The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
The Coming Destruction
2 Hear, you peoples, all of you;
pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it,
and let the Lord God be a witness against you,
the Lord from his holy temple.
3 For behold, the Lord is coming out of his place,
and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth.
4 And the mountains will melt under him,
and the valleys will split open,
like wax before the fire,
like waters poured down a steep place.
5 All this is for the transgression of Jacob
and for the sins of the house of Israel.
What is the transgression of Jacob?
Is it not Samaria?
And what is the high place of Judah?
Is it not Jerusalem?
6 Therefore I will make Samaria a heap in the open country,
a place for planting vineyards,
and I will pour down her stones into the valley
and uncover her foundations.
7 All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces,
all her wages shall be burned with fire,
and all her idols I will lay waste,
for from the fee of a prostitute she gathered them,
and to the fee of a prostitute they shall return.
8 For this I will lament and wail;
I will go stripped and naked;
I will make lamentation like the jackals,
and mourning like the ostriches.
9 For her wound is incurable,
and it has come to Judah;
it has reached to the gate of my people,
to Jerusalem.
10 Tell it not in Gath;
weep not at all;
in Beth-le-aphrah
roll yourselves in the dust.
11 Pass on your way,
inhabitants of Shaphir,
in nakedness and shame;
the inhabitants of Zaanan
do not come out;
the lamentation of Beth-ezel
shall take away from you its standing place.
12 For the inhabitants of Maroth
wait anxiously for good,
because disaster has come down from the Lord
to the gate of Jerusalem.
13 Harness the steeds to the chariots,
inhabitants of Lachish;
it was the beginning of sin
to the daughter of Zion,
for in you were found
the transgressions of Israel.
14 Therefore you shall give parting gifts
to Moresheth-gath;
the houses of Achzib shall be a deceitful thing
to the kings of Israel.
15 I will again bring a conqueror to you,
inhabitants of Mareshah;
the glory of Israel
shall come to Adullam.
16 Make yourselves bald and cut off your hair,
for the children of your delight;
make yourselves as bald as the eagle,
for they shall go from you into exile. Micah 1 ESV
Micah 1 Concerning Samaria and Jerusalem
The name of the book is derived from the prophet who, having received the word of the Lord, was commissioned to proclaim it. Micah, whose name is shared by others in the OT (e.g., Judg. 17:1; 2 Chr. 13:2; Jer. 36:11), is a shortened form of Micaiah (or Michaiah) and means “Who is like the LORD?” In 7:18, Micah uses a play on his own name, saying “Who is a God like You?” - GTY
Micah of Moresheth (Mareshah) - This is a town in Judah on the border of Philistia, it is approximately 25 miles S. West of Jerusalem and at times was considered an important fortification to protect the interior. This is primarily a rural area in the foothills.
5Rehoboam continued to live in Jerusalem, and he built up cities for defense in Judah. 6He built up Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa,…
Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah - I will put links to passages and studies from that period below, but this timeframe would also make Micah a contemporary of Isaiah and Hosea:
…17Some of the elders of the land stood up and said to the whole assembly of the people, 18“Micah the Moreshite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah and told all the people of Judah that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, and the temple mount a wooded ridge.’ 19Did Hezekiah king of Judah or anyone else in Judah put him to death? Did Hezekiah not fear the LORD and seek His favor, and did not the LORD relent of the disaster He had pronounced against them? But we are about to bring great harm on ourselves!”… Jeremiah 26: 17-19
All of you - God's dealings with Israel, His covenant people, teaches the whole world, makes known the Sovereign Creator.
Micah addresses a small people in a strip of land merely about the size of Wales, yet in Micah 1:2 and Micah 6:1,2, he commands the whole earth, the mountains, the hills, to attend (in Scripture usage mountains and hills frequently symbolize kingdoms). This is no mere rhetoric. Micah realized that the covenant people were brought into their unique relationship with Jehovah so that through them the sovereignty of the true God, in its governmental administration among the nations, might be objectified to all peoples and for all time. Had Israel remained faithful she would have displayed the munificence of the Divine government. Alas, Israel exhibits a tragically different yet vastly significant aspect of the Divine government; and well may the nations of today heed it! - Precept Austin
1This is the vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. 2Listen, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the LORD has spoken: “I have raised children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against Me.… Isaiah 1: 1-2
Witness against you, the Lord from His holy temple - For some deist, the idea of God is very impersonal, that He made and then left or looks in on occasion, but the God of the Bible sees everything and is consistently involved with His creation. He is so much a part of History, that the weight of it is held up by His hand. That His temple is the place of His throne is also telling, He is on the ultimate seat of rule, the true Sovereign over all.
