4:3
The Lord will judge between nations. Today we see man determined that God plays no part in deciding what is right and wrong. On some matters, mostly related to sexual ethics and abortion, we completely reject God’s ways. On others, like murder (though abortion is something of an exception), lying and theft, we claim credit, though we do not take murder as seriously as God does. But there will come a time when men look to God. This happened to some extent when nations in the west based many aspects of law and society on Christian values, but a greater fulfilment is still to come. We then get the promise of world peace, with swords being beaten into ploughshares. Note that true world peace only comes when nations submit to God. You cannot have one without the other. Jesus famously said “my kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). This can be taken as saying His kingdom is a heavenly kingdom in the sense of being otherworldly, but it is better to take it as meaning His kingdom is not based on worldly principles, but on Godly principles, and the most fundamental principle is that we should worship the Lord with all of our being.
There is a marked similarity between Micah 4:1- 3 and Isaiah 2:2-4. There is no agreement on “who borrowed from whom”, if indeed either did borrow from the other.
4:4,5
“Everyone will sit under their own vine”, this is a common motif for peaceful prosperity of the community in the Old Testament. Free from fear, having all that we need. Again, note that this comes when everyone acknowledges the Lord as God. So at present now, as then, the circumstances are very different from this. Everyone has their own gods, with little acknowledgement of the Lord, and increasing opposition. So what are we to do in these circumstances? The end of verse 5 has the answer, “we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever”.
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