Historical Background:
Micah was a contemporary of Isaiah and Hosea. He dates his ministry with the reigns of Jotham (750-731 BC), Ahaz (731-715 BC) and Hezekiah (715-686 BC), kings of Judah (Micah 1:1). He does not mention any kings of Israel because the northern kingdom would soon be destroyed. Jeremiah also places Micah during the reign of Hezekiah (Jere. 26:18,19).
Because Micah does not mention King Uzziah, who reigned in Judah from 790-739 BC, he may have begun his minstry a bit later than Isaiah. Since he does not mention the invasion of Sennacherib (in 701 BC), he may have ended his ministry earlier than Isaiah.
We know Micah began his ministry prior to the fall of Samaria in 722 BC because he prophesied that fall (1:2-6). Possibly he ministered from 735 to 710 BC.
Regarding the kings who ruled Judah during Micah’s ministry, Jotham was a righteous man who continued the reforms of his father, Uzziah. Jotham was followed by Ahaz, a wicked man who allowed the worship of fertility gods to multiply across the nation. Even during times of reform, idolatry had still been practiced but under Ahaz, it spread rapidly, intertwining with the worship of Yahweh. This process was intensified by the massive influx of refugees from Israel after the northern kingdom was conquered. These refugees brought with them their fertility idols.
Ahaz was followed by the good king Hezekiah, a reformer used by God to call Israel back to righteousness. But in spite of the reforms of Hezekiah and the powerful prophetic ministries of Isaiah and Micah, there was still much corruption in Judah, spiritual and social.
Micah the Man:
1. Micah tell us that he was from the town of Moresheth (1:1), a small rural city located twenty miles southwest of Jerusalem. He was familiar with rural people and the poverty and injustice they would have experienced. His name, Micah, means He who is like Yahweh.
2. He may have been influenced by Amos, who ministered only 25 years earlier and whose home town, Tekoa, was only 20 miles east of Moresheth. There are similarities between Micah 2:6 and Amos 2:12, 7:10-16.
3. Micah knew he has heard from God, The word of the Lord which came to Micah (1:1).
He is not sharing his opinions. He is proclaiming the word of the Lord.
4. Micah was a man of spiritual depth and purity, able to hear the word of God above the noise of spiritual compromise, idolatry and apostasy.
5. Micah’s spiritual discernment enabled him to understand political and spiritual reality. He saw clearly the truth of his times and the true spiritual condition of his nation.
6. Micah was a man of courage and integrity, speaking against the religious and moral sins which characterized the majority of the people.
7. Micah was so consumed by his calling that he was willing to humble himself by stripping off his outer garments and his sandals and walk about as a slave.
The Message of Micah:
1. Micah establishes his message at particular time and place in history. He declares it to be, 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.
2. While he addresses the leaders of the nation, Micah was also concerned with the poor and downtrodden. He prophesied against the worship of false gods but emphasized the result of idolatry —moral and social disintegration resulting in oppression of the poor.
3. Micah called for repentance and warned of judgement to come. Just to the north, in Israel, that judgement was already taking place at the hands of the Assyrians.
4. Micah reminds Judah of the covenant mercy and grace of the God who redeemed the people from Egypt (6:4) and would someday redeem the people from Babylon (4:10), who would someday be born among them and would shepherd them like a flock (5:2-4), who will plead their case (7:9, delighting in mercy and pouring out compassion and forgiving grace (7:18,19).
Major themes of Micah include:
1. He prophesies the fall of Samaria, (1:5-7)
2. He warns against the oppression of the poor, (2:1)
3. He prophesies the Messiah's birth, eternity and second coming, (4:1-8, 5:2-8, 7:7-20).
4. He speaks of God’s involvement in Israel (1:2-7) expressed in wrath poured out against sin (2:1-3) and in mercy promised (7:18,19).
Micah’s prophetic message is timeless, speaking not only to his own generation:
1. Quoted by Jeremiah a hundred years later (Jere. 26:18,19).
2. Prophesies exile to Babylon over a hundred years future (4:10).
3. Prophesies return from Babylon (4:10).
4 . Accurately prophecies the birth and pre-existent, eternal nature of Jesus (5:2-4, confirmed in Matt. 2:1-6, John 7:41-43).
The Book:
After 1:1, the entire book is written in poetic form. The prophecy of Micah is divided into three sections, each beginning with the word, Hear:
1. The coming punishment on Israel and Judah (1:2 - 3:12)
2. The future Messianic kingdom (4:1 - 5:15)
3. Punishment of the people and final mercy (6:1 - 7:20)
Exposition:
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.”
The Word of the Lord came to a specific man — Micah. This is not a man’s opinion nor an expression of his imagination.
God gives this word at a specific time in history — during the reigns of three kings of Judah — Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. The message is for a specific audience —Samaria and Jerusalem, and yet that same word applies to the earth and all it contains (1:2). God confronted the prophet with truth so that he could confront his nation and the world with truth.
1:2 “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.”
The command to all the earth is to hear: stop what you are doing and listen to the word of God. God is not hiding. God is not silent, in every generation God is speaking. Who will stop and listen? In every generation there must be men and women who will make this a priority — to hear with clarity what God is saying and speak that word boldly and without compromise.
This is especially relevant to the church. In each of His messages to the seven churches, Jesus says, He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches (2:7, 2:11, 2:17, 2:29, 3:6, 3:13, 3:22). Who will stop and hear what the Spirit says to the churches?
1:3 “For behold, the Lord is coming forth from His place. He will come down and tread on the high places of the earth.”
The Lord is coming forth from His place. The picture is of a God who is actively involved in human history, dealing with sin and establishing His purpose in the affairs of people and nations. The Lord has always been present but there are times and places where He manifests His presence with particular authority and clarity and in those times and places, history, human society and people are transformed if people will listen and respond.
He will come down and tread on the high places of the earth. High places could refer to military fortresses or places of idol worship, which were often located on hill tops. But whether nations are trusting in the idol of their wealth or their weapons or their false religions and false philosophies, God will graciously warn and call and will offer time to repent. But when His call is ignored, when His word of warning is trampled underfoot, then He will release His judgment, trampling underfoot the high places of the earth.
The psalmist speaks of the God, Who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the tumult of the peoples (Ps. 65:7). He rules by His might forever; His eyes keep watch on the nations; let not the rebellious exalt themselves (Ps. 66:7). This is the God who will cut off the spirit of princes; He is feared by the kings of the earth (Ps. 76:12). This is the God of whom Daniel spoke, who removes kings and establishes kings (Dan. 2:21).
When we pray over world leaders and the events of the world around us, we can pray with great confidence. God not only hears us — He is calling us to partner with Him in pulling down strongholds of darkness and establishing His kingdom purpose on earth.
Paul reminds us that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places (Eph. 6:12). And he reminds us that the place where we begin to pull down strongholds is in our own minds, For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor. 10:4,5).
1:4 “The mountains will melt under Him and the valleys will be split, like wax before the fire, like water poured down a steep place.”
If a mountain, in the presence of the Lord, melts like wax before a fire, how much more will spiritual strongholds of darkness and transient human institutions and empires melt away? Our God is Lord over creation, Lord over history and within history, moving all things according to the counsel of His will (Eph 1:11). He tramples the arrogance of the proud and exalts the humble.
1:5 “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?”
The Lord indicts the leadership of Israel, the northern kingdom, for leading the people into rebellion. Samaria was the capital city of Israel and the corruption and idolatry of the nation was generated by the sin of the political, religious and economic leadership, located in Samaria. God will hold the leaders responsible for their sin and for leading the nation into sin.
The Lord also indicts the leadership of Judah, represented by the capital city of Jerusalem, for leading the nation into spiritual rebellion — the worship of idols.
1:6,7 “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. 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.”
Micah prophesies the destruction of the northern kingdom, represented by its capital city Samaria. This occurred in 722 BC, when the Assyrian army leveled Samaria and carried the survivors into captivity. Samaria was reduced to a heap of ruins.
All of her idols (were) smashed. The idols, representing gods that did not exist, were powerless to defend the people who worshipped them. The money laid at the feet of the false idols and false priests was nothing more than a harlot’s earnings.
The worship of fertility gods involved temple prostitution and the money collected from this was truly a harlot’s earnings. But idol worship itself is a form of spiritual prostitution and was financed by the worshipers who brought money and food to the place of worship.
In a further irony, to the earnings of a harlot they will return. The Assyrians, who prostituted themselves before false gods, will take away the wealth which had been offered to the false gods of Israel and will use this plunder to worship their own idols.
The destruction of the nation of Israel, and the ten tribes which had once been in covenant with God, is a terrible event. But God had mercifully, patiently warned and called for years through the prophets Hosea and Amos and now through Micah. However, the word of God had been trampled underfoot and the result was the complete annihilation of Israel.
1:8 “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.”
Micah is deeply troubled by this prophecy of destruction. It will surely take place, it is certain, it is established. But why does God reveal sin and warn of judgment? Because He is merciful, not willing that any should perish but that all experience His forgiving, restoring grace. However, when warning is ignored, when the word of God is mocked and His messengers ridiculed, when people refuse to turn from their sin and embrace God’s mercy, then nothing remains but judgment. A holy God will not ignore unrepented sin. So it was that Israel was destroyed in 722 BC by the Assyrian army.
But judgment has not yet been poured out in Judah. And though God sees the future with perfect clarity and knows that someday Judah also will be destroyed, the Lord still calls. He will give Judah another hundred years. What a magnificent revelation of the merciful heart of God, of the longing of God for the blessings of His covenant people.
And what powerful revelation of Micah’s passion to confront his people with truth. He was so consumed by the message that he humbled himself by stripping off his outer robe and his sandals and walking about like a prisoner or a slave. This was a prophetic picture of the future of a nation which would not humble itself before God.
His lament (is) like the jackals — a threatening sound. His lament is a mourning like the ostriches — sorrowful. This is a picture of a true intercessor — he prays with deep passion, identifying with God’s sorrow, grieving the future destruction of a sinful people. So it was that Jesus wept over Jerusalem.
