Micha 5:2
By shonil123
Rabbi Yoḥanan says: "Any place in the Bible from where the heretics
attempt to prove their heresy, the response to their claim is alongside
them"
Sanhedrin 38b
This file will present 4 fundamental explanations
regarding this verse
• Summary of the Christian position
• The proper translation
1. 'Yamei Olam'
2. 'Yamei Kedem'
• The Jewish interpretation
• Clearing up misconceptions
I will use the website GotQuestions as a summary of the
Christian position to avoid committing a strawman fallacy:
"Micah 5:2 makes a couple of predictions. First, the
birthplace of this future “ruler of Israel” would be Bethlehem
Ephrathah. Since there were two locations known as
Bethlehem at the time of Micah’s writing, the addition of
Ephrathah is significant. It specifies the Bethlehem in Judah,
the portion of Israel in which the capital, Jerusalem, was
located. Bethlehem was considered “little,” or insignificant,
among the cities of Judah, yet would serve as the birthplace
of this future ruler.
Second, the coming ruler of Jewish background was one
“whose coming forth is from old, from ancient days.” What
else could this refer to other than the Messiah? Only the
Messiah fits the description of a ruler in Israel whose origin
was from times past. In fact, “from ancient days” is
sometimes synonymous with “eternal” (as in Habakkuk 1:12).
Only the Jewish Messiah could be a ruler in Israel from
eternity past."
https://www.gotquestions.org/Micah-5-2-Messianic.html
In order to analyze the verse, we have to understand that the
way the terms that convey ancient times are used in this
verse isnt literal, there are multiple examples where the
christian interpretation of these words can't make sense, if
we examine the use of these terms through scripture we
would find out the Christian understanding of them is absurd.
'yamei olam' (days of old/eternity)
In Micha 7:14, the verse speaks about a time when the land will be
inhabited as it was before the exile (under Israelite rule, see
Malbaim's commentary[1])
"Tend Thy people with Thy staff, the flock of Thy heritage, That
dwell solitarily, as a forest in the midst of the fruitful field; Let them
feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old [yamei olam]."
(JPS 1917)
The Christian understanding of the term 'yamei olam' would mean
the land was inhabited under Israelite rule since the start of
creation, which is obviously not possible, instead, the phrase
conveys the idea that the experience of exile will feel as endless
as eternity.
More examples of the use of 'yamei olam':
Amos 9:11-
"In that day will I raise up The tabernacle of David that is fallen,
And close up the breaches thereof, And I will raise up his ruins,
And I will build it as in the days of old [yamei olam]." (JPS 1917)
This is talking regarding the restoration of the Davidic dynasty,
which is something that was established a long time ago, but not
since eternity.
Malachi 3:4 –
"Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto
the LORD, as in the days of old [yamei olam], and as in ancient
years." (JPS 1917)
In this verse, we are told the offerings of the Levites will be as
pleasant to Hashem "as in the days of old, and as in ancient
years", this verse gives us a synonym for the phrase "yamei olam"
and explains what it means – ancient times.
'yamei kedem' (days of antiquity)
in Micha 7:20 the term 'yamei kedem' appears, the verse is talking
about the covenant that was made in the time of our forefathers,
"Thou wilt show faithfulness to Jacob, mercy to Abraham, As Thou
hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old [yamei kedem]."
(JPS 1917)
Which is again, simply not possible to have happened at the start
of eternity.
More examples of the use of 'yamei kedem':
Isaiah 23:7-
"Is this your joyous city, Whose feet in antiquity, In ancient days,
Carried her afar off to sojourn?"
The context is about the coming punishment of the city of tyre, that
will include exile, the verse describes the city before the
punishment as joyous, the Christian understanding of yamei
kedem cant be applied here.
Isaiah 51:9-
"Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; Awake, as in
the days of old [yamei kedem],The generations of ancient times.
Art thou not it that hewed Rahab in pieces, That pierced the
dragon?"
According to the consensus of the rabbinical understanding of the
verse, Rahab is referring to Egypt and the dragon is referring to
Pharoah the king of Egypt. By this interpretation, the phrase is
referring to an old time, but not since eternity.
Isaiah 30:7-
"For Egypt helpeth in vain, and to no purpose; therefore have I
called her arrogancy (Rahab) that sitteth still."
Ezekiel 29:3-
"speak, and say: Thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against
thee, Pharaoh King of Egypt, The great dragon that lieth In the -
midst of his rivers, That hath said: My river is mine own, And I
have made it for myself."
Now that we've established that the use of these expressions isn’t
literal and understood how they're used throughout the bible, we
need to understand what the verse says, Micha 5:2 talks about the
origins of the messiah, from the birthplace of king David (See
rashi's commentary [2]), (because of the davidic covenant that's
mentioned in 2 Samuel 7:12-16, 1 Chronicles 17:11-14, Psalm
89:3-4, Isaiah 9:7), with anticipation from ancient times through
prophecies and jewish literature, and as David berger phrased it in
his book Jews and "Jewish Christianity" (p.44-45):
Biblical "Proofs" of Christianity
"Finally, there is one more verse on the divinity of the Messiah
which serves double duty by demonstrating his birth in Bethlehem
as well. “And thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little
among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall come forth
unto me one who is to be a ruler in Israel, whose origins are of old,
from days of yore” (Micah 5:1 = 5:2 in some translations)
The Christological translation of the last phrase (miqedem mimei
'olam) is "of old, from everlasting," which demonstrates that this
ruler is eternal and hence divine. But aside from the almost
immediate reference to "the Lord his God," we are once again
dealing with a mistranslation. The crucial words appear in another
verse, where they cannot possibly refer to eternity: "Then shall the
offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord as in
days of old, and as in former years" (kimei 'olam u-keshanim
qadmoniyyot — Malachi 3:4).
