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Mic_4:3 And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
Ver. 3. And he shall judge among many people] We had before Christ’s prophetic office; here we have his princely, and elsewhere his priestly (wherein both the former are founded), for he is the true Trismegist, {a} and Melchisedec was a right type of him. He is the only judge, and needs no vicar upon earth, such as the Pope claims to be, Isa_37:20, no such officers to see his laws executed as the ephori were among the Greeks, and the censors among the Romans. This seems to have been the effect of that old prophecy among the Easterlings, that Iudaea profecti rerum potirentur, some that came out of Jewry should conquer all. Vide Sueton. in Vespas., et Tacit. lib. 21. The Lord that "sent the rod of his strength out of Zion," as Mic_4:2, doth also give him to "rule in the midst of his enemies, while his people are willing in the day of his power, in the beauties of holiness," Psa_110:3, willing that Christ should send forth judgment to victory, Mat_12:20, that is, perfect his own work of grace begun in their hearts. To which end, as it here followeth,
He shall rebuke (or convince) strong nations] Convince them, I say (by his Spirit), "of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment," Joh_16:8 : of the loathsomeness of sin, of the necessity of getting righteousness by Christ, and repentance from dead works; that men may serve the living God, and as much as in them is live peaceably with all, Act_17:30.
And they shall beat their swords into plowshares] i.e. Their fierce and fallen natures shall be mansuefied, as Isa_11:6-9, and if they wage war it shall be non nisi coacti, not unless required, either for the just punishment of delinquents, whom they cannot otherwise come at, or for their own necessary defence, and that they may establish peace with truth. But if men would live by the laws of the gospel, they need not wage war or lack peace, either of country or of conscience: but they might take for their motto that of David, Ani shallom, I am peace; and have for their portion that peace, peace, Isa_27:3, even a perfect, sheer, pure peace, a multiplied peace with God, with themselves, and with others: this is a main piece of Christ’s kingdom upon earth, who is the Prince of peace, and came in a time of peace: viz. in the reign of Augustus, when as there was Totius orbis aut pax aut pactio, saith Florus, a general peace or truce throughout the whole world.
Neither shall they learn war any more] To make a trade or a gain of it, and so to earn a curse, Deu_27:25, to delight in it, Psa_68:30, and make a sport of it (as Abner did, 2Sa_2:14, and Pyrrhus, King of Epirots), to wage it without weighty reason rashly. If we princes (said our Henry VII) should take every occasion that is offered, the world should never be quiet, but wearied by continual wars. We may also here take warring (as St James doth, Jam_4:1) for jarring, and jangling, for private discords and dissensions. Now, these the people of God are so far from learning that they utterly lay them aside, and are kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake forgave them, Eph_4:32.
{a} Belonging or ascribed to, following, or having the character of Hermes Trismegistus. ŒD