Micah 5:2 ..'O Bethlehem...from you..a ruler in Israel, whose *origin* is from early times.'....Who is this?

Answer 1

Jesus.

Answer 2

Micah prophesies that a God-appointed Ruler—one “whose origin is from early times”—will come out of Bethlehem. He will rule as a shepherd “in the strength of Jehovah.” Moreover, this Ruler will be great, not just in Israel, but to “the ends of the earth.” His identity may befuddle the world in general, but it is no mystery to us.

Who was the most important person ever born in Bethlehem? And who will “be great as far as the ends of the earth”? None other than the Messiah, Jesus Christ! When Herod the Great asked the chief priests and the scribes where the Messiah was to be born, they answered: “In Bethlehem of Judea.” They even quoted the words of Micah 5:2. (Matthew 2:3-6) Some of the common people knew this too, for John 7:42 quotes them as saying: “Has not the Scripture said that the Christ is coming from the offspring of David, and from Bethlehem the village where David used to be?”

But how could his origin be “from early times”?

Jesus had a prehuman existence. In his letter to the Christians in Colossae, the apostle Paul described Jesus as “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”—Colossians 1:15.

From the start, God’s Son received a unique assignment, that of being “master worker” alongside his Father. What joy this brought to Jehovah! “I came to be the one he [Jehovah] was specially fond of day by day,” notes Proverbs 8:30, adding, “I being glad before him all the time.”

Jehovah later invited his firstborn Son to share in the creation of humankind. “Let us make man in our image,” he declared, “according to our likeness.” (Genesis 1:26) As a result, another fondness developed. “The things I was fond of,” explained the prehuman Jesus, “were with the sons of men.” (Proverbs 8:31) At the beginning of his Gospel, the apostle John acknowledged Jesus’ prehuman role in creation: “All things came into existence through him, and apart from him not even one thing came into existence.”—John 1:3.

Answer 3

THIS SENTANCE IN YOUR VERSE IS THE CLUE
whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
HERE IS JESUS'S OWN WORDS
Re 22:13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

Answer 4

Your translation is a bit off. The reference is probably to King David.

Answer 5

Christ, the Messiah is here described. It is he that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting, from the days of eternity, as the word is. Here we have, (1.) His existence from eternity, as God: his goings forth, or emanations, as the going forth of the beams from the sun, were, or have been, of old, from everlasting, which (says Dr. Pocock) is so signal a description of Christ's eternal generation, or his going forth as the Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds, that this prophecy must belong only to him, and could never be verified of any other. It certainly speaks of a going forth that was now past, when the prophet spoke, and cannot but be read, as we read it, his outgoings have been; and the putting of both these words together, which severally are used to denote eternity, plainly shows that they must here be taken in the strictest sense (the same with Ps. xc. 2, From everlasting to everlasting thou are God), and can be applied to no other than to him who was able to say, Before Abraham was, I am, John viii. 58. Dr. Pocock observes that the going forth is used (Deut. viii. 3) for a word which proceeds out of the mouth, and is therefore very fitly used to signify the eternal generation of him who is called the Word of God, that was in the beginning with God, John i. 1, 2. (2.) His office as Mediator; he was to be ruler in Israel, king of his church; he was to reign over the house of Jacob for ever, Luke i. 32, 33. The Jews object that our Lord Jesus could not be the Messiah, for he was so far from being ruler in Israel that Israel ruled over him, and put him to death, and would not have him to reign over them; but he answered that himself when he said, My kingdom is not of this world, John xviii. 36. And it is a spiritual Israel that he reigns over, the children of promise, all the followers of believing Abraham and praying Jacob. In the hearts of these he reigns by his Spirit and grace, and in the society of these by his word and ordinances. And was not he ruler in Israel whom winds and seas obeyed, to whom legions of devils were forced to submit, and who commanded away diseases from the sick and called the dead out of their graves? None but he whose goings forth were from of old, from everlasting, was fit to be ruler in Israel, to be head of the church, and head over all things to the church.

Answer 6

Jesus.

Answer 7

Christ.