The point of the phrase is that this future ruler, who may indeed be
the Messiah, will have come forth from Bethlehem because his
royal origins are "of old, from days of yore," i.e., from the old and
venerable House of David, and David was born in Bethlehem. In
other words, according to the most probable reading of this verse,
it not only fails to say that the Messiah is ever-existing, it doesn’t
even say that he will be born in Bethlehem. The point is that
Bethlehem will be his indirect point of origin because it was the
birthplace of the father of his dynasty. Jews don't have to insist on
this last point; the Messiah may very well be born in Bethlehem.
It's just that the verse probably doesn't say this."
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in order to prove my interpretation to be traditional and not made
up to object to Christianity, I will use the talmud to support it, this
passage understands the name of the messiah to be decided
before the creation of the world as the plan of redemption for
humanity:
"Seven phenomena were created before the world was created,
and they are: Torah, and repentance, the Garden of Eden, and
Gehenna, the Throne of Glory, and the Temple, and the name of
the Messiah."
Nedarim 39b:4 (also see Pesachim 54a:8)
This passage also explains the phrasing "Out of thee shall one
come forth unto Me…", the ruler serves as G-d's executive of the
plan of redemption to the world [3].
If we use this text to understand micha 5:2, its clear that the "pre-
existence" of the messiah was only by things that are connected to
him, like prophecies, his name, various literature, etc but not
actually him and thus doesn’t convey divinity.
The verse in rabbinical understanding
Rashi's commentary: "and his origin is from of old—“Before the
sun his name is Yinnon” (Ps. 72:17)." [See Nedarim 39b:11}
Abarbanel's commentary: "From you has come forth to me the
one who will be the ruler of Israel" - and he is the Messianic King
who will reign over them, and he clarified that he did not say this
because he will be born currently in Bethlehem, but his origin and
his family are from there, from 'kedem' from 'yamei olam'. And the
issue was that he was of the seed of David who was born in
Bethlehem and from the house of Jesse in Bethlehem and like he
said - and the origins of this king and governor will be from
Bethlehem from ancient times from 'yamei kedem'" which are the
days that David reigned over Israel.
Malbaim's commentary: "One whose origin is from of old, From
ancient times - and we wish that he would prevail in a strong
kingdom, like his origins that date back to the days of David and
Solomon, who reigned a great and huge kingdom"
Ibn ezra's commentary: "From you - all of this for the sake of
David who is the head of the kingdom, therefore and his origin
goes forward - to David, and here he will speak to Bethlehem
Ephrathah, because from the first sons of your sons, a savior will
come to Israel."
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Clearing up misconceptions
After coming across a claim saying that Rashi supports the
rejection of the messiah by attributing Psalm 118:22 to the
messiah following the description of Judah in Micha 5:2 I believed
it was necessary to clarify Rashi's interpretation.
from you shall emerge for Me—the Messiah, son of David, and
so Scripture says (Ps. 118:22): “The stone the builders had
rejected became a cornerstone.”
Although one may think Rashi is attributing the analogy of the
rejected stone to the messiah, Rashi is actually attributing this to
David, as he attributed the authorship of the psalm to King David.
In his commentary of verses 18-21, 27 (of Psalm 118)
Bind the sacrifice with ropes - …It is also possible to interpret the entire end
of this psalm from (verse 17), “I shall not die but I shall live,” as referring to
David himself:
[v.18] God has chastised me - For the episode of Bath sheba with torments,
e.g. (II Sam. 12:6): “And the ewe-lamb he shall repay fourfold.” David was
stricken with zaraath for six months.
but He has not delivered me to death - (II Sam. 13) “Also the Lord has
removed your sin; you shall not die.”
[v.21] I shall thank You because You have answered me - From here on,
David, Samuel, Jesse, and David’s brothers recited this, as is delineated in
[the chapter entitled] “The eves of Passovers,” (Pes. 119a). He who said this
did not say the other.
To summarize, Rashi means that out of david, who was rejected
and persecuted, the cornerstone will emerge - "from you shall
emerge for Me—the Messiah, son of David".
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[1] Malbaim's commentary: "Shepherd your people in your tribe -
even if you have to beat them during the days of their exile,
shepherd your people - in your care as a shepherd, your sheep will
be led…May they rejoice in Shean and Gilead as in 'yamei olam',
wants to say- that they return to Eretz Yisrael"
[2] Rashi's commentary: "And you, Bethlehem Ephrathah—
whence David emanated, as it is stated (I Sam. 17:58): “The son
of- your bondsman, Jesse the Bethlehemite.” And Bethlehem-
is called Ephrath, as it is said (Gen. 48: 7): “On the road to
Ephrath, that is Bethlehem.”
[3] The organization "Jews for jesus" claims: "Micah makes an
unusual statement when he says: “from you shall come forth to me.” This is
no ordinary way to talk about someone’s birth. Micah is speaking as a prophet
on behalf of God—that is who the “me” is. So this ruler is born for God and for
God’s purposes. No wonder all the ancients expected this one to be the
Messiah!"
https://jewsforjesus.org/blog/o-little-town-of-controversy
