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Micah 4:1-13 (ANIV)
[The mountain of the Lord]
1 In the last days

the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established
as chief among the mountains;
it will be raised above the hills,
and peoples will stream to it.

2 Many nations will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
so that we may walk in his paths.”
The law will go out from Zion,
the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
3 He will judge between many peoples
and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide.
They will beat their swords into ploughshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war any more.
4 Every man will sit under his own vine
and under his own fig-tree,
and no-one will make them afraid,
for the Lord Almighty has spoken.
5 All the nations may walk
in the name of their gods;
we will walk in the name of the Lord
our God for ever and ever.

DRAWING NOTES:

TIME OF DAY:
Not specified in the Bible. I have set the scene in the mid morning.

LIGHTING NOTES:
The sun (above, behind & to the right of the viewer) provides simple lighting in this scene, with shadows cast from right to left.

CHARACTERS PRESENT:
From right to left: 2 Hebrew spear men (soldiers) in the foreground, a blacksmith & his daughter, a woman (possibly a servant, or the wife of the blacksmith?) carrying a jar, a man carrying a box, a farmer with 2 oxen, carrying a new plough, a couple sitting under a grape vine (right foreground.)

RESEARCH/ADDITIONAL NOTES:
This scene is a prophetic picture really, as verse tells us “in the last days”, ie when the world is coming to an end. At that time, peace will prevail. The idea of beating swords & spears into ploughshares & pruning hooks symbolizes turning the destructive weapons of war into creative tools that benefit people i.e. agricultural tools.

Bearing that in mind, notice the blacksmith & his daughter beating a sword or two into a plough shear in my scene.

Notice also the spears & shield leaning up against the wooden forge door, & the sword in the forge fire. the metal from these is being recycled by the blacksmith into agricultural equipment. Notice also the man walking away behind a pair of oxen. He is carrying a newly forged plough shear over his shoulder.

Here’s the scene without the figures or vine.

Micah 04 – 2nd Message – Scene 04 – Beating weapons – Landscape

Click on the orange bar below to view/buy this Background:
Background of Micah 04 – 2nd Message – Scene 04 – Beating weapons

I thought it might be nice to provide a close-up of the blacksmith, his daughter & the work they are doing:

Micah 04 – 2nd Message – Scene 04 – Beating weapons – PARTIAL

Who was Micah?
Not much is known about the prophet Micah, although we know from Micah 1:1 that he was from Moresheth which was a Judean town about 25 miles southwest of Jerusalem & close to Philistine city of Gath. The name Micah is apparently a shortened form of the name Micaiah, which means “Who is like Yahweh?”

It is possible that either the Holy Spirit inspired the prophet Micah to write the same prophecy word for word, as Isaiah, or else Micah was quoting Isaiah’s prophecy in this section. Micah did add verse 4 in his version, which suggests the peace upon the land. Below is the Isaiah 2 quote, for you to compare with the Micah one above.

Isaiah 2:1-5 (ANIV)
1 This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:

2 In the last days
the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established
as chief among the mountains;
it will be raised above the hills,
and all nations will stream to it.

3 Many peoples will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
so that we may walk in his paths.”
The law will go out from Zion,
the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He will judge between the nations
and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into ploughshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war any more.

5 Come, O house of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord.