The Promise to the Remnant

By Dan & Brenda Cathcart

The video version is available at: https://youtu.be/-1NssTYTLeE

The scripture reading is: Micah 5:7-6:8

This week’s haftarah reading is from the book of Micah. Micah was a prophet who lived and prophesied during the time of the Assyrian threat to Israel and Judah and the subsequent captivity of the people of the northern state of Israel. This time period encompassed the reigns of the Judean kings Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. Although both Jotham and Hezekiah are recorded as kings who followed in the ways of David, Ahaz was especially evil, following in the ways of the kings of Israel and the Canaanites who inhabited the land before them.

2 Chronicles 28:3 NKJV 3 He burned incense in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and burned his children in the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.

During King Ahaz’s reign, he was at war with Israel and Syria and was losing badly. As a result, he sought out the help of the ruler of Assyria This turned the attention of the avaricious empire of Assyria to the south towards the Israel, Syria and Judah.  A land at war was easy pickings for the massive empire. The destruction of Syria, the captivity of Israel, and the devastation of Ahaz’s own land of Judah quickly followed. What hope was there for the children of Israel and the people of Judah? How could they survive utter destruction? Why had God allowed the destruction and captivity of His people?

At its peak, the Assyrian army had taken all the major cities of Judah except the capital of Jerusalem. The Assyrian juggernaut was finally stopped at the gates of Jerusalem when the people of Judah united with one heart under King Hezekiah. At that time, God miraculously destroyed one hundred eighty-five thousand men of the massive army gathered against Jerusalem.

Our passage in Micah opens with a promise to those of both Israel and Judah who had been taken captive and resettled in other parts of the Assyrian empire.

Micah 5:7-8 NKJV 7 Then the remnant of Jacob Shall be in the midst of many peoples, Like dew from the LORD, Like showers on the grass, That tarry for no man Nor wait for the sons of men. 8 And the remnant of Jacob Shall be among the Gentiles, In the midst of many peoples, Like a lion among the beasts of the forest, Like a young lion among flocks of sheep, Who, if he passes through, Both treads down and tears in pieces, And none can deliver.

The focus of these two verses is the effect that the presence of the remnant of Jacob has on the Gentile nations where they live. Each verse begins the same way setting these two verses up as parallels; that is saying the same thing but in slightly different ways. How is the dew from the LORD like the lion among the beasts? In both cases, there is no stopping their presence. The dew is not under the control of man. As Micah says, it does not come or stay away at the will of man. Likewise, the lion is not controlled by the beasts it lives among. When it seeks its prey, it will prevail! So, the presence of the remnant of Jacob is not at the will or control of man. Additionally, the presence of the remnant of Jacob is a blessing. Dew and rain which nourishes the ground are both compared to the words of Torah.

Deuteronomy 32:2 NKJV 2 Let my teaching drop as the rain, My speech distill as the dew, As raindrops on the tender herb, And as showers on the grass.

This remnant of Jacob, then, must be the remnant that is faithful to God and the Torah. First Fruits of Zion in Torah Club Volume 3: The Haftarah explains:

These images are those where the remnant is depicted as being a source of both spiritual and physical blessing to Israel and the world.[i]

The imagery in verse eight of the lion, however, is violent as opposed to peaceful or soft like dew and raindrops. The message here is about the unstoppable force of the remnant. Those who oppose the presence of the remnant of Jacob will not prevail. Micah concludes that none will prevail against them.

Micah 5:9 NKJV 9 Your hand shall be lifted against your adversaries, And all your enemies shall be cut off.

Yeshua describes His assembly of believers as one that is unstoppable.

Matthew 16:18 NKJV 18 "And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

However, at the time of Micah, this victory against their adversaries was in the future. The following words in Micah explain what God would allow to happen to Israel and, to a lesser extent, Judah.

Micah 5:10-11 NKJV 10 "And it shall be in that day," says the LORD, "That I will cut off your horses from your midst And destroy your chariots. 11 I will cut off the cities of your land And throw down all your strongholds.

The first thing that God allowed was the destruction of Israel’s army and walled cities. God destroyed the pride they had in their own strength and might! The Assyrian army was only halted when King Hezekiah called out to God for deliverance.

2 Kings 19:19-20 NKJV 19 "Now therefore, O LORD our God, I pray, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the LORD God, You alone." 20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel: 'Because you have prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard.'

The defeat of the Assyrian army had nothing to do with Hezekiah’s army. They were safe within the walls of Jerusalem. Instead, an angel of the LORD passed through the camp of the Assyrians and killed one hundred and eighty five thousand of them.

2 Kings 19:35 NKJV 35 And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the LORD went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses-all dead.

The pride of Israel and Judah in their armies was soundly smacked down before God brought deliverance. Micah, then, turns to Israel and Judah’s pervasive practice of idolatry. God would totally remove all idolatry and evidence of idolatry from the land.