1:9 “For her wound is incurable, for it has come to Judah; it has reached the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.”
Her wound is incurable. The spiritual and moral disease of the covenant people of God had reached the terminal point in the northern kingdom. Israel could not be saved, only judged. This is not a call for repentance but the pronouncement of certain destruction.
It is not that God is no longer merciful. But the people have refused mercy and hardened their hearts for so long, they are no longer capable of responding to mercy. They are unalterably confirmed in their idolatry, established in their sin, hardened in their apostasy and rebellion. Evidently, there is a point at which an individual soul or an entire society is no longer redeemable, no longer capable of responding to redeeming grace.
In Romans 1:18-32 the Apostle Paul tracks the downward spiral of human society which has rejected the knowledge of God. False gods are invented which then lead to moral and social disintegration, chaos and darkness. Three times Paul says, God gave them over (1:24,26,28). What terrible words! God gave them over to their sin.
How shocking Micah’s words must have been to those who were raised to believe that though God will judge the sins of His people, He will always defend them and never permit their destruction. Though God did preserve a remnant, He did in fact permit the destruction of Israel.
The apostasy, corruption and spiritual infection of the northern kingdom had also spread down into Judah — it has reached the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem. But notice, the prophet still refers to the people of Judah as my people. He still identifies with them, is still a citizen. He is not speaking from a distance but in their midst. The Word of God is incarnated, in a sense, in the life of the prophet. So is the passion of God expressed through the prophet.
1:10 “Tell it not in Gath, weep not at all. At Beth-le-aphrah roll yourself in the dust.”
Gath was a Philistine city. Micah doesn’t want the faithlessness of Judah to be known among the idol worshipping Philistines, lest the name of God be shamed. Beth-le-aphrah means house of dust. Whether this was a real city or just a way of referring to the power and wealth and false gods of Judah as nothing more than dust, his point is that the people should humble themselves before God and roll in the dust as a sign of their repentance.
1:11 “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.’
Shaphir means town of beauty. The inhabitants will go forth in shameful nakedness, that is, as prisoners of war stripped of everything. This is their future if they will not humble themselves and repent of their sin.
Zaanan means town of going out and the inhabitants will not escape. Beth-ezel means retreat house and the Lord will take from you its support. Though Assyria did march on Judah and camped outside the gates of Jerusalem, God provided a miraculous deliverance due to the intercession of Hezekiah. But Micah is speaking prophetically of the day when Babylon would be used as an instrument of the Lord’s judgment. This would be more than one hundred years in the future but God in His mercy is already warning, calling with graphic word pictures.
1:12 “For the inhabitant of Maroth becomes weak waiting for good, because a calamity has come down from the Lord to the gate of Jerusalem.”
The Lord in His holy justice allowed the Assyrian army to plunder a number of cities of Judea and advance as far as the gate of Jerusalem. But the Lord in His mercy delivered Jerusalem, preventing the complete destruction of Judah at that time.
1:13 “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.”
Lachish was a military fortress city about 30 miles southwest of Jerusalem. Evidently, the corrupting influences of the northern kingdom had gained a foothold in Lachish — in you were found the rebellious acts of Israel — from which the entire southern kingdom of Judah had been infected. The corruption may have been some form of idol worship imported from Israel. This would include not only the false gods of the fertility cults but also the idol of military might, rather than trusting in the covenant God.
1:14 “Therefore you will give parting gifts on behalf of Moresheth-gath; the houses of Achzib will become a deception to the kings of Israel.”
Parting gifts or farewell gifts were to be given to the people of Moresheth-gath because they would be going into captivity. The word Achzib means town of a lie so we could read it this way, The town of lies has deceived the leadership of Israel. Here, Israel refers to all the covenant people, north and south. False gods and unfaithfulness to the covenant God grew out of spiritual deception and created deception which would soon be fatal to the northern kingdom and eventually to the southern kingdom.
1:15 “Moreover, I will bring on you the one who takes possession, O inhabitant of Mareshah. The glory of Israel will enter Adullam.”
Mareshah means town of inheritance. But God is bringing the one who takes possession. That would be the Assyrians and later, the Babylonians.
Adullam means refuge. Many years previously, David had found refuge in the cave of Adullam when he was fleeing King Saul (I Sam. 22:1). Now, The glory of Israel — the people — will flee to the caves for refuge when God’s judgment falls.
1:16 “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.”
Priests were forbidden to shave their heads because this was associated with the cultic religions. But now it will be permitted as a sign of mourning and humiliation in the coming days of defeat and exile, prophesied with these words, The children of your delight … will go from you into exile.” So it was that many of the survivors of Israel’s destruction were taken into exile. And more than a hundred years later, when the Babylonians conquered Judah, many thousand of Jews were taken into exile. Some were quite young at the time, as were Daniel and his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego.
We see in these incredibly accurate prophecies the mercy of God, calling to Judah while there is still time. We see the resolute justice of God, informing Israel of the unavoidable outpouring of judgment. We see the all-knowing mind of God, revealing history before it happens. We see the authority of God, moving history to the fulfilling of His predetermined purpose.
As the Lord said through Isaiah, so He says to all generations, Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure’ (Isa. 46:9,10).
Study Questions
1. God spoke accurate, truthful words of warning to Micah’s generation through the prophet. Does God still speak in our day and if so, how?
2. If you were Micah alive today, what might the Lord say through you to this generation?
2:1 “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.”
Israel and Judah were judged by God not only for their worship of false gods but for the result of their idolatry — social and economic injustice. The powerbrokers were greedy, covetous schemers of iniquity. The phrase, who work out evil on their beds refers to premeditation — they are purposeful in wickedness. It is not simply that they lie awake at night devising their sinful plans. It is the purpose for their existence. They carry out their evil purpose because it is in the power of their hands to do so. Justice is so perverted, there is no counter power, no legal, social or judicial restraint.
2:2 “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.”
Whatever they covet, they seize, including land and houses. This was a brazen violation of the tenth commandment which states, You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor (Ex. 20:17). But these greedy oppressors were a law unto themselves. Evidently, those who should have been enforcing social justice had either been bribed or intimidated into silence.
Robbing a man of his inheritance was an especially grievous crime in Jewish society. Land owned by a family was to stay within their possession forever and if it was lost, it was to be returned in the Year of Jubilee, You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family … On this year of jubilee each of you shall return to his own property (Lev. 25:10,13). In fact, one of the reasons for God’s judgment of Judah by the Babylonians was the failure to respect and celebrate the Year of Jubilee (2 Chron 36:20,21).
2:3 “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.”
Though the powerbrokers covet and seize what they covet, taking what they will, oppressing whomever they chose to oppress, God will bring evil upon this family of oppressors. God will break their pride with judgment from which they cannot remove (their) necks. Neither their wealth nor their power nor the judges, politicians, priests and prophets they have purchased will be able to deliver them from God’s judgment.
Notice that when God manifests His justice in history, it is an evil time for some. So it was in Egypt when God liberated the Israelites from slavery —it was an evil time for Pharaoh. What the Hebrew people experienced as mercy was an experience of evil for the slave makers. When God manifests His justice on behalf of the oppressed, it is a cause of rejoicing for the oppressed but a cause of terror for the oppressor.
There is a universal law in operation here. Through the prophet Isaiah the Lord said, Woe to those who enact evil statutes and to those who constantly record unjust decisions so as to deprive the needy of justice and rob the poor of My people of their rights, so that widows may be their spoil and that they may plunder the orphans. Now what will you do in the day of punishment, and in the devastation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? And where will you leave your wealth? (Isa. 10:1-3).
Those who deprive the needy of justice and rob the poor of My people are living against the law of a universe designed by a morally just God. The oppressor will be brought to justice. There will be accountability before God.
Through the prophet Amos the Lord said, Therefore because you impose heavy rent on the poor and exact a tribute of grain from them, though you have built houses of well-hewn stone, yet you will not live in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, yet you will not drink their wine (Amos 5:11).
Through James the Lord said, Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts (James 5:4).
Through the prophet Habakkuk the Lord said, Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and founds a town with violence! (Hab. 2:12).
What is the motivation for economic oppression? Is it not greed? Paul warns us that greed is a form of idolatry — making an idol of our possessions (Col. 3:5). Therefore Jesus warns us, Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions (Luke 12:15).
We want to be balanced here — money is not evil. We need money to pay our bills and to bless the kingdom of God. But wealth gained through greed, injustice and exploitation is evil.
And the unbalanced love of money can lead to evil, as Paul warns us, For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs (I Tim. 6:10).
Also, wealth can fool us. Jesus warned us of the deceitfulness of riches (Mark 4:19). Wealth can deceive us into believing that we don’t need God. Wealth can choke out the work of God’s truth in us, can rob us of humility and compassion for others.
Therefore Paul warns us, Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share. storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed (I TIm. 6:17-19).
2:4 “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.’”
Those who brought ruin upon others through economic injustice and exploitation will be ruined. God used the Assyrian army to take from the oppressors of Israel what they had stolen; and God used the Babylonians to take from the oppressors of Judah what they had stolen. God used the apostate foreigners, idol worshippers, to judge the idol worshiping, apostate people of the covenant.
2:5 “Therefore you will have no one stretching a measuring line for you by lot in the assembly of the Lord.”
Stretching a measuring line was how property lines were measured. But the Lord says there is a day coming when foreigners will measure out the land and those who schemed to steal and plunder will themselves be plundered. They will own nothing but a slave’s provision in a foreign land.
2:6 “Do not speak out,’ so they speak out. But if they do not speak out concerning these things, reproaches will not be turned back.”
True prophets were being warned, threatened by the wealthy and powerful oppressors, Do not speak out (do not prophesy). Their attitude was, “Silence these truth speakers — they make us feel uncomfortable.” However, true prophets continued to speak out. In every generation, Godly men and women will continue to speak the word of God. And if they did not, then reproaches will not be turned back —judgment, disaster will not be turned away if truth speakers are silenced.
