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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Micah 5:7 - 5:7
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But the Messiah will prove Himself to be peace to His people, not only by the fact that He protects and saves it from the attacks of the imperial power represented by Asshur, but also by the fact that He endows His rescuing people with the power to overcome their enemies, both spiritually and bodily also. Mic 5:7. “And the remnant of Jacob will be in the midst of many nations like dew from Jehovah, like drops of rain upon grass, which tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for children of men. Mic 5:8. And the remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, in the midst of many nations, like the lion among the beasts of the forest, like the young lion among the flocks of sheep; which, when it goes through, treads down, and tears in pieces, without deliverer. Mic 5:9. High be thy hand above thine oppressors, and may all thine enemies be rooted out.” Two things are predicted here. In the first place (Mic 5:7), Israel will come upon many nations, like a refreshing dew from Jehovah, which falls plentifully in drops upon the grass, and will produce and promote new and vigorous life among them. Dew is here, as indeed everywhere else, a figurative expression for refreshing, stimulating, enlivening (cf. Psa 110:3; Psa 133:3, and Psa 72:6; Hos 14:6; Deu 33:2). The spiritual dew, which Jacob will bring to the nations, comes from Jehovah, and falls in rich abundance without the cooperation of men. Without the spiritual dew from above, the nations are grass (cf. Isa 40:6-8). אֲשֶׁר before לֹא יְקַוֶּה does not refer to עֵשֶׂב, but to the principal idea of the preceding clause, viz., to טַל, to which the explanatory כִּרְבִיבִים וגו is subordinate. As the falling of the dew in rain-drops upon the grass does not depend upon the waiting of men, but proceeds from Jehovah; so will the spiritual blessing, which will flow over from Israel upon the nations, not depend upon the waiting of the nations, but will flow to them against and beyond their expectation. This does not deny the fact that the heathen wait for the salvation of Jehovah, but simply expresses the thought that the blessings will not be measured by their expectation. Secondly (Mic 5:8, Mic 5:9), the rescued Israel will prove itself a terrible power among the nations, and one to which they will be obliged to succumb. No proof is needed that Mic 5:8, Mic 5:9 do not state in what way Israel will refresh the heathen, as Hitzig supposes. The refreshing dew and the rending lion cannot possibly be synonymous figures. The similarity of the introduction to Mic 5:7 and Mic 5:8 points of itself to something new. To the nations Christ is set for the rising and falling of many (compare Luk 2:34; Rom 9:33, with Isa 8:14 and Isa 28:16). The people of God shows itself like a lion, trampling and rending the sheep among the nations of the world which oppose its beneficent work. And over these may it triumph. This wish (târōm is optative) closes the promise of the attitude which Israel will assume among the nations of the world. For târōm yâd (high be the hand), compare Isa 26:11. High is the hand which accomplishes mighty deeds, which smites and destroys the foe.