Comentario sobre Miqueas 5:16

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.”

you should have been the lowest of the clans of Judah—You should have been the lowest of the clans of Judah because of the stigma of Ruth the Moabitess in you.

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.”

and his origin is from of old—“Before the sun his name is Yinnon” (Ps. 72:17).

Therefore, He shall deliver them until the time a woman in confinement gives birth—He shall deliver them into the hands of their enemies until the coming of the time that Zion has felt the pangs of labor and borne her children; Zion, which is now seized by the pangs of labor, is now called a woman in confinement. [I.e., now the labor pains will cease and the redempyion will come about.] But our Sages state that from here we deduce that the son of David will not come until the wicked kingdom spreads over the entire world for nine months (Yoma 10b, Sanh. 98b). But, according to its simple meaning, this is the structure as I explained.

and the rest of his brothers—The brothers of the King Messiah; i.e., the rest of the tribe [of Judah].

shall return upon the children of Israel—Judah and Benjamin shall join the other tribes and become one kingdom, and they shall no longer be divided into two kingdoms.

and lead Heb. וְרָעָה. And lead (וּפִרְנֵס) Israel.

and they shall return Heb. וְיָשָׁבוּ. They shall return now from the exiles.

for then he shall become great I.e., their king.

until the ends of the earth—And they shall bring tribute to him [the Messiah] with horses and chariots.

And this shall be peace—A complete and permanent peace, without interruption, and it will not resemble the other redemptions after which there were troubles.

should Assyria come Heb כִּי יָבוֹא. This כִּי serves as “if” - If he comes into our land as he comes now.

we will appoint over them seven shepherds and eight—Concerning the seven and eight, our Rabbis enumerated their names in Tractate Sukkah, but I do not know whence they derived them. [referring to Sukkah 52b]

And they shall break the land of Assyria Heb. יְרָעוּ. And they shall break, similar to (Ps. 2:9) “You shall break them (תְּרֹעֵם) with an iron rod.”

and the land of Nimrod—That is Babylon.

at its gates Heb. בִּפְתָחֶיה, at the gates of its provinces.

like dew sent by the Lord—which does not come to the world through man, and people do not ask for it, so Israel will not hope for the help of man, but for the Lord.

like a lion among the beasts of the forest—So will their king rule over all.

which treads down and tears in pieces Heb. רָמַס. This is the lion’s treading down [an animal] when he [the lion] is hungry and eating it in its place. Tearing (טָרַף) is when he carries the prey to his den for his cubs and his lionesses.

that I will cut your horses—the Egyptian aid upon which you rely to supply you with horses.

And I will destroy your cities—And you will no longer need fortified cities.

and I will destroy your enemies Heb. עָרֶיךָ. Jonathan renders: And I will destroy your enemies. Similarly, (Isa. 14:21) “And fill the surface of the earth with enemies (עָרִים),” and (I Sam. 28:16) “And has become your adversary (עָרֶךָ).”