Albert Barnes Commentary Micah 4

But (And) in the last days it shall come to pass - God’s promises, goodness, and truth do not fail. He withdraws His Presence from those who do not receive Him, only to give Himself to those who will receive Him. Mercy is the sequel and end of chastisement. Micah then joins this great prophecy of future mercy to the preceding woe, as its outcome in the order of God’s Will.

“And it shall be.” He fixes the mind on some great thing that will come to pass; “it shall be.” Then follows, in marked reference to the preceding privations, a superabundance of mercy. For “the mountain of the house,” which should be as a forest and which was left to them desolate, there is “the mountain of the Lord’s house established;” for the heap of dust and the plowed field, there is the flowing-in of the Gentiles; for the night and darkness, that there will be no vision, there is the fullness of revelation; for corrupt judgment, teaching, divining, a law from God Himself going forth through the world; for the building of Jerusalem with blood, one universal peace.

In the last days - Literally, “the end of the days,” that is, of those days that are in the thoughts of the speaker. Politically, there are many beginnings and many endings—as many endings as there are beginnings, since all human political order begins only to end, and to be displaced in its turn by some new beginning, which also runs its course, only to end.

Religiously, there are only two consummations. All time, since humanity fell, is divided into two halves: the looking forward to Christ to come in humility, and the looking forward to His coming in glory. These are the two events on which human history turns. To that former people, the whole period of Christ’s kingdom was one future—the fullness of all their own shadows, types, sacrifices, services, prophecies, longing, and being. The “end of their days” was the beginning of the new Day of Christ; the coming of His Day was necessarily the close of the former days, the period of the dispensation that prepared for it.

The prophets, then, by the words “the end of the days,” always mean the times of the Gospel. “The end of the days” is the close of all that went before, the last dispensation, after which there will be no other. Yet this too has “last days” of its own, that will close God’s kingdom of grace and will issue in the Second Coming of Christ, just as the end of those former days, which closed the times of “the law,” issued in His First Coming. We are then at once living in the last times and looking forward to a last time still to come.

In one way, Peter speaks of the last times (Ephesians 1:20), or the end of the times, in which Christ was manifested for us, in contrast with the foundations of the world, before which He was foreordained. And Paul contrasts God’s speaking to the fathers in the prophets (Hebrews 1:1) with His speaking to us in the Son at the end of these days; and he speaks of our Lord coming at the end (consummation) of the times (Hebrews 9:26) to put away sins by the sacrifice of Himself. Paul also says that the things that befell the Jews were written for our admonition, to whom the ends of the times (that is, of those of the former people of whom he had been speaking) have come (1 Corinthians 10:11). John also speaks of this as the last time (1 John 2:18). In the other way, they contrast the “last days,” not with the times before them but with their own; and then plainly these “last days” are a final and distant part of this, their own, last time.

The Spirit speaks expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith. In the last days perilous times shall come. Scoffers shall come at the end of the days. They told you that there should be mockers in the last time.

The Jews distributed all time between “this world” and “the coming world,” including under “the coming world” the time of grace under the Messiah’s reign and the future glory. To us, the names have shifted, since this present world (Matthew 13:40; Ephesians 1:21; Titus 2:12) is to us the kingdom of Christ, and there remains nothing further on this earth to look to beyond what God has already given us. Our future then—placed as we are between the two Comings of our Lord—is, of necessity, beyond this world.

The mountain of the house of the Lord will be—abidingly.

Established - He does not say merely, “it will be established.” Kingdoms may be established at one time and then come to an end. He says, “it will be a thing established.” His saying is expanded by Daniel: “In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall not be destroyed forever, and it shall abide forever” (Daniel 2:44). The house of the Lord was the center of His worship, the token of His Presence, the pledge of His revelations and of His abiding acceptance, protection, and favor. All these were to be increased and continuous. The image is one familiar to us in the Hebrew Scriptures. People were said to go up to it, as to a place of dignity.

In the Psalm on the carrying of the Ark there, the hill of God is compared to the many-topped mountains of Bashan (Psalms 68:16–17) (the Hermon peaks that bound Bashan) and so declared to be greater than they, as being the object of God’s choice. The mountain where God was worshiped rose above the mountains of idolatry. Ezekiel, varying the image, speaks of the Gospel as an overshadowing cedar (Ezekiel 17:22–23), planted by God upon a high and eminent mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, under which should dwell all fowl of every wing; and, in his vision of the Temple, he sees this, the image of the Christian Church (Ezekiel 40:2), upon a very high mountain. Our Lord speaks of His Apostles and the Church in them as a city set upon a hill which cannot be hid (Matthew 5:14). The seat of God’s worship was to be seen far and wide; nothing was to obscure it. It, now lower than the surrounding hills, was then to be as on the summit of them.

