Micah- Judgement & Blessings
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Minor Prophets - A survey
Minor Prophets - A survey
Yep, that is what this series is, a survey, an overview of the Minor Prophets and here is what we have looked at so far.
Jonah - the running prophet
Jonah (about 790 B.C.) prophesied to Nineveh
Amos - the unlikely prophet
Amos (755 B.C.) - to Israel
Hosea - the loving prophet
Hosea (750-725 B.C.) to Israel (Ephraim)
Now down to the south, to Judah. There were prophets there too during this period.
Isaiah (740-700 B.C.)
Micah (735-700 B.C.)
I will add in some more content on them as we go this morning.
Micah is the last prophet of the eighth century B.C. and let’s set the stage for the book now.
Micah: The background
Micah: The background
Micah “who is like Jehovah” (Mic7:18)
18 Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity And passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in unchanging love.
Home: Moresheth-Gath (Mic1:1)
1 The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
Moresheth-Gath is in the lowlands of Judah, ear Philistia (about 25mi southwest of Jerusalem).
Occupation: Prophet, prior to unknown.
Date: 735-700 B.C. during reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah of Judah (Mic1:1)
Message: “Present judgment, future blessings.”
Judgment because of Israel’s unfaithfulness to God
Blessings will come because of God’s faithfulness to Israel
Thoughts, characterizations from the scholars
Homer Hailey “He was the prophet of the poor and downtrodden.”
J.M.P. Smith “He had Amos’s passion for justice and Hosea’s heart for love.”
Micah was a man of the fields, Isaiah was a man of the city
Micah had little interest in politics, giving himself over to the concern over spiritual and more problems; whereas Isaiah was in close contact with world affairs, the associate of kings and princes. (Homer Hailey; quoted by Mark Copeland)
Both Micah and Isaiah saw God as the infinite ruler of nations and men. Recognized the absolute holiness and majesty of God. And, stressed that violating principles of God’s divine sovereignty and holiness would bring judgment and doom.
Outline of book (in general)
Judgment with a promise of restoration (Mic1:1-2:13)
God’s condemnation with a glimpse of future hope (Mic3:1-5:15)
God’s indictment with a plea for repentance and promise of forgiveness (Mic6:1-7:20)
(Transition) now that we have the basics laid out, may we now turn to the Word and look at Micah’s first message.
The coming judgment and promised restoration
The coming judgment and promised restoration
If you have been taught, told the difference between right and wrong, what should you expect if you do wrong? Israel/Judah had the covenant, the promises, the prophets and the law. Now they are going to have the judgment for correction before the promised restoration.
Judgment pronounced on Israel and Judah
The message/judgment is for both Israel and Judah (1:1)
1 The word of the Lord which came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
Gleaning from the scripture:
Who is the word coming concerning (v.1)?
Samaria is Israel, Jerusalem is Judah in case you were not sure.
The announcement of the coming judgment (1:2-5)
2 Hear, O peoples, all of you; Listen, O earth and all it contains, And let 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 for the rebellion of Jacob And for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the rebellion of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? What is the high place of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem?
Instructions are given, reasons are given in (vv.2-5)?
Hear (v.2) Listen (v.2); the Lord is going to judge from His holy temple, because of the rebellion and sins (v.5).
6 For I will make Samaria a heap of ruins in the open country, Planting places for a vineyard. I will pour her stones down into the valley And will lay bare her foundations. 7 All of her idols will be smashed, All of her earnings will be burned with fire And all of her images I will make desolate, For she collected them from a harlot’s earnings, And to the earnings of a harlot they will return.
Destruction described (vv.6-7), can you see it?
Lay bare her foundation (v.6) ; smash idols, earnings burned up, graven images will be made desolate (v.6).
8 Because of this I must lament and wail, I must go barefoot and naked; I must make a lament 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 Tell it not in Gath, Weep not at all. At Beth-le-aphrah roll yourself in the dust. 11 Go on your way, inhabitant of Shaphir, in shameful nakedness. The inhabitant of Zaanan does not escape. The lamentation of Beth-ezel: “He will take from you its support.”
12 For the inhabitant of Maroth Becomes weak waiting for good, Because a calamity has come down from the Lord To the gate of Jerusalem. 13 Harness the chariot to the team of horses, O 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 On 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, O inhabitant of Mareshah. The glory of Israel will enter Adullam.
