Micah’s chapter 5 is an important text for Christianity. The prophet’s visions for the future of the Judaic nation includes a promise that a star will shine out of Bethlehem -- a leader will emerge to rule the kingdom “One whose origin is from the days of old, from ancient times.”
Micah, witnessing along with God the sad slow disintegration of Judea’s society is longing for the days when better kings from David’s line will rise and rule again. Bethlehem is where David was famously from, and signifies the lore of the landscape that this tribe considered homeland and sacred seat. Even in the midst of their collapse and into their not-too-far-in-the-distance exile - this will be the promise that their power will one day return and persist:
וְאַתָּ֞ה בֵּֽית־לֶ֣חֶם אֶפְרָ֗תָה צָעִיר֙ לִֽהְיוֹת֙ בְּאַלְפֵ֣י יְהוּדָ֔ה מִמְּךָ֙ לִ֣י יֵצֵ֔א לִֽהְי֥וֹת מוֹשֵׁ֖ל בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וּמוֹצָאֹתָ֥יו מִקֶּ֖דֶם מִימֵ֥י עוֹלָֽם׃
“And you, O Bethlehem of Ephrath,
Least among the clans of Judah,
From you one shall come forth
To rule Israel for Me—
One whose origin is from of old,
From ancient times.”
Micah 5:1
By the time the Christian story evolved, hundreds of years after Micah walked the streets of Jerusalem (and maybe those of Bethlehem as well) this mention of the city where Jesus was actually born became a big deal.
Micha’s promise is quoted in the New Testament’s Gospel of Matthew 2:1–6, in response by the wise men of the court of King Herod, who is furious for the news of the boy born in a Bethlehem barn, despite the king’s paranoid warnings. The wise men confirm that it indeed happened there and quote Micah to confirm the importance of this birth:
“And You Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, art not the least among the princes of Judah: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.”
But Jesus is not the only religious figure to make a surprise appearance in today’s chapter. There are seven additional shepherds, presumably sacred symbolic figures alluded to by Micah as he continues to envision the future days. There will be another war, then peace, and somewhere in between there will be further threats - but then the team of avengers will rise:
וְהָיָ֥ה זֶ֖ה שָׁל֑וֹם אַשּׁ֣וּר ׀ כִּֽי־יָב֣וֹא בְאַרְצֵ֗נוּ וְכִ֤י יִדְרֹךְ֙ בְּאַרְמְנוֹתֵ֔ינוּ וַהֲקֵמֹ֤נוּ עָלָיו֙ שִׁבְעָ֣ה רֹעִ֔ים וּשְׁמֹנָ֖ה נְסִיכֵ֥י אָדָֽם׃
“And this shall be peace; when Assyria shall come into our land, and shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight princes of men.”
Micah 5:4
Who are the seven shepherds and the eight princes?
Many have pondered these figures and most conclude that these are likely typological -- figures of speech for future coalitions and teams of heroic elders, echoing perhaps the local governing bodies of their day.
But the rabbinic imagination went a little wilder with identifying who these archetypal future saviors and what this vision is about.
The Babylonian Talmud claims that the “seven shepherds include..King David is in the middle. Adam, Seth, and Methuselah are to his right, and Abraham, Jacob, and Moses are to his left. Who are the eight princes of men? Adam, Jesse, Saul, Samuel, Amos, Zephaniah, Zedekiah, the Messiah, and Elijah”
Even if you don’t know all these names it sure still reads as a random list of men of renown clumped together for some strange reason. Even Rashi, interpreting the Talmud in the 12th Century, comments : “Our rabbis listed these names, but I have no idea where they obtained it.”
Different formulations of the seven shepherds keep appearing through Jewish history and myth, including the mystical tradition of inviting seven guests into the Succah during the week-long holiday - one shepherd per night. There is even a bizarre mention of these seven in a text about the Ba’al Shem Tov, the founder of the Hasidic movement in the 17th century who described his mystical ascent into the heavenly spheres, where
“I ascended step by step till I entered the palace of the Messiah where the Messiah studies Torah with all the Tannaim and the Righteous people, and also with the Seven Shepherds. And I witnessed there great joy.”
Micah’s mythology may have way more to tell us than we’ll ever know and maybe more than he ever intended. And yet we still echo and feel his yearning for the days on which wise, kind, caring leaders will be the shepherds that we all so badly need - whoever they are and however many it takes.
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