(REFLECTIONS ON Micah 4:1-13)

There is an image in today’s Scripture of the labor pains of giving birth. The “kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem” in verse 8 gives us the image of Jerusalem, personified as a daughter, waiting for the restoration of the kingdom and the fulfillment of God’s promises.

However, God’s people in Micah’s time were facing judgment. The northern kingdom would be destroyed by Assyria, and the southern kingdom of Judah would eventually go into exile to Babylon.

Thus, before the peace that is described in today’s Scripture could be fulfilled, there first would be the pains of child birth.

10 “Writhe and labor to give birth,
Daughter of Zion,
Like a woman in childbirth;
For now you will go out of the city,
Dwell in the field,
And go to Babylon.
There you will be rescued;
There the Lord will redeem you
From the hand of your enemies.

Yes, there is a promise of deliverance and peace for those who belong to the Lord, but there is also a time of labor and pain that is real. The suffering of exile is not imaginary, nor is it something that God simply ignores. Yet the pain is not the end of the story. God promises that He will redeem His people.

This is the image we begin with at the beginning of today’s reading.

1 And it will come about in the last days
That the mountains of the house of the Lord
Will be established as the chief of the mountains.
It will be raised above the hills,
And the peoples will stream to it.
2 Many nations will come and say,
“Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord
And the house of the God of Jacob,
That He may teach us about His ways
And that we may walk in His paths.”
For from Zion will go forth the law,
Even the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

There will be a time, according to Micah, that the judgement of the Lord will bring about peace for those that stream to Him, even for other nations that gather together at the mountain of the Lord and learn His ways, and walk His paths.

Yes, there is hope for all the nations and all peoples that learn His ways and walk His paths, because the law and the word of the Lord will go forth from Jerusalem.

His law, the word of the Lord, His ways and His paths is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Those that walk in the path of the Way, through Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit, towards the Lord will overcome the labor pains and find peace in Him.

Let us then endure, persevere, and encourage one another in the faith and with His word, so that we can experience the overwhelming joy of new birth in Christ. Yes, labor pains are great, but what awaits for those that endure are tears of joy and happiness because of what is birthed from Jerusalem.

That is His church, that is us!

Pastor Michael Lu
Enduring Word Bible Commentary: Micah 4