Micah 2 (2)
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Verses 1-13
Verses 1-13
Welcome
Prayer
Announcements
Let’s get moving forward.
Recap a bit from last week. He is Micah from Moresheth, named from the town and not his family.
He prophecies during the times of Isaiah and Jeremiah, during the time of kings like Jotham, Ahaz and finally Hezekiah.
Verse 1 Micah 2:1
1 Woe to those who devise wickedness
and work evil on their beds!
When the morning dawns, they perform it,
because it is in the power of their hand.
You can expect rightfully that those who do evil will face the wrath and punishment of God.
The Hebrew word “woe” is hoy, and since the word hoy is also used in funeral laments, we can tell you right off the bat, that those who do evil, well they are as good as dead.
Those who have some sort of authority over others, well they misuse their power to take advantage of others, to make themselves wealthier, to take what is not theirs, and run over top of others.
These are the people the Lord says devise wickedness, meaning they plot, scheme, and carry out their evil acts, and they do this both night and day.
And listen, if something is said to be wicked or evil, that is not our determination. That is God’s determination, he has judged it to be such and it helps us understand just how rotten it is...
I good use of this is when Joseph speaks to Poitifer's wife..
Genesis 39:9 “9 He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?””
And when King David has Uriah killed to cover his sin with Bethsheba
2 Samuel 11:27 “27 And when the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.”
These are wicked, evil actions and the Lord is the one who has set the standard, we cannot deviate from it.
Verse 2 Micah 2:2
2 They covet fields and seize them,
and houses, and take them away;
they oppress a man and his house,
a man and his inheritance.
So we see some of that they are trying to do, they and land grabbers, they take away property and homes from families because they can.
Where does this all spring from: Greed and Corruption, Covetousness, which we could also call idolatry since they desire and seek after it more than God himself. It becomes our God.
They desire these things and the intent to take them wrongly begin in their heart. Matthew tells us in Matthew 15:19 “19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.”
So they scheme, seize and take what is not theirs. The land and homes of families were the inheritance of families and for many, that is all they hand. The land and homes were meant to support the homes. The homes provided shelter and the land allowed them to raise animals and crops to sustain them.
For someone to take it away, you leave those people hopeless and helpless.
But ultimately their ( these evil doers) their sins are against God. It’s ultimately His land and his people who they violate. Leviticus 25:23 “23 “The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me.”
Verse 3 Micah 2:3
3 Therefore thus says the Lord:
behold, against this family I am devising disaster,
from which you cannot remove your necks,
and you shall not walk haughtily,
for it will be a time of disaster.
Great word, therefore… Here is what the Lord will do to those who violate His ways.
Against these people, I am devising disaster. these influential and wealthy families and the was about to pronounce divine judgment.
As these planned evil against the people, so the Lord would do this to them. Proverbs 19:21 “21 Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.”
Now the disaster to come would most likely ne the Assyrian captivity in 721.bc. Their Yoke of exile would be heavy like oxen yoke which they cannot remove from their necks.
Verse 4 Micah 2:4
4 In that day they shall take up a taunt song against you
and moan bitterly,
and say, “We are utterly ruined;
he changes the portion of my people;
how he removes it from me!
To an apostate he allots our fields.”
When the disaster comes, the rich landowners will be mocked, Men will ridicule them, this is the “taunt song”.
Then they will say we are utterly ruined. The tables have been turned on them, those who once took the land of others will have their land taken from them.
The Lord will remove their land, and He will give it to the enemies who will divide it up.
This punishment is the curses God promised to those who were disobedient. Leviticus 26:33 “33 And I will scatter you among the nations, and I will unsheathe the sword after you, and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste.”
The apostate is a non believer, they are given the fields.
Verse 5 Micah 2:5
5 Therefore you will have none to cast the line by lot
in the assembly of the Lord.
And there is that word, Therefore again, because the guilty parties have dealt unjustly with the property of another, in some cases their neighbors fields, they will not have anyone left in the Lord’s community to use the measuring line to divide up the property, since they will be in exile.
They will thus have no portion of the inheritance, since they treated others unjustly.
Even after all that takes place, those who will come back after the exile will have a right to the Lord’s inheritance, but Israel will never return so no inheritance.
Now verse 6 Micah 2:6
6 “Do not preach”—thus they preach—
“one should not preach of such things;
disgrace will not overtake us.”
Micah speaks, quoting the reaction of the false prophets, do not preach, these charlatans will not receive what Micah shares and thus they do not receive the word of the Lord.
How many today reject the Word of God because it doesn’t fit their way of living or the desire they have for unrighteous things.
Like those who attempted to silence other prophets like Amaziah’s attempt to silence Amos Amos 7:12-13
12 And Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there, 13 but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.”
