Post by Josh on Dec 10, 2007 21:25:57 GMT -8
Micah 5:2-3
2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans of
Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times.”
3 Therefore Israel will be abandoned
until the time when she who is in labor gives birth
and the rest of his brothers return
to join the Israelites.
I love this prophecy for its specificity. It states where Messiah will be born. Ones birthplace is notoriously hard to force-fulfill*. Bound up into this is the idea that the Messiah, just like David, would be born in a town that seems "the least" and would seem lowly in that birth by worldly standards (indeed the case with Jesus)
Also embedded here is the notion of the Messiah's pre-existence, implying that He would be more than a mere human. This is actually one of the few OT verses that does so pretty clearly. One could argue that "origins from old" need only mean that the expectation of the Messiah goes back to ancient times, but I see here more of a reference to all the theophanies in the Old Testament stories- especially in Genesis, where God frequently appeared the form of a man (the angel of the Lord).
But the notion that Israel would be abandoned until "she who is in labor gives birth" is amazingly striking in light of the Christmas story. It makes me think of the lines of one of my all-time favorite Christmas carols, which speaks of that sense of abandonment that Israel felt before the coming of Jesus:
O come, O come, Emmanuel,
and ransom captive Israel,
that mourns in lonely exile here
until the Son of God appear.
Refrain:
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
Lastly, I see the reference to "his brothers" as pointing to what Paul calls the "mystery" of the Gentiles being united with the Jews in Christ.
That this passage was held by some to be messianic before the time of Christ is evidenced even within the Christmas story in Matthew, when Herod is informed by some scribes that Bethlehem might be the place of the Messiah's birth.
* The only way to explain it away would be to say that somehow the authors of the New Testament invented the idea that Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans of
Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times.”
3 Therefore Israel will be abandoned
until the time when she who is in labor gives birth
and the rest of his brothers return
to join the Israelites.
I love this prophecy for its specificity. It states where Messiah will be born. Ones birthplace is notoriously hard to force-fulfill*. Bound up into this is the idea that the Messiah, just like David, would be born in a town that seems "the least" and would seem lowly in that birth by worldly standards (indeed the case with Jesus)
Also embedded here is the notion of the Messiah's pre-existence, implying that He would be more than a mere human. This is actually one of the few OT verses that does so pretty clearly. One could argue that "origins from old" need only mean that the expectation of the Messiah goes back to ancient times, but I see here more of a reference to all the theophanies in the Old Testament stories- especially in Genesis, where God frequently appeared the form of a man (the angel of the Lord).
But the notion that Israel would be abandoned until "she who is in labor gives birth" is amazingly striking in light of the Christmas story. It makes me think of the lines of one of my all-time favorite Christmas carols, which speaks of that sense of abandonment that Israel felt before the coming of Jesus:
O come, O come, Emmanuel,
and ransom captive Israel,
that mourns in lonely exile here
until the Son of God appear.
Refrain:
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
Lastly, I see the reference to "his brothers" as pointing to what Paul calls the "mystery" of the Gentiles being united with the Jews in Christ.
That this passage was held by some to be messianic before the time of Christ is evidenced even within the Christmas story in Matthew, when Herod is informed by some scribes that Bethlehem might be the place of the Messiah's birth.
* The only way to explain it away would be to say that somehow the authors of the New Testament invented the idea that Jesus was born in Bethlehem.