Micah 5:12-14 NKJV 12 I will cut off sorceries from your hand, And you shall have no soothsayers. 13 Your carved images I will also cut off, And your sacred pillars from your midst; You shall no more worship the work of your hands; 14 I will pluck your wooden images from your midst; Thus I will destroy your cities.

The Sabbath of this haftarah reading this year, July 20, 2019, is the seventeenth of Tammuz, the day that the children of Israel built and worshiped the Golden Calf bringing idolatry into the camp of Israel. God says that He will totally cut off all idolatry in the day that Micah speaks of. This will not be totally accomplished until Messiah sets up his kingdom. The prophet Zechariah writes of that day.

Zechariah 13:2 NKJV 2 "It shall be in that day," says the LORD of hosts, "that I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they shall no longer be remembered. I will also cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to depart from the land.

At the time of Micah, God used Assyria to bring about the destruction of the idolatrous cities of Israel and Judah. Later, God would use Babylon for the same task. However, both Assyria and Babylon boasted in the destruction of Israel and gloried in their own power.

Isaiah 10:12-13 NKJV 12 Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Lord has performed all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, that He will say, "I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his haughty looks." 13 For he says: "By the strength of my hand I have done it, And by my wisdom, for I am prudent; Also I have removed the boundaries of the people, And have robbed their treasuries; So I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man.

Micah promised that although God punished Israel, He would take vengeance on those of the nations that failed to recognize His sovereignty.

Micah 5:15 NAS95 15 "And I will execute vengeance in anger and wrath On the nations which have not obeyed."

Neither Assyria nor Babylon recognized God’s hand in using them to bring punishment to his people. As a result, God destroyed both Assyria and Babylon.

Jeremiah 50:18 NKJV 18 Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, As I have punished the king of Assyria.

Micah, then, turns his attention to why God was bringing destruction on Israel and Judah. The setting is as of a court room with God bringing charges against Israel and Israel defending herself.

Micah 6:1-2 NKJV 1 Hear now what the LORD says: "Arise, plead your case before the mountains, And let the hills hear your voice. 2 Hear, O you mountains, the LORD'S complaint, And you strong foundations of the earth; For the LORD has a complaint against His people, And He will contend with Israel.

Before Messiah’s return, God will again state His case against Israel and contend with them.

Ezekiel 20:35-36 NKJV 35 "And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will plead My case with you face to face. 36 "Just as I pleaded My case with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will plead My case with you," says the Lord GOD.

God raises the question through Micah about what He had done to make them weary of God.

Micah 6:3-4 NKJV 3 "O My people, what have I done to you? And how have I wearied you? Testify against Me. 4 For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, I redeemed you from the house of bondage; And I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

Far from wearying His people, God sent them Moses to lead them, Aaron to be their priest, and Miriam as the prophet who put it all into motion. God redeemed them from their slavery so that they could be free to worship Him!

Exodus 4:22-23 NKJV 22 "Then you shall say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the LORD: "Israel is My son, My firstborn. 23 "So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn."'"

God thwarted Pharaoh’s plans to destroy the children of Israel first by sending Miriam to watch over the baby Moses, and, then, by sending Moses and Aaron to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt. When the children of Israel fled Egypt, Pharaoh attempted to take them back into slavery, but God parted the Red Sea allowing the children of Israel to cross on dry ground while at the same time destroying Pharaoh’s army.

Micah, then, instructs Israel to remember the events leading up to the crossing of the Jordan River. While encamped across the Jordan River on the plains of Moab at the Acacia Grove, Balak sought to destroy Israel before they could cross into the Promised Land.

Micah 6:5 NKJV 5 O My people, remember now What Balak king of Moab counseled, And what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, From Acacia Grove to Gilgal, That you may know the righteousness of the LORD."

Balak counseled the elders of Moab to hire Balaam to curse Israel, and, thus, bring about its destruction. When Balaam tried to curse Israel, God intervened. Instead of cursing Israel, Balaam ended up blessing Israel three times. Balaam’s “answer” to Balak was that the only way to destroy Israel was to entice Israel to participate in idolatry and sexual sin.

Numbers 31:16 NKJV 16 "Look, these women caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the LORD in the incident of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD.

It was the idolatry and sin that the children of Israel participated in at the instigation of the Moabite women that caused the death of twenty four thousand people! The deaths were stopped by the righteous act of the priest Phinchas in putting to death one of the leaders of the people who participated in the idolatry and fornication. Yet, in spite of this foray into idolatry, God caused the waters of the Jordan River to pile up at the city of Adam while the children of Israel crossed safely into the Promised Land at Gilgal. There at Gilgal, they set up twelve memorial stones to remember that God allowed them to cross the Jordan River on dry ground.

Far from wearying His people, God brought them out of Egypt and into the Promised Land! The only thing God required is that they obey His commands. The apostle John reminds us that following God’s commands is our act of love towards God.

