Micah 4:1-5

Zion the center of the universal religion of the future, Micah 4:1-5.

These five verses furnish the first sublime picture of the glory of the Messianic era. 1.

In the last days Better, R.V., “latter days”; literally, sequel of days. “Last” days is ambiguous; the prophet does not mean to point to the end of the world, or to the end of the Jewish dispensation, but to some indefinite future. The phrase is used by the prophets only in referring to the Messianic age.

The mountain of the house of Jehovah The temple mount.

In the top Better, at the head. The meaning is not, “Zion will be so exalted above all the mountains and hills that it will appear to be founded upon the top of the mountains,” but rather that it will be at the head of the procession, towering above all others. By some this phrase has been taken literally, as if the prophet expected that, at some future time, the temple mount would in reality become the highest mountain, and Ezekiel 40:2, and Zechariah 14:10, have been quoted in favor of this interpretation. On the other hand, Psalms 68:15-16, shows that to the Hebrew the physical elevation of the temple site was not a necessary element of its pre-eminence as a sanctuary, and it is better to interpret the words figuratively as meaning that the fame of Jehovah will become so great that it will eclipse that of all other deities. The metaphor may be based upon an ancient belief that there was a mountain reaching from earth to heaven, on whose summit the gods dwelt.

People shall flow unto it Even outside nations will come to recognize Jehovah as the true God and Jerusalem as his earthly dwelling place; hence they will flock to Jerusalem in great numbers and will exhort others to come, that they may receive instruction in the principles of true religion. 2.

Law Parallel with “word.” Not “law” in the technical sense, but in the general sense of instruction (so R.V. margin). This instruction Jehovah gives through his servants, the prophets and priests (see on Hosea 4:6).

Zion As the holy city was the religious center of Israel, so the prophet expects it to be the center of the universal religion during the Messianic era, the city in which Jehovah will dwell and from which all his activities will proceed.

Of his ways The “ways” of Jehovah denote the principles of ethics and religion laid down by Jehovah; of these he will teach the nations as the needs or circumstances of each may demand.