Human elevation, the more exalted it is, the more unstable it is. Divine greatness alone is at once solid and exalted. The new kingdom of God was at once to be “exalted above the hills” and “established on the top of the mountains;” “exalted,” at once, above everything human, and yet “established,” strong as the mountains on which it rested, and unassailable, unconquerable, seated securely aloft, between heaven, from where it came and to which it tends, and earth, on which it just rests in the sublime serenity of its majesty.

The image sets forth the supereminence of the Lord’s House above all things earthly. It does not define in what that greatness consists. The flowing in of the nations is a fruit of it (Micah 4:1–2). The immediate object of their coming is explained to be, to learn to know and to do the will of God (Micah 4:2). But the new revelation does not form all its greatness. That greatness is from the Presence of God, revealing and always teaching His Will, ruling, judging, rebuking, peacemaking (Micah 4:3–4).

Dionysius: “The ‘mountain of the Lord’s House’ was then ‘exalted above the hills’ by the bodily Presence of Christ, when He, in the Temple built on that mountain, spoke, preached, and performed so many miracles; as, on the same ground, Haggai says, ‘the glory of this latter house shall be greater than the glory of the former’ (Haggai 2:9).” Lap.: “This ‘mountain,’ the church of Christ, transcends all laws, schools, doctrines, religions, Synagogues of Jews and Philosophers, that seemed to rise high among men, like mountain-tops; indeed, whatever under the sun is sublime and lofty, it will surpass, trample on, and subdue to itself.”

Even Jews have seen the meaning of this figure. Their oldest mystical book explains it. Zohar, f. 93: “‘And it shall be in the last days,’ when, namely, the Lord shall visit the daughter of Jacob, then shall ‘the mountain of the house of the Lord be firmly established,’ that is, the Jerusalem which is above, which will stand firmly in its place, that it may shine by the light which is above. (For no light can retain its existence, except through the light from above.) For in that time the light from above will shine sevenfold more than before, according to that, ‘Moreover, the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun; and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of His people and healeth the stroke of their wound’ (Isaiah 30:26).” Another, of the dry literal school, says (Aben Ezra), “It is well known that the house of the Temple is not high.

The meaning then is, that its fame will go out far, and people with offerings will return to it from all quarters, so that it will be as if it were on the top of all hills, so that all the inhabitants of the earth would see it.”

Some interpret “the mountain” to be Christ, who is called the Rock (1 Corinthians 10:4–6), on the confession of whom, as God-Man, “the house of the Lord” (that is, the Church) is built, the precious Cornerstone (Isaiah 28:16; 1 Peter 2:6; Ephesians 2:20), which is laid, beside which no foundation can be laid (1 Corinthians 3:11); “the great mountain,” of which Daniel prophesied (Daniel 2:35).

It is “firmly established,” so that the gates of Hell shall not prevail against the Church, being built on it; “exalted above hills and mountains,” that is, above all besides, greater or smaller, that has any eminence. For He in truth is highly exalted and hath a Name above every name (Philippians 2:9), being at the Right Hand of God in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world but also in that which is to come; and all things are under His Feet (Ephesians 1:20–23). And this is for us, in that He, the Same, is the Head over all things to the Church which is His Body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all. Rupertus: “He is God and Man, King and Priest, King of kings, and a Priest abiding forever. Since then His Majesty reaches to the Right Hand of God, neither mountains nor hills, Angels nor holy men, reach to it; for ‘to which of the Angels said God at any time, Sit thou on My Right Hand?’ (Hebrews 1:13).”

Cyril: “Aloft then is the Church of God raised, both in that its Head is in heaven and the Lord of all, and that, on earth, it is not like the Temple, in one small people, but ‘set on a hill that it cannot be hid’ (Matthew 5:14), or remain unseen even to those far from it. Its doctrine too and life are far above the wisdom of this world, showing in them nothing of earth, but are above; its wisdom is the knowledge and love of God and of His Son Jesus Christ, and its life is hidden with Christ in God, in those who are justified in Him and hallowed by His Spirit.” In Him, it is lifted above all things, and with the eyes of the mind beholds (as far as may be) the glory of God, soaring on high toward Him who is the Author of all being, and, filled with divine light, it acknowledges Him as the Maker of all.

And people (peoples, nations) will flow to (literally upon) it - A mighty tide would set in to the Gospel. The word, used only figuratively, is employed for the streaming in of multitudes, such as in ancient times poured into Babylon, the merchant-empress of the world (Jeremiah 51:44). It is used of the distant nations who would throng in one continuous stream into the Gospel, or of Israel streaming together from the four corners of the world.

