Micah 5:5

And this [man] shall be the peace,.... The word man is not in the text, only this; and refers to the person before spoken of, who was to be born in Bethlehem, to be the ruler in Israel, that should

And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men. This man - in Hebrew simply this.

This verse, as the former, is abstruse, and the particulars are not easily accommodated to times and things. And this; so the Hebrew, and it may be read as the neuter gender, and be referred to time, or thing, or both, following in the text, thus: At that time this thing shall be our peace, viz. when the Assyrian shall invade us, we shall raise by our prayers sufficient strength against him, here expressed by seven shepherds, &c. Our version supplies the defect of the substantive with man, i.e. the Messiah the Ruler, who stands and feeds in the strength of the Lord. Shall be the peace, which is promised to and expected by the people of God, all their preservation and deliverances are not only for the sake, but effected by the power, of the Messiah. When the Assyrian shall come into our land; as Sennacherib did within a few years after this prophecy was delivered; and then by the power and authority of Messiah was Sennacherib and his army defeated, and Judah’ s peace was secured. When he shall tread in our palaces; which the Assyrian did in all the cities of Judah, except Jerusalem, against which he could do nothing, because God-man the Messiah was with Hezekiah and Jerusalem, as foretold. 37:32-35. Then, shall we; Hezekiah, and with him the prophets and people, by prayer to God, shall prevail with God to send deliverance and salvation to them. Raise against him seven shepherds: the number is certain, but put for an uncertain; and the quality of those raised is expressed by shepherds, in a decorum to the representation of the people of God by the metaphor of sheep, or flock, of which shepherds do particularly take care. And eight principal men: here again a determinate number is put for an indeterminate, and for a sufficient number, that the effect may be sure. God will raise a sufficient number of deliverers for his people: this is the import of this phrase, as elsewhere six troubles and seven, . Thus in the letter and historical reference I suppose the words do look to the wonderful deliverance of Hezekiah and Jerusalem from the Assyrian, but I doubt not they have a mystical and spiritual reference, and contain a prediction of that peace Christ did make, and doth maintain, for his churches against all enemies, typified by the Assyrian. Besides this exposition given, I must not pass over that note, viz. The word rendered peace signifieth also recompence, and so might be rendered: This shall be the recompence of the Assyrian by the seven shepherds, rendered for his invading and spoiling Judah, and for attempting against Jerusalem.

Micah 5:5 And this [man] shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.Ver. 5. And this man shall be the peace] "The man Christ Jesus," 1 Timothy 2:5; that man, that shall be "as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land," Isaiah 32:2. Winds and tempests will arise, and that upon the Church. Assyrians and Babylonians (Nimrod’ s brats) will invade and infest her; but that famous he before mentioned shall be her peace, her Prince of peace, Isaiah 9:6, who giveth her pacem omnimodam, peace internal, external, eternal, called by the apostle life and peace, Romans 8:6. This peace, peace, as Isaiah calleth it, Isaiah 26:3, that is, a multiplied, renewed, continued peace; this peace, regionis et religionis, of country and of conscience, as God hath promised, and Christ hath purchased. He merited and made it through the blood of his cross, Colossians 1:20 Isaiah 53:5 Ephesians 2:16. And hence it was, that as he was brought from heaven with that song of peace, Luke 2:14, so he returned up again with that farewell of peace, John 14:27, left to the world the doctrine of peace, Ephesians 2:17, whose ministers are messengers of peace, Romans 10:15, whose followers are the children of peace, Luke 10:6, whose rarity is in the bond of peace, Ephesians 4:3, and whose duty is the study of peace, Romans 12:18, and to whom God hath promised "I will give peace in your land. And ye shall chase your enemies," Leviticus 26:6-7. If any ask, how peace and pursuit of enemies can consist? it is easily answered. You shall have civil peace among yourselves, and besides an ability to quell and quiet foreign enemies. Or, you shall have peace; and if it happens that war arise, you shall have the better in battle. If the Assyrian come into your land he shall be a loser by it; if he tread in your palaces he shall retreat with shame and defeat, as it befell Sennacherib. Then shall we raise against him seven shepherds] That is, a competent number of chieftains and champions, with their victorious forces, which shall repel the enemies and secure the Church, Christo duce et auspice Christo, under Christ the arch-shepherd. This some understand to be the apostles, those anointed or authorized ones, as the word here signifieth, the weapons of whose warfare were "not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds," 2 Corinthians 10:4-5, and bringing in, not the heads, but hearts of those whom they had subdued: as Paul did of Sergius Paulus, the proconsul, Acts 13:7, where also he is first called Paul, in memory belike of those first spoils he brought into the Church.

