Mic 4:2 | KingComments | STEP | Because on that chief of the mountains stands the house of the God of Jacob, the nations will go there. Then they will come from Washington, Brussels and Moscow and all the other cities where now the policy of the world is being made, to learn from “the God of Jacob”. Instead of going up to fight against Jerusalem ( ), they come because they want to learn from God how He wants them to walk (cf. ). The teaching is “about His ways”, the ways of the LORD, how He does things. Studying them will teach them how to walk themselves. These paths are ways that God has gone and is going in His relation to people and on which He leads them. With the exhortation “come” they will encourage each other to follow this teaching. The words “for from Zion” and so on are again words of the prophet and not of the nations. They indicate the reason why the nations are so zealous for the mountain of the LORD. Zion is the source of the law, the constitution of the kingdom. From it the nations derive education for a walk in the ways of God. With the knowledge of the law they have gained and accepted there, they go back to their homeland. There they pass on the received teaching of the law, so that their people will walk in accordance with it. The order is important: first teaching, then practice. Only when we have learned from the Lord can we walk in His way. The Christian who lives in peace with God will have the same longing in his heart as the nations of the future. With him there is no contradiction between practice and the teaching of Scripture. There will be no contempt for studying Scripture as if it comes down only to practical Christendom. How can there be practice if we have not learned what to practice?

‏ Micah 4:2

From Zion Will Go Forth the Law

Because on that chief of the mountains stands the house of the God of Jacob, the nations will go there. Then they will come from Washington, Brussels and Moscow and all the other cities where now the policy of the world is being made, to learn from “the God of Jacob”. Instead of going up to fight against Jerusalem (Mic 4:11), they come because they want to learn from God how He wants them to walk (cf. Zec 8:20-23).

The teaching is “about His ways”, the ways of the LORD, how He does things. Studying them will teach them how to walk themselves. These paths are ways that God has gone and is going in His relation to people and on which He leads them. With the exhortation “come” they will encourage each other to follow this teaching.

The words “for from Zion” and so on are again words of the prophet and not of the nations. They indicate the reason why the nations are so zealous for the mountain of the LORD. Zion is the source of the law, the constitution of the kingdom. From it the nations derive education for a walk in the ways of God. With the knowledge of the law they have gained and accepted there, they go back to their homeland. There they pass on the received teaching of the law, so that their people will walk in accordance with it.

The order is important: first teaching, then practice. Only when we have learned from the Lord can we walk in His way. The Christian who lives in peace with God will have the same longing in his heart as the nations of the future. With him there is no contradiction between practice and the teaching of Scripture. There will be no contempt for studying Scripture as if it comes down only to practical Christendom. How can there be practice if we have not learned what to practice?