In The Word
Read: Micah 1-2
Destruction in Israel and Judah
1 The word of the Lord which came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
2 Hear, O peoples, all of you;
Listen, O earth and all it contains,
And let the Lord God be a witness against you,
The Lord from His holy temple.
3 For behold, the Lord is coming forth from His place.
He will come down and tread on the high places of the earth.
4 The mountains will melt under Him
And the valleys will be split,
Like wax before the fire,
Like water poured down a steep place.
5 All this is for the rebellion of Jacob
And for the sins of the house of Israel.
What is the rebellion of Jacob?
Is it not Samaria?
What is the high place of Judah?
Is it not Jerusalem?
6 For I will make Samaria a heap of ruins in the open country,
Planting places for a vineyard.
I will pour her stones down into the valley
And will lay bare her foundations.
7 All of her idols will be smashed,
All of her earnings will be burned with fire
And all of her images I will make desolate,
For she collected them from a harlot’s earnings,
And to the earnings of a harlot they will return.
8 Because of this I must lament and wail,
I must go barefoot and naked;
I must make a lament like the jackals
And a mourning like the ostriches.
9 For her wound is incurable,
For it has come to Judah;
It has reached the gate of my people,
Even to Jerusalem.
10 Tell it not in Gath,
Weep not at all.
At Beth-le-aphrah roll yourself in the dust.
11 Go on your way, inhabitant of Shaphir, in shameful nakedness.
The inhabitant of Zaanan does not escape.
The lamentation of Beth-ezel: “He will take from you its support.”
12 For the inhabitant of Maroth
Becomes weak waiting for good,
Because a calamity has come down from the Lord
To the gate of Jerusalem.
13 Harness the chariot to the team of horses,
O inhabitant of Lachish—
She was the beginning of sin
To the daughter of Zion—
Because in you were found
The rebellious acts of Israel.
14 Therefore you will give parting gifts
On behalf of Moresheth-gath;
The houses of Achzib will become a deception
To the kings of Israel.
15 Moreover, I will bring on you
The one who takes possession,
O inhabitant of Mareshah.
The glory of Israel will enter Adullam.
16 Make yourself bald and cut off your hair,
Because of the children of your delight;
Extend your baldness like the eagle,
For they will go from you into exile.
Woe to Oppressors
2 Woe to those who scheme iniquity,
Who work out evil on their beds!
When morning comes, they do it,
For it is in the power of their hands.
2 They covet fields and then seize them,
And houses, and take them away.
They rob a man and his house,
A man and his inheritance.
3 Therefore thus says the Lord,
“Behold, I am planning against this family a calamity
From which you cannot remove your necks;
And you will not walk haughtily,
For it will be an evil time.
4 “On that day they will take up against you a taunt
And utter a bitter lamentation and say,
‘We are completely destroyed!
He exchanges the portion of my people;
How He removes it from me!
To the apostate He apportions our fields.’
5 “Therefore you will have no one stretching a measuring line
For you by lot in the assembly of the Lord.
6 ‘Do not speak out,’ so they speak out.
But if they do not speak out concerning these things,
Reproaches will not be turned back.
7 “Is it being said, O house of Jacob:
‘Is the Spirit of the Lord impatient?
Are these His doings?’
Do not My words do good
To the one walking uprightly?
8 “Recently My people have arisen as an enemy—
You strip the robe off the garment
From unsuspecting passers-by,
From those returned from war.
9 “The women of My people you evict,
Each one from her pleasant house.
From her children you take My splendor forever.
10 “Arise and go,
For this is no place of rest
Because of the uncleanness that brings on destruction,
A painful destruction.
11 “If a man walking after wind and falsehood
Had told lies and said,
‘I will speak out to you concerning wine and liquor,’
He would be spokesman to this people.
12 “I will surely assemble all of you, Jacob,
I will surely gather the remnant of Israel.
I will put them together like sheep in the fold;
Like a flock in the midst of its pasture
They will be noisy with men.
13 “The breaker goes up before them;
They break out, pass through the gate and go out by it.
So their king goes on before them,
And the Lord at their head.”
New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Walking In The Word
Known as a minor prophet, but not because of unimportance, Micah came onto the scene without any formal introduction. He abruptly sounded the warning. We are immediately ushered into a courtroom setting. Micah was the bailiff announcing the entry of the Judge, God. He entered with judgment in His hand and fury in His heart. The earth was split and the mountains melted in His presence (Micah 1:4)!
We are then introduced to the defendants. God calls to attention Israel and Judah as they are represented by their capital cities. Unlike earthly judges, God needs no witnesses. He holds all the evidence against them. His patience has been ignored. His people have dismissed His prophets, and He came forth (Micah 1:3). This phrase here means to come out ready for battle. God entered the scene and declared war!
For good reason, Samaria became drunk with idolatry. Isaiah called the city “a crown of pride” (Isaiah 28:1). Jerusalem became high-minded because of its religious status. Chapter 2 details the charges: covetousness and following the examples of false prophets. The verdict was guilty, and Micah would see the sentence carried out in his lifetime.
God is serious about sin. While God is long-suffering toward us, He is still the righteous Judge. Sin will be called into account, but there is hope. God is looking for those who will keep themselves from sin (Micah 2:12-13). We now have an advocate in Jesus Christ. By faith in Him we are at peace with God (Romans 5:1). Do you have this peace today?