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MICAH
INTRODUCTION
The prophet Micah speaks to the southern kingdom of Judah during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah (late 8th century BC). He foresees that Samaria and Jerusalem, the capital cities of Israel and Judah, will be destroyed because of their injustice and corrupt religion. The people have abandoned the covenant God made with them, taking up the pagan religious practices of the Canaanites. The rich and powerful are ruthlessly exploiting the poor, ignoring the law of Moses. Micah warns that in punishment for their unfaithfulness and injustice, both kingdoms will be invaded, conquered and exiled. As he predicts, Samaria falls to the Assyrians in 722 BC and Jerusalem falls to the Babylonians in 587/6 BC.
Micah’s prophecies alternate between warnings of destruction and promises of restoration. Each of Micah’s three groups of oracles begins with a series of judgments, and then concludes with promises of restoration. Micah proclaims that in compassion and covenant faithfulness God will save a remnant of the people and bring them back to their own land. There they will be ruled by a righteous king and become a light to the whole world, pointing all nations to the ways of the Lord. God will help Israel find its place in the biblical drama.
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Micah 1 (ESV)
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.
The Coming Destruction
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.
3 For behold, the Lord is coming out of his place,
and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth.
4 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.
5 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?
6 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.
7 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.
REFLECTION:
- Micah was a prophet during the reign of Judah King Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. At that time, the northern kingdom of Israel was on the verge of subjugation, and the southern kingdom of Judah also had a political crisis due to moral and religious issues. Fortunately, King Hezekiah feared God and led the nation to rejuvenate in faith and temporarily solved the distress.
- “High places” (3) may refer to “mountain tops” or the altars used to sacrifice to various idols, which are often erected on the mountains (5).
- Samaria and Jerusalem are the capitals of Israel and Judah respectively. These two cities are full of idols and corruption. God will pour, smash, and break the carved idols to expose their foundations (cf. 6-7) and destroy the Canaanite gods that were once used to bless the harvest. This idol worship is the most hated sin of God, but the people of Judah ignore His holiness and majesty and pray for the blessing of false gods created by human hands, which is a blasphemy against the only Master and Lord.
- God is the Lord of judgment, and He will repay us according to each person’s life. He used to be so, and He is the same today, because He was and He is the true and living God.
PRAYER:
Dear God! You are the holy and righteous God. Please help me not to forget that you are a majestic judge. Help me to fear you sincerely and not sin against you.
HYMN:
Only A Holy God – youtu.be/Jxn_fu6rdCU