The second phrase can be translated, One should not preach of such things; disgrace will not overtake us (ESV) or Don’t prophesy like that. Such disasters will never come our way (NLT). What dangerous presumption and arrogance. They assume that because they are Israelites they can live any way they choose, commit flagrant sin, ignore the word of God and still prosper and be blessed.
They have always been among us, those who would silence the true prophetic voice. Isaiah warned of such people, For this is a rebellious people, false sons, sons who refuse to listen to the instruction of the Lord; who say to the seers, ‘You must not see visions’; and to the prophets, ‘You must not prophesy to us what is right, speak to us pleasant words, prophesy illusions’ (Isa. 30:9,10).
They not only persecute and attempt to silence the true prophet. They also raise up false prophets. Paul warned of those who will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires (2 Tim. 4:3). These are people who, as Jeremiah warned, have healed the brokenness of My people superficially, Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ but there is no peace (Jere. 6:14). In every generation there are those who attempt to silence truth speakers while proclaiming a lying word.
Jesus warned of times to come when false prophets will arise and will mislead many (Matt. 24:11). Paul also warns us, But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons (I Tim. 4:1).
Though false prophets will increase as we move further into the darkness of the last days, they have always been present preaching their doctrines of demons, “Live any way you choose — disgrace will not overtake us.” How necessary it is that truth speakers continue to speak truth.
2:7 “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?”
This verse is a bit hard to understand so let’s look at another translation: Should you talk that way, O family of Israel? Will the Lord’s Spirit have patience with such behavior? If you would do what is right, you would find my words comforting (NLT).
Micah is replying to those who were attempting to silence him, who were saying, Do not speak out. His response is two fold:
1. There is a point at which God will cease His patient calling to those who refuse His word, who refuse to repent and arrogantly presume on His mercy. What follows then is judgment.
2. If, on the other hand, they would listen and humbly obey the word of the Lord, they would find comfort. As James reminds us, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6).
2:8-10 “Recently My people have arisen as an enemy— You strip the robe off the garment from unsuspecting passers-by, from those returned from war. The women of My people you evict, each one from her pleasant house. From her children you take My splendor forever. ‘Arise and go, for this is no place of rest because of the uncleanness that brings on destruction, a painful destruction.”
The people of Micah’s generation had arisen as an enemy against their own people, stripping the robes from the poor and evicting women (probably widows) from their homes. In robbing the poor and the widow, they have made themselves enemies of God. God therefore declares Himself to be the enemy of these greedy oppressors.
We see in this the heart of God, who says, Do not rob the poor because he is poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate; for the Lord will plead their case and take the life of those who rob them (Prov. 22:22,23).
The Psalmist reminds us that our God is, A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows, is God in His holy habitation (Ps. 68:5).
Through James, the Lord reminds us, Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world (James 1:27).
God is deeply concerned for the well-being of the poor and is grieved by those who oppress, rob and exploit. We hear this in Mary’s song of praise, after the angel informed her that she would be the mother of the Messiah. Mary said, For the Mighty One has done great things for me; and holy is His name … He has done mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart. He has brought down rulers from their thrones, and has exalted those who were humble. He has filled the hungry with good things and sent away the rich empty-handed (Luke 1:49, 51-53).
The power-broker-robbers of Micah’s generation had arisen as an enemy against their own people. To those who rob and dispossess, the Lord says, Arise and go. God will dispossess them. They have misused the land of promise, filled it with uncleanness that brings on destruction. Now they will lose the land.
2:11 “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.”
What an indictment of Micah’s generation! They prefer prophets who chase after wind and falsehood (vanity and deception),who speak comforting lies. If they would preach about wine and liquor they would be preferred to true prophets who speak truth. How shallow and self indulgent! But worse, how dangerous, because if they will not listen to truth, if they prefer to listen to drunken false prophets who speak only vain deception, whose message is nothing other than wind, then they will never be convicted of sin nor will they return to the Lord. And if they will not repent and return, then all that remains is judgment. It is dangerous to listen to false prophets.
2:12 “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.”
Against the vision of judgment and exile, Micah now unfolds the vision of a coming day when the scattered faithful remnant will be gathered into one flock.
Like a flock in the midst of its pasture they will be noisy with men may be translated, Like a flock in its pasture, yes, your land will again be filled with noisy crowds! (NLT).
Or, Like a flock in its pasture; the place will throng with people (NIV).
Who will accomplish this? Who is this shepherd who will gather the faithful remnant and bring them back to their land?
2:13 “The breaker goes up before them; they break out, pass through the gate and go out by it. So their king goes on before them, and the Lord at their head.”
The breaker goes up before them is better translated, The One who breaks open the way will go up before them (NIV) or Your leader will break out and lead you out of exile (NLT).
This is a post-exilic prophecy. After Judah is conquered (and this would be more than a hundred years after Micah), after Judah is taken into exile in a foreign land, there will come a Shepherd who will open a way out from the land of exile and slavery, who will lead them through the gate and this Shepherd is also their king (who) goes on before them.
Who is this Shepherd-King? It is the Lord, Yahweh, the Great I Am who once led Israel out of slavery in Egypt. This is the Lord who calls and warns and contends with His covenant people, the God who will bring judgment and destruction when His word is trampled underfoot.
This is the Lord who will gather a faithful remnant and return them to their land. This is the Lord who someday be born in human flesh in that land, who, as the long awaited Messiah, would proclaim the kingdom of God, who would be rejected and put to death, who would rise from the dead and in His atoning death and resurrection call forth forth a kingdom of priests whom He will gather and Shepherd into His everlasting kingdom.
Study Questions:
1. What is God’s response to people who gather wealth through injustice and oppression?
2. In Proverbs 19:17 we read, One who is gracious to a poor man lends to the Lord, and He will repay him for his good deed. What does this tell us about the heart of God?
3:1-3 “And I said, ‘Hear now, you leaders of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel:
Is it not for you to know justice? You who hate good and love evil, who tear off their skin from them and their flesh from their bones, who eat the flesh of my people, strip off their skin from them, smash their bones, and chop them up as for the pot, and as meat in a cauldron!”
Micah addresses the leaders of the nation, or should we say misleaders. He asks, Is it not for you to know justice? This is a rhetorical question. Of course it is the responsibility of leaders to know and administer justice. But in fact they hate good and love evil and Micah uses very graphic language to describe their crimes. They are not actually cannibals but they prey on their people, exploit and consume their lives. Because they have not responded to the word of God calling them to repent, because they refuse correction, there is nothing left but judgment.
3:4 “Then they will cry out to the Lord, but He will not answer them. Instead, He will hide His face from them at that time because they have practiced evil deeds.”
These misleaders consider themselves to be religious, calling on God. They may even have thanked God for their prosperity. But God does not answer them for He was not the source of their abundance. They gained wealth and power through the exploitation of their countrymen, consumed the lives off their fellow Israelites — the widow, the poor, the powerless.
When adversity comes upon them, they will cry out to the Lord but God will not answer them. Instead, He will hide His face from them — He will turn away. God cannot look upon sin or fellowship with sin. God does not even listen to the prayer of a person who is wallowing in unrepented sin The Psalmist reminds us, If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear (Psalm 66:18). How arrogant and presumptuous — they continue to exploit the poor and the powerless, refuse to repent and yet carry on in their religious ritual, calling on the Lord.
They ignore reality — to the degree that they have chosen evil, they have chosen to separate themselves from God. Their only salvation is to repent of their sin, to return to God and humble themselves. But they will not. Therefore, God turns away from them, judges them with silence. In the day that evil comes against the land, God will not save them. In fact, their coming judgment is from the hand of the just and holy God.
3:5,6 “This is what the Lord says concerning the prophets who lead my people astray: when they have something to bite with their teeth, they cry out, “Peace!” But against him who puts nothing in their mouths they declare holy war. Therefore it will be night for you—without vision, and darkness for you—without divination. The sun will go down on the prophets, and the day will become dark over them.”
Another translation of verse 5 reads like this, You false prophets are leading my people astray! You promise peace for those who give you food, but you declare war on those who refuse to feed you. False prophets work for money, having a pleasant word of peace for those who pay them, who feed them. Their motivation is not truth but greed so it is to be expected that their false words will favor the wealthy and the powerful. On the other hand, they declare war on those who refuse to feed them. Anyone who refuses to honor their lies with some form of compensation will be the object of their hostility and their silence.
In every generation there are a multitude of false prophets and they always lead people astray. The Lord has a message for them: Therefore it will be night for you—without vision, and darkness for you—without divination. The sun will go down on the prophets, and the day will become dark over them. They led people into darkness — now they too will walk in darkness. They pretended to see — now they will have no light, will see no vision. The sun will go down on the prophets also means that their day is coming to an end. Their career as lying prophets is over.
False prophets who lead people into error, who prophesy peace when they are paid but declare holy war on those do not pay them, will be given darkness and silence from God. In other words, they will reap what they sow — the absence of light and truth.
3:7 “The seers will be put to shame, and the diviners will be ashamed. Indeed, they will all cover their lips because there is no answer from God.”
God’s judgement on those who pretend to see is darkness and on those who pretend to hear, silence. They will see no vision nor hear any Word from God. They used their office for personal gain but in the end, will be disgraced and shamed.
3:8 “On the other hand, I am filled with power— with the Spirit of the Lord— and with justice and courage to make known to Jacob his rebellious act, and to Israel his sin.”
Whereas the false prophets were filled with a spirit of greed and lies, contrast a true prophet, who is filled with power — with the Spirit of the Lord, which endows him with justice and courage, which enables him to make known to Jacob his rebellious act and to Israel his sin.
Micah’s awareness of the presence and empowerment of the Holy Spirit is an important benchmark in the revelation of the Person and work of the Holy Spirit. We know that every true prophet in the act of prophesying spoke under God’s anointing, as we read in 2 Peter 1:21, For no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
Whereas the Old Testament judges, patriarchs, kings and prophets experienced the presence or empowerment of the Holy Spirit only for the duration of the prophetic act or service, Micah seems to have sensed a more continuous empowerment. He said, But as for me, I am filled with power — with the Spirit of the Lord. He is filled with justice and strength to boldly declare Israel's sin and rebellion (Micah 3:8).
