Micah 2:12 - Meaning and Application

After God’s warnings of judgment, the chapter ends, as the prophets often do, with promises of mercy. These promises were partly fulfilled when the Jews returned from Babylon, and they will be fully completed in the kingdom of the Messiah.

Their troubles will all be set right. First, where they were scattered, they will be gathered together again. They will share God’s favor and find comfort and fellowship with one another (Micah 2:12). God says, “I will surely gather you all, Jacob, everyone who belongs to you, all the people of the house of Jacob who were driven away” (Micah 2:7, Micah 2:10). He promises to bring them together again, so that not one will be lost or missing. He will gather the remnant of Israel, the small group preserved for salvation, and join them into one body.

He says they will be like sheep in a fold in Bozrah. Sheep are gentle and social animals. They stay safe together under the shepherd’s care. They will be crowded with people, not because of quarrels, but because of their great numbers. The prophet explains this figure by saying that sheep stand for people (Ezekiel 34:31). This was fulfilled when Christ, through his gospel, gathered all God’s children who had been scattered abroad. He united Jews and Gentiles into one flock under one Shepherd. Then the complaint was that the place was too small for them, and the noise came from their great number (Isaiah 49:19-20). People were added to the church from every part of the world, and all were drawn to Christ by the power of his cross. This will continue more and more, and will be completed when he sends his angels to gather his chosen people from the four winds.

Second, where God seemed to have left them and cast them off, he will now own them, lead them, and help them through every difficulty in their return and rescue (Micah 2:13). The breaker goes up before them to break down every barrier and clear the way. Under his leading they break through and pass the gate, the door of escape from captivity, and go out with courage and resolve, with Almighty God as their guard in front.

Their King goes before them to lead them on, even the Lord, who stands at their head. He was Israel’s king, as he led their armies by the pillar of cloud and fire in the wilderness, and as he appeared to Joshua as the commander of the Lord’s army. Christ is the church’s King. He is the Lord. He leads them, goes before them, and brings them out of captivity into rest.

He is also the breaker, the one who broke through and opened the way into heaven for believers. Bishop Pearson takes this to refer to Christ’s resurrection, by which he won the power and became the pattern of our own resurrection. The breaker has gone up before us out of the grave, taking away its gates, as Samson took away the gates of Gaza, bars and all, and by that opening we go out.

Dr. Pocock says that some ancient Jews understood the breaker to be Elijah, and their King to be the Messiah, the Son of David. He thinks we may apply it to Christ and his forerunner, John the Baptist. John was the breaker in that he made the way ready. He broke the ice and prepared the Lord’s way by calling people to repent and be baptized. In him the gospel began, and from his time the kingdom of heaven advanced by strong effort. So the Christian church goes out with Messiah the Prince before it, at its head, going on to conquer and to conquer.