Messiah will come and will deliver them from their enemies, establishing His rule over the whole world from Jerusalem. Micah introduces many of these events by the adverb "now" in the great context of the rest of chapter 4 and most of chapters 5-7.

Chapter three:

EVENTS (NOW PAST) THAT WOULD PRECEDE
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MESSIANIC KINGDOM (4:9-5:3a)

While Micah does not number the events that lay ahead of Israel from his time, altogether he explains that there would be fifteen major events that would befall the nation of Israel in punishment for her continual waywardness. All fifteen of these events would come to pass before their Messiah would arrive to establish the kingdom that had been promised so long ago in the great, unchangeable covenants. Some of these events stand alone and are introduced by the adverb "now." Others are related and are linked together with those descriptions of events that are linked by "Now." These grow out of those events that are introduced by the adverb.

A. THE AGONIES OF CENTURIES OF WAITING FOR MESSIAH'S KINGDOM TO COME

Event # 1. ISRAEL'S BIRTH PANGS BEGIN WITH THE LOSS OF THEIR RULERS (4:9a)

The first event that inescapably had to come upon the people of Israel and Judah relates to their rulers. Micah prophesied at about the same time as Isaiah in the late 700's B.C. The end of the single kingdom did not come until the early part of the sixth century B.C., He very plainly prophesied the end of the rule of the house of David over the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Furthermore, he clearly states that this event would occur before the great Messianic kingdom would be set up. "Now [that is, before the fulfillment of these great kingdom promises] why do you cry aloud? Is there no king in your midst? Has your counselor perished?" (Mic. 4:9a).

Micah's message parallels that which Jeremiah had spoken to Zedekiah, the final king of the Davidic dynasty. Zedekiah repeats it to Jeremiah in great anger. (3) "Why do you prophesy and announce: 'This is what the Eternal Lord says. 'See, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will take it. (4) Now Zedekiah, king of Judah will not escape from the hands of the Chaldeans but surely will be delivered unto the hand of the king of Babylon, and will speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye. (5) Then he will lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he will be until I visit him . . ." (Jer. 32:3-5).

Event # 2. ISRAEL'S EXILE TO BABYLON (4:9b-10)

The second tragedy which the prophet Micah proclaims must befall the nation before the Messianic kingdom would be established is a time of great trouble. This period of Israel's history is much like one that Jeremiah describes vividly. He says: (5) "For this is what the Eternal Lord says: 'We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. (6) Ask now and see whether a man ever is in labor with a child? As a result, why do I see every man with his hands upon his loins like a woman who is in labor and having all faces turned pale? (7) Alas! For that day will be great so that none is like it and it is the time of Jacob's trouble, but he will be saved out from it'" (Jer. 30:5-7).

Micah describes this time, the time of Jacob's trouble, in the same way, but he is not at this point referring to the same event. After he has described the cessation of the rule over the nation by king and counselor, he gives the explanation of this time of great trouble. (9) "...For birth pangs will seize you like a woman who is in labor. (10) Be in pain and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman who is in birth pangs . . ." (Mic. 4:9b-10a). In the context here in Micah it is clear that at this point Micah is not referring to the great tribulation which is fully described in the New Testament book of Revelation. He is referring to the awful chaos which came upon the nation when the Babylonians returned three times to encircle and harass Jerusalem, finally carrying away most of its people. That event is more fully described in the next event that still faced Judah in the days of Micah.

Event # 3. THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY (4:10b)

Most of the pre-exilic prophets spoke of this third impending event, the carrying away of Judah by the Babylonians. This too had to take place before the Messianic kingdom could be established. It also is the subject of several of the Psalms. Micah briefly develops the subject in this chapter but plainly gives this captivity as the cause for the end of the Davidic dynasty and for the fierce agony which the nation must suffer before their Messianic hopes would be fulfilled. Micah says: "For now you will go forth out of the city. You will live in the field and you will go to Babylon" (Mic. 4:10b).

In Chapter one Habakkuk was informed of this terrible event by the Eternal Lord in this way. (5) "Look among the nations and watch. Be totally astounded because I will do a work in your days that you would not believe even if it were told to you. (6) For surely I will be raising up the Chaldeans, a bitter and hasty nation that marches through the breadth of the earth in order to possess dwelling places that do not belong to them. (7) They are terrible and dreadful. Their judgment and their dignity comes from themselves. (8) Also their horses are faster than leopards and fiercer than wolves of the evening. Their chargers charge ahead; their cavalry comes from far off. They fly like the eagle that hurries to eat. (9) They all come for violence. Their faces are set like the east wind. They will gather captives like sand. They will scoff at kings and princes will be scorned by them. (10) They will mock at every stronghold because they heap up mounds of earth and seize them. (11) Then his spirit will change and he will transgress. He will commit an offense by ascribing the power to his own god" (Hab. 1:5-11).
The book of Daniel begins after the first wave of the Babylonian invasion had carried Daniel and his friends away to the Babylonian court. Jeremiah uses the illustration of two baskets of figs, one good and the other far over ripe, to convey the message that those who had been carried off to Babylon were the righteous ones who had been delivered from the horrors of the Babylonian captivity (Jeremiah 24). The book of Ezekiel begins two years later. It is written by Ezekiel, one of the priestly family who also had been carried away. Seven years later he received the news in Babylon that Jerusalem had fallen (Ezekiel 33:21).

