I was reading in Micah. Specifically, I was in chapter 5. Micah prophesied to Israel and Judah from the time just before the fall of Samaria through the time of Hezekiah of Judah (c. 740s B.C.). He was a contemporary of Isaih and Hosea. Michah’s themes were judgment and forgiveness. The Lord was and is the Judge, but is also believers’ Shepherd-King. And what does He do? Gathers, protects, and forgives His flock. Why? Because He is faithful to His covenantal nature. 

    Now muster your troops, O daughter of troops;
    siege is laid against us;
with a rod they strike the judge of Israel
    on the cheek.
      But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
    who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
    one who is to be ruler in Israel,
whose coming forth is from of old,
    from ancient days.
  Therefore he shall give them up until the time
    when she who is in labor has given birth;
then the rest of his brothers shall return
    to the people of Israel.
And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord,
    in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great
    to the ends of the earth.
  And he shall be their peace. (Micah 5:1-5a, ESV)

The progression of the recurring plot is all here: 1) Judgment is to fall upon the flock because the sheep have strayed; 2) but out of a seemingly insignificant tribe (Bethlehem), a ruler is promised “whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days” (Micah 5:2b); and 3) He will “shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD” (Micah 5:4). 

Just as David was a type of this in the 900s B.C., a shepherd-boy who became king and ruler, so the covenantal promise is fulfilled ultimately in Christ, the Good Shepherd, who leads His people “in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake” (Ps 23:3). And He bore the judgment the flock deserves.

All of the Bible points to Jesus. All of it. One coherent story. And God is the Hero.