Main news for 23 August 2021

With the Messiah, Micah, like other prophets (especially the pre-exilic ones), connects the gathering of God's people, who in the days of the Messiah will again gather in the land of their fathers, united around Jerusalem. By those "abandoned for a time," the prophet evidently means that part of the people which, after the defeat of the Northern (Israelite) kingdom, found itself scattered throughout the vast Assyrian Empire: this scattering was perceived, and not without reason, as evidence of being abandoned by God, as God's punishment for that part of the people that had betrayed the God of their fathers.

It should be noted that in the south, in Judah, the rulers of the Northern Kingdom were regarded as apostates. There were grounds for this: in their country they pursued a policy of religious double allegiance, and in fact of paganism, officially recognizing a whole series of pagan cults as state cults alongside the cult of YHWH. Many in Judah looked at the defeat of the Northern Kingdom as the natural result of this policy. But it appears that it had been revealed to the prophet that in the history of God's people a day would come when the Messiah would arrive and the fullness of the people would be restored.

Of course, Micah sees this restoration as a process more political than spiritual. But prophetic perception of spiritual reality is always multilayered, and behind historical, social, or political reality there always stands spiritual reality. So here too: Micah sees a spiritual process as a political and national process. He sees renewed Israel as it would be if, by some sudden miracle, the brilliant era of Solomon were to return.

And the era of the Messiah truly was brilliant, though not in the sense in which the prophet speaks of it, even if even the apostles on the day of the Ascension were still expecting an outward triumph, expecting "the restoration of the kingdom to Israel." The Kingdom turned out not to be what the pre-exilic prophets had seen. And the King, too, turned out not to be what many expected to see, not only in Micah's time but also in the Gospel era.

But the fullness of God's people truly was revealed. To be sure, it came without outward greatness, without a strong state led by heroic rulers. It came in the Kingdom which, according to the King's word, is "not of this world." And that does not make it any less majestic.

Mount Zion is small, and Jerusalem, too, is smaller in area than many great cities. And yet it is not by size, not by outward grandeur, that they will be set at the head of all nations. The Lord's truth is not always shown in outward greatness; often it is not immediately noticeable. But perhaps those who can discern the trace of His presence in what is small and outwardly plain will be able to share in Him sooner than those who look for mandatory outward magnificence.

In one and the same chapter we see both the condemnation of nations that have taken up arms against Zion and a prophecy about the peaceful life of other nations. The closeness of such different sayings may appear to be a glaring contradiction, a joining of things that cannot be joined. But here we see how a view of the reality of the near future stands side by side with a view of what must become reality by the will of the Creator, who desires peace for all nations. Yes, today the surrounding nations, following pagan ways, are hostile not only to Israel but also to Israel's Lord. But He loves them too and wants to gather them into one, and therefore He reveals Himself and His will on Zion and in Jerusalem not only for Israel, but for all nations.

And it is no accident that it is here that we see the prophecy of the One who will appear in Bethlehem, a small town where the Creator's greatness will be revealed. The prophetic speech about the siege of Zion by pagans suddenly turns into a narrative about the Savior, who will save not only the Israelites but also those who are still hostile to them. Let us note that the prophet does not say that He will bring peace, but that He Himself is peace. People will habitually expect Him to fulfill their immediate requests, and fulfillment of them will not be refused. But what will be saving is not the receiving of something that comes from Him, but the receiving of Him Himself.