phrase as a gloss. — From now on even forever] 'Now,' i. e. in the
immediate future, deliverance will be wrought; cf. the similar
use of 'now' in v. ^^
Str. V, in trimeter measure, promises the restoration of the old-
time glory and power to Jerusalem. — 8. And thou, O tower of the
flock] The figure of Israel as a flock of sheep is resumed from
vv. "â– ''*. The ' tower ' was an elevated structure overlooking the
sheepfold in which the flock was gathered for the night (Nu. 32^").
From this watch-tower the shepherd could keep a lookout for ma-
rauding beasts (2 Ch. 26*'^; cf. 2 K. 17" 18^). The phrase is not
therefore an allusion to Jerusalem as a scene of desolation, f but
rather as the headquarters of Yahweh, the protector of Israel; cf
Is. 14^^. The figure, perhaps, reflects the experience of Jerusalem
in the campaign of Sennacherib, 701 B.C., which placed the stamp
* Contra Gu.. t Contra We., Now., Marti.
4'-' 95
of Yahweh's approval upon the city for later generations.— 77ei^//i
of the daughter of Zion] b^]!, height, is used of fortified hills in
general (2 K. 5^^ Mesha-Inscr., 1. 22), and also specifically of the
southern end of the hill Moriah, between the temple and Siloam
(2 Ch. 2f 33" Ne. 3'*'- " lO- Here, as in Is. 32", it is either
used in its general sense, or by synecdoche designates the whole
of Jerusalem by the specific name of a portion. — Unto thee will
come the first dominion] The reference is probably to the days of
the kingdom under David and Solomon when Jerusalem was the
capital of the whole nation. Allusion to the prosperous days of the
double kingdom under Jeroboam II and Uzziah is less natural;
while to say that the impHed contrast must be between the post-
exilic regime and the pre-exilic* as a whole is without any basis.
It is possible that ' first ' here is used in the sense of ' chief and thus
describes the dominion as the greatest in the world, the world-
empire. — Yea, there will come the kingdom of tlie house of Israel]
With the transposition of the verb 'come' {v. s.), there is preserved
here the regularity and symmetry so characteristic of the paral-
lelism of these verses. M, reads 'there will come the kingdom
of the daughter of Jerusalem'; but this is a prosaic repetition
of the previous line and adds nothing. As corrected, the second
line points out that Jerusalem's great honour is to come to her as
the representative of the entire nation, the people of Yahweh. The
kingdom will be such an one as will be worthy of Israel's exalted
relation.
9. r.':] On ace. cog. as substitute for inf. abs., Ges. ^'"w. m q. —
10. ■•mi] Irregular vocalisation might be for euphonic variation after
"Sin; cf. ^rn in v. '^ and Ko. ^- s"', Sta. ^ "sb; but in Gn. 43" under similar
circumstances such variation is not made, and there are other o imvs. and
infs. from â– & impfs., where euphony plays no part, e. g. uic (Ps. 38'' 460,
n (Is. -j^). The meaning of the vb. as used elsewhere (viz. in Aram.,
Ar., and Jb. 38^ 40") is 'gush forth,' 'break forth.' In \'iew of this,
we might render here, 'burst forth' {i. e. into weeping, lamentation, etc.),
especially since the thought of a new birth for Israel is not at all present
in the speaker's thought, but only the attendant suffering; and since the
meaning "bring forth," i. e. in childbirth, is ver>' doubtful for the vb.
nu.— jvx ro] i. e. the people, not the town; Ko. ^''"'.— 6. hcdn] Qal
* So We., Now..
96 MICAH
impf. of HD^', treated as n'sj vb., and often confused with Hiph. of nD\
The n _ (4 times in 2 lines) is probably used for poetic assonance, and
not with any specific meaning. — r^y'y^n] The fem. used as a coll.; Ges.