So, Isaiah foretells, “Thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that they may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought” (Isaiah 60:11, compare Revelation 21:25-26). These were to flow upon it, perhaps so as to cover it, expressing both the multitude and density of the throng of nations, how full the Church would be, as the swollen river spreads itself over the whole open country, and the surging flood-tide climbs up the face of the rock that bounds it.

The flood once covered the highest mountains to destroy life; this flood would pour in for the saving of life. Lap.: “It is a miracle if waters ascend from a valley and flow to a mountain. So it is also a miracle that earthly nations would ascend to the church, whose doctrine and life are lofty, arduous, and sublime. This the grace of Christ effects, mighty and lofty, as it is sent from heaven. As then waters, conducted from the fountains by pipes into a valley, in that valley surge up and rise nearly to their original height, so these waters of heavenly grace, brought down into valleys (that is, the hearts of men), cause them to leap up with them to heaven and enter upon and embrace a heavenly life.”

And many nations shall come—Isaiah (Isaiah 2:2) added the word all to Micah’s prophecy. So our Lord said, This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations (Matthew 24:14); and the elect are to be gathered out of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues (Revelation 7:9).

All nations shall flow into it. The all might be many or few. Both prophets say that those all should be many. Judah probably already knew of many. The history of Genesis gave them a wide-expanding knowledge of the enlargement of humankind after the flood, in Europe, Asia, and Africa, as they then existed in their nations.

The sons of Japhet had already spread over the whole coast of the western sea, and far North: the Cimmerians, or Cymry, Scandinavians, Carpathians (probably Celts), Armenians (including the kindred Phrygians), Scythians, Medes, Ionians, Aeolians, Iberians, Cypriotes, Dardani, Tybarenes, Moschi, and the Turseni, or perhaps the Thracians.

On the East, the sons of Shem had spread in Elam, Asshur, and Arrapachitis; they occupied the intervening tract of Aram; in the northwest, they reached to Lydia. Southward the sons of Joktan were in Arabia. Micah’s hearers knew how, of the sons of Ham, Cush had spread far to the southeast and south from Babylonia to Ethiopia; Egypt they remembered too well, and, beyond it, they knew of the far-scattered tribes of the Libyans, who extended along the coast of Africa. Phoenician trade filled up this great outline.

They themselves had, in Solomon’s time, traded with India; about this time, we know that they were acquainted with the furthest East, China. Such was the sight before the human mind of the prophet; such was the extent of the nations whom his people knew.

Some were the deadly enemies of his people; some were to be its conquerors. He knew that the ten tribes were to be continually wanderers among the nations, despised by them—“a people, the strangers and sojourners of the whole world.” He knew many of those nations to be sunk in idolatry, viciousness, proud, contemptuous, and lawless; he saw them fixed in their idolatries. All people will walk every one in the name of his god (Micah 4:5).

But he saw what the eye of man could not see, what the will of man could not accomplish: that He, whom now Judah alone partially worshiped, would turn the hearts of His creatures to Himself, to seek Him, not in their own ways, but as He should reveal Himself at Jerusalem. Micah tells them distinctly that those who should believe would be a great multitude from many nations.

In a similar way, Isaiah expresses the great multitude of those for whom Christ should atone (Isaiah 53:12). He bare the sin of many (Isaiah 53:11). By knowledge of Him shall My righteous Servant make many righteous. And our Lord Himself says (Matthew 20:28), The Son of man came to give His life a ransom for many (Matthew 26:28). This is my Blood - which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

In Micah’s time, not one people, scarcely some poor fragments of the Jewish people, went up to worship God at Zion, to call to remembrance His benefits, or to learn of Him. Those who should afterward worship Him would be many nations.

And say—Exhorting one another, in fervor and mutual love, as Andrew exhorted his brother Simon, and Philip Nathanael, and the woman of Samaria those of her city, to come to Christ. And so all since, who have been won by Him—by word or example, by preaching or by deed, in public or in private—bear along with them others to seek Him whom they themselves have found.

Let us go up—leaving the lowness and earthliness of their former way of life, and mounting upward on high where Christ is, desiring righteousness, and eager to know His ways.

To the house of the God of Jacob—They shall seek Him as Jacob sought Him, “who left his father’s house and removed into another land, was a man of heavy toils and served for hire, but obtained special help from God, and, undistinguished as he was, became most glorious. So too the Church, leaving all pagan wisdom, and having its citizenship in Heaven, and therefore persecuted and enduring many hardships, enjoys now glory with God.”