…3If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” 4The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD is on His heavenly throne. His eyes are watching closely; they examine the sons of men. 5The LORD tests the righteous and the wicked; His soul hates the lover of violence.… Psalm 11: 3-5
Matthew Henry - Let the Lord God be witness against you, a witness that you had fair warning given you, that your prophets did their duty faithfully as watchmen, but you would not take the warning let the accomplishment of the prophecy be a witness against your contempt and disbelief of it, and prove, to your conviction and confusion, that it was the word of God, and no word of his shall fall to the ground." Note, God himself will be a witness, by the judgments of his hand, against those that would not receive his testimony in the judgments of his mouth. (Commentary)
He will come down and tread the high places of the earth - Mountains are often used in Scripture of the seat of power, of governments, but there were also high places where people went to worship idols. Those that govern poorly and those that worship falsely will be brought under His judgment. Remember in verse 1 that this is the word "concerning Samaria and Jerusalem", both cities which are on a mount. It was a good building strategy in those times, to have the high ground, gravity on your side, for with the technology of the day it was much for your enemy to overcome. God will not come up but down even upon these high places.
…12“Therefore, that is what I will do to you, O Israel, and since I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel! 13For behold, He who forms the mountains, who creates the wind and reveals His thoughts to man, who turns the dawn to darkness and strides on the heights of the earth— the LORD, the God of Hosts, is His name.” Amos 4: 12-13
14And it will be said, “Build it up, build it up, prepare the way, take every obstacle out of the way of My people.” 15For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and humble in spirit, to restore the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the contrite. 16For I will not accuse you forever, nor will I always be angry; for then the spirit of man would grow weak before Me, with the breath of those I have made.… Isaiah 57: 14-16
High Place (01116) (bamah) can refer to a literal (physical) height (high place) such as a mountain or a high place used for worship. Samuel offered acceptable worship to God in the high place (1Sa 9:13). However most OT uses (see first three uses by Moses = Lev 26:30; Nu 22:41; 33:52) refer to places of abominable idol worship or syncretistic worship (~"God plus gods" which is really NOT worship of the One True, Living God!) Habakkuk used bamah in his last words in which he gave powerful declaration of his renewed faith "The Lord GOD is my strength, and He has made my feet like hinds’ feet, And makes me walk on my high places. For the choir director, on my stringed instruments." (Hab 3:19) (May his tribe increase! Amen) - Precept Austin
What is the transgression of Jacob, is it not Samaria - Here Jacob is used for representation of the 10 northern tribes of Israel. Samaria is the capital, an apostate kingdom which put off the worship of the true God by the means and in the places which He ordained, for the worship of calves instead. It was a pragmatic decision by a leader, Jeroboam I, who did not want to lose control over the people of the northern kingdom. He fashioned idols and allowed anyone who wanted to be a priest to buy into the priesthood, a position of power and influence.
And what is the high place of Judah, is it not Jerusalem - Now this is the southern kingdom, Jerusalem being the capitol and the place where God ordained the temple, the true worship, His Levitical priests, and it is the city of David. This is the place of Mt. Moriah, where Abraham brought Isaac, who God replaced with a ram, it is the place of God's own sacrificial Lamb, His Son, Jesus Christ. Though God has chosen this place out of all the cities on the planet, yet this does not preclude His judgment when Jerusalem is found in sin. When she brings in idolatries, as vividly described in Ezekiel 8, God must certainly grind them out and bring down every high place.
…13Again, He told me, “You will see them committing even greater abominations.” 14Then He brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the LORD, and I saw women sitting there, weeping for Tammuz. 15“Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see this? Yet you will see even greater abominations than these.”… Ezekiel 8: 13-15
1This is what the LORD says: “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of My creditors did I sell you? Look, you were sold for your iniquities, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away. 2Why was no one there when I arrived? Why did no one answer when I called? Is My hand too short to redeem you? Or do I lack the strength to deliver you? Behold, My rebuke dries up the sea; I turn the rivers into a desert; the fish rot for lack of water and die of thirst. 3I clothe the heavens in black and make sackcloth their covering.”… Isaiah 50: 1-2
…13He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. But Zedekiah stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the LORD, the God of Israel. 14Furthermore, all the leaders of the priests and the people multiplied their unfaithful deeds, following all the abominations of the nations, and they defiled the house of the LORD, which He had consecrated in Jerusalem.
15Again and again the LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to His people through His messengers because He had compassion on them and on His dwelling place. 16But they mocked the messengers of God, despising His words and scoffing at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD against His people was stirred up beyond remedy.… 2 Chronicles 36: 13-16
From the fee of a prostitute she gathered them - These false places of worship brought in revenue by way of gifts to temple prostitutes. Standing up and preaching the carefully handled word of God is most often not a crowd pleaser, but a brothel will have them lining up. Israel and Judah had also prostituted true worship, one avoiding the temple and the other defiling it.
