Micah 5:3-4
3 Therefore Israel will be abandoned
until the time when she who is in labour bears a son,
and the rest of his brothers return
to join the Israelites.
4 He will stand and shepherd his flock
in the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they will live securely, for then his greatness
will reach to the ends of the earth.
As I’ve said before, I don’t know the book of Micah particularly well. I don’t think I’ve ever heard it preached or done a Bible study series on it. I wonder if one of the reasons for that is that it’s not really the kind of book that lends itself to being chopped up into sections that you work through in order. Many of the New Testament letters, for instance, progress fairly logically from gospel truths in the first half through to what that looks like lived out in practice in the second half. Micah (along with other Old Testament prophets) is more circular - themes appear in one place then pass out of sight before being picked up and developed again later. So, if it’s starting to feel like we’re slightly going round in circles between judgement and hope … we are! Because Micah does.
So today we’re picking up again on a theme that we saw back in chapter 2 - the people are like sheep in need of a shepherd. You’ll remember that the people of Israel have been ill-treated by those who should have cared for them but God promised that they would one day be gathered together into safe pastures. The focus in chapter 2 was on the security that this would bring to the sheep. Here, the focus is more on the shepherd himself. This shepherd seems to be the same person as the ruler from Bethlehem, who we were introduced to yesterday. That idea of rule is picked up in verse 4 - He will shepherd his flock ‘in the majesty’ of the name of the Lord.’ We might find this surprising. ‘Shepherds’ and ‘majesty’ tend not to go together. Being a shepherd was a pretty low-status task - antisocial hours, working outdoors in all weathers, fending off wild animals. Given the choice between life in a palace and life in a sheep-pen, I imagine most of us would pick the palace. The idea of a shepherd-king is surprising, but it’s not completely unheard of.
Israel’s great King David, whose reign marked something of a high point in the nation’s history, started life as a shepherd boy. The fact that this future shepherd-king will come from Bethlehem is not a coincidence - Bethlehem is the ‘City of David’. That must have been a huge encouragement to the people of Micah’s day, living through a really low point in the nation’s history. God is promising to send them someone who will combine the best of mighty kingship with the tender care of a committed shepherd. It’s even more of an encouragement for us to remember that God has kept that promise, and sent us King Jesus, the Good Shepherd, to rule and care for us. Let’s thank him again for that today.