And He—that is, the God of Jacob of whom he had just spoken—shall teach us of His ways. They do not go to God because they know Him, but that they may know Him. They are drawn by a mighty impulse toward Him.

However attracted, they come. They do not make bargains with God (as some now would) concerning what they should be taught. They do not insist that He should reveal to them nothing that transcends reason, or nothing that exceeds or contradicts their own notions of God. They do not come with reservations, stipulating that God should not take away this or that error, or that He should not disclose anything of His incomprehensibility.

They come in holy simplicity, to learn whatever He will graciously tell them; in holy confidence, that He, the Infallible Truth, will teach them infallibly. They say, of His ways. For all learning is by degrees, and all that all creatures could learn in all eternity falls infinitely short of His truth and Holiness. Nay, in all eternity the highest creature that He has made and that He has admitted most deeply into the secrets of His Wisdom will be as infinitely removed as ever from the full knowledge of His Wisdom and His Love. For what is finite, enlarged, expanded, accumulated to the utmost degree possible, remains finite still. It has no proportion to the Infinite.

But even here, all growth in grace implies growth in knowledge. The more we love God, the more we know of Him. With increased knowledge of Him come higher perceptions of worship, praise, thanksgiving; of the character of faith, hope, charity; of our outward and inward acts and relations to God; of the unboundedness of God’s love to us and the manifoldness of the ways of pleasing Him, which, in His love, He has given us.

Since, then, the whole Christian life is a growth in grace, and even Paul (Philippians 3:13–14), forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth to those which are before, pressed toward the mark for the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, then Paul too was ever learning, in intensity, what he knew certainly by revelation, of His ways.

Again, as each blade of grass is said to differ from another, so, and much more, does each soul of man that God has created for Himself. No one ever saw or could imagine two human beings in whom the grace of God had unfolded itself in exactly the same way. Each saint will have his distinct beauty around the throne. But then each will have learned of His ways, in a different proportion or degree.

His greatest saints, indeed His Apostles, have been pre-eminent, one in one grace, another in another. John the Immerser came as a pattern of repentance and contempt of self; John the Evangelist stood out pre-eminent in deep, tender, burning personal love; Paul was known for his zeal to spread the knowledge of Christ Crucified; Mary Magdalene was famous for her loving penitence. Even the Blessed Virgin herself, under inspiration, seems, in part, to speak of her lowly lowness as that which God specially regarded in her when He made her the Mother of God.

Eternity only will set forth the fullness of the two words He will teach us of His ways. For eternity will show how in all worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will (1 Corinthians 12:11); and how the countless multitude of the redeemed have corresponded to His gifts and drawings. “The way of life toward God is one, in that it looks to one end, to please God; but there are many tracks along it, as there are many modes of life”; and each several grace is a part of the way to God.

And we will walk in His paths—“By believing, hoping, loving, well-doing, and bearing patiently all trouble.” Rup.: “For it suffices not to believe, unless we act as He commands, and strive to enter on His ways, the strait and narrow path which leads unto life. He Himself then, when He had said, Go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, adding, teaching them to observe all things whatever I have commanded you (Matthew 28:19–20).”

They say too, we will walk, that is, go on from strength to strength, not stand still after having labored for a while to do His Will, but hold on to all His ways and to Himself who is the Way, until they appear before the Lord in Zion.

For the law—(literally, law)—shall go forth from Zion. These are the prophet’s words, declaring why the nations should so flock to Zion. For he says, shall go forth, but the nations were not gathered to Zion until the Gospel was already gone forth. He speaks of it as law simply, not the Jewish law as such, but a rule of life.

Man’s better nature is ill at ease, being out of harmony with God. It cannot be otherwise. Having been made in His likeness, it must be distressed by its unlikeness; having been made by Him for Himself, it must be restless without Him. What they indistinctly longed for, what drew them, was the hope to be conformed by Him to Him. The sight of superhuman holiness, life, love, and endurance has always won and continues to win those outside to the Gospel or the church.

Our Lord Himself gives it as the substance of prophecy (Luke 24:47) that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His Name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem. The image may be that of a stream, issuing forth from Jerusalem and watering the whole world. Theodoret comments: “The law of the Gospel and the word of the Apostles, beginning from Jerusalem, as from a fountain, ran through the whole world, watering those who approached with faith.”

But in that it went forth, it may be meant that it left those from among whom it “went forth.” Cyril observes: “Zion was indeed desolate of the law and Jerusalem bared of the divine word.” Jerome states: “The word of God passed from Jerusalem to the Gentiles.” Rup. adds: “For the shadow was done away, and the types ceased, and sacrifices were abolished, and everything of Moses was, in the letter, brought to a close.”

