Micah 5:3

Therefore will he give them up,.... Or "notwithstanding", as this particle signifies; see Hosea 2:14; though all this shall be, yet, previous to the birth of this person, the Lord would give up the

Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel.

Therefore, or nevertheless, as the particle will bear, will he, God, the God of Israel, give them up, to the Chaldeans, to be wasted by them, and to be led into captivity, and to be afflicted there for their sins committed in their own land against God, until the time, until seventy years be expired, the time appointed for the punishing the Jews, that she which travaileth, the daughter of Zion, compared here to a woman in travail, hath brought forth; be delivered out of captivity, compared here to a woman’ s bringing forth, as ,10. Then the remnant of his brethren, i.e. the brethren of the Messiah, those of Judah and Benjamin who were carried captive, shall return unto the children of Israel; being set free by Cyrus, shall return to their own land, and be there established; and they shall return with Israel rather than to: all this referring in the letter to their redemption out of Babylon, (which was the effect of the Messiah’ s power and mercy towards them, as 5:2) hath a further reference to a more glorious redemption, and to intervening afflictions which should fall upon the Jews, from after their restitution and resettling in Canaan. unto the coming of the Messiah in the flesh when born of the Virgin; and that of shall be fulfilled, when Messiah, Ben David, shall set up his kingdom, and deliver the whole Israel of God from their captivity under ignorance, sin, and hell, and shall bring in the Gentiles, that remnant of his brethren, and unite them to the true Israel, and make them one church to God. Therefore, or nevertheless, as the particle will bear, Then the remnant of his brethren, i.e. the brethren of the Messiah, those of Judah and Benjamin who were carried captive, shall return unto the children of Israel; being set free by Cyrus, shall return to their own land, and be there established; and they shall return with Israel rather than to: all this referring in the letter to their redemption out of Babylon, (which was the effect of the Messiah’ s power and mercy towards them, as 5:2) hath a further reference to a more glorious redemption, and to intervening afflictions which should fall upon the Jews, from after their restitution and resettling in Canaan. unto the coming of the Messiah in the flesh when born of the Virgin; and that of shall be fulfilled, when Messiah, Ben David, shall set up his kingdom, and deliver the whole Israel of God from their captivity under ignorance, sin, and hell, and shall bring in the Gentiles, that remnant of his brethren, and unite them to the true Israel, and make them one church to God.

Micah 5:3 Therefore will he give them up, until the time [that] she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel.Ver. 3. Therefore will he give them up] As a little before the day springeth it is darker than ordinary; so before the day spring from on high visited God’ s people they were under very hard and heavy pressures and miseries; whereby their desires after him were increased and ineagered. The enemy oppressed them, by God’ s permission, yea, by his active providence; that they might pant after a Saviour, and sigh out with old Jacob, their father, Genesis 49:18, "O Lord, I have waited for thy salvation." Until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth] She, that is, the Virgin Mary, say some: or, she, that is, say others, the afflicted Church, according to Micah 4:9-10; She must have a time of travail, of trouble, before she can bring forth, and be delivered. Luther saith well, that the Church is haeres crucis, cling to the cross and that every Christian is a Crucian; we must suffer before we can reign, and bear the cross or e’ er we wear the crown. Then the remnant of his brethren] i.e. The converted Gentiles, whom Christ is not ashamed to call his brethren, Hebrews 2:11-12. Shall return unto the children of Israel] Shall be proselyted, and conjoined to the elect Jews, that there may be one sheepfold under one shepherd. "And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day there shall be one Lord, and his name one," Zechariah 14:9.

(3) Therefore will he give them up.—There is a suggestion here of a parable, setting forth the smallness of Bethlehem, which gave birth to the mighty Ruler that was to come from it. So the nation was to be brought very low before the nativity of the Virgin-born.

Verse 3. Therefore will he give them up] Jesus Christ shall give up the disobedient and rebellious Jews into the hands of all the nations of the earth, till she who travaileth hath brought forth; that is, till the Christian Church, represented Revelation 12:1, under the notion of a woman in travail, shall have had the fulness of the Gentiles brought in. Then the remnant of his brethren shall return; the Jews also shall be converted unto the Lord; and thus all Israel shall be saved, according to Romans 11:26. Unto the children of Israel.] Taking in both families, that of Judah and that of Israel. The remnant of the ten tribes, wherever they are, shall be brought in under Christ; and though now lost among the nations of the earth, they will then not only be brought in among the fulness of the Gentiles, but most probably be distinguished as Jews. On this verse Abp. Newcome says, "The sense is, God will not fully vindicate and exalt his people, till the virgin mother shall have brought forth her Son; and till Judah and Israel, and all the true sons of Abraham among their brethren the Gentiles, be converted to Christianity.

3. Therefore] i.e. because the deliverance of Israel is to be a work of pure grace, and to proceed from the insignificant Bethlehem. It is assumed that the family of David will have sunk down as low as that of Jesse originally was—the same anticipation which we find expressed in Isaiah 11:1, ‘There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse.’ will he give them up] Jehovah will deliver Israel into the hands of its foes. she which travaileth] i.e. she who is to bear. Probably (though this is not quite free from doubt) this is an allusion to Isaiah’s great prophecy of Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14)—a prophecy vague, it is true, and open to various interpretations, but most likely referring to the Messiah (see on Micah 5:5). then the remnant of his brethren shall return] Rather, and (until) the remnant of his brethren return. ‘Return’ may be taken either in a physical or in a spiritual sense. If in the former, the ‘remnant’ will mean the exiles of Israel, wherever they might be scattered, including those of the Ten Tribes; if in the latter, it will refer rather to the Judæans who had escaped in the Judgment. The return of the long-lost tribes, and the thorough conversion of his own people, were equally upon the heart of the prophet. unto] Or (if we explain ‘return’ = ‘be converted’), with.

Therefore - Since God has so appointed both to punish and to redeem, He, God, or the Ruler “whose goings forth have been from of old from everlasting,” who is God with God, “shall give them up, that

THE MESSIAH AND THE ERA, 1-15 (in Hebrew, Micah 4:14-5:14).In Micah 5:1, the prophet returns once more (Micah 4:9; Micah 4:11) to the condition now present or imminent; but immediately he rises from