Because of Bethlehem

Micah 5 is an appropriate passage to examine around Christmas. One day late, but better late than never. Micah 5 is where the scribes turn to inform Herod as to where the Christ might be born when the Magi come from the east to find him. Herod didn't like the idea of a replacement king one bit and sought to destroy the child in the same manner Pharaoh tried to wipe out Moses. He failed, as all earthly kings and potentates ultimately do. 

Micah 5 opens not with hopeful anticipation of the Messiah's coming but rather the doomsday announcement that Jerusalem will be sacked. 

Micah 5:1 (ESV) Now muster your troops, O daughter of troops; siege is laid against us; with a rod they strike the judge of Israel on the cheek.

The Message translation gives us insight into why Herod may have been worried.

Micah 5:1 (MSG) But for now, prepare for the worst, victim daughter! The siege is set against us. They humiliate Israel’s king, slapping him around like a rag doll.

Just as Israel's king was humiliated by Babylon during the siege, so too would Herod be humbled, but not by the full force of an attacking army. Instead, Herod would meet his demise through the supernatural Holy Spirit-filled force of the Church. And how did it all begin? In Bethlehem.

Micah 5:2 (ESV) But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.

Now Micah makes clear this ruler from Judah will not be simply a man who comes on the scene but one who has always been there, alive and aware of all things. His coming was announced in Genesis 3:15 and repeated throughout scripture.

Bethlehem has significant meaning to the nation of Israel. Their ancestor, for whom they are named, was Jacob, who lost his wife here when she was giving birth to Benjamin. In her pain, she called him Ben-oni, meaning "son of my sorrow," but Jacob renamed him "Benjamin," meaning "son of my right hand. In Christ, those two names are fulfilled. He is the man of sorrows who now sits at the right hand of God. 

Now notice that word, "Ephrathah". It refers to the area around Bethlehem, a wide-ranging area whose name means "Fruitful." God's fruitful work through Jesus extends from this humble village to the world through His body. 

Verse 3 explains that the coming of the Messiah will take place after the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile. 

Micah 5:3 (NLT) The people of Israel will be abandoned to their enemies until the woman in labor gives birth. Then at last his fellow countrymen will return from exile to their own land.

Verse 5 explains the manner in which He will lead His people. 

Micah 5:4–5 (ESV) And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. 5 And he shall be their peace. 

Micah doesn't stop with apt descriptions of our Lord's ministry and provision. He ventures further into the scattering of Jacob into the nations, as we see in the book of Acts. 

Micah 5:7–8 (ESV) Then the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples like dew from the LORD, like showers on the grass, which delay not for a man nor wait for the children of man. 8 And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep, which, when it goes through, treads down and tears in pieces, and there is none to deliver.

Because of Bethlehem, the Church came alive, and in the beginning, it was a small remnant of Israel chosen by grace to believe in the carpenter from Nazareth. All of this for a purpose far greater than an annual dinner with family. Micah again explains the point of the exile, to form a people set free from sin.

Micah 5:13–14 (ESV) and I will cut off your carved images and your pillars from among you, and you shall bow down no more to the work of your hands; 14 and I will root out your Asherah images from among you and destroy your cities.

The one who sits at the right hand of the Father has suffered for our sins so that we could be saved and set free from the stranglehold of sin.