This great event series which culminated in the carrying away most of Judah fulfills the words of Micah when he says: "Now, why do you cry out aloud? Is there no king in you? Has your counselor died?" (Mic. 4:9a). But when Micah wrote, these things were still future, scarcely contemplated by his own people. His simple announcement that they would leave Jerusalem, living in the field (v. 10) as they traveled to Babylon nevertheless held great impact on those who would read his prophecy and believe.

It is the prophet Jeremiah who received the information from the Eternal in chapter 25 that the Babylonian captivity would last for 70 years. (8) "Therefore this is what the Eternal Lord of Hosts says: 'Because you have not listened to My words, (9) look. I will take all of the families of the north,' says the Eternal Lord, 'with Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, My servant. I will bring them against this land, against those who live in it, and against all of these nations which live around it. I will utterly destroy them and will make them an astonishment, a hissing and continual desolations.

(10) Furthermore I will remove from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. (11) Then this whole land will become a desolation and an astonishment and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years. (12) Then this is what will happen when the seventy years have been completed. I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity' says the Eternal Lord, 'and I will make it to be perpetual desolations '" (Jer. 25:8-12).

Event # 4. THE DELIVERANCE OF ISRAEL FROM BABYLON (4:10c)

It was the prophet Daniel, now a high government official in Babylon after it had been conquered by the Persians, who read in Daniel 9 the words that Jeremiah had written and understood that the 70 years of captivity were near their end. (1) "In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans, (2) in the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the Eternal Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would complete 70 years in the desolations of Jerusalem" (Dan. 9:1-2).

Daniel began to pray earnestly over the sins of his people, confessing them as if he had been involved in them (Dan. 9:3-19). In direct response to Daniel's prayers the Eternal moved the heart of Cyrus, the king of the Persians who had conquered Babylon, and allowed the remnant of Israel to return from their exile to their own land (Ezra 1:1-4). In so doing this king fulfilled the words of the prophet Micah and brought the fourth event that stood in the way of the establishment of the Messianic kingdom into Israel's history. No longer must Israel wait for the fulfillment of the prophet's words: "And to Babylon you will go. There you will be delivered. There the Eternal Lord will redeem you from the hand of your enemies" (Mic. 4:1).

Event # 5. THE GATHERING OF MANY NATIONS AGAINST ISRAEL
BY THE LORD FOR THEIR JUDGMENT (4:11-12)

The fifth event which had to come to pass before the establishment of the long promised Messianic kingdom according to the prophet Micah is one which spans many centuries of Israel's history. "Now also many nations will gather against you who will be saying, 'Let her become defiled and let our eyes look on Zion'" (Mic. 4:11). One can interpret the prophet's words to refer to the many agonizing centuries of troubles which now are past, centuries in which the nation of Israel, both in their land and then in a greater exile, have suffered unjustly at the hands of many nations.
After all, the prophet Daniel had described the buffeting of Israel that yet awaited them at the hands of other nations. He had spoken of the four beasts that would arise out of the sea of the nations (Daniel 7:1-8). This vision had been interpreted for him as representing four great kingdoms, the latter of which would climax in the rise of ten kings. They in turn would be succeeded by yet another king who desperately would afflict Israel.

This is revealed to Daniel in chapter 7. (24) "The ten horns are ten kings who will rise up from this kingdom and another will rise up after them. He will be different from the first ones and he will subdue those kings. (25) He will speak great words against the Most High and will persecute the saints of the Most High. And he will seek to change the times and the law. Then they will be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time. (26) But the court will be seated and they will take away his rule" (Dan. 7:24-26).

It is true that Israel suffered much throughout the four kingdoms that Daniel describes. And it is true that Antiochus Epiphanes did all of the things of which Daniel prophesies (Dan. 11:21-45). Cannot that suffering be a part of the trials prophesied by Micah? Perhaps. But on the other hand, these troubles still are continuing even though a remnant of the nation has returned to that little, war torn strip of land that lies between Europe, Asia and Africa. That which had been described by Asaph as happening in his own day has become horribly relevant to the trials of Israel in the land today. And the prayer of Asaph in Psalm 83 is so appropriate for God's troubled people there as they once again are faced by so many enemies round about and even far away.

(1) "Do not continue to keep silent, O God! Do not continue to hold Your peace and do not continue to be silent, O God! (2) For see, Your enemies are making a tumult and those who hate You have lifted up their heads. (3) They have taken crafty counsel against Your people and have made a compact together against Your protected ones. (4) They are saying: 'Come! Let us cut them off from continuing as a nation in order that the name of Israel will be remembered no more.' (5) For they have talked together with one consent. They have formed a confederacy against You. (6) The tents of Edom and of the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagerenes, (7) Gebal, Ammon and Amalek, Palestine and the inhabitants of Tyre. (8) Assyria also has joined with them. They are helping the children of Lot. Selah" (Psa. 83:1-8).

