Micah 3

Micah 3 - Judah’s Rulers Denounced

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So we have been speaking about Micah and the Word of the Lord he is delivering to the nations of I Judah during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah.

And it is during this time we find God holding the people, Kings and citizens alike, responsible for sin. The sin of worshipping false gods, the sin of how they treat mankind around them and so forth.

So last wee there was a series of woes on those who oppressed the widows and the poor. People who sought to take land from those in need, robbing them of life and their children of their inheritance.

So lets begin Verse 1

Micah 3:1 ESV

1 And I said: Hear, you heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel! Is it not for you to know justice?—

Micah speaks out, and the call is for the leaders to listen, these heads of Jacob need to know and so do the others that God is speaking to them.

The idea of the word to “know” here is used like a technical tern, something they should have recognized and know what Justice is…

In the broadest sense, we know what justice is for all society, what is good and right…

God has taught them...

Verses 2-3 Micah 3:2-3

Micah 3:2–3 ESV

2 you who hate the good and love the evil, who tear the skin from off my people and their flesh from off their bones, 3 who eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them, and break their bones in pieces and chop them up like meat in a pot, like flesh in a cauldron.

The nation of Judah and the leaders of Jerusalem, namely the king and those below him were corrupt leaders and judges and they failed to take into account what the covenant stipulations of the law meant for them.

And they didn’t do what was required of them in light of protecting those who served under them, no matter their class or status.

They should have loved what was good and hated evil by protecting the rights of all the members of socitey.

Amos 5:15 “15 Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”

Instead they were guilty of doing just the opposite

They the leaders were cruel, brutal and inhumane in the way they treated others. Instead of shepherding them they explotting them, oppressing them like animals headed for slaughter.

Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (1) Guilty Civil Leaders (3:1–4)

G. A. Smith observed, “While Micah spoke he had wasted lives and bent backs before him.… Pinched peasant-faces peer between all his words

Verse 4

Micah 3:4 ESV

4 Then they will cry to the Lord, but he will not answer them; he will hide his face from them at that time, because they have made their deeds evil.

Then at the time of divine judgment they will cry out to the Lord, but the Lord will not respond. He will not help them since they did not help others.

This is a a just retribution for those who refused to hear the cry of the poor of needy. Listen to Proverbs...

Proverbs 21:13 “13 Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered.”

This is the Lord’s plan because of the evil they have done.

Verse 5

Micah 3:5 ESV

5 Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who lead my people astray, who cry “Peace” when they have something to eat, but declare war against him who puts nothing into their mouths.

Now the Lord speaks to those who are called “prophets” but led the people astray. And these are not true prophets but the counterfit ones, who speak what people want to hear.

These type of prophets who speak lies are denounced in Lamentations 2:14 “14 Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; they have not exposed your iniquity to restore your fortunes, but have seen for you oracles that are false and misleading.”

These men were worthless, false and they did not expose sin that would have possibly keept them from sin. They are false and misleading speaking a message of peace and prosperity.

In speaking such things they made themselves God’s enemies, and destruction is their end.

Verses 6-7

Micah 3:6–7

“6 Therefore it shall be night to you, without vision, and darkness to you, without divination. The sun shall go down on the prophets, and the day shall be black over them; 7 the seers shall be disgraced, and the diviners put to shame; they shall all cover their lips, for there is no answer from God.”

And here is that word, Therefore, becasue of these false prophets were misleading people by promising them the light of God’s favor and peace for monetary gain, well the darkness of God’s judgment will fall upon them.

These are nothing more than money driven, peace and prosperity driven prophets. They could have done good but God will ensure they suffer.

Micah says they are seers, they will become ashamed and disgraced becasue their words, their oracles willl be shown as just delusions of their own mind.

They are also called diviners, which are those who check omens to secure information. ALL of them will cover their lips, which is like covinering the lower half of their faces as a symbol of being unclean

Leviticus 13:45 “45 “The leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean.’”

This will not show leprosy, but will show a sign of shame and humiliation.

God will not honor them, he will not answer them.

Verse 8

Micah 3:8 ESV

8 But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the Lord, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.

But here is a sharp contrast between Micah and these false prophets, Micah tells us that he is filled with power, not his own power of course but with the Lord ‘s power by the Spirit of the Lord

All true prophets are Spirit filled.

As such Micah also sas that he is filled with justice and might. This is like strength and courage, This enables him to stand in danger, which he does when he proclaims the true word of the Lord to those in authority.

He declares their transgression and sin.

Verses 9-10

Micah 3:9–10 ESV

9 Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who detest justice and make crooked all that is straight, 10 who build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity.

Since verse 8 abotu Micah is true, he proceeds with his forceful, Spirit filled message.

These leaders and rulers were examples of injustice and wickedness instead of injustice. Jacob and Israel here refer to Judah. And Micah charges them with despising justice, we see this because they do not practice it.

The leaders would include prophets, priests, judges and other leaders in the givernment. They are condemed as well for built the city upon bloodshed and violence

Listen to Habakkuk 2:12 “12 “Woe to him who builds a town with blood and founds a city on iniquity!”

Now verse 11

Micah 3:11 ESV

11 Its heads give judgment for a bribe; its priests teach for a price; its prophets practice divination for money; yet they lean on the Lord and say, “Is not the Lord in the midst of us? No disaster shall come upon us.”

Now the rest of the leaders are denounced by Micah, it is like a scathing letter to them. These leaders betrayed the trust of the people, they in tuned the

These are like the sons of Samuel 1 Samuel 8:3 “3 Yet his sons did not walk in his ways but turned aside after gain. They took bribes and perverted justice.”

By the law, the OT law, it prohobited the use of bridery to pervert justice or the law.

Deuteronomy 16:19 “19 You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous.”

The priests made their teaching a source of gain, It was thier duty to teach the law and decide controversies, not to enrich themselves by charging for thier services

The false prophets did nothing for the people to help them.

One theologican worded it like this:

Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (3) Corrupt Leaders and Zion’s Fall (3:9–12)

What troubled Micah (and God far more) was the sin in the courts, palaces, and temple. All three branches of government were corrupt. Worse yet they worked hand in hand. The politicians got their way in the courts, and the judges were paid for their destruction of justice. The prophets also benefited from this arrangement and supported the government in turn.

The leaders claim to lean upin the Lord which means to trust in him, because of their mistaken theology, they reasoned they had the temple so we must have God/..

They never would have thought that the Temple could be destroyed like it was in Ad 70.

Now verse 12

Micah 3:12 ESV

12 Therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed as a field; Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the house a wooded height.

Their sin will ensure the city and temple will be destroyed. Godly actions of King Hezekiah keep this from happening for a while, but only for around a 100 or so years.

Lamentations describes the awlful fulfillment of this prophecy, they breached the covenant of God by their actions and soon God would allow one like King Nebuchadnezzar to come and breech the walls and raid the Temple of the Lord.