Another Way
Micah is always one of the people. His natural environment is not the big but the small, not the celebs but the folk whose names only ever appear in small print if at all. Bethlehem (lit. House of Bread) is ordinary, everyday basic fare. Its people form a tiny clan you wouldn’t give twopence for. Here too (v 2) we have a bridge between Micah and Jesus (John 1: 46) and the connection was not lost on believers who built these verses into the Christmas story.
As with Jesus, so with Micah. The focus has to be on the people who have always been there but never been noticed. The new ruler is coming from nowhere. But the future is with people like that, not where you traditionally expect to find it and not where you have been led to think it must be. But you may have to be patient and wait for it and, by comparison, nine months may be a very short wait.
So what is this future? Three key watchwords describe this new ruler when he comes? First, pastoral care (v 4). He will ‘feed his flock’. Meeting basic needs (bread) is an important part of it, but so too is creating an environment in which people can feel respected, needed and loved. Second, security (v 4). People need to feel safe. Children growing up in a rough environment with parents constantly at loggerheads can survive in spite of everything provided they have an underlying hunch that even the worst that is happening will pass and underneath everything is OK. None of us ceases to need the same sense of security however old we are. Third, peace (v 5). Seven (or eight) shepherds seems to be a reference back to David and his brothers who were shepherds and hardly a match for an Assyrian army. But then God’s take is different. Did not David defeat Goliath and save his people? And was not shalom something much richer than the cessation of hostilities?
Once again it is those little, ordinary, unrecognised people who hold the key. Like God, they see power and strength in a different place. Micah knew it and the early believers came to recognise Jesus as being in the same tradition.