Messiah in Prophecy
BY ROBERT WALTER
names—Jesus of Nazareth. Indeed, He is the promised Son of David,2 and the
Lord our righteousness.3
1. See Genesis 29:32-30:24 and the naming of Jacob’s sons for example.
2. See Matthew 1:1, 20; 9:27; 12:23; 15:22; 20:30-31; 21:9, 15.
3. See John 1:1, 14, 18; 14:9-11; 1 Timothy 1:17; Hebrews 1:3; Colossians 1:15-23; 1 Corinthians 1:30-31
BY DR. MITCH GLASER
MICAH 5:2
“But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little
to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be
ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity.”
TA Ruler from the Tribe of Judah Born in Bethlehem here were two Bethlehems, one in the south of Israel and one in the north. The
adding of Ephrathah indicates that this is the Bethlehem that is approximately
five miles south of Jerusalem and is the ancestral home of Ruth and King
David (Ruth 1:1-2; 4:11). The word Bethlehem literally means the “house of
bread,” and it is possible that the city was some how linked to the baking of bread.
Bethlehem was known as a city close to Jerusalem where animals for sacrifice were
raised.
Micah alludes to the passage in Genesis 49:10 where Jacob predicts that the
ruler of Israel would come from the tribe of Judah: “The scepter shall not depart from
Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him shall
be the obedience of the peoples.” Judah was the fourth son of Jacob, not the first. So
God is apparently upsetting the usual order of inheritance by telling the Jewish
people that their ultimate ruler would come from the descendants of the fourth
son of Israel.
Although the Hebrew Bible uses two different terms which are translated as
“ruler” in Genesis 49:10 and in Micah 5:2, the point is clear. Whoever this ruler
is would profoundly impact the Jewish people since he would be the predicted
ruler of Jacob’s prophecy and the royal son who would rule the Jewish people
forever (2 Samuel 7:13ff). The first word, “mikedem” may be translated, “from
ancient times”, and the second term, “olam”, as “eternal”, which often describes
the everlasting character of the God of Israel (Psalm 25:5, 90:2, Habakkuk 1:12).
The use of the term in Micah 5:2 speaks of the eternality of the coming ruler
which was fulfilled in the person of the Messiah Jesus, the eternal Son of David,
spoken of in the New Testament.
The New Testament Fulfillment
They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been
written by the prophet: ‘And you, Bethlehem, Land of Judah, Are by no means
least among the leaders of Judah; for out of you shall come forth a ruler who
will shepherd my people Israel.’” (Matthew 2:5-6)
The Gospel writer indicates that Jesus is the promised ruler. He is the son of
David from the tribe of Judah who was born in the traditional Davidic homeland,
and He will prove Himself to be the eternal Son of God and Messianic King
through His perfect character and miracles. The “bread of life” would be born in
Bethlehem as He would be both the bread of life and ultimate sacrifice for our
sin—born to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
DECEMBER 2017 / THE CHOSEN PEOPLE - 4
JEREMIAH 23:5-6
“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch;
And He will reign as king and act wisely, and do justice
and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah
will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely; And this
is His name by which He will be called, ‘The Lord
our righteousness.’”
What is in a name? In the context of Scripture,
quite a bit! The biblical authors, the ancient
Jewish people, and many in the ancient Near
East placed a high value on one’s name. A
person’s character, reputation, occupation, and
family connection would all be encapsulated in
their name. We can relate with this in our day.
When a person has worked hard to earn a good
reputation, we might say, “He has really made
a name for himself.” The ancients would often
take it a step further and attribute great religious
or even prophetic significance to one’s name.1
Understanding this helps us grasp the significance
of not only the names of individuals within
Scripture, but especially the many names and titles
attributed to God and the Messiah throughout the
Bible.
The text in Jeremiah 23 is a prime example.
The broader context of Jeremiah’s prophecy has him
warning of Jerusalem’s coming destruction at the
hands of Babylon and specifically rebuking David’s
descendants, Judah’s failed kings. The lack of godly
leadership, leading to national sin, had created a
void and left Judah and Jerusalem susceptible to the
impending judgment. Amazingly, in the midst of
the bleak and dire warnings, God gave a promise of
hope. He would raise up a unique individual to fill
Israel’s leadership void. From the names attributed
to him, we learn of his two-fold identity. As the
“righteous Branch” descended from David, he
would be Israel’s long-awaited, righteous human
King (2 Samuel 7:12-16). Not only that, this King
would bear the holy name of God, “The Lord our
righteousness.” This is the only place in the Old
Testament where the full name of the Lord (the
Tetragrammaton) is used for a human being, and it
is utterly profound. This passage speaks to both the
humanity and the deity of the coming King.
There has been only one person in history
who has embodied this identity and bore these