Micah 5:9

God has given his promise in verses 7 and 8. Now Micah and the *remnant give their answer to that message. ‘You will lift your hand to strike your enemies. You will kill them all.’ (Look at Isaiah 26:11.) All nations will be under the *Messiah’s rule. His rule will be over the entire world (Micah 5:4).

God’s rule can cause both *eternal life and death. He will give *eternal life to those who obey his commands. But death will come to his enemies. Those who obey God’s commands will win (Revelation 21:24-27).

5:10-15 God will protect his new *spiritually clean nation

In Chapter s 4 and 5, there is a message about hope. This message refers to a certain time in the future. Micah refers to the same time again here (‘that day’, verse 10). This is the time when the *Messiah will win over the nations. He will bring together the *remnant. He will regather them. They will be under the *shepherd from Bethlehem. Now here, after those promises, we read the words ‘the *LORD says’. (Compare Micah 4:6.) Those words refer to the certainty that these things will happen.

The message here means that God will protect *Israel in two ways:

1) God will make *Israel’s people *spiritually clean (verses 10-14). That will certainly happen. It will happen from the inside (verses 10-14). Yes, God will punish *Israel’s people because of their *sins. But that is for their benefit.

2) God will punish the nations that refuse to obey him (verse 15). Because they refuse to obey, he will consider them guilty. Therefore he will punish them severely.

Each part of this message starts with these words. ‘I will destroy’ (verses 10-14). God will free the city from all evil things. He will destroy certain things. He will destroy them in order to make the nation *spiritually clean. There are four types of evil thing. The people in *Israel trust in:

1) Their own powers and strength.

2) Their military power. The people in *Israel have trusted in that. But their certainty needs to be in God alone (verses 10-11).

3) Magic, which people used to try to discover the future (verse 12).

4) Idolatry, which means that the people trusted in false gods. And they made images of false gods (verses 13-14).

The people in *Israel have confidence in those 4 kinds of things. But God will take away that feeling, so that they cannot be proud in those ways any longer. They were trusting in their own powers. But God will make them stop that.

v10 The *LORD declares what will happen in that day (at that future time). At that time I will take away your horses. I will destroy the carts that you use in war. v11 I will destroy the cities in your country. I will pull down all your castles. v12 You will not try to do magic any longer. Nobody will try to discover the future by that means. v13 I will destroy your images that show false gods. I will pull down your high columns of stone. You use them to help you remember your false gods. But these things are merely objects that you have made with your hands. You will not bend your body in front of them any longer. v14 I will destroy the poles that are called Asherah. I will destroy your false gods. I will even destroy your cities.