Micah 4:1 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Micah 4:1
But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.
the last or end · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
days
הַיָּמִ֗יםhai.ya.Mim
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
mountain
הַ֣רhar
H2022
a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figurative… · noun, common masculine singular construct
house
בֵּיתbeit-
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · noun, common masculine singular construct
LORD
יְהוָ֤הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
established
נָכוֹן֙na.khOn
H3559
properly · verb, niphal active participle, masculine singular absolute
top
בְּרֹ֣אשׁbe.Rosh
H7218
the head (as most easily shaken) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
mountains
הֶהָרִ֔יםhe.ha.Rim
H2022
a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figurative… · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
exalted
וְנִשָּׂ֥אve.ni.Sa'
H5375
to lift · conjunction + verb, niphal active participle, masculine singular absolute
hills
מִגְּבָע֑וֹתmi.ge.va.'ot
H1389
a hillock · preposition + noun, common feminine plural absolute
people
עַמִּֽים'a.Mim
H5971
a people (as a congregated unit) · noun, common masculine plural absolute
flow
וְנָהֲר֥וּve.na.ha.Ru
H5102
to sparkle · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person common plural
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Isaiah 2:1-4 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
Jeremiah 3:17 At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Je…
Psalms 22:27 All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.
Zechariah 14:16-21 And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to…
Acts 2:17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall p…
Psalms 86:9 All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name.
Zechariah 8:3 Thus saith the LORD; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and t…
Ezekiel 43:12 This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law o…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Micah 4:1-7
It is a very comfortable but with which this chapter begins, and very reviving to those who lay the interests of God's church near their heart and are concerned for the welfare of it. When we sometimes see the corruptions of the church, especially of church-rulers, princes, priests, and prophets, seeking their own things and not the things of God, and when we soon after see the desolations of the church, Zion for their sakes ploughed as a field, we are ready to fear that it will one day perish between both, that the name of Israel shall be no more in remembrance; we are ready to give up all for gone, and to conclude the church will have neither root not branch upon earth. But let not our fai…
But in the last days it shall come to pass - These four verses contain, says Bp. Newcome, a prophecy that was to be fulfilled by the coming of the Messiah, when the Gentiles were to be admitted into covenant with God, and the apostles were to preach the Gospel, beginning at Jerusalem, Luk 24:47; Act 2:14, etc., when Christ was to be the spiritual Judge and King of many people, was to convince many nations of their errors and vices, and was to found a religion which had the strongest tendency to promote peace. Bp. Lowth thinks that "Micah took this passage from Isaiah;" or the Spirit may have inspired both prophets with this prediction; or both may have copied some common original, the words…
But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains,.... It appears by the adversative but, with which these words are introduced, that they have a dependence upon and a connection with the last of the preceding chapter; signifying, that though "the mountain of the house", on which the temple stood, should become desolate, yet "the mountain of the house of the Lord", which is not literally the same, but what that was typical of, the church of Christ, should be greatly exalted and enlarged; and which, according to this prophecy, would be "in the last days": that is, as Kimchi rightly interprets it, the days of…
The Church Fathers
After the experience of the troubles in which they would find themselves, made captive first by the Assyrians and later by the Babylonians, such a great transformation would occur regarding this place that the mountain on which God was reputed to dwell would become famous and would be shown to be superior to all the mountains and far surpass all mountains and all hills on account of the glory enveloping it as a result of the divine compassion. Large numbers from all quarters, even from foreign peoples, would hasten to assemble to reach this mountain of God, on which God is believed to dwell, and learn how they should regulate their lives and live as they ought.
The prophet Micah employed the symbol of a high mountain to speak of the gathering of the nations in Christ. He has this to say: "And it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared in the top of the mountains and high above the hills; and people shall flow to it. And many nations shall come in haste, and say, 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for the law shall go forth out of Zion, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem. And he shall judge among many people and rebuke strong nations afar off.' "
The evangelical and divine preaching coursed to the ends of the earth, according to the Lord's prophecy contained in the sacred Gospels: "This good news will be preached to all the nations in witness to them." And he urged the holy apostles in the words, "Go, make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I commanded you." This evangelical law and apostolic preaching began with Jerusalem as with a fountain and traveled across the whole world, offering irrigation to those who made their approach with faith. It is also possible to see the divine houses situated in the middle of cities, villages, fields and remote areas, conspicuous for their size and beauty, so that they are illustrious and famous even on the highest mountains.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Proselyte — Is used in the LXX. for “stranger” (1 Chr. 22:2), i.e., a comer to Palestine; a sojourner in the land (Ex. 12:48; 20:10; 22:21), and in the New Testament for a convert to Judaism. There were such…
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Micah 4:1-2
1. But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.
1. Accidet ultimis diebus, ut sit mons domus Jehovae dispositus in capite montium, et extollentur ipse prae sublimitatibus; et venient ad eum populi:
2. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
2. Et proficiscentur gentes multae et dicent, Ve…
The promise of salvation opens, in closest connection with the destruction of Jerusalem and of the temple, with a picture of the glory awaiting in the remotest future the temple mountain, which has now become a wild forest-height. Mic 4:1. "And it comes to pass at the end of the days, that the mountain of Jehovah's house will be established on the head of the mountains, and it will be exalted above the hills, and nations stream to it. Mic 4:2. And many nations go, and say, Up, let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, and to the house of the God of Jacob, that He may teach us of His ways, and we may walk in His paths: for from Zion will law go forth, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem. Mi…
Micah’s prophecy moves from utter despair to an eruption of hope as he expresses the future exaltation of Mount Zion in Jerusalem. God’s plan to bless all nations (Gen 12:3) through Abraham’s descendants will be realized when the nations and the Lord’s people stream to the Lord’s house . . . to worship. There (1) they will learn to follow God’s law and teachings; (2) the law and teachings will flow out among the nations as they are carried forth from God’s house; (3) peace and well-being will grow among the nations as they turn their energies to peaceful purposes and abandon war; and (4) the people will live without fear, having security, prosperity, and blessing (Mic 4:4). The idols of the…
