Micah 4:2

4:1-8 The nations have not yet so submitted to the Prince of Peace, as to beat their swords into ploughshares, nor has war ceased. But very precious promises these are, relating to the gospel church, which will be more and more fulfilled, for He is faithful that has promised. There shall be a glorious church for God set up in the world, in the last days, in the days of the Messiah. Christ himself will build it upon a rock. The Gentiles worshipped their idol gods; but in the period spoken of, the people will cleave to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and delight in doing his will. The word halteth, describes those who walk not according to the Divine word. The collecting the captives from Babylon was an earnest of healing, purifying, and prospering the church; and the reign of Christ shall continue till succeeded by the everlasting kingdom of heaven. Let us stir up each other to attend the ordinances of God, that we may learn his holy ways, and walk in them, receiving the law from his hands, which, being written in our hearts by his Spirit, may show our interest in the Redeemer's righteousness.

In Isaiah 2:3 ; it is, "many people", &c. the sense is the same; See Gill on Isaiah 2:3 ; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; the teacher is the King Messiah, as Kimchi observes; the great Prophet of his people, the teacher sent from God; and will in the last days teach men by his Spirit and word, in a very plentiful manner, and with great success: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem; these, according to Kimchi, are the words of the prophet, and not of the people, that encourage one another to go up to the house of the Lord; but the sense is much the same; for they contain a reason why the people of different nations would encourage one another to go to the house of the Lord, that they might learn his ways, and walk in his statutes, because here the word of the Lord is preached; the word which comes from God, and is concerning him, his love and grace to men; the word of peace and righteousness, of life and salvation, by Jesus Christ: and each of the doctrines of grace intended by the "law" or "doctrine" of the Lord; the doctrines of God's everlasting love, of election in Christ, and redemption by him; of justification by his righteousness, pardon by his blood, and satisfaction by his atonement; as well as of regeneration by the Spirit of God, and of perseverance in grace: in these, and others, now shall all the Lord's people be taught more clearly, distinctly, and comfortably; all shall know him, from the le

(2) Many nations shall come. —This prepares. the way to the more definitive prophecies, that there shall be a common consent among the nations journeying forth to the house of the Lord: asking the way thither in this world—finding the house itself in the eternal world. Even to this day the hearts of Jews and Christians alike yearn towards Jerusalem—a physical representative of the love which turns spontaneously to the Messiah.

And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will {c} teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. (c) He shows that there is no true Church, except where the people are taught by God's pure word.

2 . many nations …] ‘Many,’ in contrast to the single nation (as yet hardly reckoned as such) at whose mouth the Gentiles receive instruction. The picture of Jerusalem as the religious metropolis of the world is familiar to us in the prophets (comp. Isaiah 11:10 ; Isaiah 60:3 , Jeremiah 3:17 , Zechariah 2:11 ; Zechariah 8:22-23 ). The Christian reason, enlightened by the course of Providence, sees that the picture is ideal. of his ways ] Rather, out of his ways . Comp. Psalm 94:12 , ‘teachest out of thy law.’ God’s ‘law’ and God’s ‘ways’ are revealed in full to the prophets, and they bring out ‘here a little, and there a little’ according to the needs of the time. the law ] Auth. Vers., however, is misleading. The Hebrew simply has Tôrâh , which means ‘direction’ or ‘instruction,’ and is “the suitable term for the authoritative counsel given orally by the priests ( Deuteronomy 17:11 ) and prophets to those who consulted them on points of ritual and practice respectively.” Comp. above, on Micah 3:11 , and Prof. Robertson Smith, The Old Testament in the Jewish Church , pp. 292, 3. Not that the Tôrâh of the latter days is to be restricted within the old boundaries; the Spirit is to ‘guide into all the truth,’ and probably the best equivalent (if we do not insist on an unnatural uniformity of rendering) would here be revelation .

CHAPTER 4 Mic 4:1-13. Transition to the Glory, Peace, Kingdom, and Victory of Zion. 1-3. Almost identical with Isa 2:2-4. the mountain of the house of the Lord—which just before (Mic 3:12) had been doomed to be a wild forest height. Under Messiah, its elevation is to be not that of situation, but of moral dignity, as the seat of God's universal empire. people shall flow into it—In Isaiah it is "all nations": a more universal prophecy.

Verse 2. - The prophet further explains his last statement The new revelation shall be so conspicuous and so attractive that all men shall hear, and desire to become partakers of it. Many nations. In contrast to the one nation from whom the Leer emanated. They shall exhort one another to resort to the great religious metropolis, i.e. to the true religion. Of his ways. His plans in the moral government of the world, and the way in which he would have men walk in order to please him. For the law ( torah ); teaching, direction ; not the Mosaic Law, but a rule of life ( Proverbs 6:23 ). This is the reason given by the prophet for the eagerness of the nations to resort to Jerusalem. They would seek instruction at the hand of those authorized to give it (see note on Micah 3:11). The word of the Lord. The revelation of Jehovah, the gospel. From Jerusalem. It is obvious that in a defined sense the gospel sprang from Jerusalem, the place where Christ exercised his ministry, died, rose, ascended; where the apostles received their commission and the gift of the Holy Ghost ( Luke 24:47 ; Acts 1:8 ); the gospel being not set up in opposition to the Law, but being its fulfilment and development. Micah 4:2

This was in part, and as a type, fulfilled when so many proselyted and circumcised servants of several nations, amassed in the Babylonish kingdom, left their native country, and in love to their Jewish masters, and more to the God of the Jews and his law, came up with them to Jerusalem and the temple. Afterwards, when the wonderful deliverance of the Jews, and the advancement of their countryman Mordecai in the Persian court, brought the people and their religion into request and credit, many turned Jews, through the one hundred and twenty-seven provinces, Esther 8:17 , were circumcised, became-proselytes of righteousness. And in the times succeeding through the reigns of five kings, for ninety years, the Jewish affairs and religion continued in a tolerably good condition. In Alexander’s time, and under the Maccabees, also, this prophecy was partly fulfilled, when Ishmaelites, Moabites, Ammonites, and Idumeans submitted to the Maccabees, and by Hyrcanus’s command, and with their own consent, the Idumeans were circumcised; as Josephus, Antiq. lib. 13. cap. 17. This, notwithstanding the words, had a fuller accomplishment, and still shall have, under the gospel days in these times of the Messiah, to which, as to the antitype and principal mark, they are levelled, no doubt.

Come ; so the captive Jews, by the decrees of Cyrus and Darius released from captivity, did certainly call, persuade, and encourage each other to leave the strange lands in which they had been captives, and to go up to Jerusalem, and to build that and the temple, and to restore the worship of God; and zealous proselytes did, as the eunuch lord treasurer to queen Candace came up to Jerusalem to worship. So that we meet many proselytes at Jerusalem, Acts 2:5,10,11 , whither they were wont to come before the gospel was published. Now as this was a fulfilling of this prophecy in part, so the conversion of the multitude of the Gentiles to Christ Is much more eminently a fulfilling of it. To the mountain of the Lord ; to the temple at Jerusalem, type of Christ and the gospel church. To the house of the God of Jacob : this explains the former passage, and doth, as that, respectively look to the worship of God at Jerusalem, and in gospel days. He will teach us of his ways, out of his law, both in points of worship and judicature, by such as Ezra and Nehemiah, by such as Zechariah and Haggai, and by scribes acquainted with the law of God; this to last till Elias, forerunner to Christ, should prepare his way, and the Messiah should come to teach his people, and publish the gospel of the kingdom, by apostles and succeeding preachers.