“And this shall be our Protection from Assyria:
When he comes into our land, And treads upon our soil,
Then we will mise up against him seven shepherds and eight princes of men,- And the land of Nimrod with the drawn sword,-
And they shall rescue us from Assyria When he comes into our land,
And treads upon our border.”
(Micah 5.-5, 6, Smith-Goodspeed, called verses 4, 5 in other versions)

Thus does the prophet cryptically express the Lord’s deliverance of Israel in their hour of peril. Some very good translations (NASB, Rotherham, ASV) modify the opening clause of this passage to attach it to the preceding context rather than the succeeding. For example, “… And this One will be our peace. [hard break, begin new thought] When the Assyrian invades our land, …” etc. (NASB). However, either way this passage stipulates the manner of Israel’s deliverance from the oppressive onslaught of Assyria.

The prophet Micah lived at a time when Assyria was the dominant threat and dread foe of the nations of the Middle East. Micah prophesied during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah (Micah 1:1). The record of their reigns in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles reveals the overpowering influence of Assyria at that time. During this period of history Assyria reduced the 10 tribe kingdom of Israel to a vassal state, and subsequently put an end to that kingdom. A few years later the Assyrian king Sennacherib marched against Judah, took many of the fortified cities, and sieged Jerusalem. But the Lord miraculously spared the city and preserved the Kingdom of David. It is this episode which evidently provided the backdrop for MicaHs prophecy cited above. It has become customary for brethren to see in Micah’s prophecy an intimation of how God will deliver Israel from the calamity impending in our day: Gog’s invasion from the north (Ezekiel 38- 39). There are two good reasons for this application. (1) The succeeding verse in Micah is easy to apply to Israel’s blessed influence outward to mankind in the Kingdom, which follows Israel’s deliverance. (2) A contemporary of Micah, the prophet Joel, speaks of the sai,ie historical episode (Joel 2:1-27), and his account also applies it to Israel’s deliverance at the outset of the kingdom. In Joel’s account Israel repents, pleads for the Lord’s mercy, and God intervenes to spare them from the northern army. Then God affirms “afterward, I will pour out my spirit upon all fells’ (verse 28). Notice that the conflict in Joel 3 also results in the Kingdom.

In this article we will examine both the prophecy itself (Micah 5:4, 5) and the historical episode it is based on (the deliverance of Judah from Sennacherib), as they relate to the crisis in Israel soon approaching, and the resulting establishment of the Kingdom of God in the earth.

SEVEN SHEPHERDS, EIGHT PRINCES

In the title we used “kings” for the more precise “shepherds” to make the point that the shepherds of this prophecy are not inferior to, but superior to, the princes. There is a word for king (Hebrew melek), and it is not used here. But the word shepherd (Hebrew raah) in this context means a ruler, one in authority. The scriptures use the analogy of shepherd in two quite different senses. The one we most often think of is the kindly, nourishing, cherishing care of a shepherd for his flock, just as our Lord is the “good shepherd” who “giveth his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). Another instance of this is Isaiah 40:11, “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.”

However, this lovely, tender usage is not the one intended in Micah. As a shepherd has autocratic rule of his sheep, directing them at his wish and fully in control, so it is sometimes used of a king with autocratic authority, exercising power over his subjects. This second usage was common in ancient Semitic languages. For example, Tiglath-pileser I, mighty ruler of Assyria, claimed to be “the rightful ruler (true shepherd) who has been proclaimed over all princes; the exalted leader whom Assur has caused to brandish his weapons, in order that he should be the shepherd of the four quarters (of the world)” (Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia, Daniel David Luckenbill, Volume 3, page 73). Ezekiel 20:33 uses a similar meaning, “with fury poured out, will I rule (shepherd) you:’ and this sense is even thrice used in the Greek of the New Testament, Revelation 2:2 7, 12:5, 19: 15, where “rule” (Greek poimaino, shepherd) describes kingly authority.

Likewise the seven shepherds of Micah 5:5 are really seven rulers, and these are easy to identify as the glorified church, who with Christ will be the rulers of earth. At the crucial moment these will intervene, as the agent of the Heavenly Father, to rescue Israel from the calamity of the northern invasion. The eight princes are easy to identify with the ancient worthies, who will be made “princes in all the earth” (Psalms 45:16).

WHY SEVEN AND EIGHT?

As the number seven is frequently used to signify a whole or complete amount, this probably appealed to Micah as a good representation of the several kings who would ultimately overwhelm and consume the powerful Assyrian empire. Incrementing this number by one heightened and accentuated the thought, and thus the companion reference is to “eight princes.” A similar method was used by Amos, who repetitively describes “three transgressions, yea four” of various nations (Amos 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 13, margin).

But these numbers are specially fitting when applied to the church and ancient worthies. In the tabernacle the church is represented as the seven branches in the candlestick, in Revelation as seven lampstands, and seven churches. Why not, therefore, seven rulers, or shepherds? In a related picture the seven days of the feast of unleavened bread shows the gospel age in seven divisions. The last or seventh day was one of special festival and celebration (Leviticus 23:8), just as the deliverance of the saints – a time of special joy – comes during the seventh stage of the church. What follows, naturally, is the eighth day, which in this sequence is the time the earthly salvation will open to the world. Thus it is on the eighth day that mankind will bring their offerings to the Lord (Ezekiel 43:27), and the eighth day will be the time of special joy and thanks for mankind (Leviticus 23:39). It is fitting therefore that the leaders of mankind, the ancient worthies, are represented by eight princes.

