Micah calls this tower the "Tower of the flock." The main reason for this appellation must be sought in what immediately precedes, in vers. 6 and 7. As in chap. ii. 12, 13, so here also, Micah represented the Covenant-people under the figure of a flock that was to be gathered from its dispersion and estrangement, and protected against every hostile attack. Could anything then be more natural than that, continuing the image which he had begun, he should call the tower, which, to him, symbolized the family by whom, under the guidance of the Lord, that gathering should be accomplished, the "Tower of the flock?"[4] It is just this close connection with what precedes which furnishes an important proof for the correctness of our explanation, for which the way was prepared by all those expositors who, like Jerome, Theodoret, Cyril, Cocceius, and Paulus (über die Evang. i. p. 189), understand מגדל עדר as an appellative, and regard, as the ground of the appellation, the protection and the refuge. In the East, they look out from the towers of the flock, whether beasts of prey or hostile bands be approaching. It is into these that the flocks are driven, in those regions where there are no towns and villages, as soon as danger appears; compare the proofs in Faber, l.c., p. 192 ff. There was so much the stronger reason for Micah's choosing this figurative mode of representation, as he had the type immediately before his eyes. According to 2 Chron. xxvi. 10, xxvii. 4, Uzziah and Jotham erected, in the woods and pasture grounds, castles and towers for the protection and refuge of the flocks. But, besides this main reason, there seems to have existed a secondary one for choosing this appellation. They who adhere so firmly to the "Tower of the flock," mentioned in Genesis, are not altogether wrong. Except in that passage, מגדל עדר nowhere occurs in precisely the same manner as it stands here. If, then, we consider that, besides this reference, there occur in Micah other plain references to the Pentateuch (and very numerous they are, compared with the extent of his prophecies; compare, e.g., ii. 12, 13. [vide supra], vi. 4, 5, vii. 14, where the words שכני לבדד receive light from Num. xxiii. 9 only[5]); and still more, if we consider that, in v. 1 (2), the appellation Bethlehem Ephratah is likewise taken from Gen. xxxv. 19, and that it is in ver. 21 of the same chapter that the "Tower of the flock" is mentioned,—we shall certainly not be guilty of trifling, if we assert that there is a suspicion of error and unsoundness against all those interpretations which cannot connect the "Tower of the flock" in Micah with that which is spoken of in Genesis. But the explanation which we have given is not liable to this charge. For why should not Jacob, and the tower which he built for the protection of his literal flocks, serve the prophet as a type and substratum for the relation of a spiritual Shepherd? We must not overlook the truth, that the main and secondary reasons which we have adduced, do not stand beside each other, but run into each other,—are related to each other as the general and particular. For the reason why the prophet had specially in view the "Tower of the flock" which had been built by Jacob was certainly this only: that it partook of the nature of all such towers of the flocks. The tertium comparationis is not thereby changed; the figure is only more individualized, and, therefore, more striking and impressive. A reference to the pastoral life of the Patriarchs is certainly one of the reasons of the frequent use of images taken from pastoral life. In a different way, Hitzig endeavours to come to the same result. He supposes that the "Tower of the flock" mentioned in Genesis was not situated in the neighbourhood of Bethlehem, but is identical with the tower of the castle on Zion, and of the castle of Millo which David already found existing, and which was only more strongly fortified by him and by Solomon, 2 Sam. v. 9; 1 Kings ix. 15, 24, xi. 27. The figure of the "Tower of the flock" was so much the more appropriate in the passage under consideration, as the founder of the royal dynasty had been, for a long time, a shepherd of the lambs, before he was elected to be a shepherd of the people, and had thus himself prefigured his future relation—a circumstance to which allusion is frequently made in Scripture itself; compare 2 Sam. v. 2, vii. 8; 1 Chron. xi. 2; Ps. lxxviii. 70-72.
After having thus ascertained what is to be understood by the "Tower of the flock," there can be no great difficulty in explaining the "hill of the daughter of Zion." The daughter of Zion is Zion itself, personified, and represented as a virgin; and if her hill be spoken of, what else can be meant, than Mount Zion in the more restricted sense—the Mount κατ᾽ ἐξοχήν, before which Akra and Moriah are changed into plains? We have thus a most appropriate relation of the two appellations to each other,—the tower of the flock being the particular, and the hill of the daughter of Zion, the general. Further,—We obtain the most perfect harmony and agreement with the last words of the verse. The hill which, morally and physically, commands the daughter of Zion, is the same which obtains dominion over the daughter of Jerusalem. Finally,—We see the most striking contrast with iii. 12, and the most admirable connection with iv. 1-7, in which, everywhere, Mount Zion is spoken of, and the exaltation is described which, after its deep abasement, it shall obtain in the future, by the flowing of the heathens to it, and by the dominion of the Lord to be there exercised.