(5) And this man shall be the peace—i.e., He shall Himself be Peace (after the same idiomatic expression David speaks of himself, “For my love they are my adversaries, but I am Prayer”—Psalms 109:4). This sentence is connected with the former instead of the following passage, with which the Authorised Version joins it. When the Assyrian shall come into our land.—This may refer to the imminent apprehension of the invasion of Sennacherib, but the actual event does not correspond to it. It may look forward to the time when the enemies of Israel attacked the Jews in the Maccabean period, and the shepherds, seven or eight—i.e., an indefinite number—successfully resisted the attacks upon the flock. The intention of the passage may be spiritually interpreted as pointing to the eight principal, strictly anointed men, who, as Christian pastors, receive their commission from the Messiah.

Verse 5. And this man shall be the peace] This clause should be joined to the preceding verse, as it finishes the prophecy concerning our blessed Lord, who is the Author and Prince of Israel; and shall finally give peace to all nations, by bringing them under his yoke. When the Assyrian shall come] This is a new prophecy, and relates to the subversion of the Assyrian empire. Then shall we raise against him seven shepherds] Supposed to mean the seven Maccabees, Mattathias, and his five sons, and Hyrcanus, the son of Simon. Eight principal men.] Eight princes, the Asmonean race; beginning with Aristobulus, and ending with Herod, who was married to Mariamne.-Sharpe. Perhaps seven and eight are a definite for an indefinite number, as Ecclesiastes 11:2; Job 5:19. The prophet means the chiefs of the Medes and Babylonians, the prefects of different provinces who took Nineveh, whose number may have been what is here specified.-Newcome. Calmet considers this as referring to the invasion of Judea by Cambyses, when the Lord raised up against him the seven magi. He of them who passed for king of the Persians was the Smerdis of Herodotus, the Oropastes of Trogus, and the Artaxerxes of Ezra. These magi were put to death by seven Persian chiefs; who, having delivered the empire from them, set one of themselves, Darius, the son of Hystaspes, upon the throne.

5, 6. These verses appear to have been added by an after-thought. Two plausible reasons may be given for the insertion. 1. It was not clear who the ‘many nations’ and ‘many peoples’ of Micah 4:11; Micah 4:13 were; the first clause of Mic 5:5 may perhaps be taken as interpreting those rather vague phrases of the Assyrians. 2. In the first gush of inspiration, the prophet had omitted the period of foreign rule over the land of Israel. Thus the picture of the Messianic time was left indistinct; by the insertion of Mic 5:5-6 this omission was rectified. The connexion is improved, if we inclose these verses in a parenthesis; it should be observed that the same vague phrase ‘many peoples’ reappears in Micah 5:7-8, indicating that these verses belonged to the original draft of the prophecy. How greatly our idea of the Biblical literature gains in distinctness by the insight we are now acquiring into the methods and processes of the prophetic writers and editors!

And this Man shall be the Peace - This, emphatically, that is, “This Same,” as is said of Noah, “This same shall comfort us” Genesis 5:29, or, in the song of Moses, of the Lord, “This Same is my God” Exodus 15:2.

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