Judgment for Injustice Against God

Intro:

After God brought the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt, He brought them to Mount Sinai and initiated a covenant with them. The commandments begin this way…

Exodus 20:1-4 “And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.”

With the 10 Commandments, God laid out the basic tenants/expectations of His covenant with the people of Israel. These consist of…

4 vertical commands - which discuss how we relate to and revere God.

6 horizontal command - regarding how we relate to one another - God’s image bearers.

Fast forward several hundred years...

the nation is divided

Samaria in the North - wandered from God early in the split

Judah in the South - remained faithful a little longer - but still allowed corruption to set in.

Micah - a prophet from the south, preaching during the reigns of three southern Kings from about 750-700BC.

As we discussed last week, one of the big themes of Micah is justice - or rather injustice. There are places where this injustice is exercised toward others, but here in this first chapter, Micah seems to begin where the 10 commandments begin - regarding our injustice against God.

If we were to summarize the theme of this first chapter, we could say...

Theme: Idolatry is spiritual adultery, breaking our covenant with God resulting in judgment, which is God’s just and specific response.

Some of this language is a bit harsh, but when you really get down to it, idolatry is spiritual adultery. Micah’s mission is to expose that sin and warn the people of Israel that God’s time of patience has run out.

Micah begins with a...

Summons: The Call to Hear (1:2-4)

Micah 1:2–4 ESV

Hear, you peoples, all of you; pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it, and let the Lord God be a witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple. For behold, the Lord is coming out of his place, and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth. And the mountains will melt under him, and the valleys will split open, like wax before the fire, like waters poured down a steep place.

Here in the opening summons, Micah is calling all people’s to pay attention - to have all the earth hear what he is about to say. And yet, as we will see in a few moments, Micah focuses his prophecies on the peoples of Israel and Judah. The prophets most often spoke regarding judgment to the people of God who were in rebellion.

As Christians, we often think about the future judgment being something that God will inflict on the world. Yes, there will be a judgment for all people, for all of humanity, but as Christians, we need to pay attention to his indictments against us - and respond accordingly.

Notice, this judgment that is coming is very visual. Micah noted in verse 1 that he “saw” the word of the Lord. In other words, he saw a vision from God - and this is certainly a devastating vision.

The Judgment of God will flatten mountains and will rip open valleys. But why?

For the people of Israel and Judah, the initial indictment of injustice against God is idolatry.

Indictment: Idolatry (1:5-9)

Micah 1:5–7 ESV

All this is for the transgression of Jacob and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what is the high place of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem? Therefore I will make Samaria a heap in the open country, a place for planting vineyards, and I will pour down her stones into the valley and uncover her foundations. All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces, all her wages shall be burned with fire, and all her idols I will lay waste, for from the fee of a prostitute she gathered them, and to the fee of a prostitute they shall return.

Other than one brief mention of idols, it may be easy to overlook how this prophecy relates to idolatry. Let me explain a few things.

The sin of Jacob - Samaria - right after the reign of Solomon, the nation essentially split between the north and the south. The Northern Kingdom became known as Israel (which was the name God gave to Jacob) and eventually it was more further known as Samaria. The early kings, in order to establish independence from the southern Kingdom, created a religious system that integrated some of judaism and some of the local paganism. The Kings set up idols and altars in various places throughout the northern kingdom so that people wouldn’t have to go to the south - to Jerusalem, where the temple was.

In addition to this, it appears that in the south, the people of Judah had set up “high places” in the very city where God had stated that his presence would rest.

David Prior, in his commentary notes:

The Message of Joel, Micah and Habakkuk: Listening to the Voice of God (1. A Message for the Nations (1:2–5))

The appalling state of idolatry at the heart of the nation and its capital [Jerusalem] takes on particular significance when we appreciate what normally took place in these pagan high places. ‘A high place had an “asherah”, perhaps a pole, symbolising the fertility-goddess, and a “masseba”, one or more stone pillars, symbolising the male fertility-god. A stone altar was either separate from the holy place or was part of it. The high place also contained a tent or room where the cultic vessels were stored and where sacrificial meals were eaten.’10

So here, the people of God had taken the appointed place of God to be the place where they would serve false gods. They were committing idolatry. They were committing spiritual adultery.

We can look back at that time and think that it is silly or strange, and yet we have our own ways of committing idolatry. We may not bow down to carved images, but we have various idols of our own.

On a grand scale, we could look at the idolatry that is present in a variety of world view ideas.

Tim Keller notes how various “isms” commit their own idolatry.

