Micah 5:2-5a – A New Ruler Will Come from Bethlehem

BIBLE TEXT

Micah 5:2-5

SUMMARY

A new king will come from Bethlehem, the home of David, to rule justly over the nation. The ancient promises will again be restored.

ANALYSIS

Christians are familiar with this passage from its presence in Advent and Christmas readings. It is often regarded as a prophecy that was fulfilled when Jesus, the Messiah, was born in Bethlehem. Though Jesus does not look like the kind of messiah that people were looking for, he did meet the requirement that he be descended from David. The genealogies in Matthew and Luke make that point. More, the narratives in Matthew and Luke place his birth in Bethlehem, reinforcing his legitimacy as a son of David. The everlasting covenant that God made with the house of David was still intact. It had only been set aside temporarily during the years of exile and for several more centuries.

The prophecy states that the one who is to rule in Israel has his origin “from of old, from ancient days.” This probably is a reference to the ancient promise to David that his sons would rule on the throne of Israel forever (2 Samuel 7). Though a break in the dynasty had occurred, the promise had not been broken. When the Christians applied this passage to Jesus, it put him in continuity with the Davidic promise. As the belief in a preexistent Christ (Messiah) developed, God’s messianic work was pushed back even further into the past, not just to the time of David but to the presence of Christ in heaven with God. In the apocalyptic vision of Daniel 7:9-10, God is called the “Ancient One” (or “Ancient of Days”).