Yes, Israel even today is going through continual trials as many nations repeatedly have joined themselves together to destroy the nation of Israel and to cause their memory to cease. Only recently one of the Arab leaders pompously announced that within two years Israel no longer would exist as a nation! Indeed, these very things were prophesied by Zechariah as events which would take place when Israel began to return from their worldwide exile after the sale of their Shepherd for thirty pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:1-17).

In the following chapter Zechariah looked forward to the day when returning Israel would live in the land which had been given to them by the Lord, but living outside of the Old City of Jerusalem. There they would constantly be troubled and forced to defend themselves against "the peoples around and about them" (Zech. 12:2-4). Zechariah also prophesied that, as a result of the repeated attacks of the Arab nations, Israel would come to dwell even in the old city of Jerusalem. He makes it clear that the brilliance of Israel's military leaders would appear on the surface to be the means of Israel's deliverance from the many attacks that would befall them. But he also announces that these very leaders, the 'alluphey yuhudah, the very expression used in modern Hebrew for "the generals of Judah," will secretly recognize that what they had accomplished must have been done through the help of the Eternal Lord of Hosts (Zech. 12:5).
These "peoples round about," obviously the Arab peoples whose lands surround and who would besiege the new city of Jerusalem repeatedly according to Zechariah 12, are the combined group of peoples mentioned in Psalm 83. They have three things in common, the Arabic language, the Moslem religion and their hatred for the ancient people of Israel. That hatred for the descendants of Jacob would drive them into fear and trembling before the tattered, poorly armed little military force which defended the land from their enemies.

(1) "`The burden of the word of the Eternal Lord for Israel,' says the Eternal Lord: (2) 'See, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup of trembling to all of the peoples round about when they will be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. (3) Then in that day I will make Jerusalem to be a very burdening stone for all of the peoples [the peoples which have their kingdoms around Israel]. Everyone burdening themselves with it will be cut into pieces even though all of the peoples of the land will be gathered against it.' (4) The Eternal Lord says: `In that day I will strike every horse with astonishment and his rider with madness, but I will open My eyes upon the house of Judah and I will strike every horse of the peoples [the Arab peoples mentioned above] with blindness'" (Zech. 12:1-4).

This passage does not refer to the battle of Armageddon as many students including my own Hebrew professor, Dr. Merrill Unger, mistakenly have concluded. That battle that gathers armies of the world is not described until Zechariah 14. It is an event that follows the conversion of part of the peoples of Israel who would be living in the land to their Messiah. It is shortly after the utterly miraculous defeat of an army of goyim, Gentiles, that a heavy burden of conscience sweeps throughout the land, apparently resulting in the conversion of one third of those in the land. The Eternal describes His own action of destroying their northern enemy (cf. Joel 2:18-20) in this way. "Then this shall be in that day, that I will utterly seek to destroy all of the Gentiles who will be coming against Jerusalem" (Zech. 12:9). Joel plainly identifies this as an army that unites and invades Israel from the north. Those in the land recognize that they are helpless before the power of this great invading force. They do not realize that it is the Lord Himself who will have gathered this invasion force as a means of bringing the yet wayward and independent nation to its knees before Him (Joel 2:11-14). Indeed, according to Joel 2, they will gather as one to call upon the Eternal Lord to deliver them.
(18) "Then will the Eternal Lord become jealous for His land and He will begin to have pity upon His people. (19) Then the Eternal Lord will answer and He will begin to say to His people: `Behold, I am about to be sending you corn and wine and oil, and you will be satisfied with it, and I will not give you any more to be a reproach among the Gentiles, (20) but I will remove the northern one far off from you, and I will cause him to be driven into a land that is barren and desolate with his face toward the eastern sea [the Dead Sea] and his back toward the western sea [the Mediterranean Sea]. Then his stink will arise and his stench will come up because he has done great things" (Joel 2:18-20).

According to Zechariah 12, is this wonderful act on the part of the Eternal, that will come after so many desperate centuries, will awaken the independent hearts of the Zionists in the land. (10) "Then [after the Eternal has destroyed the northern army about six months before the middle of Israel's seven great years of trials] I will pour out upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplications. Then they will begin to look unto Me, the One Whom they pierced through, and they will mourn for Him like the mourning for the only child, and they will weep bitterly for Him like weeping concerning the firstborn one. (11) In that day the mourning will become great in Jerusalem like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddo. (12) Then the land will mourn, families by themselves, the family of the house of David by itself and their wives by themselves, the family of the house of Nathan by itself and their wives by themselves. The family of the house of Levi will be by itself and their wives by themselves. The family of the Shimeites will be by themselves and their wives by themselves, all of the families that are left, every family by itself and their wives by themselves. (13:1) In that day a fountain will be being opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness" (Zech. 12:10-13:1). Zechariah 13:2-9 briefly summarizes the three and one half most difficult years of the great tribulation's trial for the remnant as it is being purified before the arrival of their King.

Now it appears to be perfectly logical to say that the initial stages of the present return of Israel from their worldwide exile surely is prophesied here in Zechariah. Furthermore, the continual aggression that has troubled those in the land for all of the 20th century, including the series of battles since Israel became an independent nation, precisely harmonizes with Zechariah's prophetic words. Indeed, the astonished reaction of the generals of Judah at their victories against overwhelming odds also accords with their inner reactions at their amazing victories against the Arab armies.