§ 122 s^ — 7, nxSniHi] A Niph. prtc. from a denom. vb. nSh not elsewhere
used, but the existence of such a vb. is very doubtful; the Vrss. had diffi-
culty with the word, (S^ ® rendering it just like nnijn of v. ^ <&^ using
a slightly different word {i^uxri/ for iwuiafj.'), HI rendering as if from nxS,
and g" using same words here as for n;-'^i- and nmj in v. «, but in transposed
order; IE has expidsam in v. « and projectam here, but this is only for the
sake of variety as appears from the renderings adflictam and contribula-
tam for the one word 7\-;'^'ir^ in the two verses. The proposed reading
nSnjn accounts well for the corruptions of M and B, and its position
together with its similarity to nmjn might easily have misled (S. — 8.
my '71JC] Gn. 35'' (J), the only other place where this title occurs,
evidently refers to a locality between Ephrath and Hebron, and appa-
rently nearer to the former than to the latter. But Ephrath was in the
vicinity of Bethel, hence the application of the term is different from its
usage here. Similar names are iJ Sijd (Jos. 15"), ]'\::h-ri 'd (Ct. "]*), 'd
Snud (Ju. 8'0, s^"^ '0 (Ju. 9^^), ':'« 'o (Jos. 19=8). — Sdj:] If used here as
a proper name {v. s.), it designates a place on the southern slope of the
eastern or temple hill; cf. GASm. Jerusalem, I, 152 jf.; Paton, Jerusa-
lem in Bible Times, 64. The basal idea of the word is 'swelling,' 'pro-
tuberance,' as appears from the Arabic root and from its use in i S.
5«- =• '2 Dt. 2827. The Assy, uhlu, boil, ulcer (Dl."^^'^) should perhaps be
read uplu (Jensen, ThLZ. 1895, p. 250). — nrx-] The use of this Aramaic
word might perhaps be urged against Micah's authorship; but it is unnec-
essary to go further down than Jeremiah's time for Aramaisms, in the light
of the general and widespread use of Aramaic revealed by the discovery
of the Assuan papyri and by the Aramaic dockets on Assyrian and Baby-
lonian contract tablets dating as early as the time of Sennacherib. On
preformative -;^, as regularly in Aram., instead of 6,cf. Ges. ^ •>*'. — nrScc]
On cstr. before prep.,c/. Ges.^""", Ko. ^''5"'. The function of the prep, is
to define the relation between cstr. and gen. specifically; H. ^ ^•'^^. Thus
the meaning here is not ' kingdom over ' but ' kingdom for,' or ' belonging
to.' — EVcn^ r3] rT'j may easily have been written nj as in Mesa-Inscr.,
I. 23, Phoenician, Palmyrene, Sabaean; and, through the influence of
jrx D2 in 1. 2, D'7B'n> displaced '?n-ib'\
§ 10. The Triumph of Israel (4"'").
In two strs. of six lines each and in trimeter measure, the prophet
describes the scene of Israel's final vindication at Yahweh's hands.
Str. I depicts the assembling of the nations of the earth for the
4"-" 97
purpose of crushing Israel, whereas Yahweh's purpose is to use
Israel to crush them. Str. II shows Israel turning upon her foes
and, with Yahweh's aid, vanquishing them and dedicating their
booty to Yahweh.
A ND now there are gathered against thee
Many nations, who say: Let her be desecrated.
And let our eyes fasten upon Zion.
But they know not the purposes of Yahweh;
Nor do they understand his plan,
That he hath gathered them like grain to the threshing-floor.
A RISE and thresh, O daughter of Zion;
For thy horn I will make iron.
And thy hoofs I will make bronze.
And thou shalt crush many peoples,
And thou shalt devote their spoil to Yahweh,
And their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.
This passage reflects other conditions than those with which \^. '• 'o.
«-8 deal. In both descriptions Jerusalem is in a state of siege; but there
the result of the siege is the fall of the city and the exile of its inhabitants;
deliverance comes only after captivity has begun. Here, Jerusalem
turns upon its foes and conquers those who came confident of victor^'.
There, the enemy is evidently the Babylonian; here, the whole pagan
world gathers against Yahweh's people. This last feature was first in-
corporated in the prophetic descriptions of the 'latter days' by Ezekiel
(38" 39^-' • ■') and in such a way as to indicate that it was original -with
him. Hence this oracle must belong to a late exilic or a postexilic date.
The whole spirit of the passage is consonant with such a date. In \'iew
of 3" alone, Micah's authorship of this section seems out of the question.
The text of the passage is well preserved. The two strs. present each
a distinct phase of the situation and together constitute a complete rep-
resentation of the scene. The metre is regular except in lines 2 and 4 of
Str. I, where tetrameters appear. To separate Str. I from Str. II on this
account alone, with Siev., seems to be placing too much stress upon con-
siderations of form. The two are bound together into one prophecy by
identity of situation and point of \'iew.
