Renewing Feed

“And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.” (Mic 5:4 AV)

The context is the incarnation of Christ.  The promise is to Bethlehem, that she shall bring forth the Messiah.  Once brought forth, He shall feed in the strength of the LORD.  Obviously, the second half of the verse has yet to be fulfilled.  That is because Israel rejected Jesus Christ the first time.  He could not abide in that generation.  They wanted nothing to do with Him.  They crucified Him.  They expelled Him from their nation.  Israel turned its back on the promises made to it and chose Rome over Jesus Christ.  This will not stop the fulfillment of the promise.  Jesus will return, and the rest of the verse will come to pass.  What we wish to meditate upon is the first half of the verse.  In particular, how the man Jesus could fulfill His calling.  There are two reasons He could do as the Father had commanded.  Jesus fed in the strength of the LORD and in the majesty of His name.  What does that mean, and can we do the same?

The Hebrew word for ‘feed’ is an interesting one.  It means more than mere eating.  It means to graze.  It means to be out to pasture.  I know a thing or two regarding this practice.  When we served the LORD in rural Kentucky, we had the experience of living across the street from a cattleman’s pasture.  He bought and sold cattle.  He would buy calves and raise them to an age for market.  Every so often, a trailer would back up to the pasture and several head of cows would disembark.  They would head for the grass, where they would live for a few months.  This rancher had two fields.  The cattle would rotate between the two.  As they reduced one field to stubble, they would naturally be transferred to the other.  What I noticed was that the pasture was not for eating only.  There was much that went on in the pasture.  Grazing upon grass and hay was only a small part of what they did in those fields.  To graze means more than mere nourishment.  The cattle rested, drank water, dusted themselves, and socialized.  The pasture was not just for eating.  Their rest and rejuvenation, in all its forms, was the purpose for the fields.

When Micah tells us that God the Son will feed in the strength of the LORD and the majesty of His name, he does not limit it to simple nourishment.  It was the strength of the Father and His glorious name by which the Son rested, rejuvenated, and continued on with the work the Father had called Him to do.  This advice is rather profound.  To have strength for our pilgrimage, spending time in the thoughts and meditation of His name while feeding on the word of God and prayer is our fuel to face a hostile world.  Feeding on the majesty of God is resting in it and meditating upon it.  Like cattle who are well fed, they rest in the sun to soak up vitamins and warmth.  They lay.  They do nothing but soak up the goodness of the world all around them.  In the same manner, allowing our minds and hearts to rest in the person of God and His majesty will bring the strength that we need.  The ability to endure sometimes is found in the art of resting and rejuvenating.  Whether active or passive, resting in the source of strength gets us through the rigors of life.