Matthew Poole and continuators on Micah 4:9

9 Now why dost thou cry out aloud ? i[illegible: 1 letter] there no king in thee? is thy counsellor perished ? for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail .

Now that I have from the Lord promised such great good things to you, after the seventy years Captivity, and in the dayes of the Messiah.

As if this case were desperate, or as if it would be ever night with thee, or as if thy hopes would not outweigh thy fears, or thy future Joy would not counterballance thy present griefs.

Thou hast lost thy King Zed[illegible: 1 letter]kiah, and now art become Tributary, but thy God, thy King is with thee, and will be with thee to preserve, restore, establish, enlarge, enrich, and to beautifie thee with Salvation, and to reign over thee in Mount Zion for ever. Verse 7. Thy loss at present is great, but thy future advantage may well stop these outcryes.

Hast thou none among thy wise Counsellors left in thee? Hath Nebuchadnezzar cruelly slain all he took of them, and are the rest fled? Yet the wonderful Counsellour is with thee, doth consult and resolve that thou shalt not be undone, and perish for ever. Messiah, the wisdom of his Father, hath the conduct of thy sufferings, deliverance and re-establishment, in which thou mayest at last glory.

This great distress of Spirit appears by thy outcryes, like t[illegible: 1 letter]ose of a woman in travail, of which no great reason can be given, all things considered. No more then a Woman at her full time, and bringing forth the fruit of her Womb, to the present increase, and future honour of the Family; whose pains end in joy, Iohn 16.21.