The Call of the Shepherd-King 04: I Will Be Your Shepherd-King (Micah 4:6-5:15)

As we have learned in our previous lessons on the book of Micah, the prophet Micah was, like most of the Old Testament prophets, a jolt for God's people. In his day, Israel was God's covenant partner, designed to be his representatives to the lost and broken people groups of this world. But for centuries, they had rebelled against God and had slowed in their allegiance to him.

This long slowdown is why Micah burst onto the scene. He was God's instrument to confront God's church of his era. He spoke truth to the leaders of God's people, and as Micah's oracles rambled up Mount Zion from the valley lands below, the people would have been shocked by his message.

His message was that God's chosen people had neglected allegiance to God for so long that judgment was now their destiny. Their disobedience—manifested in idolatry and covetousness—was so longstanding and concrete that God was forced to use the jackhammer of the Assyrians and then the Babylonians to break it up. And that's what Micah declared—the Assyrians, and then the Babylonians, are coming.

But, as we have seen, Micah had more than a message of doom for God's Old Testament church. He also came with a vision of hope.

One day, a Shepherd would arise, he would also become King, and he would be divine. This Shepherd-King would regather Israel, establish his forever kingdom, spark a worldwide revival, and rule from Jerusalem as all nations lived in willing subservience to him. This radical word of hope would occur in what Micah called "the latter days," and these were the days many looked forward to once the Assyrians and Babylonians invaded Israel (4:1-5).

So Micah is a book of apocalyptic doom and eschatological hope—a judgment that happened almost three thousand years ago and a glorious age that will unfold with the return of Christ.

When I was coming up, music came on cassette tape. Each tape had a side A and side B, and when one side finished playing, you had to flip it over to side B. If Micah's side A is judgment and his side B is glory, our passage today will give us both.

At the bookends of the passage, Micah refers back to the latter days with the phrase "in that day," so this passage is all about the future reign of Christ on earth (4:1, 6, 5:10). But then, intermixed all throughout the passage, Micah will use the word "now" to describe things that were going to occur during his time. So Micah is constantly flipping back and forth between side A and side B in this oracle, from doom to hope, from judgment to glory, and from exile to victory.

Within this oracle are some amazing prophecies. One has to do with Micah's predictions that Judah would be carried into captivity in Babylon (4:10). In Micah's day, Assyria was the true superpower everyone feared—they dominated Babylon—but he peered into the future and saw a time when Babylon would revolt against Assyria, overtake them, and become the main regional power that would persecute Israel. So Micah's prophecy about Babylon wasn't a mere calculated prediction but a true long shot that came to pass—a little less like predicting Russia's invasion of Ukraine and a little more like predicting Canada will invade the United States.

But the most significant prediction is the one declaring that the Shepherd-King figure, whom we know to be Jesus Christ, would be born in Bethlehem (5:2). It is the prophecy the chief priests and scribes drug out when the wise men showed up, and Herod demanded to know where the Christ would be born (Matt. 2:1-6).

And it is the voice of this Shepherd-King that we are trying to hear in the book of Micah. Micah's original audience got to hear God speak through Micah in marketplaces and outside courtrooms, but we get to hear God speak through Micah in the written word. These words are meant for us today. So far, in this book, we have heard our Shepherd-King say he is ready to act and lead (Micah 1-2) and will one day establish his glorious kingdom (Micah 3:1-4:5). Today, we hear him tell us that he will be our Shepherd-King, detailing for us what that means.

1. I Will Restore You (4:6-13)

6 In that day, declares the LORD, I will assemble the lame and gather those who have been driven away and those whom I have afflicted; 7 and the lame I will make the remnant, and those who were cast off, a strong nation; and the LORD will reign over them in Mount Zion from this time forth and forevermore.

8 And you, O tower of the flock, hill of the daughter of Zion, to you shall it come, the former dominion shall come, kingship for the daughter of Jerusalem.

9 Now why do you cry aloud? Is there no king in you? Has your counselor perished, that pain seized you like a woman in labor? 10 Writhe and groan, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in labor, for now you shall go out from the city and dwell in the open country; you shall go to Babylon. There you shall be rescued; there the LORD will redeem you from the hand of your enemies.

