Why do you now cry aloud? Is there no king among you? Has your counselor perished so that anguish grips you like a woman in labor? Sermons
I. THE SALUTARY DISCIPLINE. In brief, vivid words a succession of calamities is sketched. 1. Their monarchy is overthrown. "Is there no king in thee?" Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah in succession were dethroned by foreign conquerors, and carried into exile. Many national premises and blessings were bound up with the name and family of David (2 Samuel 7), so that the loss of their king was no ordinary loss. He was their chief stay and "counsellor" (cf. Isaiah 9:6), "the breath of their nostrils" (Lamentations 4:20). No wonder their consternation and distress: "pangs," etc..(cf. Psalm 89:38-51). Thus one step in Divine discipline then and now may be the striking down to the ground of the chief objects of our confidence, the earthly props which we seek to substitute for God. 2. They are humiliated before their foes. They "go forth out of the city;" some in a vain attempt to escape, like Zedekiah and his troops (2 Kings 25:4-6); others as prisoners of war from a city which has capitulated and is being sacked by its conquerors. Illustrate from Lamentations 5:1-16. They are driven forth into "the field;" without shelter even from the elements unless in tents (contrast their former "ease in Zion," Amos 6:1-7, etc.); without the protection of the old towers and bulwarks in which they had prided themselves (Psalm 48:12, 13); without weapons or leaders, and thus exposed to any indignities that these conquerors choose to inflict upon them. Thus may it be with those whose way God "turneth upside down," stripping them of all their old sources of security - money, position, friends; turning them out of the "nest" in which they expected peacefully to spend the remainder of their days. Illustrate from contrasts in Job 29. and 30. 3. They are carried captive "even to Babylon. Babel in early days had been a symbol of a godless world power. It does not rise again on the Hebrew horizon till the days of Isaiah and Micah. Making friendly overtures to Hezekiah, it is presented to his view, by his faithful seer, as a distant, mysterious, but formidable foe of the future - ignotum pro mirifico (Isaiah 39.). As the ten tribes had been carried captive to Halah and Habor and adjacent districts, so should Judah be taken even to Babylon. Thus is it in God's discipline with his prodigals now. They may find themselves in a far country," brought down to the lowest depth of humiliation, shut out from all earthly help, shut up to God. And even now, in the midst of the pleasures of sin, prophetic voices within may warn them: "Thou shalt go forth... thou shalt go even to - ." The dreadful possibilities of judgment, whether in this world or another, may at times mar their peace. For, unlike the servants of God, they dare not say, "Things to come... are ours. 4. In the house of bondage pangs of sorrow must be borne. Seventy years!" - a long lifetime of captivity. "Tribulation ten days!" a time of discipline indefinite to us, though fixed by the counsel of God. Those pangs will be "resistless, remediless, doubling the whole frame, redoubled till the end for which God sends them is accomplished, and then ceasing in joy" (Pusey). For the very term "daughter of Zion" suggests hope. It is a term of friendliness, like "Father of spirits" (Hebrews 12:9), which reminds us of the essential relations between us and our God, and gives us a pledge that in wrath he will remember mercy (cf. Isaiah 57:16). II. "THE END OF THE LORD." Then and there the end for which the trials are sent will be reached, and deliverance will come. As with their king Manasseh, so shall it be with the nation. In their affliction they will seek the Lord (Jeremiah 29:10-13). 1. They shall be delivered. Set free from the burden of their sins, a burden too grievous to be borne; purged from idolatry; blessed with a revival of religion, as shown by a renewed regard to God's Law through the gracious work of his own "free Spirit" (Ezekiel 36:16-27). 2. They shall be redeemed from the hand of their enemies. God will visit them as their Goel, their Kinsman-Redeemer, who has not forgotten or forsaken them (Jeremiah 30:8-11). By the manifestation of his righteous grace and irresistible power they shall be "redeemed without money" (Isaiah 52:3), restored to their land and to the enjoyment of ancient privileges. Such is "the end of the Lord" in the discipline of life. The revelation of the Fatherhood of God in the Person of Christ and in his sacrificial death for the redemption of sinners assures us that he chastens "for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness." But it is only by sitting at his feet and learning of him, and thus being "exercised" by our trials, that we can hope to win from them "the peaceable fruit of righteousness" (Hebrews 12:9-11). - E.S.P.