…4I will have no compassion on her children, because they are the children of adultery. 5For their mother has played the harlot and has conceived them in disgrace. For she thought, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me bread and water, wool and linen, oil and drink.’ 6Therefore, behold, I will hedge up her path with thorns; I will enclose her with a wall, so she cannot find her way.…
…11I will put an end to all her exultation: her feasts, New Moons, and Sabbaths—all her appointed feasts. 12I will destroy her vines and fig trees, which she thinks are the wages paid by her lovers. So I will make them into a thicket, and the beasts of the field will devour them. 13I will punish her for the days of the Baals when she burned incense to them, when she decked herself with rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers. But Me she forgot,” declares the LORD.… Hosea 2: 4-6 and 11-13
…17No daughter or son of Israel is to be a shrine prostitute. 18You must not bring the wages of a prostitute, whether female or male, into the house of the LORD your God to fulfill any vow, because both are detestable to the LORD your God. 19Do not charge your brother interest on money, food, or any other type of loan.… Deuteronomy 23: 17-19
The irony of this passage is that the gold and silver taken from Israel's places of idol worship were used by the Assyrians to make their own idols for worship! As Kaiser says "All too often evil is like a treadmill that keeps on repeating itself apart from the dramatic intervention of the Spirit of God." - Precept Austin
I will go stripped and naked - This reminds us of Isaiah's prophecy and visible sign of humiliation relating to Egypt and Cush.
…2the LORD had already spoken through Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, “Go, remove the sackcloth from your waist and the sandals from your feet.” And Isaiah did so, walking around naked and barefoot. 3Then the LORD said, “Just as My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and omen against Egypt and Cush, 4so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old alike, naked and barefoot, with bared buttocks—to Egypt’s shame.… Isaiah 20: 2-4
For her wound is incurable -
Her wound - Some think this refers to to Samaria's punishment from God. Others think it refers to Samaria's sin which has come to Judah much like gangrene which spreads in the human body and kills unless it is cut out. The NET translation has "It has infected Judah; it has spread to the leadership of my people and has even contaminated Jerusalem!" - Precept Austin
…5Why do you want more beatings? Why do you keep rebelling? Your head has a massive wound, and your whole heart is afflicted. 6From the sole of your foot to the top of your head, there is no soundness— only wounds and welts and festering sores neither cleansed nor bandaged nor soothed with oil. 7Your land is desolate; your cities are burned with fire. Foreigners devour your fields before you—a desolation demolished by strangers.… Isaiah 1: 5-7
10-15 Tell it not in Gath - This harps back to a Song of David, and verses 10-15 list 11 cities in that region.
…19“Your glory, O Israel, lies slain on your heights. How the mighty have fallen! 20Tell it not in Gath; proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, and the daughters of the uncircumcised exult. 21O mountains of Gilboa, may you have no dew or rain, no fields yielding offerings of grain. For there the shield of the mighty was defiled, the shield of Saul, no longer anointed with oil.… 2 Samuel 1: 19-21
Micah 1: 10-15 lists 11 cities, indicating the scope of the human shame and the divine sentence. Many of the names of the cities represent word plays in that they sound like (or have a related meaning to) what they symbolize.
Stewart Briscoe (Hearing God’s Voice Above The Noise) says that it would be like an American preacher on prime time TV saying, "Living in Pittsburg is the pits.... Los Angeles is no city of angels. Wisconsin should only be pronounced Wiscon-SIN." That would sort of get attention, don’t you think? (Ed: This was Micah's methodology at least in part.)
Here is John Phillips' summary of Micah's word plays on the names of the towns to be destroyed...
Gath: "Tell it not in Tell-town."
Aphrah: "Roll in dust at Dust-town."
Saphir: "beauty shamed at Beauty-town"
Zaanan: "no going out from Out-town"
Beth-ezel: "no neighborliness at Neighbor-town"
Maroth: "bitter tears at Bitter-town"
Jerusalem: "no peace at Peace-town"
Lachish: "horsepower gone from Horse-town"
Achzib: "Falsehood reigns at False-town."
Mareshah: "no possessions left at Possession-town"
Adullam: "no testimony in Testimony-town" - Precept Austin
Make yourselves bald and cut off your hair - This was typically forbidden under the direction of the Law in Leviticus 21:5 because of pagan practices relating to death, and possibly because of other pagan superstitions that saw this hair as an encumbrance to receiving divine knowledge, so the so called "priests, sages, witch doctors" would enlarge the area of the forehead by shaving it back.
…19when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on the young people and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you!” 20Then Job stood up, tore his robe, and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshiped, 21saying: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.”… Job 1: 19-21
For they shall go from you into exile - This is mourning what will come of Israel's youth in the future. Babylon took their best and brightest, the book of Daniel is a good account of that time.
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