11 Now many nations are assembled against you, saying, “Let her be defiled, and let our eyes gaze upon Zion.” 12 But they do not know the thoughts of the LORD; they do not understand his plan, that he has gathered them as sheaves to the threshing floor. 13 Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion, for I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hoofs bronze; you shall beat in pieces many peoples; and shall devote their gain to the LORD, their wealth to the Lord of the whole earth.

(Micah 4:1–13)

In this first movement, the Shepherd-King announces, "I will restore you." Where do we get this idea? In the first line, he says, "In that day, I will assemble the lame and gather those who have been driven away" (4:6). What day? The latter days that were mentioned already in his oracle (4:1-5). Those will be days when all nations flow up to God's mountain to hear his voice (4:1-2). From that mountain, God will rule over the whole world, which will lead to such a widespread peace that weapons will be repurposed into farming equipment (4:3-4). It will be an age of glory and prosperity—the earth under God's leadership.

Who would he restore? Through Micah, Yahweh said he would assemble the lame, exiled, and afflicted, the castoffs of their time (4:6-7). And when Jesus arrived, he seemed intent on heading straight into the pockets of human pain and suffering many did not want to touch.

For example, when Mark unfurls Jesus' story in his gospel, he portrays Jesus as coming out of the waters of baptism and the wilderness of temptation straight into a cosmic conflict with demonically oppressed people, others who were broken by physical illness and bodily weaknesses, and the spiritually unclean (Mark 1-2). He did not head straight to the powerful and wealthy but to the weak and poor. He did not find a home among the wise and influential but the uneducated and marginalized. He certainly wants to, and does, reach into the upper echelons of society, but he seems to start from the ground up with the poor in spirit, the sorrowful, the meek (Matt. 5:1-6).

There is a beautiful episode in the early movement of the Book of Acts that portrays this wonderfully. Philip was one of the early leaders in the Jerusalem church but fled to Samaria when persecution began to hit. In Samaria, God poured out his Spirit, and amazing work was underway. But then God led him to leave it all and go to the desert area. He left that revival, not knowing why until he saw a small caravan traveling back to Ethiopia. He approached and met Queen Candice's treasurer, a eunuch who was reading Isaiah. He asked for help in understanding who Isaiah wrote about, especially since it spoke of a man he could relate to, a man whose generation (or family tree) was cut off. So Philip hopped in his carriage and began declaring Jesus from Isaiah and all the other Scriptures, leading the man to Christ.

It was such a Jesusy moment. Jesus himself often ditched the crowds to go minister to one outsider—a Gentile woman in Tyre and Sidon, a demonically ravaged man on the abandoned shoreline of Galilee, a sexually promiscuous woman at a well in Samaria, lepers, tax collectors, dead daughters, and even curious Pharisees.

But where would the Shepherd-King restore people from, according to Micah? Since Micah had come to declare that Israel and Jerusalem would suffer at the hands of Assyrians and then Babylonians, that meant that Yahweh would have to bring them back from their exile for this glorious age to unfold. He would restore them from exile—that he had produced.

That's what our passage is about. God promised he would assemble and gather his people whom he had afflicted (4:6). They were his remnant, and he promised to bring them back and turn them into a strong nation once he came to reign over them in Mount Zion from this time forth and forevermore (4:7). He promised them that Jerusalem would regain its prior dominion as God's special people, the tower of the flock because a king would dwell in their midst (4:8).

So even though they would cry, writhe, and groan like a woman in labor because of their eventual deportation to Babylon at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, God promised he would rescue and redeem them from the hand of their enemies (4:9-10). And, of course, Israel was not held captive in Babylon forever; small remnants returned after a period of exile. But even after their return, the massive glory Micah depicted did not happen. The Shepherd-King had not arrived. They never got their king. And they certainly never experienced the radical exaltation Micah depicted here as victory over everyone because Yahweh had become the Lord of the whole earth (4:11-13).