1 John 5:3 NKJV 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.

But the children of Israel were not so easily convinced by Micah’s words! They seemed to be exasperated with what God required. In what way would God continue to weary them? What could they do to satisfy the God they refused to understand? Micah sarcastically takes up the role of the negotiation attempt of Israel.

Micah 6:6-7 NKJV 6 With what shall I come before the LORD, And bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, With calves a year old? 7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, Ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

Israel’s contention was that it was impossible to please God. Hadn’t they brought all the required offerings including the burnt offerings? Why was God unhappy with them and why didn’t He accept their burnt offerings? Did He want more offerings? The escalation continues until they sarcastically offer to sacrifice their own firstborn! This is, in fact, what King Ahaz had done with his firstborn offering him as a sacrifice to foreign gods!

Bringing just the required offerings while worshiping other gods, participating in sexual immorality, and abusing their fellow Israelites was not going to bring God’s acceptance. The Torah is more than just following a set of instructions; it is a way of life in which love for God and one’s fellow man is practiced. Micah explains.

Micah 6:8 NKJV 8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?

This takes us back to the beginning of our scripture passage with the remnant residing in the midst of the Gentiles as a blessing to the Gentiles. Those who had learned Micah’s lesson of justice, mercy and humility are a blessing to those among whom they live. But where is the relentless passage through the nations until all the enemies are defeated? We need to look at the earlier part of this passage to see when the remnant will return to the land and defeat their enemies.

Micah 5:2-3 NKJV 2 "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting." 3 Therefore He shall give them up, Until the time that she who is in labor has given birth; Then the remnant of His brethren Shall return to the children of Israel.

The remnant will return when the Messiah comes! The Jewish people recognize that this passage is about the coming of the Messiah. The Stone Edition Tanach comments:

As the city of Ruth, a convert from Moab, Bethlehem was an unlikely source of leadership, but it produced David, an ancestor of Messiah. The hardships of exile will become as intense as labor pains, but it will end with the rebirth of the Jewish nation, and the return of the Messiah’s brethren.[ii]

The Jewish people of today see the birth in Bethlehem as the birth of David. However, Matthew tells us that at the time of Yeshua’s birth, Bethlehem was, also, recognized as the birth place of the Messiah.

Matthew 2:4-6 NKJV 4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 So they said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet: 6 'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, Are not the least among the rulers of Judah; For out of you shall come a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.'"

Micah explains that the Messiah will be the one who ultimately defeats Assyria and Babylon and actually takes the battle to the enemy!

Micah 5:5b-6 NKJV 5b When the Assyrian comes into our land, And when he treads in our palaces, Then we will raise against him Seven shepherds and eight princely men. 6 They shall waste with the sword the land of Assyria, And the land of Nimrod at its entrances; Thus He shall deliver us from the Assyrian, When he comes into our land And when he treads within our borders.

When Assyria and Babylon defeated Israel and Judah taking them into captivity, Israel and Judah never took the battle to Assyria or Babylon! Every battle took place in Israel and Judah! This defeat of the enemies of Israel in their own land will be accomplished when Yeshua returns and the remnant of Israel returns to the LORD both physically and spiritually!

There is always hope for the people of the LORD! In the face of intense hatred and persecution, God always has His hand on His people. The destruction of Israel and the exile from the land occurred because the people turned away from God. Over and over, history has shown us that man cannot remain faithful to God in his own strength. We need the power of God within us to walk in justice, mercy and humility. Paul tells us that we need to walk in the spirit.

Galatians 5:16 NKJV 16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

When we walk in the spirit, we will not fall to the desires of our flesh to worship other gods, to take pride in our own strength, to rebel against God. Instead, the Holy Spirit gives us the strength to walk in love as Yeshua walked. God promised that His remnant, those of us who remain faithful to Him, will be a blessing to others and that nothing will stop us.

Study Questions:

1 - Discuss the connection of this teaching to the Torah Portion Balak Numbers 22:2-25:9.

2 - What are some of the parallels between Micah 5:1-6:8 and Isaiah 10:25-11:2? What role does the remnant play in the nations? What is the promise to the remnant?

3 - How are Moses, Aaron and Miriam a shadow of the Messiah?

4 - Micah mentions rising up seven shepherds and eight princely men. The word “princely” is #5257 meaning something poured out such as a libation, by implication a prince as anointed. Contrast these leaders with the leaders Micah describes in chapter 3.

5 - How do we reconcile Micah 6:8 with the necessity to approach God through a sacrifice?

6 - What new insight did you gain from this teaching? How do you respond to this new insight? How will you realign your life based on this new understanding?

© 2019 Moed Ministries International. All rights reserved.

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[i] Torah Club Volume 3: The Haftorah. First Fruits of Zion. Page 619

[ii] The Stone Edition Tanach. Rabbi Nosson Scherman. Artscroll Seris. Mesorah Pulbications, ltd. ©1998-2005, 2007. Page 1380.