11 . n.-iyi] § om. 1. — IJnr] C5 iirixapovfieOa. B lapidetur. Aq. (ace.
to &") will fall into wrath. B treats irs as subj. of n^nn, and ij'r> as
subj. of ^ro, for which it supplies a pron. as obj.. We. incn. — u^j^;-] 4
mss., # B (T sg., iJJ'>. dJ has pi., but puts vb. in pi. to agree with subj..
— 12. mjcn-] ® & sg.. — T-sv] "Bfoenum (hay) as always in TJ. Bears
of grain. (& dpayixara (sheaves). Aq. ^ chaff. Q a stalk of grain. —
13. inp] (5 & pi.. — ri|iin] (gB KaraT-n^ets. (g'^ Q iss- i^ \eirrvveTs. (g^
combines both renderings, KaTairaT-qcreii iv airrais tOvrj Kal XewTwdi
98 MICAH
\aovs TToXXot's; cf. IE et tabescerc faciam in eis gentes et vtinutatim fades
plebes multas. B comminues. & om. conj. i. — ''n'?"^'!?^'] Rd. as 2d pers.,
with 0^ & 13 ul, and nearly all interpreters. — o'^'n] <& ttjv l^x^v avrQv;
so B.
Str. I states Yahweh's purpose to thwart the evil intentions of
the nations toward Israel. — 11. And now there are gathered against
thee] Jerusalem is addressed. The prophet's 'now' is at the end
of the days, whither he has transported himself in spirit. The sit-
uation he depicts here cannot be identified with any set of known
historical circumstances, not even the Maccabaean {pace Hpt.). It
is the vision of a seer. — Many nations, who say:] The gathering of
the nations in array against Jerusalem is a characteristic idea of
exilic and postexilic prophecy; cf. Ez. 38 and 39; Jo. 3^- ^^ Zc. 12*"^
Is. 29'- ^ 41""*'' Zp. 3^. It belongs to the later eschatological as-
pect of prophecy. Pre-exilic prophecy sends its roots deep down
into contemporaneous history; its visions of the future are indis-
solubly linked with the conditions of the present; Yahweh's ac-
tivities in Israel's destiny are all historically mediated. But in the
later eschatology, as here, the pictures of the future bear no neces-
sary relation to the circumstances of the present, and Yahweh's
interventions are direct and immediate; not by human agencies,
but by divine forces.* — Let her be desecrated] The choice of lan-
guage is determined by the prophet's own point of view which is
that Israel's land is holy to Yahweh and the tread of the nations
is desecrating; cf. Jo. 3". The same figure appears in Is. 24^ Ps.
106'^ Je. 3^- ^- ^ Nu. 35^. — And let our eyes fasten on Zion] i. e.
gloat in triumph upon the fallen city; cf. La. 2^^ Ob. 12/.. — 12.
But they know not the purposes of Yahweh, nor do they understand
his plan] Cf. Is. 55^^- Ps. 92^ Rom. 11^. Just so Isaiah (10^-*^)
had pictured the Assyrian army as unconsciously working out the
purpose of Yahweh in reference to Israel, only to fall in turn a
victim to Yahweh's righteous wrath. "The secret of the Lord is
with them that fear him" (Ps. 25"). — That he hath gathered them
like grain to the threshing-floor] This is the content of the plan
* Gressmann's attempt {Eschatologie, 177 ^.) to retain these verses as Micah's involves too
much of unproved hypothesis and does not carry conviction even to those in sympathy with
his general contention, e. g. Stk. Das assyrische Weltrciih. 132.
4"-" 99
in question. Threshing is a favourite simile with the prophets;
cj. Am. i^ 2 K. 13^ Hb. 3*' Je. 51^ Is. 21I" 41^^
Str. II promises Israel complete victory over the nations as-
sembled to humiliate her. — ^13. Arise and thresh, O daughter of
Zion] The prophet's national pride finds expression in this repre-
sentation of Israel as the agent of Yahweh in crushing the arrogant
foes. — For thy horn I will make iron and thy hoofs bronze] Israel
is addressed as "the ox which treadeth out the grain" (Dt. 25^
Ho. 10"). The reference to horns here is foreign to the figure of
the threshing-floor, and introduces a new element into the picture
— that of the angry ox goring the foe; cf. i K. 22" Dt. 33^^. — And
thou shalt crush many peoples] The verb here means *to pulver-
ise,' 'to reduce to fine dust'; hence practical annihilation of the
nations is here contemplated. — And thou shall devote to Yahweh
their spoil] Not the booty taken by them from others,* but the
prey taken from them by Israel. There is no sharp distinction be-
tween the 'spoil' of this Hne and the parallel 'wealth' of the follow-
ing line. This is all to be placed under the ban, i. e. everything
combustible is to be burned, and the non-combustibles, silver,
gold, etc., are to be presented to the treasury of the temple; cf.