The prophet Zechariah continues to describe the reaction of Israel's generals in this way. (5) "And the generals of Judah will say in their hearts, 'The inhabitants of Jerusalem have been my strength through the Eternal Lord of Hosts!' (6) In that day I will make the generals of Judah like a fire pan in the pile of wood, and like a fiery torch in the sheaves. They will devour all of the peoples who live around about on the right hand and on the left hand, and Jerusalem will be inhabited [by Jews] again in her own place, even in Jerusalem" (Zech. 12:5-6). It must be remembered that the Hebrew word which I have translated "generals" actually is the modern Hebrew word for Israel's generals.

But there are several events prophesied by Zechariah which have not yet been fulfilled at this point in Israel's history. While Jerusalem has been captured by Israel, it is by no means fully occupied by Israel. Even the holy temple site is occupied by their enemies who constantly maneuver to take away their land and their rights and to drive them into the sea. Furthermore, the ancient people to whom God's covenants and promises were given have not yet been invaded by the goyim, the Gentiles, (Zech. 12:9) who will invade them out of the north. This invasion is described in much more detail in Ezekiel 38:15 and in 39:2.

Already we have considered Joel's contribution concerning this invasion in Joel 2:20. I have said that this invasion would take place about six months before the outpouring of the Spirit which is described in Joel 3:1-5 (Heb. 2:28-32, 3:1-5 Engl.). The reason for this conclusion is that there are seasonal climate changes spoken of in Joel 2:21-27. Between the destruction of the northern army (Joel 2:20) and the outpouring of the Spirit while there are great heavenly signs lie both the former rains and the latter rains. The former rains normally fall in the three places in the world that have the climate of the land of Israel during the period from October through December. These three places are Israel, the California coast and part of the coasts of Peru and Chile. The latter rains fall from January through passover. It is for this reason that one must conclude that approximately six months lie between the destruction of the northern army and the outpouring of the Spirit.

This great destruction of the invading armies is described by Isaiah 63 as an event that precedes the repentance of Israel. Isaiah graphically describes Israel's awakening to the divine intervention that will have saved them from the great invading army which will be marching through Trans-Jordan. (1) "Who is this who is coming from Edom, garments crimsoned from Bozrah? This one is glorious in his apparel, marching in the multitude of his strength? `I am the One who is speaking in righteousness, mighty to save!' (2) Why is your apparel red, and your garments are like the one who has been treading in the wine vat? (3) `I have trodden the winepress by Myself and there was no one from the peoples [of Israel] who was with Me. So in My anger I trod them and in My fury I trampled them, and their lifeblood is splattered against My garments and I have stained all of My raiment. (4) [I have done this] because the day of vengeance was in My heart and the year of My redeemed ones has come" (Isa. 63:1-4).

The response of Israel at that future day to their deliverance by the Messiah is described in Isaiah 64. That chapter also shows that this will take place in the land during a time when Israel's cities will be burned with fire. The temple which those of the 'aliah will have built either immediately before or during their time of great tribulation will have been destroyed already. Part of the prayer of the believing remnant in the land after this miraculous delivery, which reveals that the temple already will have been destroyed, is found in Isaiah 63. (18) "In a little while they have driven out the people of Your holiness. Our adversaries have trodden down Your sanctuary. (19) We have become like those over whom You never ruled, like those who are not called by Your name" (Isa. 63:18-19a).

The agonizing prayer of the remnant, which is not recorded in Zechariah 12:11-14, actually is recorded in Isaiah 63:19b (Heb). Oh that You would rend the heavens and You would come down, that the mountains would quake at Your presence!"

Herein is the relationship of these two events that Zechariah 12 sets forth. It is the invasion by the goyim. the Gentiles, that causes many in the land mentally to consider [the Hebrew word nabhat] Him Whom they pierced. (9) "It will be in that day that I will seek to destroy all of the goyim (Gentiles) that will come against Jerusalem. (10) And I will pour out upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and of supplication. Then they will begin to consider Me Whom they pierced and they will begin to mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son and they will grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son" (Zech. 12:9-10).

The time of repentance, of Israel's conversion and cleansing which is described in Zechariah 12:11-13:9 also has not yet taken place. Neither has the invasion by the armies of Armageddon, long prophesied by the prophets, yet been fulfilled. These are events which yet face the nation of Israel before the establishment of the great Messianic kingdom which had been promised to David concerning his greater Son. " (2 Sam. 7:12-17).

It is futile for the interpreter of the Davidic Covenant to seek to understand its fulfillment only in David's near son, Solomon. There are several elements in the prophecy which have only a near relevance, a pre-fulfillment which relates to Solomon. Through a prophetic technique, which is called "compenetration," the prophecy also has an eschatological relevance. Its quotation by Hebrews one plainly shows that by far the most important relevance is to David's greater Son. Both sons of David are present in part of the covenant. This may be seen in 2 Samuel 7 in the Davidic Covenant. (12) "When your [David's] days come to be full and you sleep with your fathers, then I will set up your seed after you, which will proceed out of your inward parts, and I will establish his kingdom. (13) He will build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom always."

