Micah 4

Micah 4 is the fourth chapter of the Book of Micah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible.[1][2] This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet Micah, and is a part of the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets.[3][4]

Micah 4
An illustration of Micah 1:13: "O thou inhabitant of Lachish, bind the chariot to the swift beast." (www.ordination.org).
BookBook of Micah
CategoryNevi'im
Christian Bible partOld Testament
Order in the Christian part33

Text

The original text was written in the Hebrew language. This chapter is divided into 13 verses.

Textual versions

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis (895), the Petersburg Codex of the Prophets (916), Codex Leningradensis (1008).[5][lower-alpha 1] Fragments cumulatively containing all verses of this chapter in Hebrew were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, including 4Q82 (4QXIIg; 25 BCE) with extant verses 1–2;[7][8][9] and Wadi Murabba'at Minor Prophets (Mur88; MurXIIProph; 75-100 CE) with extant verses 1–13.[8][10]

There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B; B; 4th century), Codex Alexandrinus (A; A; 5th century) and Codex Marchalianus (Q; Q; 6th century).[11][lower-alpha 2] Some fragments containing parts of this chapter (a revision of the Septuagint) were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, that is, Naḥal Ḥever (8ḤevXIIgr; late 1st century BCE) with extant verses 3-10.[8][13]

Verse 7
And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the Lord shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever.[14]

Verse 8
And thou, O tower of the flock,
the strong hold of the daughter of Zion,
unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion;
the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.[15]
  • "And thou, O tower of the flock": "Tower of Ader, Migdal Eder"[16] which is interpreted 'tower of the flock,' about 1000 paces (a mile) from Bethlehem," says Jerome[17] who lived there, "and foresignifying (in its very name) by a sort of prophecy the shepherds at the Birth of the Lord." There Jacob fed his sheep Genesis 35:21, and there (since it was hard by Bethlehem) the shepherds, keeping watch over their flocks by night, saw and heard the Angels singing, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." The Jews inferred from this place that the Messiah should be revealed there,[18] that is, the place where Messiah as "the lamb of God" should be born.[19]
  • "The stronghold (ophel, "the hill") of the daughter of Zion": The name "Ophel" is affixed to the southern spur of Moriah, opposite to the Mount Zion, from which it was separated by the Tyropoeon Valley. It was fortified by Jotham (2 Chronicles 27:3) and Manasseh (2 Chronicles 33:14), and on it were the king's house, i.e. the old palace of David, and "the tower that lieth out," or the upper tower (see Nehemiah 3:26, 27). This is probably the "flock tower" mentioned in the text (compare Isaiah 32:14, where Ophel and the watch tower are named together); and it is so called as having been originally a place of refuge for flocks, or of observation for shepherds. Micah uses the two expressions to represent the power and dominion of Jerusalem. The propriety of the use of the term "flock tower" is seen when we remember that David was a shepherd before he was king, and that the Israelites are the sheep of the Lord's pasture. The reference to a flock in the prceeding verses may also have influenced the prophet's thought. Owing to a slight variation in the reading, the LXX. renders Ophel by αἰχμώδης, "dark;" so Jerome, "nebulosa;" Aquila, σκοτώδης: Symmachus, ἀπόκρυφος. These translators would refer the term to the ruinous condition of the tower. The first dominion shall come, i.e. the former, original empire, such as it was in the days of David and Solomon, and which had been lost in later times. The LXX. adds, ἐκ Βαβυλῶνος: and hence the Greek expositors explain the passage as referring to the siege of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans. The kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem. The verb "shall come" is better taken with "the first dominion," and this clause in apposition to the former, "the kingdom of" or "the reign over the daughter of Jerusalem." Sovereignty over Jerusalem, or, as others take it, that appertains to Jerusalem, represents rule over the whole country. In Messiah the glory and power are restored to the throne of David (Luke 1:32, 33).[20]
  • "Even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem": or rather, "and the first dominion shall come, the kingdom to the daughter of Jerusalem": meaning, not the first notice of the Messiah's kingdom, given by John the Baptist, Christ, and his apostles, to the Jews, in the first times of the Gospel; or the preaching of the Gospel of the kingdom first to them; but rather he who has the first or principal dominion, and to whom the kingdom belongs, he shall come to the daughter of Zion, as in Zechariah 9:9; though it rather respects here his coming to them at the time of their conversion, when they shall come to him, Romans 11:26; and when the first, chief, and principal kingdom in the world, and which is preferable to all others, will come unto, and be placed among them, as in Micah 4:7; and when it shall be, as some interpret it, as at the beginning, in the days of David and Solomon, and much more abundantly.[21]
  • "Kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem": rather, "the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem shall come (again)"; such as it was under David, before its being weakened by the secession of the ten tribes.[22]

See also

Notes
  1. Since 1947 the current text of Aleppo Codex is missing Micah 1:1 to 5:1.[6]
  2. Book of Micah is missing in the extant Codex Sinaiticus.[12]

References
  1. Collins 2014.
  2. Hayes 2015.
  3. Metzger, Bruce M., et al. The Oxford Companion to the Bible. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.
  4. Keck, Leander E. 1996. The New Interpreter's Bible: Volume: VII. Nashville: Abingdon.
  5. Würthwein 1995, pp. 35-37.
  6. P. W. Skehan (2003), "BIBLE (TEXTS)", New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2 (2nd ed.), Gale, pp. 355–362
  7. Ulrich 2010, p. 615.
  8. Dead sea scrolls - Micah
  9. Fitzmyer 2008, p. 39.
  10. Fitzmyer 2008, pp. 140-141.
  11. Würthwein 1995, pp. 73-74.
  12. Shepherd, Michael (2018). A Commentary on the Book of the Twelve: The Minor Prophets. Kregel Exegetical Library. Kregel Academic. p. 13. ISBN 978-0825444593.
  13. Fitzmyer 2008, p. 127.
  14. Micah 4:7 KJV
  15. Micah 4:8 KJV
  16. T. Hieros. Kiddushin, fol. 63. 1. T. Ban. Kiddushin, fol. 55. 1. Misn. Shekalim, c. 7. sect. 4.
  17. Jerome. De locis Hebr. fol. 89. E.
  18. Barnes, Albert. Notes on the Bible - Micah 4. London, Blackie & Son, 1884. Reprint, Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1998. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  19. Migdal Eder and the Lord's first coming in the Book of Micah. This teaching by Rabbi Mike L Short.
  20. Exell, Joseph S.; Henry Donald Maurice Spence-Jones (Editors). The Pulpit Commentary. 23 volumes. First publication: 1890. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  21. John Gill. John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible. Exposition of the Old and New Testament. Published in 1746-1763. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  22. Robert Jamieson, Andrew Robert Fausset; David Brown. Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary On the Whole Bible. 1871. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

Sources

Jewish

Christian
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