Jos. 6^^'^^' ^*. Other instances of the ban are found in Ex. 22'^
Dt. 13^^® Ju. i^^ I S. 15. — And their wealth to the Lord of the
whole earth] This title as applied to Yahweh is found only here,
in the late passages Zc. 4" 6^ Ps. gf, and in Jos. 3"- ^^ (J), where
it is generally conceded to be interpolated ;f cf. Dt. 10". The
ill-gotten gain of the nations is to be given to the God of the
world, to whom it rightfully belongs.
H . DnDNH] Prtc. with art. after indeterminate noun is equiv. to an
attributive clause; Ko. ^<" ^. — rnm] On fern. sg. of vb. with subj. in pi.
(not dual, as in Ges. ^'isn^ and Ko. ^'"), cf. Ges. ^ '«"<.— 12. i^cjj] Not
specifically sheaves, but the grain in the swath; v. BDB. and cf. the
renderings of the Vrss. here. — ^p)] Baer, incorrectly, nn'j; Ges.^'"'. —
13. •'y'ni] On pointing, cf. v. '". — 'nninn] Old 2d pers. sg. fern. end.
<n_, which occurs in several cases, e. g. in pron. 'ON; always in form
of vb. before pronominal suflixes; in corresponding pron. of Assy., atti;
♦ Contra Now., Marti.
t So e. g. Carpenter and Battersby, Holzinger, Addis, Kent, Dillmann (?); contra Steuer-
Dagel.
lOO MICAH
in the verbal end. ti in Ar., Syr., and sporadically in Aram.. Other in-
stances of in with vb. in Heb. are Je. 2^^ 3<- ' 312' 46" Jd. 33- â– > Ez. i6'3- 's-
22. 31. 36. 43. 47. 61^ where the Mas. recognised it as 2d pers. and so pointed
in; and Je. 2" Ez. 165' where it was mistaken for ist pers.. — ^d jnN
ViNH] C/. 'n»<i a^c-^' njp, Gn. 14"; and the Ranal Inscr., which men-
tions "the Lord (Baal) of heaven and earth."
§ II. A Call to Mourning (4").
A fragment of an oracle dealing with some siege of Jerusalem,
perhaps that of Sennacherib, or that of Nebuchadrezzar, or some
one unknown. It seems to reflect an actual historical situation,
rather than a prophet's vision of the last days. But the material is
too scant to furnish a basis for assignment to any specific date. Its
closest connection is with w. ®- ^^ and it may have belonged orig-
inally after v. ^ or as a marginal note on v. *° (so Marti). It has
been generally recognised that no connection exists with what pre-
cedes, as is shown by the absence of T from before nny and by the
totally different thought conveyed. Halevy places it after 6'", but
no real connection is thereby attained.
14. nnj P2 i-njnr] Rd., with We., â– 'i."'.3rin Tijriri, or vice versa; so
Now., Marti, Siev.,Gu.,Du.,Hpt.. (B ifJ.(ppax0V<^eTai OvydrTip in(ppayfj.c^,
mistaking the 2d i for n; cf. van H., tij nij iH^Pn. 2 (h5ivri(Tov(7i ae
6vy' ffwexofj-^vr}. B vastaheris filia latronis. & thou shall go forth in a
troop, O daughter of troops. — 0;:'] Rd., with # B SI, icif ; so Taylor,
Pont, Now., Marti, Gu.. Ti er^e-n. Hal. i^i;-. Ro. DU'; <:/. Ry. p.82.—
w] Hal. i;ri. — -jo-c] (S rds irvXas. & shepherd, perhaps = Bar. Cod,
548 (de R.) lopr; so Dathe, Gr.. Van H. laatr, foil. (B. Hpt. odco.