Notice that in the conclusion of verse 14 Solomon begins to fade out of the scene being portrayed in the great covenant. At that point the focus of the prophecy moves exclusively to David's greater Son. The fulfillment of this part of the prophecy and of the great Davidic Covenant absolutely awaits another person who is far greater than Solomon. This section of the Covenant contains crucial elements that could not possibly relate to Solomon. The Eternal Lord says something through the prophet Nathan that translators have ignored for centuries. The Hebrew text actually speaks of the Son who would be born to the lineage of David, indicating a glorious relationship between the Eternal and this son of David. I will proceed to be to Him as a Father, and He will be to Me for a son, Whom, in His being caused to be guilty [a causative passive verbal] of iniquity, I will cause [a causative active verb] the chastening of Him with the rod of mankind and with the strokes of the sons of men" (2 Sam. 7:14). This statement, properly understood, is among the clearest statements found in the Tanach, the Old Testament, concerning the redemptive work of David's greater son, the Messiah. The day would come when this greater son of David would become the bearer of iniquity for others. It was of this that John the Baptist cried, "Behold the Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world!" (Jn. 1:29).

According to Isaiah 53:10 it was indeed the Eternal Lord Who brought about the bruising of His servant when "He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows" (Isaiah 53:4a), when "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement for our peace was upon Him and by His stripes we were healed" (Isa. 53:4-5). The Hophal [causative passive] verb in 2 Samuel 7:14 which I have translated "In His being caused to be guilty of iniquity . . ." surely refers to the act of the Eternal Lord in making His Servant an offering for sin for us. This already has been fulfilled. It is spoken of in the great prophet, Isaiah. "When You make His soul an offering for sin . . ." (Isa. 53:10). The Hiphil verb [causative active] in the following clause already has been fulfilled. "I will cause the chastening of Him [the Messiah] with the rod of mankind and with the strokes of the sons of men." It has its counterpart in Zechariah's words, " Whom they pierced." Both passages refer to the event prophesied by David in Psalm 2. (1) "Why do the nations rage and the peoples imagine a vain thing? (2) The kings of the land set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Eternal Lord and against His Messiah, saying: (3) 'Let us break Their bonds in pieces and throw away their cords from us.'"

It is upon this greater Son of David that the remnant of Israel in the land must look, concerning Whom they must repent, before that One establishes the great Davidic kingdom for Israel promised so long ago.

And, according to Israel's prophets and the prophecies of the New Testament, they still face a greater trial of many nations yet in the future, the battle of Armageddon. Micah introduces that event when describing the way that the nations in the final days of Israel's great trial, the tribulation, gather themselves to attack the poor little nation. "But they do not know the thoughts of the Eternal Lord, neither do they understand His counsel. The reason is that He will be gathering them like sheaves are gathered on the threshing floor" (Mic. 4:12). That which happens when the nations gather for the battle of Armageddon is the described in several of the great prophets of the Tenach.

Event # 6. MESSIAH AND ISRAEL'S VICTORY OVER ISRAEL'S ENEMIES (4:13)

Micah's brief description of the resulting event which still lies ahead on Israel's horizon involves both the Eternal in His strengthening of the warriors of Israel and the fierce warfare of that nation as they throw off their enemies with His help. "Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion, for I [the Eternal Lord] will make your horn like iron and your hooves like bronze. You will consecrate their gain to the Eternal Lord, even their wealth to the Eternal Lord of the entire earth" (Micah 4:13).

Later in chapter 5 the prophet Micah will develop this theme of Israel's victories in their final great battle. (8) "Then the remnant of Jacob will be among the Gentiles, even in the midst of many peoples, like a lion which is among the beasts of the forest and like a young lion which is among flocks of sheep, who, when he passes through them, both treads down and rips into pieces and no one is able to deliver them. (9) Your hand will be lifted up against your adversaries and all of your enemies will be cut off" (Mic. 5:8-9).

In Zechariah 14 the prophet describes this phenomenal strength of the warriors of Israel, fully empowered by the great Warrior, the Messiah Who will be fighting alongside of them. (13) "This is what will happen in that day. A great panic from the Eternal Lord will be among them [the armies of Armageddon who will have gathered to destroy Israel]. Everyone will seize his neighbor's hand and will raise his hand against his neighbor's hand. (14) Judah also will fight at Jerusalem and the wealth of all of the surrounding nations will come to be gathered together, gold, silver and clothing in great abundance" (Zech. 14:13-14). It is obvious that this great event which Micah has prophesied as an event still in the future of Israel still awaits her in the future. What great trials and victories lie ahead!

Now this remarkable victory by the remnant of Israel that will have returned to the land, is the subject of prophecy by Zechariah. And the message of that Prophet exactly parallels that which follows in Micah 5. Zechariah 9 begins by describing events that would precede the arrival of the Messiah. Zechariah 9:1-8 remarkably foretells of the judgments which would the Eternal would bring by means of Alexander the Great upon Israel's surrounding nations even while delivering Israel from that judgment. The actual events are well described in Josephus as he described the campaign of Alexander as his army traveled south along the Levant through Israel into Egypt. I have actually seen a lewd representation of Alexander in a hieroglyph text at Karnak in Egypt.

