Be in Pain and Delivered Micah 4:10

Though the LORD through the prophet Micah declared that He would assemble and gather the people within the nation of Israel, they were to go through a time of captivity first. He instructed them to “cry out loud”, asked them whether or not they had “king” or a “counsellor” among them, and likened them to a woman having birth pains. In chapter four and verse ten of his prophesy, Micah tells the people how they are to be in pain before their deliverance comes. We read:

Be in pain, and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now shalt you go forth out of the city, and you shall dwell in the field, and you shall go even to Babylon; there shall you be delivered; there the LORD shall redeem you from the hand of your enemies.

The verse begins, “Be in pain, and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail:” Following his example in verse nine of this chapter, Micah continued with the idea of the “daughter of Zion” being in pain like a birthing woman. He declared, “Be in pain” which is “to twist, whirl, dance, writhe, fear, tremble, travail and be in anguish”, “and labor to bring forth” which means “burst or draw forth”, “O daughter of Zion” which refers to the “parched place or Jerusalem”. To be clear concerning his charge, Micah employs “like a woman in travail” which means “to bear, bring forth, beget or gender”. The idea is that Jerusalem is to be in pain like a woman birthing a child, and though this seems like a tough order, Micah knew their future.

The verse continues, “for now shall you go forth out of the city, and you shall dwell in the field, and you shall go even to Babylon;” Micah continued with the reason Jerusalem would be in pain, “for now you shall go forth” which means “to go out, come out, exit and depart” “out of the city” which infers specifically “the city of Jerusalem”, “and you shall dwell” or “settle down, abide, dwell, tabernacle, and reside” “in the field” which means “land, cultivated field or home of the wild beasts”. He added, “and you shall go” which means “enter, come into, be lead into or carried into” “even to Babylon” which means “Babel or Babylon” which by interpretation means "confusion by mixing". If we use our imaginations we can picture the people being cast out of their city, forced into the land where wild beasts dwell and lead captive into the foreign city of Babylon.

Finally the verse says, “there shall you be delivered; there the LORD shall redeem you from the hand of your enemies.” As though to bring a note of hope to the ones to whom Micah is prophesying, he added, “there you shall be delivered” which means “rescued, saved, snatched away or plucked out”. Micah continued, “there the LORD” which refers to “Yehovah or Jehovah” “shall redeem you” or “act as kinsman-redeemer, avenge, revenge, ransom and do the part of a kinsman” “from the hand” which refers to the “palm, sole, palm of the hand, hollow or flat of the hand” “of your enemies” or “personal and national foes”. Though the people of Jerusalem were to go through great pains of captivity in Babylon, it would be from Babylon where the LORD would deliver them from their enemies.

As we take a few moments to think over Micah's words, let us allow ourselves to be as the hearers of these prophecies. What if Micah was speaking of our city? What if we were to be painfully dragged away from all we see and know, forced into a wilderness area, and then taken to a foreign city to dwell? The culture would be different. The language would be different, and all we are familiar with would be gone in a few moments time. The hope Micah gave the people was they would be delivered from this foreign place, however, settling down there would be necessary first. Perhaps as we remember the reason for this forced exit was because the people of Jerusalem forsook the ways of the LORD, and now they were to pay a price for it. Could it be that we too have forsaken the LORD's ways? If so, we must humble ourselves, repent, and turn toward the LORD Jesus before we know the pain of being forcefully carried away from all we see and know.

Next time Micah shares how many nations will be gathered against Judah, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at http://www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.