From a Biblical standpoint in history we are living in the “last times.” However we have an ever relevant exhortation here from John the apostle in his first letter, which actually: 1. carries us back in time to the earliest days of human history and down through the ages, 2. but touches the present and finally 3. Takes us forward to the end of the ages: “Beloved do not believe every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they are of God because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” 1 John 4:1.

In this study we want to reflect on what the prophet Micah has to say about the one in our title described as, “the Shepherd king of Israel.” Micah himself labored and prophesied approximately from 742 to 687 B.C. He was more or less a contemporary of Isaiah, though the latter’s ministry included the reign of Uzziah king of Judah.

Back in the sixties a singer with a philosophical turn of mind had a line in one of his songs, which went, “Freedom is a word I seldom use without thinking.” The harsh reality of life under the sun is that from the earliest days of human history some people have been subjected to enslavement by others. Usually, though not exclusively, the rich and powerful made the weak and poor their slaves. Slaves were treated well by some masters but by some they were treated harshly, even cruelly.