Micah 4:9Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Turning away from the governance of God, they approached the revered Samuel and proclaimed, “Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now appoint a king to judge us, like the other nations.” It is recorded, “And it came to pass that there was an evil demand before the eyes of Samuel, saying, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. And the Lord instructed Samuel, saying, Hearken to the people's voice, for their rejection is not of you, but of me, as they desire not to be ruled by me” (1 Sam. 8:5-7). Samuel then conveyed the rights of kingship to them in a bid to instill a sense of dread and turn them away from such wicked desires. Yet, they remained obstinate, declaring, “No, but a king will reign over us, that we may be like all the other nations; our king will judge us and lead us in battle” (1 Sam 8:19-20).

Now, he recalls these past perilous intentions, as if to mock their circumstances, saying, “Have you not recognized your own folly? Do you not have a king? Or has your wisdom failed you? Did you not plead for a king who would lead you and fight for you?” Was your request truly wise? The unfolding events have revealed the soundness and necessity of your choice. You turned away from God's dominion: “Afflictions have overtaken you, like those who toil; find strength and resilience in the land of Zion.” His words are noble: O cherished daughter, remain steadfast amid your afflictions, courageous in trials, approaching the moment of birth, symbolizing that your expectations are not far off; yet, like a woman nearing labor, you will cry out in distress, leaving even fortified cities to “dwell in the field” and find refuge in the wilderness, making your way even to Babylon. Nevertheless, he does not leave her entirely in despair, as he assures her of a return, according to God’s mercy. Therefore, it is preferable to submit to God's kingdom, regarding Him as our strength, defender, and protector, to humble ourselves before Him solely, to align our lives with His will, and to consider all that pleases Him worthy of our attention. If we fail to do so, we will undoubtedly fall under the influence of the spiritual Babylonians, which represent malicious and vile forces, and be subjected to the “first power,” or Satan’s dominion—thus exiled from the holy city, crafted and established by God, we will inhabit the realm of Babylon, steeped in confusion and distraction, immersed in the futile pleasures of this life. Indeed, Babylon signifies confusion (Gen. 11:9).

This tower, once a sanctuary for the flock and people of God, has become polluted and abandoned since the wicked laborers took the life of the owner’s son (Luke 20), and cries out in lamentation through the voice of Isaiah as Ariel from the earth. ‘And this tower is the daughter of Zion,’ or, in the words of the Greek translator Simmachus: ‘She herself is the daughter of Zion’ (Is. 29), and preceding her is God, representing the original dominion, which constitutes the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem. The first authority, or original dominion, designated to this tower comes from He who proclaims: ‘I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last’ (Rev. 22:13), and who, in His assumed human nature, asserts in Proverbs, “The Lord made me at the beginning of his ways for his works” (Proverbs 8:22), or as stated in Hebrews, ‘The Lord owned me,’ indicating that sapapi (Ikppi) means “did not create me,” but owned and possessed me. Thus, the first dominion and kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem arrived, leading to the establishment of a second dominion; for as He confidently declares, ‘I am the light of the world’ (Jn. 8:12), He empowers His disciples to be recognized as the light of the world, saying, ‘Ye are the light of the world’ (Matt. 5:14). Moreover, He calls Himself in the Gospel a true vine and remarks about believers through Jeremiah: ‘I have cultivated you into a fruitful vine quite true’ (Jer. 2:21); and, being the living bread that descends from heaven, He grants His disciples the title of bread, hence the Apostle boldly states, ‘For we are all one bread’ (1 Cor. 10:17). Therefore, the first dominion and kingdom in Jerusalem will manifest in such a way that He will designate the believers within it as lords and kings. The phrase, ‘And the first dominion shall come,’ or, ‘Let there come the first dominion, the kingdom of the daughter of Zion, and from Babylon,’ seen in certain manuscripts, should be noted, for neither the Hebrew nor any other translators included it. It appears that these words finish the Seventy’s reference to the Babylonian captivity, since the people will return to Jerusalem after their release from it. The subsequent phrase asks, ‘And now why art thou oppressed with sorrow?’ or as rendered by the Seventy, ‘And now why hast thou known tribulation?’ Why are you weighed down with grief, or why have you acquired knowledge of calamities, he questions, you to whom the Lord is destined to bring both the first power and the kingdom? The inquiry is promptly responded to: ‘Because thou hast no king; because thy counsellor is dead; because thou hast been overcome by tribulation, as if thou hadst given birth.’ The expression, ‘Why hast thou known calamities?’ implies that those who endure and experience hardships are regarded as having known calamities and are unfamiliar with blessings, which aligns with the words from the first book of Kings, ‘But the sons of Eli, the sons of perdition, have not known God’ (1 Kings 2:12), and in another instance, ‘He that keepeth the command shall not know the word of evil’ (Ecclesiastes 8:6). As for sinners, the Lord declares, ‘Depart from Me, all ye that do wrong, for I know you not’ (Ps. 6:9; Matt. 7:21). Conversely regarding the Lord, it is stated, ‘Him that knew no sin, for our sakes He made sin’ (2 Cor. 5:21), referring to God the Father. The King and Angel of the Great Council refers to the Saviour, who was crucified for an unbelieving nation and suffered tribulation as if He were undergoing childbirth. Behold Israel, who presumed authority, was abruptly laid waste; and like a woman in labor, unable to evade her pain, it was impossible for them to avert the impending captivity and besieging army. Upon examining the Scriptures, we find no instances of holy women delivering in distress, with the exception of Rachel, who birthed her ‘son of affliction’ along the journey to the racecourse where horses were sold in Egypt; the father, upon her delivery, named him ‘the son of the right hand’ (Gen. 35:16-18). Eve, expelled from paradise and confronted with the words, ‘In sickness thou shalt be born’ (Gen. 3:16), is portrayed as suffering during childbirth. Phinehas' wife, bound by the pangs of labor, could not rise akin to the woman in the Gospel who was bent over by Satan (Luke 13:16), suddenly gave birth after learning of the ark of God being captured by the enemy, and the people’s defeat (1 Samuel 4:19). Sarah, upon Isaac's birth, exclaimed: ‘The Lord hath made me laugh, for whosoever heareth shall triumph with me’ (Gen. 21:6); this was possible because she was holy and had transcended the limitations of womanhood. Thus, the sufferings that befell the tower of the flock mirror the pains of death that even overtook the Saviour, which seemed to conquer Him; yet, of course, they did not entirely overcome Him, as He affirms in Psalm seventeen, ‘The sicknesses of death have overtaken Me, and the streams of iniquity have terrified Me; and the afflictions of hell have surrounded Me’ (Psalm 17:5). Some interpret the sullied and dark tower, and the daughter of Jerusalem, as referring to the heavenly Jerusalem, the mother of the saints, which the Apostle mentions: ‘We have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the Jerusalem of heaven’ (Heb. 12:22), that prior to this period was indeed the mother of saints, which will remain unclean until her sons are gathered to her, and until she is provided with a counsellor within her and endures her sorrows as if she has given birth; for upon witnessing the immense loss of her sons, she will mourn that her efforts to bring them forth have been in vain.