Micah 4:13 - Exposition

Arise . Shake off thy sorrow and fear and despair. And thresh. Tread thine enemies underfoot, now that they are gathered in the floor, as the oxen tread out the corn ( Isaiah 41:15 , etc.; Jeremiah 51:33 .) Thine horn. The horn is an emblem of power and victory, as appertaining to the wild ox, the most powerful animal in Canaan ( Deuteronomy 33:17 ; 1 Kings 22:11 .) The metaphor of threshing is dropped for the moment, but resumed in the next clause. Hoofs . In allusion to the mode of threshing mentioned above ( Deuteronomy 25:4 ; 1 Corinthians 9:9 ). People ; peoples . Israel shall crush all the nations that rise up against her. I (God) will consecrate. So the Masoretic text; but the second person, which the ancient versions give, is preferable. Septuagint, ἀναθήσεις , "thou shalt dedicate;" Vulgate, interficies . Thou, Zion, shalt devote their gain unto the Lord. This consecration, or devotion, to the Lord in the case of living things involved death, the restitution to the Lord of the life which he had given (see Le 27:21, 28, 29; Zechariah 14:21 ). Thus the spiritual Israel, purified by suffering, and redeemed, shall consecrate to the Lord the power of the world; and all the wealth and might of earth shall be subservient to the glory of the kingdom of God,