“Fascism makes an idol of one’s race and nationality. Socialism makes an idol of the state. Capitalism makes an idol of the free market. Humanism makes an idol of reason and science. Individualism makes an idol out of individual freedom. Traditionalism makes the family and tradition an idol.”

We could even note in this list, “nationalism” or “Christian Nationalism” - the idolatry of thinking that the USA is intended to be a Christian nation and forcing people to adhere to Christian values.

But let’s get a bit more personal.

There are things in your life and in mine that are fighting for supremacy - that are fighting to be a priority over God.

money

ease

success

a certain relationship or person

grades

friends

possessions

politics

There are good gifts of God that can be our own idols - if they are out of place in our relationship with Him.

Stephen Um describes idolatry as...

Idolatry is choosing one’s own will above God’s will.

Where am I thinking about my own will regarding these potential idols? (As I ask these questions of me, consider asking similar questions about your own idols)

money - am I managing it in a way that pleases God - tithing, saving, providing, and sharing generously - or am I spending it frivolously

ease - We need to rest - some each day and some each week. I think vacations are helpful and can lead to flourishing - but am I so focused on the pleasure of a certain kind of vacation or am I wasting too much time watching TV or playing games or reading books (even good books)?

success - Am I sacrificing my family to the idol of success by not creating margin or being intentional with my time with them?

possessions - am I thinking so much about certain possessions - a car, a gadget, a book, an article of clothing, etc. that I’m getting distracted from the mission that God has for me?

politics - am I thinking about, listening to, reading things so much that my mind thinks that the solutions to the problems in our world rely in the hands of politicians and political parties, rather than in the God of the universe who has revealed himself through His creation, His Word, and works wonderfully through his people?

Tim Keller again writes:

“The greatest danger..is not that we become atheists, but that we ask God to co-exist with idols in our hearts.”

Scripture reveals that God is a jealous God. He will have no other God’s before him.

In response to this initial indictment, Micah states...

Micah 1:8–9 ESV

For this I will lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will make lamentation like the jackals, and mourning like the ostriches. For her wound is incurable, and it has come to Judah; it has reached to the gate of my people, to Jerusalem.

I think he is lamenting and wailing because he sees what will happen to his home, to his people, to his nation. He has seen the doom and it breaks his heart.

My hope is that when God calls out an idol in my life, in our lives, that we will respond in much the same way - that we will repent, lament and wail - purging our affections for that false deity.

So, after calling the people to hear and revealing the indictment against them, Micah discussed a bit of the...

Sentence: The Coming Invasion (1:10-15)

This invasion is really the punishment for their idolatry - for their sin. It hits home for them in some very personal ways and Micah is very creative in the ways that he infuses the meaning or sounds of the names with the outcomes of this coming invasion.

Craigie, a Scottish commentator equated it for his Scottish audience in this way:

‘Crieff will know grief. Forfar will forfeit. Craill will be frail. Wick will be burned. Stornoway will be blown away. Edinburgh will be no Eden. For Tain there will only be pain.’

In much the same way, and in ways that are lost to us in the English, Micah get’s very specific to the surrounding towns of Judah that will eventually be invaded.

Micah 1:10 (ESV)

Tell it not in Gath;

weep not at all;

Here, he actually quotes something from 2 Samuel when David sings a song of lament in response to the death Saul and Jonathan. Micah seems to be drawing his hearers back to the painful time that would have been for one of the nations greatest leaders. This coming invasion, this coming judgment, will be like that.

He continues...

Micah 1:10 (ESV)

in Beth-le-aphrah

roll yourselves in the dust.

Beth-le-aphra means “house of dust” - Here he begins with several of the towns that surround his town. He alludes to the ways that this invasion will impact these towns.

Micah 1:11 ESV

Pass on your way, inhabitants of Shaphir, in nakedness and shame; the inhabitants of Zaanan do not come out; the lamentation of Beth-ezel shall take away from you its standing place.

Shaphir means “beauty town” - their beauty will be shame.

Zaanan - a near-by town meaning “going forth” - the people of Shaphir might have hoped for relief but the “go forth” town will not “come out”

Beth-ezel - means “house of taking away” - they will be unable to take away the shame of Shaphir.

Micah 1:12 ESV

For the inhabitants of Maroth wait anxiously for good, because disaster has come down from the Lord to the gate of Jerusalem.

Maroth means “bitter spring” - and truly - as they wait for good - it will not come.

Micah 1:13 ESV

Harness the steeds to the chariots, inhabitants of Lachish; it was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion, for in you were found the transgressions of Israel.