Homilist. I. THE STATE OF MANKIND REQUIRES IT. "Is there no king in thee? is thy counsellor perished?" It was more serious for the Jewish people to be deprived of a king than for any other people, for their king was theocratic, he was supposed to be the Voice and vicegerent of God. The prophet means to say, that when the Chaldeans would come and carry them away, they would have no king and no counsellors. Now, men in an unregenerate state —1. Have no king. A political ruler is to man, as a spiritual existent, only a king in name. He does not command the moral affections, rule the conscience, or legislate for the inner and primal springs of all activity. Such a king is the deep want of man, he wants some one to be enthroned on his heart, to whom his conscience can render homage. No man in an unregenerate state has such a king; he has gods many and lords many, of a sort, but none to rule him, and to bring all the powers of his soul into one harmonious channel of obedience. 2. Have no counsellor. Society abounds with counsellors who proffer their advice; but some of them are wicked, most of them worthless, few, if any, satisfactory, that is, to conscience. What the soul wants, is not the mere book counsellor, — though it be the Bible itself, — but the spirit of that book, the spirit of reverence, love, Christlike trust. 3. Have no ease. "Pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail." The unregenerate soul is always liable to consternation, remorse, it often writhes in agony. "There is no peace, saith my God, for the wicked." Now, moral regeneration brings the man a true King, a true Counsellor, a true Peace — a peace "that passeth all understanding." II. IT IS OPPOSED BY FORMIDABLE ANTAGONISTS. The nations referred to are those that composed the army of Nebuchadnezzar. What formidable opponents there are to the conversion of man! 1. The depraved elements of the soul. Unbelief, selfishness, carnality, etc. 2. The corrupt influence of society. Custom, fashion, amusements, pleasures! III. IT IS GUARANTEED BY THE WORD OF ALMIGHTY GOD. The enemies of the Jews were utterly ignorant of God's purpose to deliver His people from Babylonish Captivity. 1. Man in ignorance fights against God's purpose. 2. Man, in fighting against God's purpose, brings ruin on himself.The nations thought to ruin Christianity in its infancy, but it was victorious over them! (Homilist.). People Eder, Jacob, MicahPlaces Babylon, Jerusalem, Mount Zion, ZionTopics Agony, Aloud, Childbirth, Counsellor, Counselor, Cry, Crying, Destruction, Gripped, Helper, Hold, Labor, Loudly, None, Pain, Pains, Pangs, Perished, Seized, Seizes, Shout, Travail, Travailing, WiseOutline 1. The glory,5. and the peace of Christ's kingdom. 6. The restoration, 11. and victory of the church. Dictionary of Bible Themes Micah 4:8 5611 watchman Library As God, So Worshipper'... All the peoples will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever.'--MICAH iv. 5 (R.V.). This is a statement of a general truth which holds good of all sorts of religion. 'To walk' is equivalent to carrying on a course of practical activity. 'The name' of a god is his manifested character. So the expression 'Walk in the name' means, to live and act according to, and with reference to, and in reliance on, the character of the worshipper's … Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture "And we Will --" The Battle of Armageddon. "Is the Spirit of the Lord Straitened?" A vision of the Latter-Day Glories Place of Jesus in the History of the World. The Redeemer's Return is Necessitated by the Declarations of Old Testament Prophecy. In the Fifteenth Year of Tiberius Cæsar and under the Pontificate of Annas and Caiaphas - a Voice in the Wilderness The Prophet Micah. John Bunyan on the Terms of Communion and Fellowship of Christians at the Table of the Lord; A Clearing-Up Storm in the Realm Conclusion The Plan for the Coming of Jesus. The Quotation in Matt. Ii. 6. Interpretation of Prophecy. Annunciation of the Birth of Jesus. Micah Links Micah 4:9 NIVMicah 4:9 NLT Micah 4:9 ESV Micah 4:9 NASB Micah 4:9 KJV Micah 4:9 Bible Apps Micah 4:9 Parallel Micah 4:9 Biblia Paralela Micah 4:9 Chinese Bible Micah 4:9 French Bible Micah 4:9 German Bible Micah 4:9 Commentaries Bible Hub |
    |