Micah 5:1  “…He has laid siege against us…”
Thought this might have worked better as the last verse of the previous chapter, and it may have.  Bible wasn’t written in chapters and verses.  Those were added later as an index system to make it easier to find sections.  Sometimes the way the original dividers saw a section was off a verse or two, but it doesn’t really matter.  The system works well.  He ends the last chapter with a prophecy of hope of restoration.  Now he seems to throw in a complete turnaround, a reminder that destruction is coming before any restoration.  Israel can gather together to fight the coming enemy, but it won’t matter.  Israel is going into captivity.

2-5  Messianic prophecy.

2  “…Bethlehem Ephrathah…”
Names the town from which the Messiah will come.  Commentary says the Ephrathah was mentioned to distinguish that Bethlehem from another in Zebulun.  Small town south southwest of Jerusalem, the city of David.

2  “…out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel…”
Jesus was born there.

3  “…He shall give them up, Until the time that she who is in labor has given birth…”
Israel’s enemies will overcome them until Messiah comes.  May be one reason Jews were looking for the Messiah to be a military leader from the beginning.  They never saw the prophesies as being two separate times.  I wonder how they interpret the prophesies about Messiah as the suffering servant.

5  “…this One shall be peace”
Two prophesies in one.  Jesus brought peace to the soul first by dying for our sins and reconciling us to God.  One day He will return as Lord of all and bring peace to the whole earth physically.

5-6  “…we will raise against him Seven shepherds and eight princely men…Thus He shall deliver us from the Assyrian…”
Prophetic or poetic means of saying that God, through the Messiah to come, will overcome the enemies of Israel eventually.  I would guess that part of the problem of interpretation of prophecy is that the prophet is speaking from his viewpoint of before the action happens, whereas we are trying to take his prophecy and fit it around what we know did happen.  He’s looking forward, we’re looking backward.  The words and images don’t always appear to match up.  But we can be assured that the meaning is true.  We don’t have to understand every aspect to catch the main truth.

7-15  Little difficult to get a good read of everything he is saying.  More of that viewpoint problem.  Reads like he’s seeing a lot and trying to get down what he sees.  Sure it made perfect sense to him at the time.  Appears to be looking at Israel after the restoration and covers time from then until after Messiah comes.  Probably looked like one spot in time to Micah, but really covers nearly three thousand years.

7  “Then the remnant of Jacob Shall be in the midst of many peoples, Like dew from the LORD…”
Even though the people may be small, Israel has yet to become a great nation in regard to numbers, she shall still be a point of blessing to the world.  This would be after the time of restoration, probably more during the time of Christ and afterward.  Even though one no longer needs to become a Jew or go through the Jews to find Christ, the Christian message still came through them to the rest of the world.

8-9  “…Like a lion among the beasts of the forest…all your enemies shall be cut off”
Through the Messiah, Israel will be like a lion among other animals.  She’ll be able to stand against any enemy.

10-15  “…it shall be in that day…I will cut off sorceries from your hand…I will pluck your wooden images from your midst…I will execute vengeance in anger and fury On the nations that have not heard”
At the end, all reliance on earthly resources will be removed.  Israel will look to no one but God for their sustenance and protection.  All chasing after false gods will end.  The land will be completely cleansed of the sin of worshipping other gods and idols.  And any other nation that will not submit to God will be destroyed.  Description of the second coming when Christ destroys all who allied with the Antichrist and will physically be Lord of the earth.  All nations remaining will worship Him.

I hope you enjoy reading and studying His word.  May it accomplish what He desires.  Please feel free to comment or post questions.  Thanks for reading!

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.