I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel - God's mercy on the penitent and believing being the end of all His threatenings, the mention of it often bursts in abruptly. Christ is ever the Hope as the End of prophecy, ever before the prophets' mind. The earthquake and fire precede the still small voice of peace in Him. What seems then sudden to us, is connected in truth. The prophet had said Micah 2:10, where was not their rest and how they should be cast forth; he saith at once how they should be gathered to their everlasting rest. He had said, what promises of the false prophets would not be fulfille Micah 2:11. But, despair being the most deadly enemy of the soul, he does not take away their false hopes, without shewing them the true mercies in store for them. Jerome: "Think not," he would say, "that I am only a prophet of ill. The captivity foretold will indeed now come, and God's mercies will also come, although not in the way, which these speak of."

The false prophets spoke of worldly abundance ministering to sensuality, and of unbroken security. He tells of God's mercies, but after chastisement, to "the remnant of Israel." But the restoration is complete, far beyond their then condition. He had foretold the desolation of Samaria Micah 1:6, the captivity of Judah Micah 1:16; Micah 2:4; he foretells the restoration of all Jacob, as one. The images are partly taken (as is the prophet's custom) from that first deliverance from Egypt . Then, as the image of the future growth under persecution, God multiplied His people exceedingly Exodus 1:12; then "the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them the way" Exodus 13:21; then God "brought them up" "out of the house of bondage" (see below, Micah 6:4).

But their future prison-house was to be no land of Goshen. It was to be a captivity and a dispersion at once, as Hosea had already foretold . So he speaks of them emphatically, as a great throng, "assembling I will assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; gathering I will gather the remnant of Israel." The word, which is used of the gathering of a flock or its lambs Isaiah 40:11; Isaiah 13:14, became, from Moses' prophecy (Deuteronomy 30:3-4, see Nehemiah 1:9), a received word of the gathering of Israel from the dispersion of the captivity (see below, Micah 4:6; Psalm 106:47; Psalm 107:3; Isaiah 11:12; Isaiah 43:5; Isaiah 54:7; Isaiah 56:8; Zephaniah 3:19-20; Jeremiah 23:3; Jeremiah 29:14; Jeremiah 31:8, Jeremiah 31:10; Jeremiah 32:37; Ezekiel 11:17; Ezekiel 20:34, Ezekiel 20:41; Ezekiel 28:25; Ezekiel 34:13; Ezekiel 37:21; Ezekiel 38:8; Ezekiel 39:27; Zechariah 10:10). The return of the Jews from Babylon was but a faint shadow of the fulfillment. For, ample as were the terms of the decrees of Cyrus Ezra 1:2-4 and Artaxerxes Ezra 7:13, and widely as that of Cyrus was diffused Ezra 1:1, the restoration was essentially that of Judah, that is, Judah, Benjamin and Levi : the towns, whose inhabitants returned, were those of Judah and Benjamin Ezra 2; Nehemiah 7; the towns, to which they returned, were of the two tribes.

It was not a gathering of "all Jacob;" and of the three tribes who returned, there were but few gathered, and they had not even an earthly king, nor any visible Presence of God. The words began to he fulfilled in the "many Acts 21:20 tens of thousands" who believed at our Lord's first Coming; and "all Jacob," that is, all who were Israelites indeed, "the remnant" according to the election of grace Romans 11:5, were gathered within the one fold of the Church, under One Shepherd. It shall be fully fulfilled, when, in the end, "the fullness of the Gentiles shall come in and all Israel shall be saved" Romans 11:25-26. "All Jacob" is the same as "the remnant of Israel," the true Israel which remains when the false severed itself off; all the seed-corn, when the chaff was winnowed away. So then, whereas they were now scattered, then, God saith, "I will put them together (in one fold) as the sheep of Bozrah," which abounded in sheep Isaiah 34:6, and was also a strong city of Edom ; denoting how believers should be fenced within the Church, as by a strong wall, against which the powers of darkness should not prevail, and the wolf should howl around the fold, yet be unable to enter it, and Edom and the pagan should become part of the inheritance of Christ . "As a flock in the midst of their fold," at rest , "like sheep, still and subject to their shepherd's voice. So shall these, having one faith and One Spirit, in meekness and simplicity, obey the one rule of truth. Nor shall it be a small number;" for the place where they shall be gathered shall be too narrow to contain them, as is said in Isaiah; "Give place to me, that I may dwell" Isaiah 49:20.

They shall make great noise - (it is the same word as our hum, "the hum of men,") by reason of the multitude of men He explains his image, as does Ezekiel EZechariah 34:31, "And ye are My flock, the flock of My pasture; men are ye; I, your God, saith the Lord God: and Ezekiel 36:38, As a flock of holy things, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts; so shall the waste cities be full of a flock of men and they shall know that I am the Lord." So many shall they be, that throughout the whole world they shall make a great and public sound in praising God, filling Heaven and the green pastures of Paradise with a mighty hum of praise;" as John saw "a great multitude which no man could number" Revelation 7:9, "with one united voice praising the Good Shepherd, who smoothed for them all rugged places, and evened them by His Own Steps, Himself the Guide of their way and the Gate of Paradise, as He saith, 'I am the Door;' through whom bursting through and going before, being also the Door of the way, the flock of believers shall break through It. But this Shepherd is their Lord and King" . Not their King only, but the Lord God; so that this, too, bears witness that Christ is God.