But that which is parallel to the prophecy of Micah follows in Zechariah 9:9-11:17. That prophet describes the entry of the Messiah into Jerusalem ready to deliver the nation from their Roman oppressors at that time. "Rejoice greatly, Oh daughter of Zion! Shout, Oh daughter of Jerusalem! See, your King is coming to you. He is righteous and having deliverance, lowly and riding upon a donkey, even a colt, the offspring of a donkey" (Zech. 9:9).

The context that follows describes the deliverance of the nation which could have followed, had the nation received their Messiah. It is a context that describes those of Judah and of the Northern Kingdom overthrowing their traditional enemies as the Eternal appears over them, defending them and saving them. "The battle bow will be cut off. He will speak peace to the nations. His dominion will be from sea to sea and from the river even to the ends of the earth" (Zech. 9;10b). The prophecy anticipates the return of the exiles and apparently even the resurrection of the Old Testament dead, who at that time were confined as prisoners in the pit that had no water (Zech. 9:11). His defense and deliverance of them is dramatically portrayed. (14) "Then the Eternal Lord will be seen over them and His arrows will go forth like lightening. The Eternal Lord God will blow the trumpet and will come with the whirlwinds from the south. (15) The Eternal Lord of Hosts will defend them. They will devour and they will subdue [their enemies] with sling stones. The Eternal Lord their God will save them in that day" (Zech. 9:14a, 15a).

The prophet describes the promise for the Messianic reign of His marvelous provision of rain on their land (Zechariah 10). Zechariah prophesies directly concerning the cause of their sins by their spiritual leaders and of the judgment that would fall upon those false religionists. (2) "For the teraphim have spoken delusion and they have told false dreams. They have comforted in vain. For this reason the peoples wander in their way like sheep. They are in this trouble because there is no shepherd. (3) My anger is kindled against the shepherds and I am going to punish the goat herders because the Eternal Lord of Hosts will visit His flock, the house of Judah, and He will make them like horses in the battle" (Zech. 10:2-3).

Zechariah speaks of the transformation of a people who for centuries had been merchants. Suddenly they will become great warriors (Zech. 10:5-7). The prophet describes that which should have followed Messiah's appearance in Zion, the return of exiles who would have been scattered in the far countries of the world. (8) "I will whistle for them and I will gather them because I will redeem them. Then they will increase in the way that they once increased. (9) I will have sown them among the peoples [the Gentiles] but they will be remembered in far countries. They will continue to live, together with their children, and they will return. (10) I also will return them from the land of Egypt and will gather them from Assyria. I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon and room for them will not be found" (Zech. 10:8-10).

Rashi said of Zechariah 9:9, "This can only refer to King Messiah of whom it is said, 'And his dominion shall be from sea to sea,' since we do not find any ruler with such wide dominion during the days of the Second Temple.' "Ah," those who refuse to listen to the correct interpretation of Zechariah 9:9 given by Rashi, will say, "This could not possibly be referring to the Messiah because the deliverance of the nation from her enemies did not happen! The victorious war described did not happen! Instead, those who had returned to Israel from Babylon were overthrown by the Romans and exiled in 70 A.D. and in 135 A.D.! Surely the writers of the New Testament gospels were wrong when all of them used this to describe the ride of Yeshua to the temple on the colt" (Matt. 21:1-16; Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:28-46 and John 12:1-14).

How often the intent of the Divine Author is perverted by interpreters who deliberately or unintentionally ignore the context of that which they misapply! This context describes the glories which should have followed the arrival of the Messiah at the temple after the deliverance of the nation from the terrible danger that came in the conquest by Alexander of much of the eastern world (Zech. 9:1-8). But the following context in chapter 11 describes the awful ruin of the nation by the Romans in 70 and in 135 A.D. which brought about hagalut which has lasted almost 1,900 years.

Once again it is well to listen to the words of some of the wiser of Israel's Rabbis. The Babylonian Talmud contains this painful recognition of the meaning of Zechariah's words that open Zechariah 11.

"Forty years before the destruction of the [Second] Temple . . . the doors of the Temple used to open of their own accord, until Rabbi Jochanan ben Zakkai rebuked them saying, 'O Sanctuary, Sanctuary! Why do you terrify yourself? I know well that your end is to be destroyed, for Zechariah the son of Iddo prophesied against thee long since: 'Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars.'"2

Other Rabbis also recognized in these words that Zechariah was prophesying the destruction of the temple which was rebuilt by Herod: Zechariah had prophesied: "Open your doors, Oh Lebanon, in order that fire may devour your cedar woods! Wail, Oh cypress wood, because the cedar wood has fallen, because the mighty [woods] are ruined. Wail, Oh oak woods from Bashan, because the thick forest has come down. There is a sound of the wailing of the [spiritual] shepherds because that which was their glory is in ruins! There is the sound of the roaring of lions because the pride of the Jordan is in ruins" (Zech. 11:1-3).

