The confident expectation rises in Mic 7:11 ff. into an assurance of the promise; the words of the prophet in the name of the church rising into an address to Zion, confirm its hope by the promise of the restoration of Zion, and the entrance of crowds of people into the city of God. Mic 7:11. “A day to build thy walls (cometh); in that day will the ordinance be far away. Mic 7:12. In that day will they come to thee from Asshur and the cities of Egypt, and from Egypt to the river, and (to) sea from sea, and (from) mountain to mountain. Mic 7:13. And the earth will become a desert because of its inhabitants, for the fruit of their doings.†Mic 7:11 consists of two clauses; for we may easily supply to yoÌ„m “is†or “will be†= come. The daughter Zion is addressed (cf. Mic 4:8) not as a church, but as a city, as the centre and representative of the kingdom of God. As such, she is compared to a vineyard, as in Isa 5:1-7; Isa 27:2-4; Psa 80:9-10. The word gaÌ‚deÌ„r, which is generally used for the hedge or wall around a vineyard, points to this (see Isa 5:5; Num 22:24; Ecc 10:8). יוֹן ×”Ö·×”×•Ö¼× is an adverbial accusative; in that day will ×—Ö¹×§ be far away. The meaning of this word is very difficult to find, and can hardly be settled with any certainty. The explanation of choÌ„q, as signifying the law imposed upon Israel by the heathen oppressors (Chald., Hengstenberg, etc.), cannot be sustained, as this meaning cannot be established from Psa 104:20, and is not suggested by the context. So, again, the explanation, “On that day will the goal set (for Israel), or the boundary fixed (for it), be a far distant one (i.e., then will the boundaries of the land of Israel lie in the far distance, or be advanced to the remotest distance:†Hitzig, Caspari, and others), introduces a meaning into the words which they do not possess. Even if choÌ„q does denote a fixed point or a limit of either space or time, it never signifies the boundary of a nation; and raÌ‚chaq, to be far off, is not equivalent to being advanced to a great distance. ChoÌ„q is apparently used here for the ordinance or limit which God has appointed to separate Israel from the nations; not a land-boundary, but the law of Israel's separation from the nations.