This restoration will happen in full in the future. The Shepherd-King has come, but he came first in suffering so that he can return in glory. And perhaps that helps us because the church is also meant to live as exiles scattered throughout the nations of this world, just as these ancient Israelites were scattered into Babylon. As Peter said, "Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul" (1 Pet. 2:11). It is the "true grace of God" to stay on mission as a believer in whatever context you find yourself in. Rather than assimilate into the culture, run in fear from it, or retaliate in unrighteous anger against it, believers are called to put on Christ and be a solid testimony of Jesus to a lost and broken world.

And we need help to do this, so Micah tells us what we should do. He asked these future exiles, "Is there no king in you? Has your counselor perished?" (4:9). It was his way of challenging them to look to God because he was their true king and counselor. And our God lives today as king and counselor for everyone who turns to him.

2. I Will Be Your Peace (5:1-9)

5 Now muster your troops, O daughter of troops; siege is laid against us; with a rod they strike the judge of Israel on the cheek. 2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. 3 Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. 4 And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. 5 And he shall be their peace.

When the Assyrian comes into our land and treads in our palaces, then we will raise against him seven shepherds and eight princes of men; 6 they shall shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod at its entrances; and he shall deliver us from the Assyrian when he comes into our land and treads within our border.

7 Then the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples like dew from the LORD, like showers on the grass, which delay not for a man nor wait for the children of man. 8 And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep, which, when it goes through, treads down and tears in pieces, and there is none to deliver. 9 Your hand shall be lifted up over your adversaries, and all your enemies shall be cut off.

(Micah 5:1-9)

In this second movement, the Shepherd-King announces, "I will be your peace." Where do we get this idea? In the fifth verse, after predicting the birthplace and origin story of the Shepherd-King, Micah announced, "And he shall be their peace" (5:5). What he meant is that even though Yahweh would remove his longstanding protection from his insistently, increasingly, and perpetually wayward bride, he would one day rescue them with a ruler from Judah who would stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of Yahweh (5:2-4).

We have already spent a lot of time thinking about how this Shepherd-King is none other than Jesus, but this prophecy from Micah helps solidify that view. In the first movement, we considered who he comes for, but here, we consider where he comes from.

His human origins would be the city of Bethlehem, the place King David was from (5:2). David's city as the Shepherd-King's birthplace was appropriate because God had promised David a descendant of his would sit on the throne forever. And, as Micah pointed out, Bethlehem was so little it was barely counted as a clan of Judah, just as David was barely counted as Jesse's son when he was anointed to be the next king of Israel (5:2, 2 Sam. 7). All this means that when Jesus was born, he would not come in pomp and splendor, but in anonymity and humility.

But if his human origins were of David and from Bethlehem, Micah said his coming forth is from old, from ancient days, or from "days of immeasurable time" (5:2, NIV). This reads as if this figure has stepped out of eternity—or come forth from timelessness—to appear on earth.

And even though this figure would be born during a time of adversity, he will eventually usher in a radical age of peace (or Shalom). How does Micah say he will provide this peace?

• By standing among and personally shepherding his people (5:4, he shall stand and shepherd his flock).
• By installing plenty of under-shepherds who colabor with him to bring peace on earth (5:5-6 seven shepherds, and eight princes of men; they shall shepherd).
• By strengthening his remnant flock until they become as numerous as waterdrops during a rainstorm and like lions among all other animals, unafraid of anyone because they have conquered (5:7-9, the remnant of Jacob shall be...like dew from the Lord...like a lion among the beasts of the forest).

But all this peace the Shepherd-King will one day bring is accessible to believers today. Paul said, "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body" (Col. 3:15). The peace he alluded to was relational harmony in the church, but church peace is practice for other forms of peace. When Christ's peace rules—literally as an umpire in an athletic contest—among us, it is training wheels for peace with others and peace with the self. Peace.

There was a moment in the life of Christ that pictures the peace he can provide. The disciples and Jesus were on the sea of Galilee, packed into a small boat, making one of their many crossings, when a storm overtook them. It must have been bad because even the experienced fishermen on board began to panic. What followed were three questions:

First, they woke Jesus up and asked, "Don't you care that we are perishing?" (Mk. 4:38). His slumber made them think he didn't care.

