We continued to notice further contradictions in Micah. Again, the Lord will make the people powerful and afflict them. The new ruler of Israel will be small and insignificant, as well as powerful. The remnant of Jacob will pass away and yet conquer like a lion. The children had to navigate these opposites to make sense of this chapter. As the people decrease in significance and increase in obedience to the Lord’s wisdom, the stronger they become.
We reviewed the basic movement of Micah. The people in the city believe themselves to be powerful, then God sends the Assyrians to conquer them and take them to exile. God is waiting for the day when he can bring them back—once they’ve learned his wise teaching, his Torah.
The Lord brings out a ruler who embodies the most important qualities of this chapter: insignificance and wisdom. Once the people find themselves in exile, an insignificant ruler with origins “from of old” (v. 1) will come and become so powerful, he will muster a defense able to withstand any attack of the Assyrians (vv. 3-7). He won’t come, though, until the mother in labor “has borne” (v. 2). I told the children that we can understand the rest of the chapter if we grasp this image. The fact that he comes from a small, insignificant place, the town of David in the shadow of Jerusalem, demonstrates a lack of influence. His link to old times shows that he is wise—and true wisdom comes from the Lord and Zion (4:1-2). An image of a wise, old man, obedient to the Lord, emerges.
The initial, apparent weakness of this old man blossoms as true strength—stronger than the Assyrians. He will come after the woman gives birth, which represents the siege (4:10). After the people, in spite of their strength, are defeated by the Assyrians, the old, wise man will become stronger than their most powerful enemies. Not military strength, but wisdom in the Lord, brings victory.
The people, too, are to embody insignificance and strength. More tension arises as the “remnant of Jacob” is “droplets on grass” (v. 6) while “like a lion among flocks” (v. 7). How can this remnant be so ephemeral that the sun makes it disappear, yet terrifying as the king of the beasts? The kids in class clamored to try to figure this out! They remembered the ruler from the first verses. The people on their own, in God’s eyes, are weak, but when they are wise, God will make them strong.
The Lord preempts potential pride or sense of significance in the people. As soon as the Lord declares the people to be a conquering lion, he voices a litany of how he will destroy them (vv. 9-14). He will destroy their weapons and fortresses (vv. 9-10)—signs of Israel’s military might. [Note: After the session I noticed that the initial Hebrew word in these verses is not “destroy,” as some translations state, but “cut off,” which emphasizes how the Lord will excise these elements from the people.] He will destroy their sorcery and idols (vv. 11-13)—signs of the Israelites’ disloyalty and desire to control the elements on their own. The Lord cuts off the precise items that the people use to build themselves up. These elements distinguish them from the ruler described in the beginning of the chapter because they give a sense of significance and strength, rather than insignificance and wisdom. Ultimately, the Lord will judge all nations on the basis of whether they “obeyed” (v. 14), that is, reflected the wisdom of the Lord’s teaching available to all nations (4:2).
This chapter confuses the reader in how it suspends and unites the stark opposition between that which passes away and that which conquers. The new ruler reflects how Israel should conduct itself. If Israel would withstand the Assyrians, they have to put away their weapons and deities. As they increasingly resemble the dew, they become more like the marauding lion. Their adherence to the Lord and his teaching (ultimately indistinguishable) stand as the criterion for success. Returning from exile, the people must follow in their own actions, the insignificant, wise ruler whom God will choose.