God's Justice Will Prevail
Notes
Transcript
Broad strokes the outline of Micah:
Cps. 1-3 Judgment (Throughout, notice the sharp language.)
Cps. 4-5 Comfort
Cp. 6 Israel on trial (parallel with Isaiah 1; see also Micah 1:2).
Cp. 7 Conclusion (Micah reflects on his own message of cps. 1-6.)
Micah has been called “the James of the OT.”
Micah must have been somewhat acquainted with his fellow prophet, Isaiah. When we get to chapter 4, we will see a rather precise parallel between the first three verses and Isaiah 2:2-4.
Now it will come about that In the last days The mountain of the house of the Lord Will be established as the chief of the mountains, And will be raised above the hills; And all the nations will stream to it.
And many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, To the house of the God of Jacob; That He may teach us concerning His ways And that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
And He will judge between the nations, And will render decisions for many peoples; And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they learn war.
About a hundred years or so after Micah’s prophecies, a quotation from Micah’s writing was used to save Jeremiah’s life! (Jer. 26:18)
“Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, ‘Thus the Lord of hosts has said, “Zion will be plowed as a field, And Jerusalem will become ruins, And the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.” ’
After the introduction of the prophet and his season of ministry, we will see how God will come to judge the world, even as He judges Israel and Judah.
I. The Prophet of the LORD, 1:1.
I. The Prophet of the LORD, 1:1.
Micah — abbreviated form of Micaiah “Who is like Yahweh?”
Moresheth is about 25 miles SW of Jerusalem with a commanding view of the Shephelah coastal plains. Called Moresheth Gath, “Possession of Gath” it is a small town with humble farmers and herders. The common folk of Judah were the recipients of Micah and his word from the LORD.
It was from this life that Micah received the word of the LORD. He was a faithful prophet during the reigns of three kings of Judah:
Jotham — considered a good, but insignificant king reigning for 16 years, coregency with Uzziah from 750 - 732 BC.
Ahaz — considered a bad king, reigning from 736 (as coregent with Jotham until 732 BC) until 715 BC.
Hezekiah — considered a good king, began his reign as coregent with Ahaz in 730 - 715 BC, then as king until 686 BC.
The LORD revealed His words to Micah regarding the Northern Kingdom (Samaria as its capital) and the Southern Kingdom (Jerusalem as its capital).
II. God will come to judge the earth, 1:2-4.
II. God will come to judge the earth, 1:2-4.
Micah summons the jury of his peers, people of the land, to pay attention to the testimony which will follow. The formality of this is what is called the rib (Hebrew “lawsuit”) oracle form found throughout the prophetic books. It is the Sovereign LORD who will bring witness against His people, Micah’s audience. cf. Deut. 31:19-21
“Now therefore, write this song for yourselves, and teach it to the sons of Israel; put it on their lips, so that this song may be a witness for Me against the sons of Israel.
“For when I bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and are satisfied and become prosperous, then they will turn to other gods and serve them, and spurn Me and break My covenant.
“Then it shall come about, when many evils and troubles have come upon them, that this song will testify before them as a witness (for it shall not be forgotten from the lips of their descendants); for I know their intent which they are developing today, before I have brought them into the land which I swore.”
also Deut.31:26:
“Take this book of the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may remain there as a witness against you.
The summons assumes that those hearing the witness will agree with the testimony that is given. The LORD would come out of His holy temple, literally palace, which refers to the location of the throne of judgment. This appears to be a reference to God’s heavenly temple in view of what follows,
Cf. Psalm 11:4:
The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.
and Isaiah 3:13-14:
The Lord arises to contend, And stands to judge the people.
The Lord enters into judgment with the elders and princes of His people, “It is you who have devoured the vineyard; The plunder of the poor is in your houses.
So those called to hear are not hearing to increase their knowledge, but to determine their lives as the Sovereign LORD brings His witness against them.
The LORD is not only transcendent, above all, but he is also immanently involved in the world and its events. When He came, He would impact everything: all the earth would “melt,” and “split” before His awesome power. If He could affect physical creation so drastically, how much more should His people need to fear Him? In his coming, He would tread on the “high places of the earth” (land), the places where the Israelites worshipped in idolatry, which implies that He would crush pagan worship. The mountains under His feet would melt like wax before the fire or like water poured down a steep place… they cannot be stopped.
cf. Psalm 97:5
The mountains melted like wax at the presence of the Lord, At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down, That the mountains might quake at Your presence—
As fire kindles the brushwood, as fire causes water to boil— To make Your name known to Your adversaries, That the nations may tremble at Your presence!
Mountains quake because of Him And the hills dissolve; Indeed the earth is upheaved by His presence, The world and all the inhabitants in it.
What is the reason for this judgment?
III. God will judge Israel and Judah, 1:5-16.
III. God will judge Israel and Judah, 1:5-16.
A. The reason for judgment, 1:5.
A. The reason for judgment, 1:5.
The LORD will judge Jacob for their rebellion and the sins of the house of Israel. Out of the 11 occurences of “Jacob” or “Jacob’s,” nine times it refers to the entire nation of Israel. Here in verse 5, “Jacob” refers to the Northern Kingdom. In Micah 7:20 “Jacob” refers to the patriarch. “Rebellion” and “sin(s)” occur together four times in Micah, verse 5 being the first.
