God the Shepherd of Israel (4:6-8):

4:6–8 It is declared in Micah 4:1–5 that in the eschatological future God will rule over the nations of the world from Zion, and that Zion will become the center of the world to which all peoples will stream for worship and instruction. But what of the wounded and scattered people of Israel, who have become like sheep without a shepherd? (For the expression, cf. Num. 27:17;1 Kgs. 22:17; 2 Chron.18:16; Zech. 10:2; 13:7; Mark 6:34 and parallel; Matt. 26:31). Yahweh himself has “afflicted” them (RSV; NIV: brought to grief) because of their sin against him, verse 6.

It is almost automatic to assign this passage to the time of the Babylonian exile, after 587 BC, but there are other plausible options. Both the exile of the northern tribes to Assyria in 721 BC an…