It is only in appearance that our explanation is contradicted by passages of the Old Testament, and of Josephus, where Ophel is mentioned as a particular place; compare Bachiene 2. 1, § 76; Hamelsveld 2, S. 35 ff. The supposition of several interpreters, that this Ophel is some particular hill (compare, e.g., Vitringa de Templo Ezech. L. i. c. iii. p. 159, and his Commentary on Isaiah xxxii. 13), has already been invalidated by Reland (p. 855), and Faber l.c., p. 347, who rightly remark, that Josephus, in enumerating the hills of Jerusalem, makes no mention of Ophel, but speaks always only of the place Ophel. All the difficulties, however, which stand in the way of the other assumptions, are removed by the following view of the matter. Mount Zion was called העפל, the Hill κατ᾽ ἐξοχήν, and this word became, by and by, a nomen proprium, and, in this state, as well as in its transition to the nomen proprium, was used without the Article. From this it followed—and numerous analogies everywhere occur—that the foot of the mountain, the place where it was connected with the lower part of the temple-mountain by means of a deep valley, acquired this name in preference, and received it, as it were, as a nomen proprium. At this foot of Zion—and hence over against the temple, and near it—dwelt the Nethinim, the temple servants, Neh. iii. 26; and Josephus says, that the wall surrounding Mount Zion extended on the east side to the place which was called Ophel, and ended at the eastern porch of the temple (de Bell. Jud. vi. 6).
The view which we have taken, not only of Ophel, but of this whole passage, receives an important confirmation by Is. xxxii. 13, 14: "Upon the land of My people come up thorns and briars, for they shoot up in all the houses of joy, in the joyous city. For palaces are forsaken, tumult of the city is forsaken, hill and tower are around caves (i.e., it is only this which they have to protect) for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks." In this threatening of punishment, hill, עפל, and tower, בחן (properly "a watch-tower," corresponding to מגדל), are joined, just as in Micah's promise; and this is a certain proof of the unsoundness of all those explanations which would sever the two in Micah. Perhaps there is, in that passage of Isaiah, the addition of a third object, standing in the middle between the two, viz., the castle of the king which was situated on Zion, and of which the highest and strongest part was formed by the tower. There seems, at least, to be better ground for understanding this by ארמון than the temple, as is done by Vitringa. It will, nevertheless, be better to understand the palace collectively, and to view it as being parallel to the houses of joy in ver. 13. So much is, at all events, evident, that here also, Ophel cannot be understood of the lowest part of Mount Zion, inasmuch as it had nothing distinguished about it that could account for its being mentioned in this context; and to this, the circumstance of its being connected with the tower, must, moreover, be added. Faber, l.c., has convincingly proved, that Ophel, in the stricter sense, neither had, nor could have, any fortifications.
עדיך, "unto thee," seems here to have that emphasis which originally belongs to עד. It indicates that the object in motion really reaches its goal, while אל originally expresses only its direction towards the goal. It points to all the obstacles which seem to render it impossible for the dominion to reach its goal, and represents them as such as shall be overcome by divine omnipotence. This is quite in accordance with the scope of the whole representation, which Calvin thus appositely points out: "The prophet endeavours to confirm the faith and hope of the godly, that they might look forward to the distant future, and not dwell only upon the present destruction; that they might rather believe that the matter was in the hands of God, who had promised, that He who raised the dead, would also restore the kingdom of David, which had been destroyed."
Several interpreters, e.g., Rosenmüller, connect תאתה immediately with what follows: "The kingdom shall come and attain." But, in opposition to this, there are not only the accents (Michaelis; "The Athnach is intended to keep the mind of the reader in suspense for some time, and to direct his attention to what follows"), but also the change of the tenses, which is intended just to prevent this connection, and the weak sense which would be the result, inasmuch as one of the verbs would be a pleonasm. It must rather be supposed, therefore, that the subject in תאתה is indefinite. The remark which Hävernick, in his Commentary on Daniel, S. 386, makes on the omission of the indefinite subject, is here fully applicable, although he himself makes a wrong application of it to that passage: "The indefinite subject," he says, "has a special emphasis. By the omission of the definite idea, it is, as it were, left to the reader to supply everything possible (in the passage under consideration, the compass of all that is glorious), for which the writer cannot find language."
The "first," i.e., former, or ancient "dominion," refers to the splendid times under David and Solomon; but, at the same time, it supposes a period when the dominion is altogether taken away from the dynasty of David. Such a period had already been announced by the prophet, in his first discourse, inasmuch as it is implied in the carrying away of all Judah into captivity; and still more distinctly in iii. 12, according to which, Zion, the seat of the Davidic dominion, is to be ploughed as a field. This announcement, with the express mention of the king, returns in ver. 9, and, contrasted with It, the announcement of the restoration of the Davidic dominion in v. 1 (2).
The last words of the verse are, by many expositors (Calvin, Michaelis, and Rosenmüller), translated thus: "And the kingdom, I say, shall belong to the daughter of Jerusalem;" so that Jerusalem would here be, not the object, but the subject of dominion. The sense, according to this explanation, is best brought out by Calvin: "The prophet here distinctly mentions the daughter of Jerusalem, because the kingdom of Israel had obscured the glory of the true kingdom. The prophet hence testifies, that God was not unmindful of His promise, and would so arrange it that Jerusalem should recover its lost dignity, and the whole people be gathered unto one body." But this explanation must be rejected on philological grounds. ממלכת is status constr.; the ל serves, therefore, only as a circumlocution of the genitive; and it is not admissible to supply the Verb Substant. To this, moreover, there must be added the reference to what precedes. The dominion over the daughter of Jerusalem is to come to the tower which commands the daughter of Zion, not, by any means, to the daughter of Zion herself. The prophet makes Jerusalem to represent the kingdom of God; and, in so doing, he probably has regard to the relation of Zion and of the king's castle to the town, by which was symbolized the relation which the Davidic dynasty occupied to the kingdom of God.