16 Make yourself bald and 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.
Micah’s mourning (Mic1:8-16)
Some key words from the mourning
It will involve a lament (v.8) including, barefoot and naked.
The mourning will be because the wound is incurable. (v.9)
The stuff seen in (vv.10-15) has word plays naming some of the cities but when you get to (v.16) look
You will go into exile, so make yourself bald, cut off your hair.
Reasons for the inevitable, inescapable judgment (2:1-12)
Due to the arrogance and violence of the nobles (2:1-5)
1 Woe to those who scheme iniquity, Who work out evil on their beds! When morning comes, they do it, For it is in the power of their hands. 2 They covet fields and then seize them, And houses, and take them away. They rob a man and his house, A man and his inheritance.
3 Therefore thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am planning against this family a calamity 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 taunt And utter a bitter lamentation and say, ‘We are completely destroyed! He exchanges the portion of my people; How He removes it from me! To the apostate He apportions our fields.’
5 “Therefore you will have no one stretching a measuring line For you by lot in the assembly of the Lord.
They covet fields and houses (v.2)
As they did to others, it will be done to them (v.3)
For rejecting the true prophets and embracing, accepting the false ones (2:6-11)
6 ‘Do not speak out,’ so they speak out. But if they do not speak out concerning these things, Reproaches will not be turned back. 7 “Is it being said, O house of Jacob: ‘Is the Spirit of the Lord impatient? Are these His doings?’ Do not My words do good To the one walking uprightly?
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 “The women of My people you evict, 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 a man walking after wind and falsehood Had told lies and said, ‘I will speak out to you concerning wine and liquor,’ He would be spokesman to this people.
Telling the prophets not to speak out (v.6)
They await and do evil to the people of God (vv.8-9)
They are defiled (unclean) because they are listening to the false prophets (vv.10-11)
Restoration promised (2:12-13)
12 “I will surely assemble all of you, Jacob, I will surely 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 men.
The restoration will be a remnant of Israel
the Lord will lead them out like a flock of sheep (vv.12-13)
12 I will indeed gather all of you, Jacob; I will collect the remnant of Israel. I will bring them together like sheep in a pen, like a flock in the middle of its fold. It will be noisy with people. 13 One who breaks open the way will advance before them; they will break out, pass through the gate, and leave by it. Their King will pass through before them, the Lord as their leader.
Oh, need to pause here, for there is so much here that points to Jesus.
Jesus longed to gather Israel
37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.
How Jesus would lead the sheep
1 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. 2 “But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep.
3 “To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
They will pass through the sheep gate, or Jesus says in another place the narrow gate
13 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14 “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Jesus is the gate, He is the door
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
7 So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 “All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.
9 “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
Jesus goes before
3 “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
So, can you see the richness of the text that ties into so much of the N.T. words of Jesus?
(No need to read below it is just for the outline)
(Other scriptures referenced/used in this section: Mt23:3, 7:13-14; Jn10:1-3, 7-9; 14:3, 6)
(Conclusion) Micah will later tell of the fulfillment, how it would be with the restoration with the King who will lead the flock (remnant).
2 “But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.” 3 Therefore He will give them up until the time When she who is in labor has borne a child. Then the remainder of His brethren Will return to the sons of Israel.
4 And He will arise and shepherd His flock In the strength of the Lord, In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God. And they will remain, Because at that time He will be great To the ends of the earth. 5 This One will be our peace. When the Assyrian invades our land, When he tramples on our citadels, Then we will raise against him Seven shepherds and eight leaders of men.
Micah is like the other prophets we have seen and will see, he has a pattern and you will see more of this
The proclamation of the coming judgment, this will be involving captivity
The providing the basics of the coming judgment; describes the nature of the sin that brings the judgment.
The promised restoration of the remnant after repentance.
Judah, like Israel had everything they needed. They had the promises, the covenant, the law and the prophets yet they did not adhere to the words of the the prophets like Micah, Amos, Hosea and Isaiah.
Are we adhering today, are we hearing God’s word and applying God’s word? It was a concern long after Micah’s day and is today too, consider this passage before we close.
1 For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. 2 For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty,
3 how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, 4 God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.
Are we a people who embrace such a great salvation?
(Prayer) (exit)