<\/p>\n\n\n\n
5:1(2)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n But you, Beit-Lechem Ephrathah, which are little to be among the thousands of Y\u2019hudah: out of you, shall one come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Yisra\u2019el; whose goings forth are from of old\u2013from ancient days.<\/em> The Targum to this verse reads:<\/p>\n\n\n\n And you, O Bethlehem Ephrath,<\/em> The fact that Messiah was to be born at Beit Lechem is also expressed in this story found in the Midrash Rabbah (as well as in the Jerusalem Talmud):<\/p>\n\n\n\n A man was plowing when one of his oxen lowed. An Arab passed by and asked, \u2018What are you?\u2019 He replied, \u2018I am a Jew.\u2019 The Arab said to him, \u2018Unharness your ox and untie your plow [as a sign of mourning].\u2019 \u2018Why?\u2019 \u2018Because the Temple of the Jews is destroyed.\u2019 The Jew asked, \u2018How do you know this?\u2019 \u2018From the lowing of your ox.\u2019 While they were talking the ox lowed again. The Arab said, \u2018Harness your ox and tie up your plow, because the deliverer of the Jews is born.\u2019 \u2018What is his name?\u2019 \u2018His name is Menachem [Comforter].\u2019 \u2018What is his father\u2019s name?\u2019 \u2018Chizkiyahu.\u2019 \u2018Where do they live?\u2019 He answered, \u2018In Birat-\u2019Arba, in Beit-Lechem of Judea.\u2019<\/em> 8 (5:9) Let Your hand be lifted up above Your adversaries, and let all Your enemies be cut off. Now if we look a few verses down to Zechariah 13:1-3 we see a series of verses that clearly parallel Micah 5:8-14:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Both passages clearly speak of the coming of Messiah ben David to judge the earth and establish his Messianic Kingdom. Zechariah then goes on (see comments to Zech. 13:1-3) to identify this Messiah as having been wounded in the midst of his hands in the house of his friends (among his own people)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(Micah 5:1 (5:2) HRV)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
you who were too small to be numbered<\/em>
among the thousands of the house of Judah,<\/em>
from you shall come forth before Me the Messiah,<\/em>
to exercise dominion over Israel,<\/em>
he whose name was mentioned from before,<\/em>
from the days of creation.<\/em>
(Targum Jonathan; Micah 5:1)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Midrash Rabbah to Lamentations, Section 51 (on Lamentations 1:16)) (see also j.Ber. 5a)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
9 (5:10) And it shall come to pass in that day, says YHWH, that I will cut off your horses out of the midst of you, and will destroy your chariots.
10 (5:11) And I will cut off the cities of your land, and will throw down all your strongholds,
11 (5:12) And I will cut off witchcrafts out of your hand, and you shall have no more soothsayers.
12 (5:13) And I will cut off your graven images and your pillars out of the midst of you, and you shall no more worship the work of your hands.
13 (5:14) And I will pluck up your Asherim out of the midst of you, and I will destroy your enemies.
14 (5:15) And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the nations, because they hearkened not.
(Micah 5:8(9)-14(15) HRV)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nZechariah 13:1-3<\/td> Micah 5:8-14<\/td><\/tr> 1 In that day there shall be a fountain opened, to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Yerushalayim, for purification and for sprinkling.2 And it shall come to pass in that day, says YHWH Tzva\u2019ot, that I will cut off<\/em><\/strong> the names of the idols out of the land<\/em><\/strong>, and they shall no more be remembered. And also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit, to pass out of the land.3 And it shall come to pass that, when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begot him, shall say unto him, You shall not live, for you speak lies in the Name of YHWH: and his father and his mother that begot him, shall thrust him through when he prophesies.<\/td> 8 (5:9) Let Your hand be lifted up above Your adversaries, and let all Your enemies be cut off.9 (5:10) And it shall come to pass in that day, says YHWH, that I will cut off your horses out of the midst of you, and will destroy your chariots.10 (5:11) And I will cut off the cities of your land, and will throw down all your strongholds, 11 (5:12) And I will cut off witchcrafts out of your hand, and you shall have no more soothsayers. 12 (5:13) And I will cut off your graven images and your pillars out of the midst of you<\/em><\/strong>, and you shall no more worship the work of your hands. 13 (5:14) And I will pluck up your Asherim out of the midst of you, and I will destroy your enemies. 14 (5:15) And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the nations, because they hearkened not.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n