He does not say, “I am being filled” but I am filled. In using the perfect tense he indicates that the filling occurred at some point in his past and is still a present, ongoing experience. While this does not necessarily refer to the permanent indwelling of the Spirit of God there does seem to be a sense of continuous inspiration and empowerment.
3:9-11 “Now hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who despise justice and twist everything that is straight, who build Zion with bloodshed, and Jerusalem with malice. Her leaders pronounce judgment for a bribe, her priests teach for pay, and her prophets divine for money. Yet they lean on the Lord, saying, ‘Is the Lord not in our midst? Catastrophe will not come upon us.’”
Micah speaks to the leaders of Israel who despise justice and twist everything that is straight, who build with violence and hatred. How similar to mis-leaders today who try to gain and maintain power and position by dividing people, exploiting people with hatred and prejudice while twisting the truth to fit their own personal narrative.
The leaders pronounce judgment for a bribe — they are dishonest, they sell justice to the highest bidder. Micah speaks to the priests who teach if they are paid, which implies teaching that favors those who pay them. He speaks to prophets who prophesy for money, which as we have seen, favors those who feed them.
Meanwhile, they and all the people solemnly, arrogantly and presumptuously intone, Is not the Lord in our midst? Catastrophe will not come upon us. The leaders are deceived by their own false prophecies and the people, having listened to the words of false prophets and suppressed the voice of the true prophets, are completely unaware that their sin has separated them from God.
The common denominator is money. Judges who should uphold the law, priests who should teach the law, prophets who should speak visionary words based on the law — have all been corrupted by the love of money. Thus Jesus warns us of the deceitfulness of riches (Mark 4:19). Paul reminds us, For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs (I Tim. 6:10).
3:12 “Therefore on account of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the temple will become high places of a forest.”
Micah prophesies national destruction. When the political and religious leaders are corrupt, a nation will eventually be destroyed. This was probably difficult for the powerbrokers to believe. They arrogantly assumed, “Yes, God might discipline us but He will never allow our destruction.” They no doubt dismissed Micah’s warning as the ranting of a deluded peasant farmer, a misguided fanatic.
But Micah refuses to flinch, refuses to back down, placing responsibility squarely on the leadership: On account of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins. He sees clearly the ruin of his nation. But in the next chapter, he sees just as clearly the coming day of restoration for a faithful remnant.
It is historical fact that Jerusalem was destroyed in 586 BC by the Babylonians. Many Jews were killed, many of the survivors were taken into exile and the Southern Kingdom ceased to exist as a political entity. It is also historical fact that seventy years later, the first group of exiles returned and began the process of rebuilding the temple and the holy city of Jerusalem.
Study Questions
1. What happens to a nation when political and religious leadership is corrupt?
2. What is God’s response to people who call themselves teachers, priests and prophets but in fact are liars, who call darkness light and twist the truth?
4:1 “And it will come about in the last days that the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains. It will be raised above the hills, and the peoples will stream to it.”
Micah has clearly seen Zion as a plowed field, Jerusalem as a heap of ruins (3:12). Now he sees just as clearly the vision of a future day of restoration.
This prophecy will be fulfilled long after the life of Micah. It will take place in the last days which we understand to be all of time since the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus. It is the age of grace — the final era of God’s redemptive work. In this age the church goes forth proclaiming the Gospel and will continue to do so until the end of this last season of history.
The prophecy concerns the mountain of the house of the Lord which we understand spiritually to be the faithful remnant, the redeemed of the Lord. In our day, this is the true church, Jews and Gentiles in whose lives the Lord of the Kingdom is ruling and through whose lives the Gospel of the Kingdom is being proclaimed.
Micah sees the mountain of the house of the Lord towering over the nations and people streaming to it to hear the Good News of salvation and to be taught in the ways of the Lord. This is not a picture of the church as a political or military force dominating the world. Rather, it is
Jesus Christ, the Lord of the kingdom living through His church and towering in mercy and truth over the ruins of time and empire. People stream to Him as He is proclaimed and exalted in and through His redeemed church. The nations have come and will come seeking salvation.
There is also a physical or geographical meaning to this prophecy. Jesus will return someday and will rule the earth from a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem.
In Revelation 16:20 we read, Then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. This refers to the restoration of the earth to something like its topography before the flood in Noah’s day. When Jesus returns, the Temple Mount will be established as the chief of the mountains, towering in physical elevation over the earth. And it will tower spiritually over a world in which all false religion and false philosophy will have been destroyed. From a rebuilt Jerusalem temple Jesus will reign on His glorious throne and the nations will stream to Him.
4:2 “Many nations will come and say, ‘Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob, that He may teach us about His ways and that we may walk in His paths. For from Zion will go forth the law, even the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”
Again, there is a two-fold sense to this. In the era of Christ’s millennial reign over the earth, people will come from across the earth to Jerusalem to be taught. But even now people come to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob — the true church, to be instructed in the things of God, to learn about His ways and that we may walk in His paths.
The phrase, from Zion will go forth the law, does not refer merely to the Law of Moses. Rather, it is the word of the Lord, in its entirety, the full revelation of God’s truth. And not only will people come to Jerusalem to be taught when Christ returns. The word will go forth from Jerusalem — teaching ministries will go out across the earth to instruct the inhabitants. Even as the Lord restores the earth physically, so will there be a spiritual restoration as people learn to walk in His paths.
This is surely true today. The word of God goes forth today through the spiritual Zion — the true, redeemed church. And every tribe and tongue and nation has the opportunity to hear and walk in the ways of the Lord.
4:3 “And He will judge between many peoples and render decisions for mighty, distant nations. Then 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 train for war.”
Micah sees a day of peace when instruments of warfare will be changed into instruments of cultivation; when human strength will be employed, not to make war or plunder, but to plow and plant and nurture; when creative brilliance will be employed not to destroy but to build up. This will be the reality when Jesus is enthroned in Jerusalem. In that day, there will be no armies anywhere on earth, no warfare, because the Lord will reign and judge with perfect justice and His peace will be established globally.
4:4 “Each of them will sit under his vine and under his fig tree, with no one to make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.”
Perfect peace and contentment is represented in this picture of people sitting under their fruit trees without any fear of being plundered. The oppressor and the outlaw have been removed.
Though Micah does not mention it, we know from other prophets that there will be a restoration of the fruitfulness of the earth in that day. For instance, Amos reveals, ‘Behold, days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when the plowman will overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows seed; when the mountains will drip sweet wine and all the hills will be dissolved’ (9:13). The harvest will be so abundant that the plowman will be preparing for the next harvest before the reaper has finished gathering the last one.
And notice how Amos says, and all the hills will be dissolved. The topography of the earth will be rearranged, not only so that Mt. Zion will be the highest place on earth but also to facilitate a moderating of climate patterns which will contribute to the increased fruitfulness of which Micah and others prophesy.
4:5 “Though all the peoples walk each in the name of his god, as for us, we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.”
Though in Micah’s day the nations of the world, and many of the covenant people, worshipped false gods and walked in the name of their gods, that is, identified with their idols, there was a remnant in Israel which remained faithful and would continue to walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.
So it is today. Though the nations bow before their enslaving idols, there will always be a faithful remnant of believing Jews and Gentiles. And when Christ returns, His kingdom will be inhabited only by the faithful, the redeemed, throughout His thousand year reign and into eternity.
4:6 “In that day,” declares the Lord, ‘I will assemble the lame and gather the outcasts, even those whom I have afflicted.’”
In that day when Messiah returns, He will assemble the lame and the outcast. The broken earth and the broken of the earth will be gathered into Messiah’s restoring embrace. The exile will be brought home, the outcast will be brought in. Those who once staggered under God’s justice — those whom I have afflicted — but turned from their sin, will be gathered in.
Healing and wholeness will characterize life in that day. We saw a picture of this in the ministry of Jesus in His first advent, as we read in the Gospels, And large crowds came to Him, bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and He healed them (Matt. 15:30).
Peter testified that Jesus went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil (Acts 10:38). If it was so in His first advent in the midst of demonic and human opposition, imagine the magnitude of Christ’s ministry when all demonic and human opposition is removed.
4:7 “I will make the lame a remnant and the outcasts a strong nation, and the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion from now on and forever.”
These outcasts and broken, the rejected of the earth, will be a mighty nation under the Lord’s rule. The church is the community of the broken made whole, the sinner made holy. As Paul reminds us, But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong (I Cor. 1:27).
4:8 “As for you, tower of the flock, hill of the daughter of Zion, to you it will come— even the former dominion will come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.”
Tower of the flock, hill of the daughter of Zion speaks of the mountain on which the temple rested, Mount Zion. It is the promise of the someday return of the King, the Messiah who was rejected in His first advent but will be enthroned when He returns. His dominion, His kingdom, will then be established across the earth, centered in Jerusalem.
4:9,10 “Now, why do you cry out loudly? Is there no king among you, or has your counselor perished, that agony has gripped you like a woman in childbirth? Writhe and labor to give birth, Daughter of Zion, like a woman in childbirth; for now you will go out of the city, dwell in the field, and go to Babylon. There you will be rescued; there the Lord will redeem you from the hand of your enemies.”
Micah is ministering probably no later than 710 BC but he prophesies Judah’s exile to Babylon which took place in 586 BC. God knows that the nation will not repent, will be conquered and many of the survivors will be taken as prisoners to Babylon. But there is also a promise of restoration — There you will be rescued; there the Lord will redeem you from the hand of your enemies. So it was that in 538 BC, the first group of refugees returned to the land.
Though Micah did not know this, Israel was again destroyed and dispersed in 70 AD, after being defeated by the Roman armies. Yet once again, the nation was restored in 1948. And the gathered exiles are still returning as the Lord draws them back. In this we see the truth of God’s sovereign Lordship over the events of history.