He does not say here through whom God would so teach, but he does speak of a direct teaching of God. He does not say only, “God will give us a law,” or “will make a revelation of Himself.” He speaks of a Personal, direct, continuous act of teaching by God, carried on upon earth, whether the teacher is our Lord’s word spoken once on earth, which does not pass away (Matthew 24:35), or God the Holy Spirit, as teaching in the Church and in the hearts which receive Him. The words that follow speak of a personal reign, as these speak of personal teaching.

And He shall judge among many people and rebuke strong nations afar off - Until now, they had walked each in their own ways (Isaiah 53:6); now, they sought to be taught in the ways of God. Before, they had been lords of the world; now they should acknowledge a Judge higher than themselves. They were no common, but mighty nations, such as had previously been the oppressors of Israel. They were to be many, and those mighty, nations.

He should, “not only command, but ‘rebuke,’ not weak or petty nations only, but mighty, and those not only near but afar.” Mohammed had moral strength through what he stole from the Law and the Gospel, and by his acknowledging Christ as the Word of God. He was a heretic, rather than a pagan. Fearful scourge as he was, and as his successors have been, all is now decayed, and no mighty nation is left on earth which does not profess the Name of Christ.

He shall rebuke them - For it was an office of the Holy Ghost to reprove the world as to its sin, the righteousness of Christ, the judgment of the prince of this world (John 16:8–11). The Gospel conquered the world, not by compromises or concordats, but by convicting it. It alone could “rebuke” with power, for it was, like its Author, all-holy. It could rebuke with efficacy, for it was the word of Him who knew what is in man. It could rebuke with awe, for it knew the secrets of eternal Judgment. It could rebuke winningly, for it knew the love of Christ which passeth knowledge (Ephesians 3:19).

Its martyrs suffered and rebuked their judges; and the world was amazed at the impotence of power and the might of suffering. It rebuked the enthroned idolatry of centuries; it set in rebellion by its rebukes every sinful passion of man, and it subdued them. Tyrants, whom no human power could reach, trembled before its censures. Then only is it powerless, if its corrupted or timid or paralyzed ministers forfeit in themselves the power of rebuke.

And they shall beat their spears into plowshares - “All things are made new in Christ.” As the inward disquiet of evil men makes them restless, and vents itself toward others in envy, hatred, maliciousness, wrong, so the inward peace of which He says, My peace I give unto you (John 14:27), shall, wherever it reaches, spread abroad and, by the power of grace, bring to “all nations unity, peace, and concord.” All, being brought under the one empire of Christ, shall be in harmony, one with another. As far as in it lies, the Gospel is a Gospel of peace, and makes peace.

Christians, as far as they obey Christ, are at peace, both in themselves and with one another. And this is what is here prophesied. The peace follows from His rule. Where He judges and rebukes, there even the mighty beat their swords into plowshares. The universal peace in which our Lord was born in the flesh—the first such peace since the foundation of the Roman empire—was, in God’s Providence, a fruit of His kingdom.

It was no chance coincidence, since nothing is by chance. God willed that they should be contemporaneous. It was fitting that the world should be still when its Lord, the Prince of Peace, was born in it. That outward cessation of public strife, though but for a brief time, was an image of how His peace spread backward as well as forward, and of the peace which through Him, our Peace, was dawning on the world: “First, according to the letter, before That Child was born to us, on whose shoulder the government is (Isaiah 9:6), the whole world was full of blood; people fought against people, kings against kings, nations against nations.

“Lastly, the Roman state itself was torn by civil wars, in whose battles all kingdoms shed blood. But after that, at the time of the Empire of Christ, Rome gained an undivided empire, the world was laid open to the journeys of Apostles, and the gates of cities were open to them, and, for the preaching of the One God, one single empire was formed.

“It may too be understood as an image, that, on receiving the faith of Christ, anger and unrestrained revilings were laid aside, so that each puts his hand to the plow and looks not back, and, breaking in pieces the shafts of insults, seeks to reap spiritual fruit, so that, others laboring, we enter into their labors; and of us it is said, They shall come with joy, bringing their sheaves (Psalms 126:6). Now no one fights; for we read Blessed are the peacemakers (Matthew 5:9); no one learns to strive, to the subverting of the hearers (2 Timothy 2:14).

“And every one shall rest under his vine, so as to press out that Wine which gladdeneth the heart of man (Psalms 104:15), under that Vine, of which the Father is the Husbandman (John 15:1); and under his fig tree, gathering the sweet fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, and the rest (Galatians 5:22).”

