Micah’s promises that a ruler will come from Israel. The prophecy states that one day Israel will be reunited with a ruler who will bring her sufficient protection. (Micah 5:4)

From Matthew 2:1-6, we know that the prophesied ruler is Christ. The people. The people of Israel expected that the Messiah would come from Bethlehem. John 7:42

What is interesting here is that Israel’s political concerns are much like ours today. In those days, the ruler was weak and was unable (or unwilling) to deal with "border security." Zedekiah, the ruler in those days, was a weak ruler overall. Micah 5:2

Micah promises that there will be a stark contrast to the future ruler’s political power. Micah uses a strong (adversative) conjunction, "but" in Micah 5:2 to contrast between the insignificant and the significant.

1) There is a contrast between the insignificant, small tribe of Benjamin and the most significant  significant ruler to come from her. Benjamin was the smallest tribe in Israel. Jesus Christ, the Messiah of all Israel came from Benjamin. Why is it that God uses one who is vastly great to come from something little?

In Micah 5:2 are some significant words: "out of you will come for me…" God chose what is low and despised so no one would boast in himself. 1 Corinthians 1:29

2) There is a contrast between the way Zedekiah ruled and the way Christ will rule his people. Micah 5:4

• He is standing
• He will feed us
• He will rule in the strength of the Lord
• He shall be great to the ends of the earth. Our security will not be threatened by alien forces.
• He came not so that we would be glorious but that we would see His glory

This entry was posted on Monday, December 17th, 2007 at 7:59 am and is filed under Sunday AM Sermons. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.