Lachish - which sounds like “steeds” in Hebrew - was a military town. And yet their reliance on their weapons of war and dependence on the technology of their day end up acting like sin. I do wonder how often we have replaced our relationship with God with technological advances or conveniences?

Micah 1:14 ESV

Therefore you shall give parting gifts to Moresheth-gath; the houses of Achzib shall be a deceitful thing to the kings of Israel.

Moresheth-gath - is the town that Micah is from - it means something like - “one who is betrothed” or in other words - some who would receive gifts will now be giving gifts to the invaders.

As you might guess, Achzib means “deception town” - I’m not sure I’d want to live there.

And yet there is a glimpse of hope - a glimpse of restoration.

Micah 1:15 ESV

I will again bring a conqueror to you, inhabitants of Mareshah; the glory of Israel shall come to Adullam.

Mareshah - means something like “possession” - being conquered - they will of course be dispossessed of their place.

Just as Micah opened with a reference to a time in David’s life in Gath - so too he references David’s time in the cave of Adullam - (1 Sam. 22:1 - when David escaped from Saul to the cave).

I think it’s important for us to be aware of how our idolatry may be disciplined and bring judgment from the Lord. As we see in the prophecies against these towns that the discipline can be very personal and specific. And yet we also need to recognize that God has a greater plan and purpose. That He is working something - His glory will not be hidden forever.

Micah then seems to conclude this chapter with...

Expected Response: Repentance (1:16)

Micah 1:16 ESV

Make yourselves bald and cut off your hair, for the children of your delight; make yourselves as bald as the eagle, for they shall go from you into exile.

In our day, we may not see baldness the way that they did. For some of us, being bald can be fashionable, but in their day, it was a sign of shame or repentance.

I want you to notice something about this verse. Notice how the lines seem to be in pairs. Hebrew poetry was common that way. It doesn’t always rhyme or have a set meter like our poetry. Oftentimes, it is written in couplets - pairs of lines that either repeat, extend, or contrast each other. Here, notice that line 1 and line 3 basically say the same thing - the third one really extends the first. Notice too how lines two and four relate. Line four explains what will happen to the children of His hearers.

The exile of the northern kingdom came near the end of Micah’s ministry. The exile of the southern Kingdom didn’t happen for another 150 years after the northern exile. The children will pay the price for the rebellion of the parents.

Parents, have you ever noticed how much our kids take after us? They take on our habits, idiosyncrasies, mannerisms, and even some of our habits. Parents of Judah were modeling for their children a messed up means of worship. They were modeling idolatry.

As parents, we need to properly model a biblically consistent and true faith to our children - to the next generation. I think we can do this a few different ways

bring kids to church - (even when they don’t want to come)

read and talk about scripture with them

pray with them - more than just meal time prayers

look for ways to serve with them - or go on a mission trip with them.

Model repentance by asking for forgiveness from them when we mess up.

God may not have a physical exile for the next generation, but there may be a spiritual exile.

At the beginning I mentioned that this chapter seems to have the following theme:

Theme: Idolatry is spiritual adultery, breaking our covenant with God resulting in judgment, which is God’s just and specific response.

Our best response is to repent of our idolatry. To cast aside those things that long to take up residence in our hearts with God.

God executed judgment for Samaria and Judah in response to their idolatry - through exile.

For us, He executed judgment through the exile of His Son, Jesus Christ, who took on our shame and sin and fulfilled the just penalty for all of our sin and idolatry.

Christian - stop committing adultery against God by allowing idols to co-exist with God. Lay aside those idols and walk in faithfulness.

Friend - if you’re not yet a follower of Christ, stop relying on your own strength, the power of the government and other means - trust in Jesus. Lay down your idols and trust in him.

Let’s pray.

Benediction

1 John 1:9 ESV

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Memory Verse: Micah 1:2 “Hear, you peoples, all of you; pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it, and let the Lord God be a witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.”

References:

Craigie, Peter C., The Old Testament: It’s Background, Growth, and Content (Abington, Nashville, 1987)

Dever, Mark, The Message of the Old Testament: Promises Made, (Crossway, Wheaton, 2006)

Longman III, Tremper; Raymond B. Dillard; An Introduction to the Old Testament, 2nd Ed. (Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 2006)

McConville, Gordon. Exploring the Old Testament: The Prophets. Vol. 4. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2002.

Prior, David. The Bible Speaks Today: The Message of Joel, Micah & Habakkuk. Intervarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL, 1998.

Um, Stephen. Micah for You. The Good Book Company, 2018.

https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/micah/

https://bibleproject.com/explore/category/how-to-read-biblical-poetry/

ESV Study Bible