The residents of the capital cities Samaria (Israel) and Jerusalem (Judah) apparently set the pace for their respective nations, typifying the sins of each nation, the worst found in the urban areas of each country.
What was a high place? it was a place usually on a mountain or a hill where people worshipped God, for example described in 2 Chronicles 33:17 near the end of the reign of Manasseh:
Nevertheless the people still sacrificed in the high places, although only to the Lord their God.
or idols. This worship in high places by the pagan people in Israel was often on hilltops. The higher elevations were the places where the gods were said to dwell, and they probably wanted to be as close as they could to those they worshipped(!)
Before the placement of the central sanctuary in Jerusalem, the people worshipped the LORD at altars throughout the land, but after the central sanctuary was established the Israelites were supposed to go to Jerusalem to worship God. However, many were attracted to local pagan high places and abandoned the worship of the LORD for pagan deities—even in Jerusalem! I can almost hear the sarcasm in Micah’s voice as he calls Jerusalem the high place of Judah. It reveals that even in Jerusalem, the people were disobeying God outwardly as well as inwardly, right under the shadow of the Solomonic temple, where the glory of the LORD on earth resided above the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies.
B. The certainty of Israel’s judgment, 1:6-7.
B. The certainty of Israel’s judgment, 1:6-7.
God would judge both nations. First would be Israel, the Northern Kingdom. Its capital, Samaria, would be completely destroyed, even to its foundations, which can still be seen today . It became a heap of rubble and a field for vineyards. In 722 BC, God used the Assyrians to fulfill Micah’s prophecy by capturing the city after a three-year siege.
The LORD would bring all the idolatrous worship to an end by the destruction of Samaria. Her idols would be smashed, temple gifts burned, images destroyed. Wages that were paid to temple prostitutes were in turn given by them to temple as “temple gifts” in Baalism and had seemingly permeated Samaria. Israel, who was bound to the LORD by covenant, had committed spiritual adultery by departing from the worship of God to seek and worship false gods. Assyria would smash the temple gifts, then use them again in their prostitution. Israel, under captivity by Assyria, would be forced to continue in a prostituted relationship; God would send them away to worship other gods in other lands (giving them over to their desires).
C. The warning for Judah, 1:8-16.
C. The warning for Judah, 1:8-16.
Having the LORD reveal what was about to befall Israel, Micah’s description of his state was one of agitation. His description of his state were signs of extreme mourning, as he identified with the common folk.
Micah describes the punishment from God as having already happened, inevitable and incurable. The sins of the Northern Kingdom had so influenced Judah that God’s judgment “wounds” would come upon her too, as Isaiah prophesied, Isaiah 1:5-6
Where will you be stricken again, As you continue in your rebellion? The whole head is sick And the whole heart is faint.
From the sole of the foot even to the head There is nothing sound in it, Only bruises, welts and raw wounds, Not pressed out or bandaged, Nor softened with oil.
In 701 BC, Sennacherib’s Assyrian army destroyed 46 towns in Judah before surrounding Jerusalem. Indeed, God’s judgment reached the gate of Jerusalem. Micah is warning people of an impending problem that will strike them if they do not humble themselves and lament.
Then in verses 10-15, Micah begins with a series of puns, starting with six towns near his hometown of Moresheth who suffer an evil end related to the meaning of its name, then follows with five more, from major fortresses like Lachish to smaller villages. Every one of these are not just far-off places Micah has heard of; he may have visited many of them and may have friends and family members who would be impacted in this terrible day of God’s judgment. Those he loves and cares for will have to suffer. J. B. Phillips’ paraphrase of these verses does a good job of letting us in on this unique literary technique, the longest sustained play on words in Scripture:
“So then, in Gath, where tales are told, breathe not a word!
In Acco, the town of Weeping, shed no tears!
In Aphrah, the house of Dust, grovel in the dust!
And you who live in Shaphir, the Beauty-town, move on, for your shame lies naked!
You who live in Zaanan, the town of Marching, there is no marching for you now!
And Beth-ezel, standing on the hillside, can give no foothold in her sorrow.
The men of Maroth, the town of Bitterness, wait trembling for good,
But disaster has come down from the LORD, to the very gate of Jerusalem!
Now, you who live in Lachish, the town far famed for horses, Take your swiftest steeds, and hitch them to your chariots!
For the daughter of Zion’s sin began with you, So give your farewell dowry to Moresheth of Gath!
The houses of Achzib, that dried up brook, have proven a delusion to the kings of Israel,
And once again I bring a conqueror upon you, men of Mareshah, While the glory of Israel is hidden away in the cave of Adullam.” (The Four Prophets, Micah 1:10-15)
This section ends with two imperative exhortations to Jerusalem:
Join Micah in shaving the head
Join Micah in mourning for his people
The reason is because many of these will be killed or exiled in the near future, even as the prophet describes it as having already happened. The people should cry out to God because of the devastation that will come to others and even to the gate of Jerusalem. They needed to sense the tragedy just around the corner, to come to the place where they would ask God why this is happening and then ask God to stop it. Micah can then give the answers to their questions and lead them to the next step to renewal with their God. But if there is no concern for their future, then there is no hope of a life change.