Who Are The "Seven Shepherds And Eight Principal Men" In Micah 5:5?

A querist writes and asks, “In Micah 5:5, the prophet refers to ‘this One shall be peace….’ I know from my marginal references, that this individual must refer to Christ (Psalm 72:7; Isaiah 9:6). My question is, Who are the ‘seven shepherds, and eight principal men’ that the prophet is referring to in the latter part of the verse?”

The text in Micah 5:5 NKJV states: “And this One shall be peace. When the Assyrian comes into our land, And when he treads in our palaces, Then we will raise against him Seven shepherds and eight princely [principal - KJV] men.“

Figurative language is being used in this verse to convey the fact that God will raise up a sufficient number of faithful individuals (note the numbers 7 & 8) who will defend God’s righteous cause against the powers of sin and Satan in the world.

For further commentary on Micah 5:1-6, see Burton Coffman's commentary and Matthew Henry’s commentary. Also see E.M. Zerr's commentary.

Cautionary Note: As in all commentaries by uninspired men, secular commentaries are to be used only as a “tool” in directing us to the proper inspired Scriptures (2 Timothy 3:16). They should never be used as a substitute for our own personal responsibility to “search the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11).

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets