Micah 5:7

And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people,.... The Jews, who will be converted in the latter day, the remnant of them according to the election of grace, as well as all true

And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the LORD, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men.

The remnant of Jacob; both the remnant which surviveth the sacking and burning of their city and temple, and, carried captive, live in a scattered condition; and the whole remnant, according to the election of grace, whether of Jacob after the flesh or after the Spirit. In the midst of many people; either among the several people under the Babylonian dominion, which may well be called many, when it is said of Nebuchadnezzar, that God gave him all nations and kingdoms, ; or else, amidst the nations, their neighbours, after their return and reestablishment in their own land. This remnant, wherever they are, shall be as a dew; either subsisting and multiplying as the dew; or else, as the dew refresheth the grass, and is beneficial to it, so where this remnant is, it should be a blessing to those about them that use them friendly; so . From the Lord; it shall be the peculiar work of God; as dew hath no other father or fountain, so the blessings on Jacob, and the blessing by him on others, shall be from the Lord. So God blesseth those that bless Abraham’ s seed, . So Cyrus received his blessings, and his Persians with him, . As the showers upon the grass; the same thing in a different, but very apt expression; nations kind to Jacob should for this spring and flourish, as the grass doth by the dew and showers. That tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men; it shall be the only work of God, he shall by his immediate hand bless such, as he alone, without the help of man, giveth dew and showers. As this was fulfilled in the type, before the gospel of the kingdom was preached to all nations, so it hath been, now is, and ever shall be fulfilled in ages to come. God’ s remnant shall be a blessing to the places they live in, and the persons they live with, as Jacob was to Laban, , and Joseph was to Potiphar, and to the keeper of the prison. The remnant of Jacob; both the remnant which surviveth the sacking and burning of their city and temple, and, carried captive, live in a scattered condition; and the whole remnant, according to the election of grace, whether of Jacob after the flesh or after the Spirit. That tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men; it shall be the only work of God, he shall by his immediate hand bless such, as he alone, without the help of man, giveth dew and showers. As this was fulfilled in the type, before the gospel of the kingdom was preached to all nations, so it hath been, now is, and ever shall be fulfilled in ages to come. God’ s remnant shall be a blessing to the places they live in, and the persons they live with, as Jacob was to Laban, , and Joseph was to Potiphar, and to the keeper of the prison.

Micah 5:7 And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the LORD, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men.Ver. 7. And the remnant of Jacob] The "remnant according to the election of grace," Romans 11:5. These are but a few in comparison, as a remnant to the whole piece, or a handful to a houseful; but they shall increase and multiply, by God’ s blessing upon them, as is here set forth by two similitudes. First, for their propagation and multiplication, the prophet compareth them to the dew, which is engendered and distilled from heaven immediately. Therefore also, Psalms 110:3, new converts are compared to dew, and God’ s begetting them, to the womb of the morning, when overnight the earth was dry. Secondly, for their growth and increase, he compareth it to the sprouting up of herbs and grass in the wilderness, where man cometh not, and so their springing tarrieth not for man, nor "waiteth for the sons of men," for them to come with their watering pots to nourish them (as herbs in gardens do), but these have showers from heaven that give the increase. "I the Lord do keep my vineyard, I will water it every moment," Isaiah 27:3. There is an honour due to God’ s ministers, 1 Thessalonians 5:13, but the word only must be glorified, Acts 13:48, and Christ earnestly entreated, that as of old the manna came down with the dew, which covered the manna (whence that expression, "hidden manna," Revelation 2:17), so he himself, who is the bread of life, would descend unto us by the word of his grace, and fill us with the fruits of righteousness; that he would, rigare et recreare, refresh and cherish our hearts, as the dew from heaven doth the dry and lady fields.

(7) As a dew from the Lord.—The Jews should, on their return from captivity, pour down their influence upon the nations, as God-sent showers upon the grass. So, through the dispersion of Jewish Christians, on the death of St. Stephen, the Lord caused the knowledge of the truth with which the Jews were cloud-charged to descend upon many people: “He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass; as showers that water the earth” (Psalms 72:6).

Verse 7. The remnant of Jacob] From the reign of Darius Hystaspes (Ahasuerus, husband of Esther) the Jews were greatly favoured. Those who continued in Persia and Chaldea were greatly honoured under the protection of Mordecai and Esther.-Calmet. But others consider this as applying to the Maccabees. As a dew from the Lord] Even during their captivity many of the Jews were the means of spreading the knowledge of the one true God; see Daniel 2:47; Daniel 3:29; Daniel 4:34; Daniel 6:26. This may be the dew from the Lord mentioned here. When the Messiah appeared, the Gospel was preached by them; and it shall again be propagated by their future glorious restoration, Romans 11:12; Romans 11:25. The grass, that tarrieth not for man] Which grass springs up without the attention and culture of man; לאיש leish, even the best and most skilful of men. Nor waiteth for the sons of men.] לבני אדם libney adam, for the sons of Adam, the first transgressor. The dew and the showers descend on the earth and water it, in order to render it fruitful; and the grass springs up independently either of the worth or wickedness of man. All comes through God's bounty, who causes his sun to shine on the just and the unjust, and his rain to descend on the evil and the good.

7, 8. The twofold operation of the Messiah’s people.—Israel is a precious and powerful instrument given by God to mankind. In a certain sense, he is a Messiah, because specially chosen to set an example of obedience to God’s laws (Exodus 19:5-6), and to preach His religion to the Gentiles (Micah 4:2), and because the pious kernel of the nation is mystically united to Him who is preeminently the Messiah. Christ (‘the Christ’), as we know from Luke 2:34, was ‘set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel,’ and so too the people of Israel, regarded as a Messiah or Messianic agent, has a twofold influence on the neighbouring peoples, comparable on the one hand to the softly-falling, beneficent dew, and on the other to the fierce, destructive lion. (The same antithesis of figures occurs in Proverbs 19:12.)

And the remnant of Jacob - Micah (Micah 4:7), as well as Isaiah (Isaiah 10:21), had prophesied, that a remnant only should return unto the Mighty God.

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