It is the Lord who rescues and redeems — a picture of the Good Shepherd gathering His flock from dispersion. However, until that final day of gathering when Messiah returns, Zion will writhe like a woman giving birth. This speaks of suffering experienced by Israel and the persecution of the redeemed church. But this also speaks of intercession, the birthing of God’s kingdom purpose in and through the travailing prayers of a faithful remnant in the midst of the painful warfare and chaos of history.
4:11,12 “And now many nations have been assembled against you who say, ‘Let her be polluted, and let our eyes gloat over Zion.’ But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord, and they do not understand His purpose; for He has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor.”
There will be exile, nations gathering to pollute Zion and to do violence against the covenant people. This has continued throughout history to this present day, the powers of darkness using the ungodly in an attempt to destroy God’s kingdom purpose by destroying God’s covenant people, chanting, “Drive Israel into the sea.”
Insofar as Zion represents the redeemed church, we see the powers of darkness attempting to pollute the true church with false doctrine and weaken her through violent slander and persecution. But Micah declares, They do not know the thoughts of the Lord and they do not understand His purpose. Even in the continual assembling of nations conspiring to destroy Israel and in the continual assault against the true church, God is working out His eternal purpose. God is gathering the enemies of Zion to be destroyed, like sheaves to the threshing floor.
4:13 “Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion, for your horn I will make iron and your hoofs I will make bronze, that you may pulverize many peoples, that you may devote to the Lord their unjust gain and their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.”
Israel is an instrument of the Lord’s threshing since the days of Abraham, to whom the Lord promised, And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed (Gen. 12:3).
What came of the Assyrians who conquered Israel? They were destroyed by the Babylonians. What came of the Babylonians who conquered Judah? They were destroyed by the Persians. What came of the Romans who burned down Jerusalem? Rome was destroyed by barbarians. What happened to Hitler and his boast to exterminate the Jewish people? He died by his own hand in the dust and rubble of Berlin.
So it has been in every generation and with those today who vow to drive Israel into the sea and with those who attempt to destroy the true church. They will be threshed, destroyed. And in that future day when Messiah returns and the last rebel is defeated, the redeemed people of God will devote to the Lord the unjust gain and wealth of all the earth.
Of all the wonderful revelation contained in this chapter, above all we surely see this: God is reigning in and over the history of this world. As Paul reminds us, He is the God who works all things according to the counsel of His will (Eph. 1:11).
With the Psalmist we celebrate, The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart from generation to generation (Ps. 33:11). Truly, The kingdom is the Lord’s and He rules over the nations (Ps. 22:28).
The Lord testifies through the prophet Isaiah, Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure’ (Isa. 46:9,10).
Again, the Lord testifies of Himself, For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it (Isa. 55:10,11).
Therefore it is certain that someday, At the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phlpn. 2:10,11).
So it was that John heard this shout in heaven 2,000 years ago, The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever (Rev. 11:15). To God be the glory now and forever.
Study Questions
1. Micah foresaw the destruction and restoration of the covenant nation. What do judgment and restoration tell us about the character of God.
2. We see in Micah’s prophecy a God who is sovereign over human history. How does this revelation of the wisdom and power of God impact your personal faith?
5:1 “Now muster yourselves in troops, daughter of troops; they have laid siege against us; with a rod they will smite the judge of Israel on the cheek.”
Israel refers to the covenant people in general which now would consist primarily of the southern kingdom, Judah, because the northern kingdom was probably already destroyed by the Assyrian army. The word smite can be translated strike, wound, destroy. The judge of Israel refers to the leadership of the nation. The phrase they have laid siege against us can be translated, He has laid siege against us, referring to God as the source of the coming attack, an expression of God’s judgment on a sinful, unrepentant nation.
Micah is prophesying a time of national humiliation and calamity as the enemies of the covenant nation attack. As a matter of historical fact, the Assyrian army would soon march through Judah, laying siege to cities and even camping outside the gates of Jerusalem. Though the Assyrian army was destroyed by the angel of the Lord (2 Kings 19:35), this event was a warning to the nation of future judgment and calamity if they would not repent. Little more than a hundred years later the Babylonians would attack and destroy what remained of the nation and throughout the centuries there would be many more attempts to destroy Israel.
5:2 “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.”
Though the northern kingdom and its corrupt rulers had been destroyed and though Judah was experiencing a time of chaos and siege, Micah prophesies that a special Ruler is coming someday. He will arise from Bethlehem Ephrathah. Bethlehem means house of bread. Ephrathah means fruitful land and refers to that region. Though Bethlehem was a small, insignificant village, it would be blessed with the greatest honor ever given to any town or city in Judah or Israel.
One will be born here who will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. He will be sent from God, purposed by God to rule over Israel, referring to the entire nation. He will be a king but not just any king — His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity. His existence will precede his birth. We understand this to be Jesus who, though conceived in His humanity by the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary and born in Bethlehem, and though descended in His humanity from King David, existed from eternity as Second Person of the Trinity.
What an incredible prophetic word proclaimed hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus. The city of bread would be host someday to the birth of the One who said, I am the bread of life (John 6:35). This could not refer to King David — he had already lived and died and though David was born in Bethlehem, he surely did not exist before his birth. Rather, David’s life and reign were a foreshadowing of a greater King — great David’s greater Son — Jesus Messiah.
5:3 “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.”
There would be times of defeat and exile when God gave them up — when God judged the covenant nation by giving the sinful nation over to conquering foreign armies. The first was in 586 BC when Judah was defeated by the Babylonians. Many of the survivors were removed from the land. Then Persia dominated the nation, then the Greeks, then the Romans.
God gave the covenant people up until the time when she who is in labor has borne a child. So it was, When the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman (Galatians 4:4). So it was that Jesus was born of Mary in the First Century AD in Bethlehem.
However, the nation did not receive their Messiah and so, after the Roman War in 70 AD, the nation was again dispersed around the world. And the Holy Land has been oppressed and dominated for centuries by foreign powers. These centuries are known as the Church Age.
The phrase, Then the remainder of His brethren will return to the sons of Israel, refers to the harvest of Jews and Gentiles gathered to Christ by the preaching of the Gospel throughout this season — the Church Age, the Era of Grace. And as faithful believers have travailed, labored in prayerful intercession, the Lord has brought the Jews back to form a nation and prepare for the second coming of the Messiah. He will return in the perfect fulness of God’s timing.
5:4 “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.”
This One to come will provide for the people of God in the strength of the Lord: Divine strength, but not a warrior, rather, a shepherd. And not a common shepherd — He will rule in the majesty of the name of the Lord.
We recognize Jesus in this prophecy. He described Himself as the good shepherd (John 10:11). Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would possess the qualities of a shepherd, Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, in His arm He will gather the lambs and carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes (Isa. 40:11). Ezekiel also, many years after King David had lived and died, prophesied of the Messiah, Then I will set over them one shepherd, My servant David, and he will feed them; he will feed them himself and be their shepherd (Ezkl. 34:23).
Notice the revelation of Jesus’ humble submission to the Father, He will arise and shepherd His flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord His God. Jesus, in His first advent, though fully divine, in His humanity voluntarily surrendered the independent exercise of His divine attributes in humble submission to the Father. He emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men (Phlp. 2:7).
He said, The Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner (John 5:19). In His first advent, Jesus ministered in the strength of the Lord.
Though Jesus returned to the Father, even now He is shepherding His flock through the agency of the Holy Spirit, leading the church, gathering men and women into His flock and they will remain (live securely). None will be lost. Jesus said, This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day (John 6:39).
He said, And I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand (John 10:28). In His High Priestly prayer which He prayed on the night He was betrayed, Jesus said, While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled (John 17:12).
Micah prophesied, 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 (will dwell securely). And so it has been throughout these centuries. The redeemed are secure in the grace of the Lord.
When Jesus Messiah returns, He will gather His flock from across the earth and they will remain, because at that time He will be great to the ends of the earth. His dominion will be established across the entire world. His rule will be characterized by justice, mercy, peace and abundance. It will be a rule of grace established from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.
5:5,6 “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. They will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword, the land of Nimrod at its entrances; and He will deliver us from the Assyrian when he attacks our land and when he tramples our territory.”
This is a complex prophetic word. Assyria was God’s instrument of judgment to destroy the northern kingdom (in 722 BC) and God’s instrument of chastisement in Judah (in 701 BC). But when the Assyrian army laid siege to Jerusalem, one angel destroyed the Assyrian army in one night (see Isaiah 37) and established peace in Judah.
Seven shepherds and eight leaders of men may be a Hebrew idiom, a figure of speech referring to the sufficiency of leaders. For instance, when the Assyrians invaded and camped outside the gates of Jerusalem, King Hezekiah prayed to the Lord as Isaiah and other Godly leaders called on the Lord for deliverance. So it was that Judah was delivered.
But there is also an end time meaning to these verses. This One (Messiah) when He returns will be our peace. He will shepherd the land of Assyria and will rule the entire earth, establishing His peace from the rising of the sun to its setting. In fact, Isaiah prophesies that in the day of Messiah’s rule on earth, pilgrims will come from Assyria and Egypt to worship the Lord (Isa. 19:19-24).
5:7 “Then the remnant of Jacob will be among many peoples like dew from the Lord, like showers on vegetation which do not wait for man or delay for the sons of men.”
Micah prophesies that the faithful remnant of redeemed Jews and Gentiles, followers of Jesus Messiah, will be among many peoples — dispersed among the nations. This is according to the sovereign purpose of God, enabling the Gospel to be proclaimed across the earth, as Jesus commanded, Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations (Matt. 28:19). The preaching of the Good News through the redeemed church has been a source of refreshment to the world, like dew from the Lord, like showers on vegetation.
This refreshment does not wait for man or delay for the sons of men. God does not need permission from any person or nation to send forth His gospel or gather His harvest. Neither can any person or nation prevent the saving purpose of Jesus from being fulfilled.