Go try to earn your bread some other place, like Amos spoke only for money. For supposedly, Bethel was only fit for ‘right prophets”. These so called “right prophets” are truly false prophets.
These people falsely use thier place and God has had enough.
Listen to Jeremiah as he speaks of such things...
Jeremiah 5:31 “31 the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?”
Verse 7 Micah 2:7
7 Should this be said, O house of Jacob?
Has the Lord grown impatient?
Are these his deeds?
Do not my words do good
to him who walks uprightly?
The people do not know God, they thought a God of grace would never devise disaster against his own people. But they never understood they would be held accountable for their sin.
So Micah continued to quote the wealthy and corrupt oppressors and their false prophets. The false prophets were teaching that The Lord’s patience had no limits.
But Micah’s point is they should not doubt God’s righteous indignation. The Lord will indeed act in judgment.
He who walks uprightly, calls for his creation to walk so as well.
If the greedly would turn and walk rightly before the Lord, he would share blessings with them instead of cursings.
The great message here is do not expect God to bless when you are in sin and will not turn from it.
Verses 8-9 go together here… Micah 2:8-9
8 But lately my people have risen up as an enemy;
you strip the rich robe from those who pass by trustingly
with no thought of war.
9 The women of my people you drive out
from their delightful houses;
from their young children you take away
my splendor forever.
Here the Lord lists some of the sins of the people. first he charges with attacking innocent passers by as if they were enemies.
Their goal was to take the rich robes of their unsuspecting and helpless victims. The people (victims) thought they were safe among their own people, like soldiers returning from war, thought their was peace in their own land.. sadly they were not.
The oppressors drive women from their homes, these may have been widows .
Widows were especially vulnerable to the deceit of others and had no one to stand up for them or maybe to help them.
And their children are deprived as well, they lose their homes, they are already challenged if the children of widows, since they had no father.
All the children had was the inheritance of their families and by these land grabbers and others working deceitfully, the children loose thier homes, land but futures
One theologian said...
Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (4) The Wealthy Wicked and Their False Prophets versus Micah and His God (2:6–11)
The oppressors “robbed men of their clothes, women of their homes, and children of their inheritance. Was God not right to send judgment against such wicked individuals?”
Verse 10 Micah 2:10
10 Arise and go,
for this is no place to rest,
because of uncleanness that destroys
with a grievous destruction.
Now the Lord tells the oppressors to “get up” and prepare their ill gotten land and other possessions behind, they are going away… They are getting ready to go into exile, and the land they stole and thought they would have forever, well it has been removed from them forever.
The Lord is evicting them from the land.
Verse 11 Micah 2:11
11 If a man should go about and utter wind and lies,
saying, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,”
he would be the preacher for this people!
Just as we started talking about false prophets, so it is going to end with them..
They utter wind and lies, God is calling them a liar, a deceiver, and they do not tell the truth for they lead others astray.
His message is one of peace and prosperity.. Like past politicians who were said to promise a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage...
The sinful covenant breaking people deserve that type of prophet. A false prophets speaks for his own gain or good. but listen a true prophet, their message will not contradict or disagree with what God has already said..
No preacher will share a different word than the word of the Lord.
My old OT ad Hebrew Professor used to say.. When ppl say I have a new word form the Lord. It cannot contradict the Word of God.
Sadly there are plenty of false preachers in today’s world, Jesus warned about them. They are those who “peddle the word of God for profit”.. These are really servants of Satan.
2 Corinthians 11:13–15 “13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.”
Now the tone will shift a bit in verses 12-13
Verse 12 Micah 2:12
12 I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob;
I will gather the remnant of Israel;
I will set them together
like sheep in a fold,
like a flock in its pasture,
a noisy multitude of men.
Here is the promise of restoration after the exile. Even though the nation (both North and South) fall into exile God will work to bring them home one day.
The last line is intersting, a group of noisy multitdue of men, speaks to the large number that will come back and take possession of the land.
God the Good Shepherd will gather his scattered his people like sheep in a pen. And even though we speak of only a remenant, a hem, of that is left of a garment, will be restored into a great throng of people.
Verse 13 Micah 2:13
13 He who opens the breach goes up before them;
they break through and pass the gate,
going out by it.
Their king passes on before them,
the Lord at their head.
The King and Lord God will do this thing. The one who only opened them to captivity now goes before them. Now as a king leading his people like an army.
He will lead those who were scattered, back into the rightful place. he will lead them now, where in the past they were influenced and lead by selfish people.
But now apply this to the future, the Lord will be the one who brings his people home with his second coming, and will after that lead them here to establish his future kingdom.
Our Lord Jesus will accomplish these things since now all power and authirity has been given unto Him.