14. Now thoti art cutting thyself severely] Zion is addressed,
not Babylon nor Assyria. Cutting of one's flesh was an element in
the old Semitic mourning-cult and was long retained by the Israel-
ites; Dt. i4\ It was resorted to also as an act of worship and en-
treaty in cases of dire necessity; cf. 1 K. 18^^.* The usual render-
ing of m is, "Now, thou shalt gather in troops, O daughter of
* Hpt. denies the religious significance of the act of cutting oneself in mourning and declares
it a symbolical perpetuation of the early custom in accordance with which mourners scratched
themselves till the blood ran in order to show their grief. But on this supposition tlie prohibi-
tion in Dt. 14' Lv. 19-' 2 v' is hard to account for. Nor can the custom be dissociated from such
practices as appear in i K. 18-*.
troops," referring to the assembling of Zion's army to resist the as-
sault about to be made. But Je. 5^ offers the only case where
nnijnn must mean "assemble," and there it is far better to follow (gi
Karekvov and read 1"l'Ti3iT', make themselves at home.^ This ref-
erence to a practice forbidden by the Deuteronomic law may pomt
to an early date before the religious consciousness of Israel had
branded the custom as heathenish, or it may be due to the fact that
the prophet is merely describing what is actually taking place, and
neither commanding nor approving it. — A siege they lay against
tis] The prophet now identifies himself with his suffermg people.
The plural IDb is required by the corresponding 15\ A similar
situation is depicted in Is. i'- *. — With a rod they smite upon the
cheek the ruler of Israel] The pun upon taStT and tDDB' is clear, the
former being used rather than ']bD or bUD to make the parono-
masia; cf. Am. 2^. Such treatment was grossly insulting; cf. i K.
22^^ Jb. 16**'. It may refer to the insults heaped upon Hezekiah
(Is. 36^"^") by Sennacherib's general, or to the fact that the arro-
gance of the foe was an insult to Israel's greater king, Yahweh.
§ 12. The Messianic King (5*'').
This eight-line str., secured by omitting v. ^ as a gloss, an-
nounces the coming of the Messiah, sprung from an ancient line,
who shall rule as Yahweh's representative and in his might over
the entire world.
A ND thou, Beth Ephrathah,
The least among the clans of Judah,
From thee one will come forth for me,
Who will be ruler over Israel,
Whose origins are from of old, from ancient days.
And he will stand and shepherd (his flock) in the strength of Yahweh,
In the majesty of the name of Yahweh, his God;
For now he will be great unto the ends of the earth.
The trimeter movement of this str. is somewhat uneven; 1. 3 forms a
light trimeter while 11. 5 and 8 are extremely heavy. The reconstruction
includes the omission of a word each from 11. i, 2, and 8 {v. i.), in addi-
tion to the excision of v. -. The arrangement in pentameters by Siev.
includes all of these omissions except that in 1. 8, but likewise finds it
* So «. g. Gie., Du., Cor., Dr..
,T02; /','•■' ': MICAH
necessary to suppose the loss of three words from v. '. V. * is om. by
Du. (on Is. 7'0, G. H. Skipwith (JQR. VI, 584); Now., F. Ladame,
Marti, Siev., Gu., Hpt.. It interrupts the connection between w. ' ^"'^ \
and changes from the first person of v. » i'^) to the third in v. ^ (djp'),
where Yahweh is evidently intended.
The date of vv. i- ^ cannot be decisively settled. The attitude of re-
spect for the ancient Davidic dynasty and the largeness of the Messianic
expectation make it reasonably certain that the oracle must be assigned
somewhere in the postexilic age. The period of Haggai and Zechariah
when Messianic hopes were gathering around the name of Zerubbabel
furnishes the kind of background necessary to such an utterance as this.
On V. ', V. i..
1. nriDS cnS r^a] Om. ^rh as a gloss; so cod. 161 (Kenn.), Ro.,
Pont, We., GASm., Now., OortE">-, Marti, Siev., Gu., Du., Hpt.. (&
Be^X^e/i ol/cos ^E(ppdda. Mt. 2« BedXe^fx yi) 'Ioi/5a. Comp. oIkos rod
BedXiefji. ToO EvcppdOa. — l^'^] Rd., with Hi., -\%:i^; cf. (& dXcyotrrbs el;
so Ro., Taylor, Pont, We., Kosters, GASm., Now., OortEf"-, Marti,
Siev., Gu., Du., Hpt.. Twenty-one mss. cited by HP., together with
A, U, Mt. 26, Justin Martyr and Chrysostom, introduce a negative
before 'x. — prn*^] Om., as dittog. from 1. 4, vdth U, Mt. 2«; so Hi., Che.,
Taylor, Pont, We., Kosters, Gr., GASm., Now., Marti, Siev., Gu., Du.,
Hpt.. rvn*? 'i is poor Heb. ; the correct form would be '^n- '3. — •>'^'\ g> and
Mt. 2^ om.; so Stk.. — ^'^'12 rvn*^] (^^ ijyo'uixevos rov elvai els dpxovra. —
Mt. 2 5 renders the last part of verse loosely; frovt thee shall come forth
a leader who shall shepherd my people Israel. — 2. dj."''] S has vb. in 3d
pers. pi.; A in 2d pers. sg. fem.. — rnx] (S S A, pi. sf.. — S;-] We.,
Now., Marti, Stk., Hpt. '^n. — 3. n;-\] (g has a doublet, ^ferat Kal woi-
(laveT t6 iroinviov avroD. Gr., GASm., Siev., Gu., foil. ($, add an obj.,
e. g. mi", — jinj::] CS = pNj2i. — vn'^x] <B has pi. sf.. — ^yy'i] Om. as a
gloss, or as a dittog. from ]i:iiu'^ in v. 2. (g virdp^ovcnv, connecting with
v. 3» and omit. 1; so Taylor, Pont, who read vb. as in i33. B conver-
tentur; so g» 01. One ms. lar;; 3 mss. iav^>i. Ro. i2u'i\ Siev., Stk.,
and Gu. suppose the loss of some word or phrase modifying 13.;"', e. g.