5:8,9 “The remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, among many peoples like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep, which, if he passes through, tramples down and tears, and there is none to rescue. Your hand will be lifted up against your adversaries, and all your enemies will be cut off.
The faithful remnant have not only been a source of refreshment. They have also been like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep, which, if he passes through, tramples down and tears, and there is none to rescue.
God said to Abraham, And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse (Gen. 12:3). Over the past four thousand years, every nation that has sought to destroy the seed of Abraham has been destroyed. The Assyrians rose up against Judah but were defeated by an angel of the Lord and then entirely destroyed by the Babylonians who were destroyed by the Persians who were destroyed by the Greeks who were destroyed by the Romans who were destroyed by barbarians.
Hitler rose up to annihilate the Jewish people but he perished by his own hand in the dust and rubble of Berlin. So it will be today for those who seek to drive Israel into the sea.
Jesus is not only the Good Shepherd. He is also the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Rev. 5:5). So He has been among the nations and in His church which is the faithful remnant of believing Jews and Gentiles. Many times He has chastised His church even as He shepherds His flock.
Satan has attempted to destroy the church through violent persecution from without and the corruption of false teaching from within. But all alike are destroyed by the Lion of the tribe of Judah and there is none to rescue.
5:10-14 “‘It will be in that day,’ declares the Lord, ‘That I will cut off your horses from among you and destroy your chariots. I will also cut off the cities of your land and tear down all your fortifications. I will cut off sorceries from your hand, and you will have fortune-tellers no more. I will cut off your carved images and your sacred pillars from among you, so that you will no longer bow down to the work of your hands. I will cut off your carved images and your sacred pillars from among you, so that you will no longer bow down to the work of your hands.
In order to arrive at that day when Messiah will establish His kingdom across the earth, God must release chastisement among His covenant people for the sake of cleansing and deliverance. Cleansing will begin among the people of God. So it was that God chastised Judah, sweeping away the military strength of those who based their confidence on their weapons. He swept away their cultic strongholds, their false gods, the spiritual weapons of darkness which had become part of their confidence. There were grievous season of chastisement in Israel and Judah for the purpose of cleansing, of purging, of preparing a people who were ready to receive the Messiah.
So it has also been in the church, as Peter said, For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? (I Peter 4:17). Peter is not speaking of the judgment of condemnation. He is referring to seasons of cleansing, of purging in the church and in our lives for the purpose of raising up a holy people who have been delivered from their worldly idols. Such was the Protestant Reformation and the many revival movements that have marked the history of the church.
So it also has been among the God-rejecting nations, among those who shake their fists at God. The destruction of the idols of wealth and power in which people have trusted, the destruction of false religions and false philosophies, is necessary liberation so that people may encounter and surrender to the Messiah who will shepherd them into the fulness of His kingdom rule of grace.
5:15 “And I will execute vengeance in anger and wrath on the nations which have not obeyed.”
The truth of God’s existence can be known by anyone but people suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Rom. 1:18). It is dangerous to knowingly turn from the truth of God, to reject the Good News of His grace and invent religious and philosophical systems which deny or pervert God’s truth. The Lord promises to execute vengeance in anger and wrath on the nations which have not obeyed.
How much better to be conquered by the grace and truth of Messiah. A hymn writer wrote, “Make me a captive Lord, and then I shall be free.” We triumph in Christ only as He has triumphed in us.
Study Questions:
1. Micah prophesies that a ruler / shepherd will be born in Bethlehem and yet He will exist before His birth. How does the fulfillment of this prophecy in Jesus fortify your faith?
2. Micah prophecies chastisement for the purpose of cleansing and restoration among the covenant people. What is the relationship between cleansing and restoration?
6:1,2 “Hear now what the Lord is saying, ‘Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. Listen, you mountains, to the indictment of the Lord, and you enduring foundations of the earth, because the Lord has a case against His people; even with Israel He will dispute.”
God calls the covenant nation to stand before Him as in a court of law and give an accounting. The Lord is filing a legal suit, an indictment against His people. Micah is the District Attorney and the Lord calls creation to listen — the mountains … the hills … (the) enduring foundations of the earth — as though creation is the jury.
6:3,4 “My people, what have I done to you, and how have I wearied you? Answer Me. Indeed, I brought you up from the land of Egypt and ransomed you from the house of slavery, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron and Miriam.”
God calls to His people: How have I wearied you? In other words, “What harm have I done to you?” Answer Me, the Lord demands. The Lord then lists His blessings, I brought you up from the land of Egypt and ransomed you from the house of slavery. He reminds them of the leadership He provided, Moses, Aaron and Miriam.
Considering these blessings, the Lord requires that they testify concerning their unfaithfulness. They are steeped in the history of God’s redeeming grace on their behalf. They are surrounded by proofs of His love and of His glory. Yet they continue to reject Him, to violate His love and His law. God calls out to them as though incredulous at their response to His grace, What have I done to you?
You can hear the passion and the gentleness and the kindness and the heartbreak of God. We are reminded of the words of Jesus: 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 (Matt 23:37). Jesus wept over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41), passionately desired to lavish the mercy and grace of God on the covenant people but they would not have it, were blind to His redeeming purpose.
Paul reminds us in Romans chapter one that God’s power and glory are evident to all, yet humanity suppress the knowledge of God’s truth and power and glory, is ungrateful for His mercy and goodness, prefers to invent false gods which lead the world not into blessing but into destruction (Rom. 1:18-32). God remains incredulous that we would be so ungrateful.
6:5 “My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab counseled and what Balaam son of Beor answered him, and from Shittim to Gilgal, so that you might know the righteous acts of the Lord.”
The Lord reminds them of His victories, His saving acts on their behalf. Balak king of Moab counseled the false prophet Balaam to curse Israel but God caused him to bless the people of God (see Num. 22-24). The Lord had blessed Israel as they crossed into the land of milk and honey from Shittim (east of the Jordan) to Gilgal (west of the Jordan), which, by the way, included dividing the Jordan River so the nation could cross over when the river was flooded. These mighty deeds were rehearsed in every Sabbath service, in every reading of the holy books, in every retelling of the ancient traditions. “Remember My goodness to you” the Lord exhorts them.
6:6-8 ‘With what shall I come to the Lord and bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, with yearling calves? Does the Lord take delight in thousands of rams, in ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.”
There are two possible voices for these questions. It may be the voice of the covenant people who have been summoned to appear before God and now they answer His indictment of their conduct. They pretend they don’t know what God desires so they ask questions of the Lord, With what shall I come to the Lord … Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings? How hypocritical! Their questions have nothing to do with the way they have been living. Rather, with what kind of religious ritual shall we come before God? Will He be impressed with thousands of rams, in ten thousand rivers of oil?
Or this may be the voice of Micah asking the people how they should present themselves to the Lord. Should they come before Him with ritual and sacrifice?
The answer to either voice is, “No!” God is not impressed with religious ritual offered by people living in unrepented sin. This is offensive to God, not impressive. And they should know that.
What God wants from them is a lifestyle that is pleasing to Him. If our heart is far from God, no amount of ritual or sacrificial offerings will satisfy Him. God does not receive our worship if our manner of life contradicts our profession of faith. They were offering to God everything except that which He truly desired — a humble, holy heart toward God expressed in justice and mercy toward people.
In a context of unrepented idolatry, immorality and economic injustice, God neither hears our prayers nor receives our worship. Outward religion masking inward corruption is nothing more than hypocrisy and God does not receive that. The Psalmist reminds us, If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear (Ps. 66:18).
Jesus asked, Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? (Luke 6:46). He quoted Isaiah in rebuking the religious hypocrites of His day, This people honors Me with their lips but their heart is far from Me (Matt. 15:8).
Through Amos the Lord says, Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; and I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings. Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. But let justice roll out like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream (5:22,23,24).
It was God who gave Israel their songs and rituals of worship and sacrifice but He would not receive their offerings when their hearts were far from Him. But here is the remedy — if we will turn from our sin and live righteously the Lord will hear us. So Micah reminds the covenant people that the Lord has told us what He requires: to do justice, to love kindness (mercy), and to walk humbly with your God.
It is no secret what God wants from us. He loves us enough to speak the truth to us. He tells us clearly what He requires of us. We have the word of God, holy Scripture. We have the witness of generations of holy saints who have gone before us. We know what God desires.
God wants an inner life in harmony with Him, expressed in outward acts of justice and mercy toward our fellow man. Walking humbly before God means we deny our own will and are submitted to God, loving what God loves, hating what He hates, obeying Him because it is pleasing to do so, depending on the Lord in all things. A true heart relationship with God will be expressed in Godly relations with those around us. We will do justice, we will love kindness.
True worship then is not an act of ritual but the giving up of our life upon God’s altar. Paul counsels us, Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship (Rom. 12:1). Present your life to God every day as a living offering of worship. When we do, God is able to bless, to forgive, to cleanse, to anoint so we can bring Him glory.
True worship of God is not simply an expression of devotion to God in songs of praise. It is also what we express in relation to other people. We do justice, we share mercy. The people around us were created in the image of God and though that image has been marred by sin, and though they may deny and curse God, the Apostle John reminds us, If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen (I Jn. 4:20).
Jesus’ admonition to Martha, that her sister Mary had chosen the better part in sitting at His feet (Luke 10:42), is surely crucial, for it is in communion with God that our hearts are changed. But this is balanced by Christ’s epilogue to the parable of the Good Samaritan who had exercised compassion on a helpless, wounded man: Go and do the same (Luke 10:37). The inner life of communion with Jesus is expressed in the outward life of mercy and justice. Proper relationship with Jesus is lived out in proper relationship with our neighbor.
6:9 “The voice of the Lord will call to the city — and it is sound wisdom to fear your name: ‘Hear, O tribe. Who has appointed its time?’”
Another translation reads, Fear the Lord if you are wise! His voice calls to everyone in Jerusalem: ‘The armies of destruction are coming; the Lord is sending them’ (NLT).