I will surely assemble - This is a promise of the restoration of Israel from captivity. He compares them to a flock of sheep rushing together to their fold, the hoofs of which make a wonderful noise or clatter. So when one hundred sheep run, eight hundred toes or divisions of these bifid animals make a clattering noise. This appears to be the image.

I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee,.... These words are either the words of the false prophet continued, that prophesied of wine and strong drink, as Aben Ezra; promising great plenty and prosperity, and that the remnant of the ten tribes carried captive by Tiglathpileser should be returned, and they should all live together in safety and plenty, and rejoice because of their numbers: or else they are a denunciation of threatenings and judgments, as Kimchi; that the Israelites should be gathered indeed together, but as sheep for the slaughter, even those that remained, not as yet carried captive; these should be shut up, and closely besieged in their cities, and make a noise, and cry for fear of their enemies, and because of the great number of them: or rather they are a comfortable promise of the gathering of the people of Israel in the times of the Messiah, in the last days the Gospel dispensation, even all of Jacob, all the then posterity of Israel; for then "all Israel shall be saved", Romans 11:26; and this is introduced, though abruptly, as often such promises are, for the comfort of the Lord's people, amidst sorrowful and sad tidings brought to the people in general: I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; the remnant according to the election of grace, whom the Lord will reserve for himself, those that are left of them in the latter day; these shall be gathered effectually by the grace of God unto Jesus, the true Messiah, they shall now seek after; and into his church, to join themselves to his people, embracing his Gospel, and submitting to his ordinances; when there shall be "one fold" for Jews and Gentiles, and "one Shepherd" over them, the Lord Jesus Christ, John 10:16;

I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah; a place famous for flocks and pastures; signifying that they should be took care of by the great and good Shepherd, have a good fold, and good pastures provided for them, where they should feed comfortably together, in great unity and affection:

as the flock in the midst of their fold; lying down safely, and resting quietly; see Ezekiel 34:13;

they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men: a joyful noise, because of their own numbers being increased with men like a flock, and so numerous, that the place will be too strait for them; and because of the number of good and faithful shepherds under Christ, to feed and protect them, even pastors after God's own heart, given them to feed them with knowledge and understanding, Jeremiah 3:15.

