Micah 4:10 KJV
Be in pain, and labour to bring forth,
O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail:
for now shalt thou go forth out of the city,
and thou shalt dwell in the field,
and thou shalt go even to Babylon;
there shalt thou be delivered;
there the Lord shall redeem thee
from the hand of thine enemies.
People in Zion, you will have a lot of pain, like a woman who is giving birth to a baby. She rolls about and she screams with pain. Soon you will have to leave your city and you will have to live in the fields. You will have to go to Babylon, but there the Lord will save you. He will make you free again from the authority of your enemies.
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Be in pain, and labour
Carrying on, on the metaphor of a pregnant woman.
Thou shalt be affected with bitter sorrows before thy deliverance shall come.
I do not forbid thy grieving, but I bring thee consolation.
Though God cares for His children, yet they must not expect to be exempt from trouble, but must prepare for it.
Go forth out of the city
On its capture. So “come out” is also used 2 Kings 24:12, Isaiah 36:16.
Dwell in the field
Namely, in the open country, defenseless, instead of in their fortified city.
Beside the Chebar (Psalms 137:1, Ezekiel 3:15).
Babylon
Like Isaiah, Micah looks beyond the existing Assyrian dynasty to the Babylonian, and to Judah’s captivity under it, and its restoration (Isaiah 39:7, 43:14, 48:20).
Had they been, as rationalists represent, merely sagacious politicians, they would have restricted their prophecies to the sphere of the existing Assyrian dynasty. But their seeing into the far-off future of Babylon’s subsequent supremacy, and Judah’s connection with her, proves them to be inspired prophets.
there … there
Is an emphatic repetition.
The very scene of your calamities is also to be the scene of your deliverance.
In the midst of enemies, where all hope seems cut off, there shall Cyrus, the deliverer, appear (compare Judges 14:14). Cyrus again being the type of the greater Deliverer, who shall finally restore Israel.
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That the judgment of exile comes is certain.
But it is also certain that God will save his people there.
Humiliation brings about exaltation, life comes through death.
Only after the grain of wheat has died in the earth, it will bear fruit.
That is the law of the Kingdom, that is the law of our King Jesus, who also puts it into practice in his death and resurrection.
In that law we are all practiced for life and these are often not the easiest life lessons.
○ We cannot imagine being delivered from Babel.
Redemption only happens in Jerusalem, right?
○ We cannot imagine being saved from the dead.
Doesn’t that only happen in life?
That is why we must not lose heart.
If it is going through distress and death, through fear and guilt, then the Lord is near to save.
When we mourn in Babylon, the Lord comes to give us the wine of joy.
Salvation in Babylon is the big and happy surprise.
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Thank you so much for the word of encouragement through His words
Bless you man of God