Micah 4:13
Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass: and thou shalt beat in pieces many people: and I will consecrate their gain unto the LORD, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth.
Micah 4 is a prophecy of war belonging to the present time and to the last days, in which the daughter of Zion is the remnant whom the Lord shall call and make strong with an iron horn and brass hoofs to thresh the nations gathered against her, beating many peoples in pieces and devoting their gain and substance to the Lord of the whole earth. A horn is an emblem of power that may be civil or ecclesiastical, and Zion's iron horn shows strength that need not symbolize civil power alone. The gathering of the nations that cry out against Zion is God gathering them as sheaves into the floor, and the threshing is the final destruction of the heathen and all the wicked when the Lord comes with ten thousand of His saints to execute judgment and convince the ungodly, not unto conversion but unto their being dashed in pieces like a potter's vessel and swept away like chaff of the summer threshing-floors until no place is found for them. The prophecy contradicts claims of coming peace and worldwide conversion or a temporal millennium when nations cease to learn war, for warlike preparations and judgment mark the present age and lasting peace begins only when Christ comes and the earth is cleansed from sin. The great cry of peace in which the nations speak of the Lord's house as dominant and of disarmament is a deceptive last-day claim of religious dominance and a self-deceiving hope with no matching action, which will prove a snare, for while they speak of peace sudden destruction is coming and human pride shall be brought low before the Lord.
Words and Historical Setting
Micah 4 is a prophecy about war that belongs to the present time and to the last days. It speaks of implements of warfare turned into utensils of agriculture, which is taken to declare that the nations will cease to learn war in a temporal millennium. Set beside Joel's turning of agricultural utensils into implements of war and arousing men of war, it raises the question whether the two prophets contradict each other and calls for closer examination of their testimony.
A horn is an emblem of power, which may be civil or ecclesiastical. Zion's iron horn represents strength, showing that a horn need not symbolize civil power alone. The daughter of Zion is the remnant whom the Lord shall call, made strong with an iron horn and brass hoofs to thresh the many nations gathered against her. The verse pictures Zion threshing many peoples, with God giving her strength, and their gain and substance devoted to the Lord of the whole earth.
Chapters 4 and 5 contain very definite prophecies concerning the birth of Jesus. The passage concerns Israel's captivity and longing for a king, an experience connected with the travailing in Revelation 12:2. Read with Micah 4-5 and the birth of the Man-child in Revelation 12, the passage marks Babylon as the very beginning of the seven-headed beast system of church-and-state government antagonistic to God, beginning when the kingdom was taken from Israel at Judah's captivity to Babylon and continuing until Christ comes.
Nations Peace and Government
Micah 4 belongs to a prophecy about war that reaches to the present time and the last days, and its turning of implements of warfare into utensils of agriculture is taken to declare that nations will cease to learn war in a temporal millennium, yet set beside Joel's turning of agricultural utensils into implements of war and arousing men of war it raises the question whether the two prophets contradict each other and calls for closer examination of their testimony. The prophecy stands against claims of coming peace and worldwide conversion, for war preparations and judgment rather than peace among nations mark the present age, and lasting peace begins only when Christ comes and the earth is cleansed from sin. Warlike preparations will continue while multitudes deceive themselves with hopes of peace, and that false hope will prove a snare.
The words are what people say when they deceive themselves that a glorious era of peace has arrived, a claim that is an illusion with no matching action, while human pride is brought low before the Lord. The verse belongs among prophecies about what people will say concerning world peace in the last days, picturing Zion threshing the nations with strength given by God and devoting their gain and substance to the Lord. The prophecy indicates that a peace movement will at some point succeed in some measure in accomplishing its aims. It includes a great cry of peace in which nations recognize the Lord's house as dominant and the Lord judges among them, and that peace cry is a deceptive last-day claim of religious dominance, for while the nations speak of peace and disarmament sudden destruction is coming.
The threshing of many peoples is prophetic evidence of a great world federation in the last days, drawn together under the influence of many people stirring popular sentiment in a worldwide movement. In the last days a worldly confederacy will take its seat in Jerusalem and many nations will nominally exalt Christianity in a civil way, giving feigned obedience while retaining their own worship. The chapter predicts a last-days independent government where God's true church could be protected in civil and religious liberty, identified with the government of the United States. It foretells the restoration in the last days of a national government for the remnant of the Lord's people after Gentile rule.
Final Gathering and Threshing
The nations that gather saying let Zion be defiled are gathered by God himself as sheaves are gathered into the floor, and their gathering is for destruction. The threshing commanded in the verse is the final beating in pieces of the heathen and of all the wicked. It takes place when the Lord comes with ten thousand of His saints to execute judgment upon all and to convince all the ungodly of their ungodly deeds and of their hard speeches. That convincing is not a conversion to holy living but destruction, when the wicked are dashed in pieces like a potter's vessel and become like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors which the wind carries away until no place is found for them.