The fathers had indeed a joy, which we have not, that wars were not between Christians; for although “just wars are lawful,” war cannot be on both sides just; very few wars have not, on both sides, what is against the spirit of the Gospel. For, except where there is exceeding wickedness on one side, or peril of further evil, the words of our Lord would hold good, in public as in private, I say unto you, that you resist not evil (Matthew 5:39).

This prophecy then is fulfilled:

1. In the character of the Gospel. Ribera: “The law of the Gospel works and preserves peace. For it plucks up altogether the roots of all war, avarice, ambition, injustice, wrath. Then, it teaches to bear injuries, and, so far from requiting them, wills that we be prepared to receive fresh wrongs. He says, If anyone smite you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also... (Matthew 5:39–42). I say unto you, Love your enemies... (Matthew 5:44–48). For neither did the old law give these counsels, nor did it explain so clearly the precept implied in them, nor had it that wonderful and most efficacious example of the cross and love of Christ, nor did it supply the means by which peace could be preserved; whereas now the first fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness.”
2. The prophecy has been fulfilled within and without, among individuals or bodies of men, in body or mind, in temper or in deed, as far as the Gospel has prevailed. The multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one mind (Acts 4:32); one, through One indwelling Spirit; one, though a great multitude, through one bond of love: “See how these Christians love one another;” “see how ready they are to die for one another,” was, in the third century, a pagan proverb about Christian love.

   : “They love one another, almost before they know one another.” : “Their first lawgiver has persuaded them that they are all brethren.” “We (which grieves you),” the Christian answered, “so love one another, because we do not know how to hate. We call ourselves ‘brethren’ which you take ill, as men who have one Father, God, and are sharers in one faith, in one hope, coheirs.”

   For centuries too, there was, for the most part, public peace of Christians among themselves. Christian soldiers fought only as constrained by the civil law, or against Barbarian invaders, to defend life, wife, and children, not for ambition, anger, or pride. Christians could then appeal, in fulfillment of the prophecy, to this outward peace, the fruit of inward peace.

   “We,” says an early martyr, “who formerly stained ourselves with mutual slaughter, not only do not wage war with foes, but even, in order not to lie and deceive those who consume us, willingly professing Christ, meet death.”

   “From the coming of the Lord,” says another martyr, “the New Testament, reconciling to peace, and a life-giving law, went forth into all lands. If then another law and word, going forth from Jerusalem, produced such peace among the nations which received it, and thereby reproved many people for want of wisdom, then it would follow that the prophets spoke of some other. But if the law of liberty, that is, the law of God preached by the Apostles, which went forth out of Jerusalem to all the world, worked such a transformation, that swords and spears of war He wrought into plow-shares and pruning-hooks, instruments of peace, and now men do not know how to fight, but, when smitten, yield the other cheek, then the prophets spoke of no other but of Him who brought it to pass.”

   “Even from this,” says Tertullian, “you may know that Christ was promised, not as one mighty in war, but as a peace-bringer. Either deny that these things were prophesied, since they are plain to see; or, since they are written, deny that they are fulfilled. But if you may deny neither, you must acknowledge that they are fulfilled in Him, of whom they are prophesied.”

   “Of old,” says Athanasius, “Greeks and Barbarians, being idolaters, warred with one another, and were fierce toward those akin.

   For through their implacable warfare no one could pass land or sea unarmed. Their whole life was passed in arms; the sword was to them as their staff and stay. They worshiped idols, sacrificed to demons, and yet from their reverence for idols they could gain no help to correct their minds. But when they passed into the school of Christ, then, in truth, pricked in mind, they wondrously laid aside their savage slaughters, and now no longer think of things of war; for now all peace and friendship alone are their mind’s delight. Who then did this, who blended in peace those who hated one another, except the Beloved Son of the Father, the common Savior of all, Christ Jesus, who, through His love, endured all things for our salvation?

   For of old too, the peace which should hold sway from Him was prophesied, they shall beat their swords into plowshares. Nor is this incredible, since now too, the Barbarians with innate savagery, while they still sacrifice to their idols, are mad with one another, and cannot for one hour part with their swords. But when they have received the teaching of Christ, they immediately and forever turn to farming; and, instead of arming their hands with swords, stretch them out to prayer. And altogether, instead of warring with one another, they arm themselves against the devil and demons, warring against them with modesty and virtue of soul.

   This is a sign of the Godhead of the Savior. For what men could not learn among idols, this they have learned from Him. Christ’s disciples, having no war with one another, array themselves against demons by their life and deeds of virtue, chase them and mock their captain the devil, chaste in youth, enduring in temptation, strong in toils, tranquil when insulted, unconcerned when despoiled.”

