Have you ever seen a woman in labour? Perhaps you’ve experienced it yourself. I’ve been told it is one of the most intense pains a person can endure. Yet, mothers endure this pain with courage, knowing that their pain will lead to the incredible joy of bringing a new life into the world.

After the hopeful visions of the restoration of Zion, the remnant and the kingship, Micah brings his audience back to reality with a jolt. The “now” in verse 9 shifts the focus to the present and immediate future for Israel—one of great distress, marked by crying and shouting. The verse reveals the painful reality—a leadership vacuum in a time of crisis.

If Micah is referring to his own time, then King Hezekiah, descendant of David, was already on the throne (Micah 1:1). This makes Micah’s question—“Have you no king?” (Micah 4:9)—a critique of his leadership.

It seems more likely that Micah is anticipating a future event, Jerusalem’s destruction and the end of the monarchy at the hands of the Babylonians (2 Kings 25). This crisis would cause pain and agony as intense as the pain of childbirth.

The next verse (Micah 4:10) clearly points to this future event. Although Assyria was the dominant power during Micah’s time, he predicts that Babylon will eventually force Jerusalem’s inhabitants (“Daughter Zion”) out of the city— first to the open country, then into exile in Babylon. (This prophecy came to pass about a century later, in 586 BC.) It will be an excruciating experience with writhing and straining, like a woman in labour.

But these birth pangs will lead to new life. God will rescue His people from exile, just as He had redeemed them in the exodus. He will deliver His people from their enemies’ hands and bring about a new beginning.

One fulfilment came when King Cyrus issued a decree allowing God’s people to return to the promised land in 538 BC (2 Chronicles 36:22–23; Ezra 1–2). But a greater fulfilment came through Jesus, who accomplished the ultimate “exodus” with his death and resurrection (Luke 9:31). But we still await the final consummation, when Jesus our shepherd-king returns. On that day, we will fully experience the joy of God’s redemption and our new birth, and all our enemies will be finally defeated.