Albert Barnes Commentary Micah 4:11

"And now many nations are assembled against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye see [our desire] upon Zion." — Micah 4:11 (ASV)

Now also – (And now.) The prophet had already spoken of the future before them with this word 'Now.' Then, he distinctly prophesied the captivity to Babylon. Twice more he begins anew; as Holy Scripture so often, in a mystery, whether speaking of evil or of good, of deliverance or of punishment, uses a threefold form. In these two instances, no mention is made of the enemy, and so there is some uncertainty. But the course must apparently be either backward or forward.

These must either be two nearer futures before the Captivity or two more distant ones after it. This second gathering might, in itself, be either that of the Assyrian hosts under Sennacherib from all the nations subject to him, or that of the many petty nations in the time of the Maccabees, who took advantage of the Syrians’ oppression to combine to eradicate the Jews .

If understood as referring to Sennacherib, the prophet, having foretold the entire captivity of the whole people to Babylon, would then have prophesied the sudden destruction of a nearer enemy. This enemy's miraculous and instantaneous overthrow would serve as a pledge of Babylon's destruction and their deliverance from it. This interpretation would align well with the description, He shall gather them as sheaves to the floor, and would correspond well with the descriptions in Isaiah.

On the other hand, while this description could suit any event where humanity gathered its strength against God and was overthrown, the following words, Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion, etc., fit better with the victories of the Maccabees. In those victories, Israel was active, unlike the overthrow of Sennacherib, where they were wholly passive, and God did everything for them, as Isaiah and Nahum foretell concerning the same overthrow (Isaiah 10:24–34; Isaiah 14:24; Isaiah 14:5; Isaiah 17:12–14; Isaiah 29:7–8; Nahum 1:10–13). Furthermore, if the course of the description was backward:

1. The captivity in Babylon
2. The destruction of Sennacherib

In that case, there is no earlier event to correspond with the smiting of the judge of Israel on the cheek (Micah 5:1–4 in Hebrew). The malice of the nations gathered against Zion also suits better with the enduring character of the petty nations and their hereditary envy against Israel and its high claims. To Nineveh and Babylon, Israel was merely a small piece of land that completed their territory and connected them with Egypt. They disdained Israel, even while they sought to subdue it. Micah describes the exultation of petty, gratified rivalry.

That say, Let her be defiled – The wicked have a keen eye for the failings, inconsistencies, and falls of God’s people, which they are always watching for. Like Satan, they are first tempters, then accusers; first desecrators, then self-righteous judges. God, in His judgment, leaves what has been inwardly defiled to be outwardly profaned. If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are (1 Corinthians 3:17). The faithful city had become a harlot (Isaiah 1:21). The land had become polluted by its inhabitants (Jeremiah 3:9; Psalms 106:38; Isaiah 24:5). Now it was to be polluted by the enemy. Its seducers ask for God's judgment: “It has become like us in its deeds; let it no longer be distinguished from us by the name of the people of God.”

And let our eye look upon Zion – with pleasure upon its desolation, and feed itself with its misery. As the saying goes: “Where the eye, there love; where the hand, there pain.” They opened their mouth wide against me: they said, Aha, Aha, our eye hath seen (Psalms 35:21). The world hates the Church, as Edom hated Israel; it cannot be satisfied with beholding its chastisements (Micah 7:10; Obadiah 1:12). The sufferings of the Martyrs were the choice spectacle of the pagans.