The Lord was sending judgment on Jerusalem and the wise will give heed by giving reverence to the Lord. This may refer to the Assyrian invasion which the Lord mercifully turned away due to the intercession of a righteous king, Hezekiah, and a holy prophet, Isaiah. But little more than a hundred years later, the nation was destroyed by the Babylonians. Notice the patience of God in giving a long season of grace. Notice the judgment of God when a nation refuses to repent and the season of grace is ended.
But in the day of judgment, no one could say, “We have not heard from God.” The life which God requires of us is proclaimed loud and clear in the time and place in which we live. It is no secret. The wise will listen and respond with holy reverence to God.
6:10,11 “Is there yet a man in the wicked house, along with treasures of wickedness and a short measure that is cursed? Can I justify wicked scales and a bag of deceptive weights?”
Micah speaks the Word of the Lord against those who defraud to gain wealth, who justify wicked scales and a bag of deceptive weights — businessmen who justify the use of fraudulent measuring devices. Their short measure (using containers which provide less than what is advertised) is cursed. God does not call them shrewd — God calls them wicked. Their gain, in God’s sight, is nothing other than the treasures of wickedness. God does not say they are blessed. He says the are cursed. “Shall I acquit them?” asks the Lord. “No” is implied.
The businessmen of Micah’s day might have objected, saying, “Keep your religion out of my business”, or, “I don’t allow religious principles to intrude on my business deals.” But we cannot separate personal faith from public life and work and the people knew this. Throughout the Law of Moses and throughout the history of the covenant people, God emphasized honesty and justice. In Proverbs we read, Dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord (Prov 11:1). The God whom we worship in our hearts requires public righteousness.
6:12-15 “For the rich men of the city are full of violence, her residents speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. So also I will make you sick, striking you down, desolating you because of your sins. You will eat, but you will not be satisfied, and your vileness will be in your midst. You will try to remove for safekeeping, but you will not preserve anything, and what you do preserve I will give to the sword. You will sow but you will not reap. You will tread the olive but will not anoint yourself with oil; and the grapes, but you will not drink wine.”
In spite of the Lord’s truth revealed in the Law of Moses, in spite of repeated warning through anointed prophets, the rich men of the city continue to be full of violence and the people continue to speak lies and their tongue is deceitful. Wealth had been gained through violence, injustice, oppression and deception; power and justice had been purchased. Corruption was now so deeply ingrained in the laws and economy of Israelite society, hearts have become so hardened, repentance has been so consistently refused, that now judgment is inevitable.
The Lord promises, I will make you sick, striking you down, desolating you because of your sins. In every generation, God judges sin. But this initial outpouring of judgment is tempered by mercy. You will eat, but you will not be satisfied is both just and merciful. God judges them by allowing them to experience the reality that for all the abundance they have purchased, they are not satisfied. Disillusionment is a gift from God which may drive a person to repentance.
A second level of judgment is also merciful, You will try to remove for safekeeping, but you will not preserve anything. They will try to preserve their wealth but will discover that in a fallen world, wealth is perishable, easily lost. It is good to know that.
And then there is the threat of theft, What you do preserve I will give to the sword. Living in a fallen world that is in violent rebellion against its Creator, those who gain their wealth through violence and oppression will ultimately lose their wealth to other violent oppressors. So it is that those who reap what others have sowed will themselves sow but not reap. As Jeremiah reminds us, As a partridge that hatches eggs which it has not laid, so is he who makes a fortune, but unjustly; in the midst of his days it will forsake him, and in the end he will be a fool (17:11).
They eat but are not satisfied, they try to save but preserve nothing, they sow but do not reap. The end which they seek — happiness through wealth and power — will elude them because their means are unjust. As we read in Proverbs, Wealth obtained by fraud dwindles (Prov. 13:11). Neither does it satisfy.
6:16 “The statutes of Omri and all the works of the house of Ahab are observed; and in their devices you walk. Therefore I will give you up for destruction and your inhabitants for derision, and you will bear the reproach of My people.”
The final indictment is worst of all — they gave themselves to idols to such a degree that God identifies them with the house and works of Omri and Ahab, evil kings of Israel who had led the northern kingdom into darkness many years before. Idolatry is a self-destructive choice. It leads the worshipper into communion with powers of darkness and separates the worshipper from the only One who can save, heal and deliver. Even as God gave Omri and Ahab to judgment and the northern kingdom with them, so, warns Micah, God will give up this generation to the destruction they have chosen.
Study Questions
1. Why does God confront people and nations with His demand for justice?
2. Why does the Lord reject outward rituals of worship when our hearts and lives are corrupt?
3. What does the Lord require of us?
7:1-4 “Woe is me! For I am like the fruit pickers, like the grape gatherers. There is not a cluster of grapes to eat, or a first-ripe fig which I crave. The godly person has perished from the land, and there is no upright person among men. All of them lie in wait for bloodshed; each of them hunts the other with a net. Concerning evil, both hands do it well. The prince asks, also the judge, for a bribe, and a great man speaks the desire of his soul; so they weave it together. The best of them is like a briar, the most upright like a thorn hedge. The day when you post your watchmen, your punishment will come. Then their confusion will occur.”
The prophet goes forth searching for godly people, like a farmer searching for fruit among his grape vines and fig trees. But, Woe is me, he declares, for no fruit remains. The season of fruitfulness is over. The godly person has perished from the land, and there is no upright person among men. Those who remain lie in wait for bloodshed to hunt and destroy one another. The prince and the judge are bribed — total corruption of justice and government. There is no Godly leadership and no law. Those who had once been men of integrity now are like weavers of evil, capturing souls in their net. The best of them are like thorns and briers, piercing, wounding the poor and powerless.
The picture is of a deserted vineyard, bearing thorns and cob webs instead of fruit. The season of Judah’s spiritual fruitfulness is over. Instead it is the day when watchmen on the walls — prophets like Micah — are announcing the approaching destruction. This will create confusion in the minds of the wealthy powerbrokers who ignored the word of warning, who refused the call to repent, who arrogantly presumed on the grace and blessing of God while violating His commands.
This is the portrait of a society in a death-spiral of spiritual and moral anarchy. The foundations of law, truth and integrity have collapsed. The knowledge of God has been replaced by a practical atheism — men and women living as autonomous beings, as if there is no God whose truth transcends this and every generation.
7:5,6 “Do not trust in a neighbor; do not have confidence in a friend. From her who lies in your bosom guard your lips. For son treats father contemptuously, daughter rises up against her mother, daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own household.”
Do not trust in a neighbor; do not have confidence in a friend are not principles by which we live. But in a society where law and order have collapsed, where evil multiples unchecked by any sense of social contract, there is an accompanying loss of trust.
Not only has Micah’s society fallen into ruin but its most basic building block, the family, now also falls apart in rebellion and disrespect. The nucleus of any society is the family and when it disintegrates, what can remain for that nation but destruction?
7:7,8 “But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy. Though I fall I will rise; though I dwell in darkness, the Lord is a light for me.
Micah is a prophetic watchman standing on the walls and though destruction is coming, he maintains his undying hope in the Lord: As for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation. Micah is confident that even in calamity and divine judgment, God will hear him and by implication, God can also be trusted to save. Therefore Micah says, I will wait for the God of my salvation.
The word wait, yachal, may be translated hope, expect. This is not the same word as in 7:2, referring to those who lie in wait for bloodshed — that word for wait, arab, means to hide in ambush). Yachal is not a waiting with evil intent nor is it a passive waiting. It is waiting in faith, in hope, in expectancy. How often in the Bible we are counseled to wait on the Lord like that.
The Psalmist exhorts us, Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who carries out wicked schemes … For evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land (Ps. 37:7,9). That word for wait, hul, can also be translated dance or give birth. It is a faithful, patient but active waiting that gives birth to kingdom promise and kingdom possibilities.
Isaiah reminds us, Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary (Isa. 40:31). This word for wait, qawa, refers to a hopeful waiting which Isaiah reminds us results in renewal.
As Micah waits on the Lord he is confident that, Though I fall I will rise. He is confident that, Though I dwell in darkness, the Lord is a light for me.
Micah is confident in the presence of God, in the care of God and in the overcoming power of God. He echoes the faith of the Psalmist who said, The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life; whom shall I dread? … Though a host encamp against me, my heart will not fear; though war arise against me, in spite of this I shall be confident (Psalm. 27:1,3).
We hear the promise of Jesus, I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life (Jn. 8:12).
Surely, as we read in the Gospel of John, The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it (Jn. 1:5). The powers of darkness cannot comprehend nor overcome the Light of the World. Micah was confident in the light of God’s faithful presence even in the gathering darkness of his generation and the approaching judgment. Therefore, even in the midst of unrestrained evil and social disintegration, he waited on the Lord with hopeful expectation.
We also hear something of his confidence in the future of the covenant nation. Though I fall I will rise was surely a prophetic word for the nation itself. There would be judgment, exile, dispersion throughout the world. But there would also be a day of resurrection. So it is that Israel has risen from the dead and exists today as a nation. God has made other promises to the covenant nation which will surely be fulfilled.
7:9 “I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against Him, until He pleads my case and executes justice for me. He will bring me out to the light, and I will see His righteousness.”
Micah stands now as a true prophetic intercessor, confessing sin on behalf of the nation. He understands that the nation has sinned against the Lord and therefore will bear the indignation of the Lord. Micah also knows that confession and repentance can turn away the judgment of God. This is God’s heart, as He declared through Ezekiel, ‘For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies,’ declares the Lord God. ‘Therefore, repent and live’ (Ezkl. 18:32). Therefore Micah had called the nation to repentance.
The Apostle Peter understood that true repentance opens the gates of grace and so he preached to the people of Jerusalem, Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord (Acts 3:19). This is the heart of God.
However, the nation had refused to turn from its sin and when a soul or a nation will not repent, then that soul and that nation cannot resist the righteous judgement of God, must bear up under it until the season of discipline is over. Abraham Lincoln expressed this in his Second Inaugural Address, “Fondly do we hope — fervently do we pray — that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago so still it must be said, ‘The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.’”
