John Calvin Commentary Micah 4:9-10

"Now why dost thou cry out aloud? Is there no king in thee, is thy counsellor perished, that pangs have taken hold of thee as of a woman in travail? Be in pain, and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail; for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and shalt dwell in the field, and shalt come even unto Babylon: there shalt thou be rescued; there will Jehovah redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies." — Micah 4:9-10 (ASV)

The Prophet blends here things in their nature entirely contrary—that the Jews were for a time to be cut off, and that afterwards they were to recover their former state. Why, he says, do you cry out with crying? We must notice the Prophet’s design.

He did not intend to overturn what he had previously stated; but as the minds of the godly might have fainted amidst so many changes, the Prophet here gives them support, so that they might continue firm in their faith. Hence he says, Why do you cry aloud with loud crying?

That is, “I see that grievous troubles will arise capable of shaking even the strongest hearts: time will be changeable; it will often be that the faithful will be disturbed and degraded. But though various tumults may arise, and tempests throw all things into confusion, yet God will redeem His people.”

So now we see what the Prophet means by saying, Why do you now cry? Why do you make an uproar? For the verb here properly means not only to cry out, but also to sound the trumpet, as if he said, Why do the Jews so much torment themselves? There is, he says, no doubt a good reason.

And he adds, Is there no king among you? This was doubtless the reason why the Jews so much harassed themselves: it was because God had deprived them of their kingdom and of counsel. We know what Jeremiah has said, ‘Christ,’ that is, the anointed of the Lord, ‘by whose life we breathe, is slain,’ (Lamentations 4:20).

Since, then, the whole Church derived, as it were, its life from the safety of its king, the faithful could not help but be filled with amazement when the kingdom was upset and abolished, for the hope of salvation was taken away.

Is there, then, not a king among you? And have your counselors perished? Some think that the unfaithfulness of the people is here indirectly rebuked, because they thought themselves to be lacking the help of God and of His Christ, as if he said: “Have you forgotten what God has promised to you, that He would be your king forever, and would send the Messiah to rule over you? Indeed, has He not promised that the kingdom of David would be perpetual?”

Why then is this fear and trembling, as if God no longer reigned among you, and the throne of David were hopelessly overturned?” These interpreters, in confirmation of this opinion, say that Christ is here distinguished by the same title as in Isaiah 9:7, where he is called יועף, ivots, a counselor.

But as in this verse, it is the Prophet’s design to terrify, and to rebuke rather than to alleviate the severity of evils by consolation, it is more probable that their own destitution is set before the people; as if Micah said, “What cause have you for trembling? Is it because your king and all his counselors have been taken away?” But what immediately follows proves that this sorrow arose from a just cause; it was because they were stripped of all those things which had been until that time the evidences of God’s favor.

Why then has pain laid hold on you as on one in labor? Be in pain, he says, and groan. That is, I will not prevent you from grieving and mourning. As if he said, “Certainly even the strongest cannot look on such dreadful calamities without suffering the deepest sorrow. But though God may for a time subject His children to the greatest tortures and expose them to the most grievous evils, He will yet eventually restore them from their exile.”

You shall depart, he says, from the city, and dwell in the field: you shall come even to Babylon; but there you shall be delivered; there shall Jehovah redeem you from the hand of your enemies.

The meaning of the whole is that though God would care for His people, as He had promised, there was yet no cause for the faithful to flatter themselves, as if they were to be exempt from troubles. On the contrary, the Prophet exhorts them to prepare themselves to undergo calamities, as they were not only to be driven from their country and to wander in foreign lands like vagrants, but were to be led away into Babylon as to their grave.

But to strengthen the minds of the faithful to bear the cross, he gives them a hope of deliverance, and says that God would there deliver them, and there redeem them from the hand of their enemies. He repeats the adverb, שם, shem, there, twice, and not without reason, for the faithful might have excluded every hope of deliverance, as if the gate of God’s power had been closed.

And this is the reason why the Prophet repeats twice, there, there; even from the grave He will deliver and redeem you: “Extend then your hope, not only to a small measure of favor, as if God could deliver you only from a state of some small danger, but even to death itself.

Though then you lay, as it were, in your graves, yet do not doubt that God will stretch forth His hand to you, for He will be your deliverer. God then, in whose power is victory, can overcome many and innumerable deaths.”

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that since under the guidance of Your Son we have been united together in the body of Your Church, which has been so often scattered and torn apart—O grant that we may continue in the unity of faith, and fight perseveringly against all the temptations of this world, and never deviate from the right course, whatever new troubles may daily arise; and though we are exposed to many deaths, let us not be seized with fear, such as may extinguish in our hearts every hope; but may we, on the contrary, learn to raise up our eyes and minds, and all our thoughts, to Your great power, by which You give life to the dead and raise from nothing things that are not, so that though we may be daily exposed to ruin, our souls may always aspire to eternal salvation, until You at last truly show Yourself to be the fountain of life, when we shall enjoy that endless felicity which has been obtained for us by the blood of Your only-begotten Son, our Lord. Amen.