CHAPTER 5 Dec. 7 
Bethlehem the Birthplace of the Promised Ruler 
Now you shall gather yourself in troops, daughter of troops. He has laid siege against us. They will strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek. 2But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, being small among the clans of Judah, out of you one will come forth to Me that is to be the ruler in Israel; whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting. 3Therefore He will abandon them until the time that she who is in labor gives birth. Then the rest of his brothers will return to the children of Israel.4He shall stand, and shall shepherd in the strength of Yahweh, in the majesty of the name of Yahweh his God: and they will live, for then he will be great to the ends of the earth. 5He will be our peace when Assyria invades our land, and when he marches through our fortresses, then we will raise against him seven shepherds, and eight senior leaders of men.
Deliverance and Destruction 
6They will rule the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in its gates. He will deliver us from the Assyrian, when he invades our land, and when he marches within our border. 7The remnant of Jacob will be in the midst of many peoples, like dew from Yahweh, like showers on the grass, that don’t wait for man, nor wait for the sons of men. 8The remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the animals of the forest, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep; who, if he goes through, treads down and tears in pieces, and there is no one to deliver. 9Let your hand be lifted up above your adversaries, and let all of your enemies be cut off.10It will happen in that day, says Yahweh, That I will cut off your horses out of the midst of you, and will destroy your chariots. 11I will cut off the cities of your land, and will tear down all your strongholds. 12I will destroy witchcraft from your hand; and you shall have no soothsayers. 13I will cut off your engraved images and your pillars out of your midst; and you shall no more worship the work of your hands. 14I will uproot your Asherim out of your midst; and I will destroy your cities. 15I will execute vengeance in anger, and wrath on the nations that didn’t listen.

Commentary

5:1 Mk. 14:65 (Gk.) says that the Lord was hit with “strokes of rods". Perhaps it was in this sense that the rod comforted Messiah (Ps. 23:4) in that He saw immediately that prophecy was being fulfilled in Him. Our darkest moments likewise can be our greatest encouragement if only we perceive them as we should. As men mocked Him and smote Him, thus they were treating their judge at the time of judgment. In His time of dying, the Lord Jesus was the judge of Israel. This explains why when we come before the cross, not only at the breaking of bread but whenever we reflect upon Him and His death, we are in some sense coming before Him in judgment.
5:2 A prophecy of Christ’s birth in Bethlehem (Mt. 2:6). This prophecy of His birth is prefaced by a statement that Messiah would be smitten upon the cheek with a rod (:1)- which happened at the end of His life. In our linear way of thinking, we’d expect this to be the other way around- Messiah is born, grows up, suffers, dies… but God doesn’t think and write like that; the prophecies often appear to ‘jump around’ in their chronological fulfilment.