HEZEKIAH’S CRISIS

The episode is narrated in Isaiah chapters 36 to 38. Assyria was in its glory, and descended on Judah to overwhelm and conquer it. A generation earlier Isaiah had predicted this invasion. “The king of Assyria, and all his glory … shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks, And he shall pass through Judah, he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck, and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land” (Isaiah 8:7, 8). Now the dreaded time had come. “Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defenced cities of Judah, and took them” (Isaiah 36:1), and now he began his advance against Jerusalem itself. He ordered Hezekiah to surrender. Isaiah 36:8 may even be a summons to supply mercenary forces to add to Assyria’s army; or else merely a taunting disparagement of the – weakness of Judah.

Hezekiah had no thought of surrender. But he could not dispute the strength of Sennacherib’s boasts. He went to the house of the Lord, and spread out the letter from his foe before the Lord. He humbly pleaded his case before the Almighty, and prayed earnestly.

“O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the cher-ubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth. Incline thine ear, 0 Lord, and hear; open thine eyes, 0 Lord, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach the living God. Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their countries, And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them. Now therefore, 0 Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord, even thou only.” (Isaiah 37:16-20)

Hezekiah’s eloquent entreaty will be matched by Israel’s entreaty in the approaching crisis. Joel says of this time:

“Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly … let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God? (Joel 2:15-17)

Then the Lord will hear, he will be entreated, he will rescue and deliver his people. “Then will the Lord be jealous for his land, and pity his people … I will remove far off from you the northern army” (Joel 2:18-20). “It shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem” (Zechariah 12:9). “Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle” (Zechariah 14:3). “And it shall come to pass at the same time when God shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury shall come up in my face. For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel” (Ezekiel 38:18, 19).

By what means the Lord will spare Israel in their final crisis we cannot know. In Hezekiah’s day the invading host was smitten during the night. “Then the angel of the Lord went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians 185,000: and when they (apparently the Israelites) arose early in the morning, behold, they (the slain Assyrians) were all dead corpses. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh” (Isaiah 37:36, 37). Possibly an outbreak of plague carried by field mice or other animals was the literal cause of their demise. But by whatever means, Jerusalem was spared by a providence of the Lord. It has been ever since a striking testimony of God’s care for his people. The mighty empire of Assyria failed to conquer the feeble folk at Jerusalem, and the sacred throne of the Lord ruled by the line of David was not then overturned.

HEZEKIAH’S OTHER PROBLEM

But Hezekiah had another crisis coincident with the invasion, an illness which threatened his life. “In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death, and Isaiah sal ‘d … thou shalt die” (Isaiah 38–l). This burden also Hezekiah took to the Lord in prayer, recalling his upright walk and godly labors for the worship of Jehovah (verse 3). The Lord responded with mercy: “I have heard thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy life fifteen years. And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city” (verses 4-6).

Israel today is also afflicted by a disease which threatens their life, the disease of sin which as an incurable infection will bring them into death. Hezekiah’s cure is mentioned in verse 21. “Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaister upon the boil, and he shall recover.” A fig tree represents Israel as a nation, and individual figs individual Israelites. The particular individuals who will effect a cure for Israel are the ancient worthies. They will be raised in the midst of the crisis to lead Israel’s deliverance, and point them to the Messiah who died long ago for their sin. This poultice will draw out the infectious sin from Israel, and heal them.

It would make a nice picture of Israel’s cure for Hezekiah to have lived forever – since this pictures Israel’s recovery in the kingdom – but obviously that was impossible in the type. Perhaps as good a picture would have been to simply mention that Hezekiah was healed from his disease, without specifying the number of years added to his life. But the text is specific, 15 years were added. Why so specific? Fifteen is not a number which brethren have attached a special significance to. But does it not remind us of the 7 rulers and 8 princes – 15 in all – who Micah says deliver Israel?

THE SUN DIAL

God gave a sign to Hezekiah to assure him of the coming deliverance, the peculiar sign of the sun dial. “This shall be a sign unto thee from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that he hath spoken, Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.”

This was a remarkable event. What may account for such a phenomena? God, of course, can do anything, but it is unlikely He intruded on the course of the earth to spin it briefly backward. Yet the text specifically mentions the “sun returned ten degrees,” indicating the sunlight itself was involved in this aberration. Two plausible causes have been advanced to explain this. (1) During a solar eclipse shadows from the sunlight, it is said, may wobble or shift contrary to normal expectations. As it happens there was a solar eclipse in the middle east in 702 bc, March 5, according to Oppolzer’s Canon of Eclipses. The eclipse passed through Egypt and what is now Saudi Arabia. However the date generally ascribed to Sennacherib’s Judean invasion is 701 bc, and having reviewed the evidence I am satisfied with the integrity of that date.

(2) The other possibility is a condition caused by rare atmospheric circumstances which allow a mock sun to appear some degrees apart from the image of the actual sun. If a cloud interposed to block the actual image, the shadow from the mock sun would be cast at a different angle. I have once encountered a witness of the phenomena, and once seen it referred to in a publication unrelated to the scriptural incident.

But the symbolic meaning of this sign is even more interesting. The shadow probably represents God’s judgment, which darkened Israel’s prospects for the 2520 years they have been subjected to the four world empires. The last of these was the Roman Empire, which in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was divided into the 10 toes of the image, the church-state powers of Europe which were the longest-enduring part of the whole image. This may explain the shadow of ten degrees. But since 1914 we have seen the rolling back of that shadow of judgment, and the Jews have returned from that bondage. The rolling back of this judgment is a sure sign to us that God will not leave Israel defenseless in her approaching crisis. He will assist her, He will protect her, when in her hour of desperation she implores God for her very life.

In reply to her prayer God will raise seven rulers and eight princes to defend and sanctify his pleading people. Then “the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass.” (Micah 5:7)

– David Rice

 

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