The Pulpit Commentary — Micah — Section 82

"Oc1t 0£ thee slinll he come forth unto me." Unto whom? Jehovah. Thefact of hie Nrth, the scene of his birth, the object of hie birth, were ell according to a Divine plan. •• He shall be called Great, and . . . the Son of the Highest." " Behold my Servant. whom I uphold, mine Elect, in whom my soul delighteth." " He shell come forth unto me" (1) according to my will; (2) to do my will. 3. He was born to an empire. "To be Ruler in l!irael." He is the Prince of Peace, on whose shoulder the govern~ ment is laid. He is a Ruler. Not a temporal ruler; temporal rule is but a shadow. He is to rule thought, intelligence, soul. He is the greatest king who governs mind; and no one has obtained such a government over mind as he who, eighteen oenturios ago, "came forth out of Bethlehem Ephratah." His kingdom is increasing every day . .. Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, 0 most mighty," etc. Speed the time when the .. kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ," etc. II. HIS HISTORY AS THE SoN OF GoD. "Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting," or, as Delitzsch says," whose goings forth are from olden time, from the days of eternity." Micah does not announce here the eteraal generation of the Son from the Father, or of the Logos from God, the generatio Filii mterna, as the earlier orthodox commentators suppose. Etema.l generation, humanly spea.king, is a theological fiction, a philosophical absurdity. He who was before all time. "I was set up from everlasting ; " " In the beginning was the Word ; " " He was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifested in these lest times ; " " Glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee.;" "Whose goings forth have been of old, from everlasting." " Goings forth I " Whet .for? To furnish immensity with innumerable worlds, and to people them with sentient a.nd intelligent lleings, to participate in the infinite bountihood of God. AB the Son of God, he never hu had a beginning and has always been active. "The Father worketh hitherto,a.nd I work." His activity explains the origin and phenomena of the universe. " By him were all things created." " Oh. who oen strive To comprehend the vast. the awful truth Of the eternity that bath gone by, And not recoil frem the dismaying sense Of human impotence? The life of man Is summed in birthdays end in sepulchres: But the eternal God bath no beginning; He bath no end. Time had been with him For everlasting, ere the Dcedal world Rose from the gulf in loveliness. Like him It knew no sonrce; like him 'twBS unoreete. What is it, then? The pBBt eternity I" D.T. Vel'L 8, 4:.-0hrist as the great Shepherd, of mankind. "Therefore will .he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth bath bro~ht forth: then the remnant of his brethren shell return unto the children of Israel, And he ehelt stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the N a.n;ui of the Lord hie. God ; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth." " There- fore will he give them up, until the time when a travailing wo,man. bath brought forth: and the remnant of his brethren will return, together with the sons of Isra.el. And he 11>ill et.and and feed in the strength of Jehovah, in the majesty of the Name of Jehovah his God; and they will dwell: for now will he be grea.t to the ends of the earth" (Delitzsch). The following quotation from Delitzsch on this passage we think the 1:.est commentary: "Therefore (l.akhen), i.e. because the great Divine Ruler of Israel. from whom alone its redemption can proceed, will sprin~ from the little BethleheDl, and therefore from the degra.ded family of David (Ca.epa.ri). Th.is is the correct expJ.,,- nation ; for the reason why Israel is to be gh•en up to the power of the nations of the world, and not to be rescued earlier, does not lie in the appearance of the Messiah as such, but in hie springing from little Bethlehem.. T~e biith of the Mes,u,.h in Bethlehem, and not in Jerusalem, the city of David, presupposes that the family of David, out of which it is to spring, will have lost the throne e.nd have fallen into poverty. rn. v. 1-15.] TUE BOOK OF MICAH. 8.1