Mikha 4 | The End of Days

The prophecy that opens this chapter promises all nations walking in God’s path and a future of world peace. It is nearly identical, word for word, to the prophecy found in Yeshayahu chapter 2, Mikha’s contemporary. This raises a broader question: What does “the end of days” mean, as referenced in various places throughout the Tanakh? And more generally, what is the significance of prophetic visions of future redemption? Most traditional commentators explain that such prophecies refer to a distant future. However, a few commentators, alongside many modern scholars, argue that prophetic visions were said in a rational specific historical context, intended for an audience that could respond to them meaningfully. According to this approach, even the “end of days” does not refer to the end of history, but rather to the end of a present era — the culmination of our particular process within history. It is, in essence, the end of these days — the ones in which we ourselves may be living.

This line of interpretation reframes prophecies of redemption and of the Messiah not as visions of a far-off future, but as real possibilities for the prophet’s own time depending on the people's response, and if they'll use these opportunities. Specifically, the messianic prophecies found in Yeshayahu and Mikha may be read as referring to a particular historical figure – King Chizkiyahu. This approach is echoed in the statement of Chazal: “the Holy One, Blessed be He, sought to designate King Chezekiah as the Messiah” (Sanhedrin 94a).

In a lecture delivered at Herzog’s Yemei Iyun b’Tanakh, Rav Yossi Elitzur compares the messianic figure envisioned by Mikha with the one depicted in Yeshayahu. In Yeshayahu (chapter 11) the prophet envisions a king whose primary strength lies in his judicial faculties (“He will gird his loins with Righteousness" (Yeshayahu 11:5)). a ruler who judges by intuitive (“With awe of the Lord infusing his senses, he will not judge by his eyes' perception” (Yeshayahu 11:3)). In his day, miraculous world peace shall reign (“Wolf will lie down beside lamb, the leopard will lie beside the young goat” (Yeshayahu 11:6)).

Mikha focuses primarily on economic prosperity and military success, invoking a return to a familiar model from Israel’s past — the era of David and Shlomo. One of Mikha’s additions to the vision of the “end of days” is his allusion to the economic flourishing of Shlomo’s reign: “Every man will sit beneath his grapevine, under his fig tree with none to trouble him” (5:4), mirroring the description in Melakhim I 5:5: “Yehuda and Israel dwelled in safety, each person beneath his grapevine and fig tree.” He calls for the return of the first "ruling power,” (5:8) invoking king David: “You, Beit Lechem Efrata, minor among the clans of Yehuda — from you, one will emerge to rule Israel for Me" (Mikha 5:1). And he criticizes the people of Yehuda for their inaction, for choosing to cry out and despair rather than to act, while promising them an overwhelming military victory.

One could attempt to reconcile these different portrayals and suggest that each prophet emphasized a different aspect of the messianic ideal. Rav Elitzur proposes that both models were possibilities for Chizkiyahu. Had he been found worthy, he would have partnered with God in bringing salvation, fighting the battles himself. But since he did not merit it, God acted in his place. As the midrash says: “There were four kings, and what this one demanded, that one did not. They were: David, Asa, Yehoshafat, and Chizkiyahu… Chizkiyahu arose and said: I do not have the strength to kill, or to pursue, or even to sing, I shall sleep on my bed, and You shall act” (Eikha Rabba, Petichta 30).

This “disagreement” is deeply relevant to our own generation. Is the messianic dream one of a miraculous king who performs wonders? Or of a righteous individual who leads the people in the ways of God and brings about redemption? (See Rambam, Laws of Kings and wars 11:3, and the commentary of Raavad there.) And above all — Is “Messiah” a dream? Or is it a call to action?