rTJ2. — h-\i'<] (8 pi.. Siev. supposes the loss of the subj., or of an adv..
1. And thoii, Beth Ephrathah] i?J reads, "Bethlehem Ephra-
thah"; but "Bethlehem" is a gloss as is shown by (g's rendering
and by the metre. The identification with Bethlehem is, however,
correct as appears from the reference to Judah in the following line,
from the evident allusion of v. ^ to the Davidic djTiasty which sprang
from Bethlehem, and from the way in which Bethlehem and Eph-
rathah are associated in other passages. The family of David were
Ephrathites of Bethlehem Judah (i S. 17^'); Mahlon and Chilion
5' ^^3
are likewise classified (Ru. i^) ; Ephrathah and Bethlehem are par-
allel terms in Ru. 4"; (g's version of Jos. 15", which is generally
conceded to represent the original text, identifies Ephrathah and
Bethlehem; while i Ch. 2^®- ^° 4* enumerates Bethlehem in a list of
Judean towns associated with Caleb and Ephrathah. The only
evidence at variance with these facts is furnished by Gn. 2S^^- ^^
48^ I S. 10-; in Gn. 35^^ 48^ Ephrathah is identified with Bethlehem
as above, but from Gn. 35^'' and i S. 10^ it appears that the Ephra-
thah in question, which was the burial-place of Rachel, was near
Bethel and was in the border of Benjamin. Hence we are forced
to conclude that there were at least two places named Ephrathah,
one in Benjamin and one in Judah, and that the phrase "that is
Bethlehem" in Gn. 35^^ 48^ is a gloss due to some reader who con-
fused the two places.* The Ephrathah of our text seems to have
been the name of a larger district within which Bethlehem was situ-
ated, or of the clan to which Bethlehem belonged. On the basis
of the existence of an Ephrathah in Benjamin, Oort endeavoured
to show that this prophecy had to do with that site and was in-
tended to announce the coming of the Messianic kingdom through
the restoration of the downfallen dynasty of Saul,t but upon the ex-
posure of the weakness of this proposition by Kue.,J Oort himself
abandoned it.§ — The least among the thousands of Judah] The
only possible rendering of M is, "little to be among the thousands
of Judah," i. e. so small that one would hardly have expected to
find thee in the number. But grammar and metre combine to
recommend the corrected text. The word rendered clans is of
somewhat doubtful significance as applied to Beth Ephrathah.
It ordinarily designates, aside from its strictly numerical usage,
either a band of one thousand men under a common leader, or a
family. Here and in i S. 23^ it has either the latter meaning, or
else denotes the region or district occupied by an tpi<. It may re-
fer to Ephrathah as the seat of the Davidic clan, which at the time
this was written seems to have been reduced to its lowest terms.
But in contrast with the present low estate of the family, /row thee
one will come forth for me who shall be ruler over Israel] This im-
* So e. g. Dillmann, Stk., Dr., Addis, Gunkel, Holzinger, Carpenter and Battersby.
t ThT. V, SOI-SI2. X ThT. VI, 45-66. § ThT. VI, 273-279.
I04 MICAH
plies that at the time of its utterance there was no king over Israel
and thus indicates the late origin of this passage For me, i. e. in
accordance with my purpose and as a result of my plans; the
speaker is Yahweh. — Whose origins are from of old, from ancient