Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJohn Trapp Complete Commentary - Micah 5:5 - 5:5
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Mic_5:5 And this [man] shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.
Ver. 5. And this man shall be the peace] "The man Christ Jesus," 1Ti_2:5; that man, that shall be "as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land," Isa_32:2. Winds and tempests will arise, and that upon the Church. Assyrians and Babylonians (Nimrod’s brats) will invade and infest her; but that famous he before mentioned shall be her peace, her Prince of peace, Isa_9:6, who giveth her pacem omnimodam, peace internal, external, eternal, called by the apostle life and peace, Rom_8:6. This peace, peace, as Isaiah calleth it, Isa_26:3, that is, a multiplied, renewed, continued peace; this peace, regionis et religionis, of country and of conscience, as God hath promised, and Christ hath purchased. He merited and made it through the blood of his cross, Col_1:20 Isa_53:5 Eph_2:16. And hence it was, that as he was brought from heaven with that song of peace, Luk_2:14, so he returned up again with that farewell of peace, Joh_14:27, left to the world the doctrine of peace, Eph_2:17, whose ministers are messengers of peace, Rom_10:15, whose followers are the children of peace, Luk_10:6, whose rarity is in the bond of peace, Eph_4:3, and whose duty is the study of peace, Rom_12:18, and to whom God hath promised "I will give peace in your land. And ye shall chase your enemies," Lev_26:6-7. If any ask, how peace and pursuit of enemies can consist? it is easily answered. You shall have civil peace among yourselves, and besides an ability to quell and quiet foreign enemies. Or, you shall have peace; and if it happens that war arise, you shall have the better in battle. If the Assyrian come into your land he shall be a loser by it; if he tread in your palaces he shall retreat with shame and defeat, as it befell Sennacherib.
Then shall we raise against him seven shepherds] That is, a competent number of chieftains and champions, with their victorious forces, which shall repel the enemies and secure the Church, Christo duce et auspice Christo, under Christ the arch-shepherd. This some understand to be the apostles, those anointed or authorized ones, as the word here signifieth, the weapons of whose warfare were "not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds," 2Co_10:4-5, and bringing in, not the heads, but hearts of those whom they had subdued: as Paul did of Sergius Paulus, the proconsul, Act_13:7, where also he is first called Paul, in memory belike of those first spoils he brought into the Church. By shepherds here are meant (saith Gualther) the ministers and preachers of the word, who feed, defend, and watch over the flock. By principal men, magistrates, endued with that free (or, as the Chaldee hath it) kingly spirit, Psa_51:12, to decree, and act for the good of the Church. Such shepherds in the time of the Assyrian war were Isaiah, Micah, Joel; such principal men were Hezekiah and Eliakim, Isa_22:20, &c. Such after the captivity were Ezra, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Zorobabel, Nehemiah, Judas Maccabeus. Qui nutantem rempublicam et Ecclesiam suis consiliis, et fortibus gestis fulserunt, who underpropped and kept up the tottering Church and commonwealth by their prayers, counsels, and valiant achievements, both before and since the days of Christ upon earth.