Chapter 4

1 And in future days the Lord’s Temple Mount will be the most important mountain of all; it will be more prominent than other hills. People will stream to it.⁠ 2 Many nations will come, saying, “Come on! Let’s go up to the Lord’s mountain, to the temple of Jacob’s God, so he can teach us his ways and we can live by his laws.”⁠ For instruction will proceed from Zion, the Lord’s message from Jerusalem. 3 He will arbitrate between many peoples and settle disputes between many distant nations. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations will not use weapons against other nations, and they will no longer train for war.⁠ 4 Each will sit under his own grapevine or under his own fig tree without any fear.⁠ The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has decreed it. 5 Though all the nations follow their respective gods, we will follow the Lord our God forever.⁠ 6 “In that day,” says the Lord, “I will gather the lame and assemble the outcasts whom I injured. 7 I will transform the lame into the nucleus of a new nation and those far off into a mighty nation. The Lord will reign over them on Mount Zion, from that day forward and forevermore. 8 As for you, watchtower for the flock, fortress of Daughter Zion—your former dominion will be restored, the sovereignty that belongs to Daughter Jerusalem.”⁠ 9 Jerusalem, why are you now shouting so loudly? Has your king disappeared? Has your wise leader been destroyed? Is this why pain grips you as if you were a woman in labor?⁠ 10 Twist and strain, Daughter Zion, as if you were in labor! For you will leave the city and live in the open field. You will go to Babylon, but there you will be rescued. There the Lord will deliver you from the power of your enemies. 11 Many nations have now assembled against you. They say, “Jerusalem must be desecrated, so we can gloat over Zion!” 12 But they do not know what the Lord is planning; they do not understand his strategy. He has gathered them like stalks of grain to be threshed at the threshing floor. 13 “Get up and thresh, Daughter Zion! For I will give you iron horns; I will give you bronze hooves, and you will crush many nations.” You will devote to the Lord the spoils you take from them and dedicate their wealth to the sovereign Ruler of the whole earth.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Kings 4:25 and Micah 4:4

Hebrew Bible

Summary

In 1 Kings 4, Solomon’s reign is portrayed as a time of peace when each person lived securely under their own vine and fig tree. Micah 4 later reuses this imagery to describe its restoration in the future.

Passages

1 Kings 4:25

Hebrew Bible

23 10 calves fattened in the stall, 20 calves from the pasture, and 100 sheep, not to mention rams, gazelles, deer, and well-fed birds. 24 His royal court was so large because he ruled over all the kingdoms west of the Euphrates River from Tiphsah to Gaza; he was at peace with all his neighbors. 25 All the people of Judah and Israel had security; everyone from Dan to Beer Sheba enjoyed the produce of their vines and fig trees throughout Solomon’s lifetime. 26 Solomon had 4,000 stalls for his chariot horses and 12,000 horses. 27 The district governors acquired supplies for King Solomon and all who ate in his royal palace. Each was responsible for one month in the year; they made sure nothing was lacking.

600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Kings

Micah 4:4

Hebrew Bible

2 Many nations will come, saying, “Come on! Let’s go up to the Lord’s mountain, to the temple of Jacob’s God, so he can teach us his ways and we can live by his laws.” For instruction will proceed from Zion, the Lord’s message from Jerusalem. 3 He will arbitrate between many peoples and settle disputes between many distant nations. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations will not use weapons against other nations, and they will no longer train for war. 4 Each will sit under his own grapevine or under his own fig tree without any fear. The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has decreed it. 5 Though all the nations follow their respective gods, we will follow the Lord our God forever. 6 “In that day,” says the Lord, “I will gather the lame and assemble the outcasts whom I injured.

600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Micah

References

"... There is no record, biblical or inscriptional, of an Israelite voluntarily selling land on the open market, because — in contrast to their neighbours in Egypt and Mesopotamia — Israelites seem to have had no concept of arable land as a commodity, to be bought and sold freely.” Ironically, by preventing land from being seen as a liquid asset, the jubilee laws confer upon the land its true value, which is different from — and far beyond — any market value because it is the land of promise. A second function of the jubilee year, and related to the primary function of reuniting people and land, was to lift the disadvantaged out of dependency on others by reuniting them with the means of production. This is consistent with the Israelite ideal according to which: they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and none shall make them afraid. (Micah 4:4, God speaking; compare 1 Kings 4:25) Modern writers such as C. B. Macpherson, reflecting on the changing concept of property within capitalist systems, have forecast that “if property is to be consistent with any real democracy, the concept of property will have to be broadened . . . to include the right to a share in political power, and, even beyond that, a right to a kind of society or set of power relations which will enable the individual to live a fully human life.” ..."

Jonathan Burnside, God, Justice, and Society: Aspects of Law and Legality in the Bible (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), 203–204.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Micah7 chapters

Compare 1 Kings 4:25 and Micah 4:4

Summary

Passages

1 Kings 4:25

Micah 4:4

References

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