Babylon was about 1,700 kilometers (1,000 miles) from Jerusalem. People could not reach it by crossing the barren eastern desert.
The Lord's rescue of his people from certain death in Babylon would be greater than when he brought them out of Egypt. They were shaped in the womb of suffering and awaited a hopeful rebirth (Isaiah 43:1–5; compare Ezekiel 37).
For Micah, Babylon symbolized exile. In Micah's time (the late 700s and early 600s BC), there was no sign of a Babylonian empire replacing the Assyrians. But Micah spoke for God, who knows the future.