In Micah 2:12, Micah 2:13 there follows, altogether without introduction, the promise of the future reassembling of the people from their dispersion. Micah 2:12. "I will assemble, assemble thee all together, O Jacob; gather together, gather together the remnant of Israel; I will bring him together like the sheep of Bozrah, like a flock in the midst of their pasture: they will be noisy with men. Micah 2:13. The breaker through comes up before them; they break through, and pass along through the gate, and go out by it; and their King goes before them, and Jehovah at their head." Micah is indeed not a prophet, prophesying lies of wine and strong drink; nevertheless he also has salvation to proclaim, only not for the morally corrupt people of his own time. They will be banished out of the land; but the captivity and dispersion are not at an end. For the remnant of Israel, for the nation when sifted and refined by the judgments, the time will come when the Lord will assemble them again, miraculously multiply them, and redeem them as their King, and lead them home. The sudden and abrupt transition from threatening to promise, just as in Hosea 2:2; Hosea 6:1; Hosea 11:9, has given rise to this mistaken supposition, that Micah 2:12, Micah 2:13 contain a prophecy uttered by the lying prophets mentioned in Micah 2:10 (Abenezra, Mich., Ewald, etc.). But this supposition founders not only on the שׁארית ישׂראל, inasmuch as the gathering together of the remnant of Israel presupposes the carrying away into exile, but also on the entire contents of these verses. Micah could not possibly introduce a false prophet as speaking in the name of Jehovah, and saying, "I will gather;" such a man would at the most have said, "Jehovah will gather." Nor could he have put a true prophecy like that contained in Micah 2:12, Micah 2:13 into the mouth of such a man. For this reason, not only Hengstenberg, Caspari, and Umbreit, but even Maurer and Hitzig, have rejected this assumption; and the latter observes, among other things, quite correctly, that "the idea expressed here is one common to the true prophets (see Hosea 2:2), which Micah himself also utters in Micah 4:6." The emphasis lies upon the assembling, and hence אאסף and אקבּץ are strengthened by infinitive absolutes. But the assembling together presuppose a dispersion among the heathen, such as Micha has threatened in Micah 1:11, Micah 1:16; Micah 2:4. And the Lord will gather together all Jacob, not merely a portion, and yet only the remnant of Israel. This involves the thought, that the whole nation of the twelve tribes, or of the two kingdoms, will be reduced to a remnant by the judgment. Jacob and Israel are identical epithets applied to the whole nation, as in Micah 1:5, and the two clauses of the verse are synonymous, so that יעקב כּלּך coincides in actual fact with שׁאתית ישׂראל. The further description rests upon the fact of the leading of Israel out of Egypt, which is to be renewed in all that is essential at a future time. The following clauses also predict the miraculous multiplication of the remnant of Israel (see Hosea 2:1-2; Jeremiah 31:10), as experienced by the people in the olden time under the oppression of Egypt (Exodus 1:12). The comparison to the flock of Bozrah presupposes that Bozrah's wealth in flocks was well known. Now, as the wealth of the Moabites in flocks of sheep is very evident from 2 Kings 3:4, many have understood by בּצרה not the Edomitish Bozrah, but the Moabitish Bostra (e.g., Hengstenberg). Others, again, take botsrâh as an appellative noun in the sense of hurdle or fold (see Hitzig, Caspari, and Dietrich in Ges. Lex. after the Chaldee). But there is not sufficient ground for either. The Bostra situated in the Hauran does not occur at all in the Old Testament, not even in Jeremiah 48:24, and the appellative meaning of the word is simply postulated for this particular passage. That the Edomites were also rich in flocks of sheep is evident from Isaiah 24:6, where the massacre which Jehovah will inflict upon Edom and Bozrah is described as a sacrificial slaughtering of lambs, he-goats, rams, and oxen; a description which presupposes the wealth of Bozrah in natural flocks. The comparison which follows, "like a flock in the midst of its pasture," belongs to the last verse, and refers to the multiplication, and to the noise made by a densely packed and numerous flock. The same tumult will be made by the assembled Israelites on account of the multitude of men. For the article in הדּברו, which is already determined by the suffix, see at Joshua 7:21. In Joshua 7:13 the redemption of Israel out of exile is depicted under the figure of liberation from captivity. Was Egypt a slave-house (Micah 6:4; cf. Exodus 20:2); so is exile a prison with walls and gates, which must be broken through. הפּריץ, the breaker through, who goes before them, is not Jehovah, but, as the counterpart of Moses the leader of Israel out of Egypt, the captain appointed by God for His people, answering to the head which they are said to choose for themselves in Hosea 2:2, a second Moses, viz., Zerubbabel, and in the highest sense Christ, who opens the prison-doors, and redeems the captives of Zion (vid., Isaiah 42:7). Led by him, they break through the walls, and march through the gate, and go out through it out of the prison. "The three verbs, they break through, they march through, they go out, describe in a pictorial manner progress which cannot be stopped by any human power" (Hengstenberg). Their King Jehovah goes before them at their head (the last two clauses of the verse are synonymous). Just as Jehovah went before Israel as the angel of the Lord in the pillar of cloud and fire at the exodus from Egypt (Exodus 13:21), so at the future redemption of the people of God will Jehovah go before them as King, and lead the procession (see Isaiah 52:12).

The fulfilment of this prophecy commenced with the gathering together of Israel to its God and King by the preaching of the gospel, and will be completed at some future time when the Lord shall redeem Israel, which is now pining in dispersion, out of the fetters of its unbelief and life of sin. We must not exclude all allusion to the deliverance of the Jewish nation out of the earthly Babylon by Cyrus; at the same time, it is only in its typical significance that this comes into consideration at all, - namely, as a preliminary stage and pledge of the redemption to be effected by Christ out of the spiritual Babylon of this world.

I will surely assemble, O Jacob, {o} all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men.

(o) To destroy you.

2:12 Them - All the remnant. As the sheep - ln great numbers. Their fold - Their own fold, where they are safe. The multitude of men - This was fulfilled in part, when the Jews returned out of Babylon, but more fully when Christ by his gospel gathered together in one, all the children of God that were scattered abroad.

Margin remnant

See Scofield Note: "Jer 15:21"

12. A sudden transition from threats to the promise of a glorious restoration. Compare a similar transition in Ho 1:9, 10. Jehovah, too, prophesies of good things to come, but not like the false prophets, "of wine and strong drink" (Mic 2:11). After I have sent you into captivity as I have just threatened, I will thence assemble you again (compare Mic 4:6, 7).

all of thee-The restoration from Babylon was partial. Therefore that here meant must be still future, when "all Israel shall be saved" (Ro 11:26). The restoration from "Babylon" (specified (Mic 4:10) is the type of the future one.

Jacob . Israel-the ten tribes' kingdom (Ho 12:2) and Judah (2Ch 19:8; 21:2, 4).

remnant-the elect remnant, which shall survive the previous calamities of Judah, and from which the nation is to spring into new life (Isa 6:13; 10:20-22).

as the sheep of Bozrah-a region famed for its rich pastures (compare 2Ki 3:4). Gesenius for Bozrah translates, "sheepfold." But thus there will be tautology unless the next clause be translated, "in the midst of their pasture." English Version is more favored by the Hebrew.

2:12,13 These verses may refer to the captivity of Israel and Judah. But the passage is also a prophecy of the conversion of the Jews to Christ. The Lord would not only bring them from captivity, and multiply them, but the Lord Jesus would open their way to God, by taking upon him the nature of man, and by the work of his Spirit in their hearts, breaking the fetters of Satan. Thus he has gone before, and the people follow, breaking, in his strength, through the enemies that would stop their way to heaven.