Albert Barnes Commentary Micah 5:6

"And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: and he shall deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our border." — Micah 5:6 (ASV)

And they shall waste - Literally, feed on, and so eat up. Those who were shepherds of their own people, shall consume their enemies. Jeremiah uses the same image. The shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her; they shall pitch tents against her round about; they shall feed, each his space (Jeremiah 6:3). So Joshua and Caleb say, They, (the inhabitants of Canaan,) are bread for us (Numbers 14:9). So it was said to Peter, arise, Peter, kill and eat (Acts 10:13); and what once was common, defiled and unclean, shall turn to the nourishment and growth of the Church, and be incorporated into Christ, being made part of His Body.

And the land of Nimrod - Babylon, which would displace Assyria but would carry on its work of chastising God’s people, is joined by Micah, as by Isaiah (Isaiah 10:5–34; Isaiah 13:1–14:27), as an object of His judgment. In Isaiah, they are the actual Assyria (Isaiah 10:12–15) and Babylon (Isaiah 14:13–15) whose destruction is foretold, yet in such a way as to symbolize rebellion against God in its most intense form, making itself independent of, or measuring itself against, God. Hence, probably, here alone in holy Scripture, Babylon is called the land of Nimrod, as indeed he founded it (Genesis 10:10), and with that was also the author of the tower of Babel, which was built in rebellion against God, from which his own name was derived. Assyria then, and the world-empire which would succeed it, stand as representing the God-opposed world.

In the entrances thereof - (Literally, in its gates.) The shepherds of Israel shall not act on the defensive only, but shall have victory over the world and Satan, carrying back the battle into his own dominions, and overthrowing him there. Satan’s malice, so far from hurting the Church, shall turn to its good. In the very way he hoped to waste it, he shall be wasted; in the very way he seemed to triumph, he shall be foiled. So it has always been seen how, under every persecution, the Church grew: “The more it was pressed down, the more it rose up and flourished;” and “Shattering the assault of the Pagans, and strengthened more and more, not by resisting, but by enduring.” Yet all, by whomever done, shall be the work of Christ alone, enduring in martyrs, teaching in pastors, converting through the Apostles of pagan nations. Therefore he adds:

Thus (And) He shall deliver us from the Assyrian - Not they, the subordinate shepherds, but He, the Chief Shepherd until the last enemy shall be destroyed and death shall be swallowed up in victory, shall deliver, whether by them or by Himself as He often so does — not us only (the saying is broader because unlimited) but — He shall deliver, absolutely. Whoever shall be delivered, He shall be their deliverer; all whom He alone knows, who alone knoweth them that are His (2 Timothy 2:19). Neither is there salvation in any other (Acts 4:12). Whoso glorieth, let him glory in the Lord (2 Corinthians 10:17).

Every member of Christ has part in this, who, through the grace of God, “has power and strength to have victory and to triumph against the devil, the world, and the flesh” — not he, but the grace of God which is with him. And much more, all, whether Apostles or Apostolic men, or Pastors, or Bishops and Overseers, who, by preaching or teaching or prayer, bring to the knowledge of the truth those who sat in darkness and the shadow of death (Psalms 107:10), and by whom God translates us into the kingdom of His dear Son (Colossians 1:13).