Bible Commentaries

Verse 2

(2) But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah.—This is a passage of immense significance, through the interpretation given to it by the chief priests and scribes in the Gospel of St. Matthew. Beth-lehem Ephratah: the two names, modern and ancient, are united, each of them having reference to the fertility of the country. In the Gospel the scribes quote, evidently from memory, the passage from Micah, in reply to Herod’s question; and their first variation is in the title of the town—“Thou, Beth-lehem (not Ephratah, but), land of Judah.” So also the people protested against Jesus on the ground of His being from Galilee, for, “Hath not the Scripture said that Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?” (John 7:42.)

Though thou be little.—Strictly, art little among the thousands, or chiliads: a word analogous to our “hundreds;” a division of the tribes. In St. Matthew the word is paraphrased by princes, as representing the chiliads.

Yet out of thee.—St. Matthew—“for out of thee,” the illative conjunction—helps to show that the quotation is really a paraphrase, conveying the ultimate intention of the prophet’s words, which contrasts the smallness of the chiliad with the greatness of its destiny.

Whose goings forth have been from of old.—The nativity of the governor of Israel is evidently contrasted with an eternal nativity, the depth of which mystery passes the comprehension of human intellect: it must be spiritually discerned. The Creed of the Church expresses the article of faith as “Begotten of His Father before all worlds.” He came forth unto Me to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been of old, from everlasting, from the days of antiquity.

Verse 3

(3) Therefore will he give them up.—There is a suggestion here of a parable, setting forth the smallness of Bethlehem, which gave birth to the mighty Ruler that was to come from it. So the nation was to be brought very low before the nativity of the Virgin-born.

Verse 4

(4) He shall stand and feed—i.e., He shall stand with the majesty of an assured sovereignty, uniting the dignity of king with the tenderness of a shepherd’s care—a thought which, underlying the notion of a Jewish monarch (see Psalms 78:70-19.78.72), becomes a distinguishing attribute of the King Messiah (Isaiah 40:2; see also Note on Ezekiel 34:2).

His God.—The Messiah was to be subordinate to the Father in heaven—“My Father is greater than I”—and they—i.e., His subjects—shall abide. It is impossible to conceive this prophecy as satisfied by any event short of that which is the foundation of the Christian faith.

Verse 5

(5) And this man shall be the peace—i.e., He shall Himself be Peace (after the same idiomatic expression David speaks of himself, “For my love they are my adversaries, but I am Prayer”—Psalms 109:4). This sentence is connected with the former instead of the following passage, with which the Authorised Version joins it.

When the Assyrian shall come into our land.—This may refer to the imminent apprehension of the invasion of Sennacherib, but the actual event does not correspond to it. It may look forward to the time when the enemies of Israel attacked the Jews in the Maccabean period, and the shepherds, seven or eight—i.e., an indefinite number—successfully resisted the attacks upon the flock. The intention of the passage may be spiritually interpreted as pointing to the eight principal, strictly anointed men, who, as Christian pastors, receive their commission from the Messiah.

Verse 6

(6) They shall waste.—Literally, feed upon, consume, depasture. The Land of Nimrod represents the opposing world-power.

Verse 7

(7) As a dew from the Lord.—The Jews should, on their return from captivity, pour down their influence upon the nations, as God-sent showers upon the grass. So, through the dispersion of Jewish Christians, on the death of St. Stephen, the Lord caused the knowledge of the truth with which the Jews were cloud-charged to descend upon many people: “He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass; as showers that water the earth” (Psalms 72:6).

Verse 8

(8) As a lion among the beasts of the forest.—There is righteous wrath as well as all-embracing mercy with God. Christ, whose graciousness is likened to the dew, and His gentleness to the lamb, is at the same time the Lion of the tribe of Judah. At the opening of the “sixth seal” the kings of the earth and great men are represented as in extreme terror at “the wrath of the Lamb” (Revelation 6:16).

Verse 10

(10) It shall come to pass in that day.—The prophet now passes on to the purification of the Church from the defilements mentioned by Isaiah (Isaiah 2:3-23.2.10), with reference to the ultimate holiness which shall be established “in that day.”

I will cut off thy horses.—The possession of horses was imperatively forbidden to the Jewish king (Deuteronomy 17:16), and Isaiah describes the land as at this time “full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots.” As symbolising the power of man, these horses shall be cut off, and the reliance of the Church shall be on God alone. “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God” (Psalms 20:7).

Verse 11

(11) I will cut off the cities.—Fenced cities and the other paraphernalia of war will be unnecessary in the Messiah’s kingdom: “they shall not learn war any more” (Micah 4:3).

Verse 14

(14) I will pluck up thy groves—i.e., either the statues, pillars, or trees connected with the worship of Baal and Astarte. Some such statue was placed by Manasseh even in the house of the Lord, from which it was brought out and burnt by Josiah (2 Kings 23:6).

Thy cities—i.e., the pollutions, tumults, &c., of which the cities were the strongholds.

Verse 15

(15) Such as they have not heard.—Rather, which have not been obedient—i.e., which had not availed themselves of the opportunities of learning the true religion.