Rabbi Isaac who was the son of Tavlai said: "Why is the temple called Lebanon [white mountain]?" The answer was given in this way: "Because it makes white the sins of Israel." Rabbi Zutra who was the son of Tobiah asked this question: "Why is the temple called 'forest'?" He gave the answer, Because it is written, 'The house of the forest of Lebanon" This is a reference to 1 Kings 7:2 where the temple of Solomon is so described. And there were other Rabbis who correctly recognized that Zechariah in 520 B.C. prophesied of the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans. They are Abarbanel, Joseph ben Gorim, Aben Ezra, Abraham the Levite, Alshech and Rabbi Isaac of Troki. 3

The following context shows that in reality Messiah would not regather the nation but rather they would come to be sold as slaves and exiled from their land. "Thus says the Eternal Lord my [Zechariah's] God, Feed the flock of the slaughter [i.e. the flock which is destined for the slaughter house], whose owners will slaughter them and will feel no guilt. Those who will sell them will say, 'Blessed is the Lord because I have become rich!' Furthermore their shepherds will not pity them. The reason is because no longer will I have pity on the inhabitants of the land' says the Eternal Lord. "But surely I will give everyone into the hand of his neighbor and into the hand of his king. They [the troops of the king] will attack the land but I will not deliver them out of their hands" As a result, I fed the flock to the slaughter, even the afflicted ones of the flock . . ." (Zech. 11:4-7a). That is exactly what did happen to those who were besieged by the Romans in 70 A.D.. and then later after the crushing of the revolt of the false Messiah, Simon bar Kochba.

But there is even more specific detail here in Zechariah which describes the awful judgment which fell on Israel in 70 A.D.. The Prophet describes the end of the leaders of the three factions that warred with each other within the walls of Jerusalem even while the Romans were advancing to destroy them. "I will proceed to cut off the three shepherds in one month, because My soul despised them and furthermore their souls despised Me" (Zech. 11:8).

Josephus leaves no doubt concerning the meaning of this verse. In a section that describes events before the battle against Titus that brought the fall of Jerusalem he describes these leaders and their men in this way.

"Now this Simon, who was without the wall, was a greater terror to the people than the Romans themselves, as were the Zealots who were within it more heavy upon them than both of the others; and during this time did the mischievous contrivances and courage [of John] corrupt the body of the Galileans. For these Galileans had advanced this John and made him very potent, who made them a suitable requital from the authority he had obtained by their means. For he permitted them to do all things that any of them desired to do, while their inclination to plunder was insatiable, as was their zeal for searching the houses of the rich; and for the murdering of the men, and abusing of the women, it was sport to them. They also devoured what spoils they had taken, together with their blood, and indulged themselves in feminine wantonness, without any disturbance, till they were satiated therewith; while they decked their hair, and put on women's garments, and were besmeared over with ointments; and that they might appear very comely. They had paints under their eyes, and imitated, not only the ornaments, but also the lusts of women, and were guilty of such intolerable uncleanness, that they invented unlawful pleasures of that sort. And thus did they roll themselves up and down the city, as in a brothel-house, and defiled it entirely with their impure actions. Nay, while their faces looked the faces of women, they killed with their right hands; and while their gait was effeminate, they presently attacked men, and became warriors. They drew their swords from under their finely dyed cloaks, and ran everybody through whom they alighted upon. However, Simon waited for such as ran away from John, and was the more bloody of the two; and he who had escaped the tyrant within the wall, was destroyed by the other that lay before the gates. So that all attempts of flying and deserting to the Romans were cut off, if any had a mind to do so."4

Eventually Simon gained control of Jerusalem after John of Gischala's men began a sedition. Josephus speaks of the three factions in the city in this way.

"And now there were three treacherous factions in the city, the one parted from the other. Eleazar and his party, that kept the sacred first-fruits, came against John in their cups. Those that were with John plundered the populace, and went out with zeal against Simon." 5

It should be remembered that Zechariah prophesied of the destruction of these three leaders "in one month." Josephus begins book 6 of his description of the wars of the Jews with this heading: "Containing the interval of about one month from the great extremity to which the Jews were reduced to the taking of Jerusalem by Titus." It was a horrible time that had been predicted in Deuteronomy 28:53-57. The unspeakable way that the people within the wall would treat each other, even to a woman eating her own offspring, is described there. Jeremiah also records the prediction of the eating of one another in the first captivity in Jeremiah 19:9 and Lamentations 4:10. Josephus tells of the ultimate fulfillment of this terrible prophecy when a woman named Mary roasted her own child and ate him.6

Throughout this whole time Josephus, who was outside of the city's walls with Titus, continued to beg his people to give up and not be slaughtered by the Romans. It is in this section of the history written by Josephus that Eleazar of Damascus, Simon, son of Giora and John of Gischala died. Actually Simon was taken to Rome for the triumphal procession and there slaughtered.7

Woe! Woe! Woe! Why did these terrible things happen instead of those things that Zechariah had prophesied would come after the arrival of the Messiah? The answer to this strange succession of events is found later in the same context. To understand the reason that the Prophet Zechariah gives for this terrible turn of events, one must understand the way that the Prophet unfolds the reason for the ruin of Jerusalem in the following verses. The prophet must be viewed in this chapter as acting out, not his own actions, but in a very special sense, as the representative of God. This is seen in such expressions which he utters as: "I cut off three shepherds in one month" (v. 8) and "in order that I might break the covenant which I had cut with all of the people [of Israel]" (v. 10).

