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, and which he saw regarding Samaria and Jerusalem.
2 Hear, you peoples, all of you;
Listen carefully, earth and all it contains,
And may 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 due to the wrongdoing of Jacob
And the sins of the house of Israel.
What is the wrongdoing 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 hurl her stones down into the valley,
And lay bare her foundations.
7 All of her idols will be crushed,
All of her earnings will be burned with fire,
And all of her images I will make desolate;
For she collected them from a prostitute’s earnings,
And to the earnings of a prostitute they will return.
8 Because of this I must mourn and wail,
I must go barefoot and naked;
I must do mourning 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 Do not tell it in Gath,
Do not weep at all.
At Beth-le-aphrah roll yourself in the dust in mourning.
11 Go on your way, inhabitant of Shaphir, in shameful nakedness.
The inhabitant of Zaanan does not escape.
The mourning of Beth-ezel: “He will take from you its support.”
12 For the inhabitant of Maroth
Waits for something good,
Because a disaster has come down from the Lord
To the gate of Jerusalem.
13 Harness the chariot to the team of horses,
You 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
In 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,
You inhabitant of Mareshah.
The glory of Israel will enter Adullam.
16 Shave yourself bald, yes, 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 devise wrongdoing,
Who practice evil on their beds!
When morning comes, they do it,
Because it is in the power of their hands.
2 They covet fields, so they seize them;
And houses, so they take them.
They exploit a man and his house,
A person and his inheritance.
3 Therefore this is what the Lord says:
“Behold, I am planning against this family a catastrophe
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 song of mocking
And utter a song of mourning and say,
‘We are completely destroyed!
He exchanges the share of my people;
How He removes it from me!
To the apostate He apportions our fields.’
5 Therefore you will have no one applying a measuring line
For you by lot in the assembly of the Lord.
6 ‘Do not prophesy,’ so they prophesy.
But if they do not prophesy about these things,
Insults will not be turned back.
7 Is it being said, house of Jacob:
‘Is the Spirit of the Lord impatient?
Are these His works?’
Do My words not do good
For the one walking rightly?
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 You evict the women of My people,
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 someone walking after wind and falsehood
Had lied and said,
‘I will prophesy to you about wine and liquor,’
He would become a prophet to this people.
12 “I will certainly assemble all of you, Jacob,
I will certainly 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 people.
13 The one who breaks through goes up before them;
They break through, pass through the gate, and go out by it.
So their king passes 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?