According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt - God answers the prayer, beginning with its closing words . Micah had prayed, "Turn Thy people like the days of old; "God answers, "like the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt." Micah had said, in the name of his people, "I shall behold His Righteousness; God answers, I will make him to behold marvelous things" . The word marvelous things was used of God's great marvels in the physical world Job 5:9; Job 37:5, Job 37:14, or the marvelous mercies of His Providence toward individuals or nations (Psalm 9:2; Psalm 26:7; Psalm 71:17; Psalm 72:18, etc.), and especially of those great miracles, which were accumulated at the deliverance from Egypt Exodus 3:20; Judges 6:13; Nehemiah 9:17; Psalm 78:4, Psalm 78:11, Psalm 78:32; Psalm 105:2, Psalm 105:5; Psalm 106:7, Psalm 106:22, and the entrance of the promised land which was its completion.

The reference to the Exodus must have led them to think of actual miracles; since, in regard to the Exodus, it is used of nothing else. But there were no miracles at the return from the captivity. "When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion" Psalm 126:1, Psalm 126:3, said a Psalmist of the returned people, we were like them that dream. The Lord hath done great things for us; we are glad. Great things, but not miraculous. The promise then kept the people looking onward, until He came, "a prophet mighty in word and deed" Luke 24:19, as to whom Peter appealed to the people, that He was "approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by Him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know" Acts 2:22; who gave also to them who believed on Him power to do "greater works than He did" John 14:12, through His own power, because He went to His Father; and when they believed, He shewed to him, namely, to the whole people gathered into the One Church, Jew and Gentile, yet more marvelous things, things, every way more marvelous and beyond nature than those of old, "the unsearchable riches of Christ, the mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God" Ephesians 3:8-9.

According to the days - This is the answer to the prophet's prayer; and God says he will protect, save, defend, and work miracles for them in their restoration, such as he wrought for their fathers in their return from Egypt to the promised land.

According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt,.... This is an answer of the Lord to the prayer of the prophet, assuring him, and the church he represents, and on whose account he applies, that there would be as great a deliverance wrought for them, and as wonderful things done, as when Israel was brought out of the land of Egypt, which was effected with a mighty hand, and an outstretched arm, and was attended with amazing events; as the plagues in Egypt; the passage of the Israelites through the Red see, and the destruction of the Egyptians in it:

will I show unto him marvellous things; that is, unto the people of the Lord, the flock of his heritage, the solitary and peculiar people, fed and preserved by him: as the deliverance out of Egypt; was the Lord's work, so the deliverance from Babylon; as the one was the work of his power upon the heart of Pharaoh to let the people go, so the other as great an act of his power working upon the mind of Cyrus, stirring him up to let the captives go free, without price or reward; yea, to furnish them with necessaries by the way, and to rebuild their city and temple: and as Pharaoh and his host were drowned in the Red sea, so the kingdom of Babylon was swallowed up by the Medes and Persians; yea, in some respects the latter deliverance exceeded the former, and erased the remembrance of it; see Jeremiah 16:14; and that redemption by Christ, which both these were typical of, was greater and more marvellous than either, being a deliverance from, and an abolition and destruction of sin, Satan, the law, hell, and death, and attended with things the most wonderful and surprising; as the birth of Christ of a virgin; the miracles done by him in life, and at death; the doctrines of the Gospel preached by him and his apostles, and the amazing success of them, especially in the Gentile world, being testified and confirmed by signs, wonders, miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost. This passage, both by ancient and modern Jews (k), is applied to the times of the Messiah. So in an ancient (l) book of theirs, speaking of the times of the Messiah, they say,

"from that day all the signs and wonders, and mighty works, which the Lord did in Egypt, he will do for Israel, as it is said, "according to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt", &c.''

It is also said, by a modern writer (m) of theirs,

"because of the miracles and wonders which shall be in the days of the Messiah, such as the gathering of the captives, the resurrection of the dead, and the destruction of Gog and Magog, besides other miracles and wonders, the end of the redemption is called the end of wonders in Daniel 12:6; and this is that which God has promised by his prophets, particularly Micah, Micah 7:15; "according to the days", &c. and from what follows, with the rest of the verses to the end of the book, it is manifest that these promises are not yet fulfilled, but will be fulfilled in the days of the Messiah.''

From whence it appears, that it was the sense of the ancient Jews, as well as some modern ones, that miracles would be wrought in the days of the Messiah; though some of them reject them, and look not for them; particularly Maimonides (n) says,

"let it not enter into thine heart that the King Messiah hath need to do signs and wonders; as that he shall renew things in the world, or raise the dead, and the like; these are things which fools speak of; the thing is not so.''

But however, certain it is, the ancient Jews expected miracles to be done by the Messiah; hence some, in the times of Jesus, said, "when Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done?" John 7:31; and accordingly the miracles Jesus did were full proofs of his being the Messiah, and were wrought for that purpose, and owned as such; wherefore the above Jew, though he is right in the application of this passage to the times of the Messiah, yet is wrong in saying these promises are not yet fulfilled, since they have had a full accomplishment in the Messiah Jesus; nor is another to be looked for, or such miracles to be hereafter wrought.

(k) Zohar in Gen. fol. 16. 1. 2. & in Exod. fol. 4. 2. & in Deuteronomy 99. 2. & 118. 3. Chizzuk Emunah, par. 1. c. 32. p. 277. (l) Zohar in Exod. fol. 4. 2. Vid. ib. in Gen. fol. 16. 1. 2. & in Numb. fol. 99. 2. & in Deuteronomy 118. 3.((m) R. Isaac Chizzuk Emunah, par. 1. c. 32. p. 277. (n) Hilchot Melachim, c. 11. sect. 3.

{o} According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I shew unto him marvellous things.

(o) God promises to be favourable to his people, as he had been before.

15. thy . him-both referring to Israel. So in Mic 7:19 the person is changed from the first to the third, "us . our . their." Jehovah here answers Micah's prayer in Mic 7:14, assuring him, that as He delivered His people from Egypt by miraculous power, so He would again "show" it in their behalf (Jer 16:14, 15).

7:14-20 When God is about to deliver his people, he stirs up their friends to pray for them. Apply spiritually the prophet's prayer to Christ, to take care of his church, as the great Shepherd of the sheep, and to go before them, while they are here in this world as in a wood, in this world but not of it. God promises in answer to this prayer, he will do that for them which shall be repeating the miracles of former ages. As their sin brought them into bondage, so God's pardoning their sin brought them out. All who find pardoning mercy, cannot but wonder at that mercy; we have reason to stand amazed, if we know what it is. When the Lord takes away the guilt of sin, that it may not condemn us, he will break the power of sin, that it may not have dominion over us. If left to ourselves, our sins will be too hard for us; but God's grace shall be sufficient to subdue them, so that they shall not rule us, and then they shall not ruin us. When God forgives sin, he takes care that it never shall be remembered any more against the sinner. He casts their sins into the sea; not near the shore-side, where they may appear again, but into the depth of the sea, never to rise again. All their sins shall be cast there, for when God forgives sin, he forgives all. He will perfect that which concerns us, and with this good work will do all for us which our case requires, and which he has promised. These engagements relate to Christ, and the success of the gospel to the end of time, the future restoration of Israel, and the final prevailing of true religion in all lands. The Lord will perform his truth and mercy, not one jot or tittle of it shall fall to the ground: faithful is He that has promised, who also will do it. Let us remember that the Lord has given the security of his covenant, for strong consolation to all who flee for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before them in Christ Jesus.