Micah 4:9 - Exposition

Before this glorious revival the prophet foresees calamity and exile in the nearer future; yet he bids the people not to despair. Why dost thou cry out aloud? The prophet hears the cry of Zion, and asks the cause. Septuagint, ἱνατί ἔγνως κακά ; "Why knowest thou evils?" from a variation in reading. Is there no king in thee? Hast thou lost thy king? Is this the reason of thy sorrow? The allusion is to the captivity of Jehoiachin and Zedekiah ( 2 Kings 24:1-20 ; 2 Kings 25:1-30 .). The loss of the king, the representative of the help and favour of God, was a token of the withdrawal of the Divine protection (comp. Lamentations 4:20 ; Hosea 13:10 ). Thy counsellor. A synonym for "king." Cheyne notes that the root of melech ("king") in Aramaic means "to counsel." In Isaiah 9:6 Messiah is called "Counsellor." The Septuagint, treating the word as a collective, renders, ἡ βουλή σου , "thy counsel." Pangs , etc. The comparison of sorrow of heart to the anguish of labour pains is very common (comp. Isaiah 13:8 ; Jeremiah 6:24 ; Jeremiah 6:1-30 :43; Hosea 13:13 ).