Writhe in agony, Daughter Zion, like a woman in labor, for now you must leave the city to camp in the open field. You will go to Babylon; there you will be rescued. There the LORD will redeem you out of the hand of your enemies. – Micah 4:10

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 29, 2016): Micah 4

By the end of the eighth century B.C.E., the Assyrian Empire dominated the world stage. They were the big boogie man on the block that filled the nightmares of the children of the Middle East. In 721, The Northern Kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrians, and they were never to be heard from again. Two decades later, it was Judah’s turn. The defeat of all of the tribes of Jacob by the Empire was at hand. The Assyrian attack on Judah would come through the Philistine coastline. And the towns of Southern Judah would be the first to fall under their onslaught.  

One of the first towns that the Assyrians would have would have entered would have been the one that Micah called home – Moresheth. None of the towns of the Judean countryside was any match for the Assyrian Empire. The defeat of Moresheth and all of the neighboring towns and villages would have happened quickly.

Scholars are split over whether the last chapters of the book of Micah were actually written by the eighth-century prophet. The first three chapters are almost universally accepted as genuine. But the last four chapters are questioned, at least by some. And the reason for the questioning is partially because of the specificity of this prophecy. Micah doesn’t just say that Judah was going to be carried into exile and then restored. He specifies Babylon as the villain, but in the day of Micah Babylon was no match for the Assyrian empire. Therefore, some question the latter chapters, postulating that these chapters were written three hundred years later after the return of Judah from the Babylon exile had begun.

Of course, it is possible that the God gave the eighth-century B.C.E prophet insight into the rise of the next empire. And Micah would not have been the only prophet in Israel that understood that God was not going to allow the Assyrians to overrun Judah. That would be the task of someone else – the job of the next power to take their place at center stage of the known world.

If this is the work of the eighth-century prophet, it is eerily accurate. Judah would be restored after Babylon, but between the time of Micah and that restoration was going to be a time of trouble and agony. Zion would writhe in pain as a woman about to give birth. And just like a woman experiencing the pains of childbirth, after the pain was over Judah would give birth to something beautiful – a new Israel with the potential to do great things. Israel would be rescued from Babylon, a new temple would be built, and then a Savior would be born who would save Micah’s people from their sin. 

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Micah 5