Micah 4

v.1

In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and peoples will stream to it.

v.7

I will make the lame a remnant, those driven away a strong nation. The Lord will rule over them in Mount Zion from that day and forever.

Micah depicts those who are regathered as lame, referring to their weakness as a result of God’s afflicting them; and he further describes them as exiles, connoting the shame of expulsion from one’s homeland. The emphasis is on the misery and helplessness of the exiles and forms a striking contrast to the “strong nation” they are to become as a result of God’s intervention on their behalf.

mccomiskey

v.9

Why do you now cry aloud - have you no king? Has your counselor perished, that pain seizes you like that of a woman in labor?

The writer shifts the reader’s attention abruptly from the description of the future glory to the realities of the current crisis. The rhetorical questions are affirmations.

mccomiskey

v.11-12

But now many nations are gathered against you. They say, “Let her be defiled, let our eyes gloat over Zion!” ¹²But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord; they do not understand his plan, he who gathers them like sheaves to the threshing floor.

The nations that exhibit hostility do this in ignorance; for as they gather to gloat over the misfortune of God’s people, the nations do know their part in God’s plan for his people. The prophet pictures the nations as sheaves brought to the threshing floor; and only too late do they recognize that they are to be threshold and broken by Israel herself.

mccomiskey

They think that they strengthen themselves, as they gather together; God sees them but as ripened and fitted for destruction, gathered into one bundle together, to perish together.

AlbertBarnes

v.13

“Rise and thresh, O Daughter of Zion, for I will give you horns of iron; I will give you hoofs of bronze and you will break to pieces many nations.” You will devote their ill-gotten gains to the Lord, their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.