#DailyDevotion Don’t You Have A King?
Micah 4 9 Why, then, are you crying so loudly now? Don’t you have a king? Or has He who advised you perished that pangs have gripped you like a woman in childbirth? 10 Writhe and labor to produce, daughter of Zion, like a woman in childbirth because now you will leave the city and live in the fields and come to Babylon. There you will be rescued, there the LORD will free you from your enemies.
So Micah seems to switch gear here. We were previously looking at the eschatological reign and rule of God, the Messiah. Now we are back in the trenches with sinners who are supposed to be the people of God.
Perhaps Micah is speaking to the current situation with the Assyrian hoards of the 8th century coming down and invading Judah and taking siege to Jerusalem. However verse 10 seems to be looking into the future of the 6th century mentioning Babylon. The Assyrian destruction of the northern kingdom and their invasion of the southern kingdom should be putting Judah on notice with God because of their sins. Will they listen? What Micah sees tells us differently.
So whether it is the current crying or crying in the future brought about by the present crying, the LORD is speaking to His people. He seems a little harsh to us. “Why are you crying so loudly now?”It seems to me the LORD certainly knows. They haven’t listened to Him or His prophets. This is why they are in the mess they are in right now. “Don’t you have a king?” Seems pretty sarcastic to me coming from the LORD. Indeed they had a king because they rejected the LORD as King. The LORD provided for them a dynasty from the house of David, but they did not follow in David’s ways seeking the LORD’s heart or direction. They did what is right in their own eyes. Can they see their king has failed them? Probably not. The LORD seems to be rubbing it in a bit more when He says, “Or has He who has advised you perished…?” The AAT translation takes “He” to be the LORD with the capitalization. In the context, I would think rather the “he” here would be the false prophets. It’s literally from the Hebrew, “Has your counselor perished.” It could as well be the king, in parallel.
The loss of king and counselor brings about a crisis in Judah and Jerusalem. It seems Micah is seeing the conquering of Judah by the Babylonians who are a vassal at the current time to the Assyrians. It will be such a distress they had never experienced. He compares their trials to a woman writhing in childbirth. Off to exile they will go. But the LORD will free them seventy years from this from their enemies.
They never fully recover. The Davidic house is broken. However, the LORD will come to the stump of Jesse. He Himself, the root of Jesse will produce a shoot who will be Himself. He will be born in the house of David taking on human flesh. The LORD will be king of His people again. Though they will reject Him in the courts of Pilate, Jesus the KING, will gather His people to Himself. He will gather and make a people for Himself from every people, tribe, nation and tongue and join them to His holy people. Both Jew and Gentile, He makes in baptism in His name a holy people, His Israel.
Almighty God and Father, we often forget Your reign over us in Your Son, Jesus Christ and look to earthly rulers to save us. Forgive our forgetfulness and give us hearts single mindedly looking only to Jesus Christ to be our King, God, Savior, Ruler, Prince and Counselor. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.