Then Jesus asked, "Why are you so afraid, is it because you still have no faith?" (Mk. 4:40). After all they had been through with him, did they still not trust his presence, power, and personhood?

Finally, after Jesus calmed the sea with his command, the disciples asked themselves, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?" (4:41). They had grown up on Bible stories about Yahweh moving, manipulating, or miraculously producing water. They even prayed from psalms that depicted Yahweh calming waves as an answer to distressed boaters (Ps. 107:23-31). Yahweh calmed the seas. God manipulated the waters. "Who then is this," they asked, "That even the wind and the sea obey him?"

Do you know who is in the boat with you? If you are a believer, the Shepherd-King, who is God from ancient of days, is with you. He is not in a panic. He is unafraid. He is calm. Let his peace rule your heart.

3. I Will Transform You (5:10-15)

10 And in that day, declares the LORD, I will cut off your horses from among you and will destroy your chariots; 11 and I will cut off the cities of your land and throw down all your strongholds; 12 and I will cut off sorceries from your hand, and you shall have no more tellers of fortunes; 13 and I will cut off your carved images and your pillars from among you, and you shall bow down no more to the work of your hands; 14 and I will root out your Asherah images from among you and destroy your cities. 15 And in anger and wrath I will execute vengeance on the nations that did not obey.

(Micah 5:10-15)

In this last movement, the Shepherd-King announces, "I will transform you." Where do we get that idea? You might have heard these words from Yahweh with a negative tone, but Micah is describing what God will do in the last days (5:10, in that day). This is not a message of doom related to banishment and exile but one of beauty related to transformation and holiness. The people could not cleanse themselves. God lets us know he will do the job.

And what would God cleanse them from? First, he would cleanse them of horses, chariots, cities, and strongholds (5:10-11). In other words, God would remove their military power, partly because they wouldn't need it anymore but also because he would be their strength.

God is our strength. He wants to be the one we ultimately trust. We do live in an age of military weapons and bases, savings accounts and earning power, but believers must be sure to trust the one beyond and behind those things. We must see God as our strength.

Second, God would cleanse them of their sorceries, tellers of fortunes, and carved images (5:12-13). In other words, God will one day remove every false worship and idol they turned to for security because, on that day, he would be their security.

God is our security. He is watching over us. We don't need fortune tellers. We don't need to chase down the idols of career or family or friendship or experiences or any other thing we think provides us with the feeling of safety we crave. We are safe in him.

Last, God said he would cleanse them of their pillars and Asherah images (5:13-14). In other words, God will rid them of the elements they used to worship male and female Canaanite gods. And since the worship of the Canaanite gods, especially Asherah, involved sexual acts, God was saying they did not have to turn there in an attempt to find satisfaction. Worshipping him would be the ultimate satisfaction.

God is our satisfaction. He looks forward to the day we will find our everything in him. And we can start right now because only he can truly satisfy.

Study Questions

Head (Knowledge, Facts, Understanding):

1. What are the key themes Micah addresses in this passage, and how do they reflect the dual message of judgment and hope found throughout the book?
2. Explain the significance of the Shepherd-King's birthplace, Bethlehem Ephrathah, in the context of Micah's prophecy and its fulfillment in the New Testament.
3. Discuss the role and characteristics of the Shepherd-King as depicted in Micah 4:6-5:15. How does this figure embody divine leadership and restoration?

Heart (Feelings, Impressions, Desires):

4. In what ways does the promise of restoration by the Shepherd-King speak to your current spiritual or emotional challenges?
5. Reflect on the concept of peace as presented in Micah 5:1-9. How does the assurance of the Shepherd-King being our peace impact your personal faith journey?
6. The imagery of transformation in Micah 5:10-15 is powerful. Share a personal experience where you felt God was working to transform your life or perspective.

Hands (Actions, Commitments, Decisions, Beliefs):

7. Considering the promise of restoration, peace, and transformation, what practical steps can you take to align your life more closely with the expectations of the Shepherd-King?
8. How can the church today embody the values and mission of the Shepherd-King in serving and reaching out to the marginalized and afflicted?
9. Reflecting on the entire passage, what personal commitment can you make to ensure your actions reflect the kingship and counsel of God in your daily life?