   And yet later, Chrysostom says, “Before the Coming of Christ, all men armed themselves and no one was exempt from this service, and cities fought with cities, and everywhere were men trained to war. But now most of the world is in peace; all engage in mechanical arts or agriculture or commerce, and few are employed in military service for all. And of this too the occasion would cease, if we acted as we ought and did not need to be reminded by afflictions.”

   : “After the Sun of Righteousness dawned, so far are all cities and nations from living in such perils, that they do not even know how to undertake any affairs of war. Or if there is still any war, it is far off at the extremity of the Roman Empire, not in each city and country, as previously. For then, in any one nation, there were countless seditions and multiform wars.

   But now the whole earth which the sun surveys from the Tigris to the British Isles, and with it Libya, Egypt, and Palestine, yes, all beneath the Roman rule—you know how all enjoy complete security, and learn of war only by hearsay.”

   Cyril (on Isaiah 2:0 and here) and Theodoret (on Isaiah 2:0 and here) carry on this account into the fifth century after our Lord’s Coming. Christians then during those four centuries could point to a present fulfillment of prophecy, when we, for our sins, can only speak of the past (Isaiah 59:1–2). The Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but our iniquities have separated between us, and our God, and our sins have hid His Face from us, that He will not hear.

Those first Christians could urge against the Jews the fulfillment of their prophecies in this matter, where the Jews can now urge upon us their seeming non-fulfillment: “In the time of King Messiah, after the wars of Gog and Magog, there shall be peace and tranquility in all the world, and the sons of men shall have no need of weapons, but these promises were not fulfilled.”

The prophecy is fulfilled, in that the Gospel is a Gospel of peace and makes peace. Christians, as far as they obey Christ, are at peace both in themselves and with one another. The promises of God are perfect on His part: He is faithful to them. But He so wills to be freely loved by His intelligent creatures whom He formed for His love, that He does not force our free agency. We can fall short of His promises, if we will. To those only who will it, the Gospel brings peace, stilling the passions, quelling disputes, banishing contentions, removing errors, calming concupiscence, soothing and repressing anger, in individuals, nations, the Church; giving oneness of belief, harmony of soul, contentment with our own, love of others as ourselves; so that whatever is contrary to this has its origin in something which is not of Christ nor of His Gospel.

But - And

They shall sit every man, under his vine and under his fig-tree - Palestine was a home of the vine and the fig-tree. Vineyards were a common property, possessed by all but the very poor, or even by them (Nehemiah 5:4; Jeremiah 39:10). The land was “a land of bread and vineyards” (2 Kings 18:32).

The vine was the emblem of the people, in Psalmists and prophets (Psalms 80:8 and following; Isaiah 3:14; Isaiah 5:1 and following; Isaiah 27:2; Jeremiah 2:21; Jeremiah 12:10; Ezekiel 15:1–8; Ezekiel 17:5–10; Ezekiel 19:10; Hosea 10:1). The bunch of grapes or the vine-leaf appear as characteristic emblems on Jewish coins, chiefly in the times of their revolts under Vespasian and Hadrian. The fig is also mentioned as part of the characteristic fruitfulness of Palestine (Deuteronomy 8:8).

It too was a universal property (2 Kings 18:32). Both formed natural arbors; the fig had its name probably from its length, the vine from the arch made by its drooping boughs. Both formed, in those hot countries, a grateful shade. The vine, rising with its single stem, was spread over trellis-work or by props, so as to enclose a considerable space. Even in Italy, a single vine shaded a portico. In Palestine it grew by the walls of the house (Psalms 128:3).

Rabbis relate how their forefathers sat and studied under the fig-tree, as Nathanael was doubtless meditating or praying under one, when Jesus, being God, saw him (John 1:48). It exhibits a picture of domestic peace, each family gathered in harmony and rest under the protection of God, each content with what they have, neither coveting another’s, nor disturbed in their own.

Wine is explained in Holy Scripture to be an emblem of gladness, and the fig of sweetness. Cyril: “For exceedingly sweet is the word of the Savior, and it knows how to gladden man’s heart; sweet also and full of joy is the hope of the future, with which we are enriched in Christ.”

Such had been Israel’s lot in the peaceful days of Solomon (1 Kings 4:25), the peace of whose times had already been made the image of the Gospel (Psalms 72); the coming of the Queen of the South from the uttermost parts of the earth, to hear the wisdom of Solomon (Matthew 12:42), had made her kingdom to be selected as an emblem of those who should fall down before Christ and serve Him (Psalms 60:10–11). Lapide: “Such is that most quiet fearlessness which the law of Christ brings, as being the law of charity, peace, and concord.”