Neither Zechariah nor any other prophet made a covenant with the people, nor could they but the Eternal Lord only. He here is speaking the words of the Eternal Lord. Now Zechariah finally gives the reason for Messiah's failure to establish the promised kingdom when he had come riding into Zion on the colt (Zechariah 9:9). Now it appears that as a prophet, he actually is speaking the words of the disciple who would betray the Messiah into the hands of the High Priests who already had determined that they must kill them or their own little corrupt world would be turned upside down.

'Then I said to them, 'If it is satisfactory with you, give to me my wages, and if not, do not.' As a result, they weighed out thirty pieces of silver for my wages. Then the Eternal Lord said to me, 'Throw it unto the potter', that goodly price that they had placed on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and I threw them in the house of the Eternal Lord for the potter" (Zech. 11:12-13).

The good Shepherd of Whom Isaiah had prophesied in Isaiah 40:11 had been betrayed, tried and crucified. Is there any wonder that Zechariah then proceeded to prophesy of that false Messiah who arose 40 years later and demanded the subservience of all those remaining in the land as he began another utterly futile battle with the Romans (Zech. 11:15-17)? Simon was wounded on his right arm and his right eye in precisely the same way that Zechariah describes in verse 17.

It is obvious, then, that Zechariah clearly has described the great battle which could have taken place when Israel's King Messiah rode the colt into Jerusalem. It is obvious that the glories of that kingdom which could have been established are described in Zechariah 10 in a similar way that they had been described centuries before by the Prophet Micah in Micah 4:1-8. It is so sad that Messiah's people still do not recognize that both of these great prophets gave a crucial reason for the delay of the fulfillment of the Eternal's promises concerning the glories that would belong to the Chosen People in Israel's latter days. Like Zechariah, Micah now turns to the rejection of their Messiah as a major event that would take place before the establishment of the Messianic kingdom. Indeed, the next event which would take place before the kingdom would be, along with the two kingdom's sins enumerated in Micah 1-3, a major cause for the delay of the long promised Messianic kingdom.

Event # 7. THE SMITING OF THE JUDGE OF ISRAEL UPON THE CHEEK (5:1-2)

Surely the Rabbis who rearranged the chapter division between Micah four and five recognized the danger of this passage to their angry teachings against Jesus. Here alone they refused to follow the normal chapter divisions established centuries ago and found in the translations of Micah. In the separating the first verse from the second verse with the chapter division, the pair of crucial events that still lay ahead of Micah's time appears to have been deliberately obscured to the reader of the Tenach in Hebrew and in the Jewish translations of Micah. But the adverb that introduces the first verse of Micah five in English clearly shows that the events contained in the last verse of Micah 4 and 5:1 in the Jewish texts (Mic. 5:1-2 in other translations) are part and parcel of a very important event series. That event series would have to occur before the nation of Israel would see their Messiah set up the great kingdom which long ago had been promised to David.

TO TRUST OR NOT TO TRUST

Jeremiah 17:5-13

The man who is trusting in man, who makes out of flesh his arm,
Whose heart departs from the LORD, who is trusting not in His Word,

CURSED IS HE!

But he who trusts in the LORD, whose heart is fixed on His Word,
Like a tree by the waters forever he spreads out his roots by the river

FOR BLESSED IS HE!

But Oh, how the heart leads astray! Deceitful and wicked its way!
To turn from the LORD as a fool, to cling to one's wealth as his pool---

HOW FOOLISH IS HE!

A glorious high throne is the place of Him Who gives us His grace.
Should one leave the searcher of hearts or the fountain of waters depart?

HOW FOOLISH IS HE!

This seventh great event which had to precede the fulfillment of the promises concerning the Messianic kingdom is introduced by Micah in the same way as several other of these events by the adverb "now.'" The Prophet says: "Now gather yourself in troops, O daughter of troops. He will lay siege against us. They will smite the Judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek" (Mic. 5:1). This future event which faced Israel would be unintelligible apart from the obvious relationship of this verse with the context which follows and inescapably is linked with this verse. It is a sad thing that the rabbis of old, recognizing this problem to their rebellious position, divided these verses with a chapter division. The context of the verse that follows is crucial. And since that is true, it is of the utmost importance that the verse be examined and discussed in that light.

FOR OUR TRANSGRESSION

(Isaiah 53:1-5)

Who would have dreamed of that which we heard, this concerning God's Son:
"Born of a Virgin, Man and God!" Or thought that our king must be born?
Who ever dreamed that Galilee would raise One from Bethlehem town?
Capernaum? No! Nor Nazareth, the place where Messiah would be found?
When was the Arm of Jah revealed as He walked on our dusty roads,
Sapling from trunk of Judah's kings, this root grown up from dry clods?

What in that One was there to see of beauty or comeliness rare?
Cause for delight was not in Him nor form like a king for our care.
He was despised by all who saw, despised and forsaken of these;
Man with our pains acquainted well, Who healed all our fearsome disease.
Oh how our sin did blind our eyes that He should be hidden from us!
H