There are times when peoeple have refused to repent and therefore the judgment of God will not
be turned away. And then, who can resist the judgment of God? But Micah is also confident that the same Lord who judges the covenant nation will also plead their case and bring them out to the light. He is confident that they will see His righteousness. This is a foreshadowing of the ministry of Jesus, who, as the truth and light of God, reveals our sin. Yet Jesus also satisfied justice by bearing our sin and His blood secures our righteousness. Now this same Sin-bearer is our Advocate, praying on our behalf. Micah foreshadows the intercessory ministry of Jesus as he prays on behalf of his nation.
7:10 “Then my enemy will see, and shame will cover her who said to me, ‘Where is the Lord your God?’ My eyes will look on her; at that time she will be trampled down like mire of the streets.”
Micah is confident that there will be a time of public vindication, that those who mocked and ridiculed his prophetic ministry will fall. In every generation false prophets and false priests abound and their lies do prevail for a season. Though for a season darkness is proclaimed to be light and light proclaimed as darkness, though truth-speakers are persecuted and slandered, there is a day when righteous truth prevails and the lie and the liar are cast down and trampled … like mire (mud) of the streets.
In these verses the prophet expresses an essential principal of the Biblical world view, that the events of history are not random chaos disconnected from any meaning or purpose and that evil will not ultimately triumph. If there is no purposeful movement to history then there is no God. If evil triumphs then either God is not morally good and just or He lacks the power to establish His goodness and justice. But there is a God, He is good and just and He is working out His sovereign will in the midst of human history, judging, redeeming, moving history toward His preordained consummation.
7:11,12 “It will be a day for building your walls. On that day will your boundary be extended. It will be a day when they will come to you from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, from Egypt even to the Euphrates, even from sea to sea and mountain to mountain.”
Though the prophet sees judgement and destruction ahead, he also sees a day of redemption, of expansion and rebuilding. As is often the case with the prophets, there were near fulfillments to this prophecy and of course, a wonderful far fulfillment. Though Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC, a remnant returned and rebuilt. Though the city and the nation were again destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD, the nation was again reestablished in 1948.
Micah is also given revelatory sight to the end of history, when Jesus Messiah will return and gather a faithful remnant to His royal enthronement in a rebuilt and restored Jerusalem. In that day the boundaries of Israel will be extended to the fulfilling of the promise to Abraham in Genesis 15:18. The nation will stretch from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Euphrates River in the east, from Egypt in the south into Syria in the north, encompassing modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and parts of Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. This territory was promised to Abraham and his descendants as an everlasting possession.
The mention of Assyria and Egypt, ancient enemies of Israel, speaks of the peace that will encompass not only the Mideast but the entire world. And not only will pilgrims come to Jerusalem from those nearby nations but even from sea to sea and mountain to mountain, redeemed Jews and Gentiles will come to Jerusalem from all over the earth to worship the Lord.
We see in this prophecy that when God judges His covenant people, it is for the purpose of cleansing, of renewing them again to His covenant promises and purpose. God’s desire is not to destroy His covenant people but to destroy the evil which they have embraced, for that evil would destroy any possibility of engaging with God in the fulfilling of covenant promises.
Though the history of Israel is filled with times of terrible judgment, there have always been times of restoration. Even now the prophetic eye enables us to see the promise of restoration in the midst of today’s desolation, for the Lord is present in the midst of His covenant people.
7:13 “And the earth will become desolate because of her inhabitants, on account of the fruit of their deeds.”
Judgement of the God-rejecting world system is certain in every generation. Godless empires rise and fall. The world system is continually destroyed because its roots are ungodly. Desolation is only the fruit of desolate seeds and desolate deeds.
God judges the world and those in it for the purpose of destroying that which opposes His redeeming purpose and grace and in the hope that some will stand in the rubble of fallen empire and realize the foolishness of their pride and repent and return to the Lord. So it has been throughout history and so it will be at the end of the age. The Babylonian world system will be devastated — its economy, its governmental system, its false religion — completely destroyed. Then the King will return and establish perfect peace and justice on a restored earth.
7:14 “Shepherd Your people with Your scepter, the flock of Your possession which dwells by itself in the woodland, in the midst of a fruitful field. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old.”
In contrast to the coming judgement of the covenant people and the nations, there is coming a day of restoration and blessing for a faithful remnant of the covenant people of God. Though Micah has been given prophetic assurance of that future, he prays for it. This is much like the prophet Daniel who, many years later, understood that after 70 years of judgment, God would send the Jewish exiles back to their land. Daniel prayed for that which God had promised to do (see Daniel chapter 9). We see in this a correlation between the revealed will of God and the prayers of the saints. Though God is sovereign over history, He sometimes limits the exercise of His sovereignty while inspiring His saints to pray into being that which the Lord has purposed.
Micah understands this principle and so he intercedes for the coming day of restoration when the Shepherd King of chapter five, Will arise and shepherd His flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord His God (Micah 5:4).
Micah asks that God would Shepherd His people with His scepter (symbolizing blessing and authority) and bring them into the fruitful land which the Lord had always purposed for Israel. This presupposes the loss of the land during the Babylonian exile and in later years after the Roman War in AD 70. But Micah has been given visionary promise of a time of restoration and he prays that the land would again be a fruitful field. Restoration of the covenant people involves restoration of the covenant land. The prophet prays what He knows to be the will and purpose of God. He prays the will of God revealed in the word of God.
We also know that before Messiah returns, the entire earth will be devastated under the judgment of God. But the prophets also reveal that this planet will be restored to the beauty and fruitfulness of Eden. Joel prophesies, And in that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine, and the hills will flow with milk, and all the brooks of Judah will flow with water (Joel 3:18). Amos reveals that the earth will be so fruitful, The plowman will overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows seed (Amos 9:13). So it will be for all the earth when Jesus Messiah returns.
7:15 “As in the days when you came out from the land of Egypt, I will show you miracles.”
The Lord responds to Micah’s intercession with the promise of miracles — signs and wonders, as the nation had seen when the Lord delivered them from slavery in Egypt.
7:16,17 “Nations will see and be ashamed of all their might. They will put their hand on their mouth, their ears will be deaf. They will lick the dust like a serpent, like reptiles of the earth. They will come trembling out of their fortresses; to the Lord our God they will come in dread and they will be afraid before You.”
In response to the restoration of Israel with accompanying demonstrations of God’s power and authority, the nations will be ashamed, speechless (put their hand on their mouth) and humbled. In turn this will produce a reverential awe of God. The nations will come to God in reverent humility.
We recall the words of the Psalmist, God blesses us, that all the ends of the earth may fear Him (Ps. 67:7). The word fear, yare, carries a sense of reverential awe. When God pours out blessing upon His covenant people — in Israel and in His church — there should be an accompanying sense of reverential awe among the nations. When the world experiences the mercy of God through our mercy, and when the world experiences the power of God through miraculous signs and wonders released through the prayers and ministries of His church, there will be a corresponding reverence of God.
7:18-20 “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. He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. You will give truth to Jacob and unchanging love to Abraham, which You swore to our forefathers from the days of old.”
With this promise of restoration in view, Micah celebrates the marvelous, wonderful grace of God: Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession?
Micah captures the essence of the heart of God and we are reminded of the testimony of the Lord when His glory passed in front of Moses, The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth (Ex. 34:6). This is our God who, though His holiness requires judgment of unrepented sin, desires that none should perish but rather, that His mercy and grace be outpoured. Therefore, Messiah was born in human form and took our sin, our curse, our judgment and our death upon Himself that we might experience the forgiving grace and mercy of the Lord.
Indeed, who is like our God, pardoning our iniquity, passing over our rebellion, a God who delights in unchanging love. That phrase, unchanging love, is one of the most beautiful words in the Hebrew language — chesed. Chesed is often translated mercy or lovingkindness, as in Psalm 23, Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life (Ps. 23:6). The best definition of chesed is faithful, covenant love.
Chesed — faithful, covenant love —is the only way God knows how to love. This is the God of whom we read in Psalm 103, The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness (chesed) … He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His lovingkindness (chesed) toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us (Ps. 103:8,10-12)
Micah sees a day coming when God again will have compassion on the remnant of His inheritance, will tread our iniquity underfoot and cast His people’s sins into the deeps of the sea. God will not only forgive His covenant people but exercise divine forgetfulness, not remembering our sins.
After calling the nation to account for its idolatry, greed, oppression of the poor and immorality, after warning the nation and prophesying devastating judgment to an unrepentant nation, the prophet closes by reminding us of the faithful, steadfast love of God. It is as if he sees into the age of the New Covenant, the covenant of grace inaugurated by the blood of the Holy Lamb, Jesus Messiah who, in Himself, embodied the truth of chesed. It is as if Micah glimpses, on the far horizon, the return of Messiah, the restoration of a faithful remnant and the restoration of the entire earth.
Micah understood the absolute sovereignty of God over history. In spite of Israel’s unfaithfulness throughout the centuries, in spite of the violence of nations poured out on the covenant nation, the Lord will establish that which He purposed from the beginning. Micah sees the restoration of covenant relationship with God and the fulfilling of covenant promises made centuries ago to Abraham and to Jacob.
May we also, in our day, inspired by the faithfulness and courage of Micah, confess our sinfulness to this holy and gracious God, casting ourselves on His unfailing mercy. May we each be faithful to call our nation to repentance, warning of judgment and proclaiming the ever present possibility of forgiveness and restoration. And in the storm and tribulation of our generation, may we root our lives in the unfailing chesed of our God, the faithful covenant love proclaimed by the prophets and revealed in Jesus Messiah, He who is Faithful and True.
Study Questions
1. Micah lived in a time of unrestrained wickedness, violence and injustice, and though he prophesied the judgment of God, he also saw a future day of forgiveness and restoration. What does this reveal to us about the character of God?
2. Knowing that God is holy and must judge sin, but also gracious and desires to forgive and restore repentant sinners — how does this impact the way we relate to our generation?