And none shall make them afraid - “Neither man, nor devil; for the Lord has given us power to ‘tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy,’ and said, ‘nothing shall by any means hurt you’ (Luke 10:19), and bid us, ‘fear not them which kill the body’ (Matthew 10:28). Witness the might which He gave to His Apostles and Martyrs.

For the mouth of the LORD of Hosts hath spoken it - The prophets often add this, when what they say seems, for its greatness, past belief. Yet it will be, because He has spoken it, “the Lord” who changes not, “the Lord of Hosts,” to whose commands all creatures are subject, whose word is truth, with whom to speak is to do.

For all people will walk, every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God – Until now, unsteadfastness had been the very characteristic sin of Israel. It was, “constant only in its inconstancy,” ever “falling away like their forefathers, starting aside like a broken bow” (Psalms 78:57). The pagan persevered in their worship because it was evil or had evil in it, not checking but feeding their passions. Israel did not persevere in his, because it required him to deny himself things unlawful. Hath a nation changed their gods which are yet no gods? But My people have changed their glow for that which doth not profit (Jeremiah 2:11).

From now on, the prophet professes for his people, the true Israel, that they will be as steadfast in good as the pagans are in evil. So our Lord sets forth the children of this world in their generation (Luke 16:8) as an example of wisdom to the children of light.

Cyril says: “They who are eager to go up into the mountain of the Lord, and wish to learn thoroughly His ways, promise a ready obedience, and receive in themselves the glories of the life in Christ, and undertake with their whole strength to be earnest in all holiness. ‘For let every one,’ he says, ‘in every country and city go the way himself chooses, and pass his life as to him seems good; but our care is Christ, and His laws we will make our straight path; we will walk along with Him; and that not for this life only, present or past, but yet more for what is beyond’ (2 Timothy 2:11–12; Romans 8:17; Revelation 3:4). It is a faithful saying. For they who now suffer with Him shall walk with Him forever, and with Him be glorified, and with Him reign.”

But they make Christ their care who prefer nothing to His love, who cease from the vain distractions of the world, and seek rather righteousness and what is pleasing to Him, and to excel in virtue. Such a one was the divine Paul, for he writes, I am crucified with Christ; and now no longer I live, but Christ liveth in me (Galatians 2:20); and again, I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2).

The term “walk” is so uniformly used in Holy Scripture for a person’s moral or religious “ways” (see page 378, and the commentary above on Micah 2:11, page 35). Likewise, references to walking with God (Genesis 5:22), or before God (Genesis 17:1), or contrary to God (Leviticus 26:21) (as we say), show that the prophet here too is doubtless speaking of the opposite religious ways of the pagans and of the future people of God.

The “name” was often, in Hebrew, expressive of the character. In regard to God Himself, that Name which He vouchsafed to give to Himself expressed His Self-existence and, as a result, His Unchangeableness and His Faithfulness. The names by which it was foretold that Christ should be called express both His Deity and attributes; the human Name, which He bore and vouchsafes to bear still, was significant of His office for us, Saviour (Matthew 1:21).

To praise “the Name of the Lord,” then, is to praise Him in that character or relation which He has revealed to us: “He who ‘walks in the Name of the Lord’ orders every act and motion worthily of the vocation with which he is called, and, whether he eateth or drinketh, doth all to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31).”

This promise has its own reward, for it is “forever and ever.” They who “walk in the Name of the Lord” shall walk before Him in the land of the living, forever and ever (Psalms 116:9). Such people walk on with quickened steps, not lingering, “in the Name of the Lord our God.” This means doing all things in His Name, as His great Name requires, conformed to the holiness and all other qualities which His Name expresses.

“For ever and ever” means, literally, “for ever and yet,” or, more strictly still, “for that which is hidden and yet”—which is the utmost concept of eternity we can reach. Time indeed has no relation to eternity, for time, being God’s creature, is infinite.

Still, practically to us, our nearest conception of eternity is existence, on and on and on—an endless, unchanging, ever-prolonged future, lost in distance and hidden from us, and then, and yet, an ever-to-come “yet” which shall never come to an end. Well then may we not faint, as though it were long to toil or to do without this or that, since the part of our way which lies amid toils and weariness is so short and will soon be at an end; what lies beyond, in joy, is infinite in infinite joy, ever full and still ever a “yet” to come.

The prophet says, we will walk; “uniting himself in longing, hope, faith, to the sons of the New Testament, that is, Christians, as his brethren, reborn by the grace of the same Christ;” “ministers of the Old, heirs of the New Testament, because they loved through that same faith by which we love, believing in the Incarnation, Passion, and Resurrection of Christ yet to be, as we believe in it, it having now occurred.”