Micah 7:12

[In] that day [also] he shall come even to thee,.... Which words also are not directed to the enemy, as some interpret them; as to Chaldea or Babylon; and the sense be, that Cyrus should come

In that day also he shall come even to thee from Assyria, and from the fortified cities, and from the fortress even to the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain.

In that day, after the Jews’ return out of captivity, and Jerusalem rebuilt, he who is of Jewish race, and proselyted Gentile, shall come even to thee, O Jerusalem, seat of God’ s solemn worship, type of the gospel church, restored to thy promised glory. From Assyria; in which many Israelites were found captives when the Babylonian kingdom swallowed up the Assyrian, and were continued in that servitude by the Babylonians till the Medes and Persians overthrew the Babylonians, and proclaimed a release to all captive Jews; then from Assyria did captive Israel, i.e. some of them, go up to Jerusalem. From the fortified cities; in which it is probable many Jews were kept for servile works: Shalmaneser did place the captivity of the ten tribes in the cities of the Medes, which, for aught I know, may be the cities here spoken of. From the fortress: one mentioned for all the rest, and I suppose these fortresses might be frontier garrisons made for defence of the country, where the Jews were in policy placed by the Assyrian; from these places, and through all the country, even to the river; to Euphrates or Chebar, where also were of the captive Jews. From sea to sea; from the Caspian to the Persian and to the Midland Sea. From mountain to mountain; on which many of the dispersed Jews did in all likelihood settle themselves in process of time for security and retirement, as the persecuted Waldenses and Albigenses settled in the mountainous parts bordering on France, Savoy, and Italy. Or from Mount Taurus to Mount Libanus or Carmel. In brief, from all parts of their captivity they shall return to their own country, a singular type of the redemption of the church by Christ, the bringing in the Gentiles, and enlarging the Messiah’ s kingdom.

Micah 7:12 [In] that day [also] he shall come even to thee from Assyria, and [from] the fortified cities, and from the fortress even to the river, and from sea to sea, and [from] mountain to mountain.Ver. 12. In that day also he shall come even to thee from Assyria] To thee, Jerusalem, in the type, shall recourse be had from all parts, as if thou wert the chief city of the world (Pliny saith, that in his time she was the most famous of all the cities of the East; and Titus himself is said to have wept at the last destruction of it by his soldiers, whom he could not restrain from firing the temple). To the new Jerusalem, the Church of the New Testament, in the antitype: from whence the gospel was sent out to "every creature which is under heaven," Colossians 1:23, and whereunto people of all sorts flowed, and many nations came, Micah 4:1-2, with highest acclamations, most vigorous affections, and utmost endeavours bestowing themselves upon the Lord Christ, Acts 2:9. Jerusalem in the Hebrew tongue is of the dual number; in regard of the two parts of the city, the upper and the nether town. Or (as the Cabalists give the reason), in regard of a two-fold Jerusalem, the heavenly and the earthly; and the taking away of the earthly, they say, was signified by the taking away of the letter jod out of Jerushalajim, 2 Samuel 5:13. "But Jerusalem which is above is free," firm and full; "the desolate" (once so) "having many more children than she that hath a husband," Galatians 4:26-27, "Whom the Lord of hosts also doth bless, saying" (as a father to them all), "Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance," Isaiah 19:25. And from the fortress even to the river] i.e. from all bounds and borders of the land, yea, of the world, shall people come to the new Jerusalem, which hath "twelve gates: On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates," Revelation 21:12-13.

(12) In that day also he shall come.—Rather translate, In that day shall they (impersonal) come even to thee from Assyria and (from) the cities of Matzor (i.e., Egypt), and from Matzor even to the river (Euphrates), and from sea to sea, and (from) mountain to mountain. The prophet beholds people coming from all parts of the earth to Jerusalem. Isaiah foresaw the like future, and spoke of Assyria, Egypt, and Israel being assembled together, “whom the Lord of Hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt, my people, and Assyria, the work of my hands, and Israel, mine inheritance” (Isaiah 19:25). The Christian reader can hardly refrain from discerning on the horizon of Micah’s vision that marvellous assembly of the representatives of the nations in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost.

Verse 12. In that day also he shall come] Bp. Newcome translates: - "And in that day they shall come unto thee From Assyria and the fenced cities; And from Egypt even unto the river." Calmet translates: - "They shall come to thee from Assyria even unto Egypt; And from Egypt even to the river; (Euphrates;) And from one sea to another, and from one mountain to another." This, says he, gives an easy sense; whereas we cannot tell where to find those fortified cities spoken of by other translators. The Israelites were to return from their captivity, and re-occupy their ancient country from Assyria to Egypt; that is, from the river Euphrates to the river Nile; and from the Mediterranean Sea to the Ocean, and from Mount Libanus to the mountains of Arabia Petraea, or Mount Seir. See Amos 8:12. This prediction was literally fulfilled under the Asmoneans. The Jewish nation was greatly extended and very powerful under Herod, at the time that our Lord was born. See Calmet.

12. Comp. the extent of the dispersion as described in Isaiah 11:11. He shall come even to thee] Rather, men shall come to thee. It is a promise of the conversion of the heathen to the true religion. and from the fortified cities] Rather, and from the cities of Egypt. ‘Egypt’ is here not Mizraim, but Mâzôr, an abnormal form, which occurs again in Isaiah 19:6; Isaiah 37:25. It is not an Egyptian word, but the Assyrians gave almost the same name to Egypt (Muçur). The phrase, ‘the cities of Egypt,’ reminds us how thickly peopled the Nile-valley was. and from the fortress] Rather, and from Egypt. even to the river] i.e. the Euphrates. from sea to sea] i.e. from the Mediterranean Sea in the West to the Persian Gulf in the East (comp. Joe 2:20). from mountain to mountain] i.e. from Sinai in the South to Lebanon in the North. The Peshito (Syriac) however reads this clause, ‘even to the sea on the west and to mount Hor.’

PROMISE OF A , Micah 7:11-13.In Micah 7:11 ff. the speaker is no longer the penitent, expectant remnant, but Jehovah himself, or the prophet as the spokesman of Jehovah.