Micah: The Judgment & Restoration of Judah
1:1-16, 5:2, 6:8, 7:18 (Pastor Heo)
1 The word of the LORD that came to Micah of Moresheth during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah—the vision he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. 2 Hear, you peoples, all of you, listen, earth and all who live in it, that the Sovereign LORD may bear witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple. 3 Look! The LORD is coming from his dwelling place; he comes down and treads on the heights of the earth. 4 The mountains melt beneath him and the valleys split apart, like wax before the fire, like water rushing down a slope. 5 All this is because of Jacob’s transgression, because of the sins of the people of Israel. What is Jacob’s transgression? Is it not Samaria? What is Judah’s high place? Is it not Jerusalem?
6 “Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of rubble, a place for planting vineyards. I will pour her stones into the valley and lay bare her foundations. 7 All her idols will be broken to pieces; all her temple gifts will be burned with fire; I will destroy all her images. Since she gathered her gifts from the wages of prostitutes, as the wages of prostitutes they will again be used.”
8 Because of this I will weep and wail; I will go about barefoot and naked. I will howl like a jackal and moan like an owl. 9 For Samaria’s plague is incurable; it has spread to Judah. It has reached the very gate of my people, even to Jerusalem itself. 10 Tell it not in Gath ; weep not at all. In Beth Ophrahroll in the dust. 11 Pass by naked and in shame, you who live in Shaphir. Those who live in Zaanan will not come out. Beth Ezel is in mourning; it no longer protects you. 12 Those who live in Maroth writhe in pain, waiting for relief, because disaster has come from the LORD, even to the gate of Jerusalem. 13 You who live in Lachish, harness fast horses to the chariot. You are where the sin of Daughter Zion began, for the transgressions of Israel were found in you. 14 Therefore you will give parting gifts to Moresheth Gath. The town of Akzib will prove deceptive to the kings of Israel. 15 I will bring a conqueror against you who live in Mareshah.The nobles of Israel will flee to Adullam. 16 Shave your head in mourning for the children in whom you delight; make yourself as bald as the vulture, for they will go from you into exile.
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5:2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”
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6:8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
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7:18 Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.
(Judgment and (future) restoration)
These are the keywords of this book.
Moresheth Goth – during Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah (northern kingdom).
- At this time Samaria is the capital of northern kingdom.
- Jerusalem was the capital of the united kingdom and remained the capital for the southern kingdom.
This prophecy is for the northern kingdom and Jerusalem.
Micah = “Who is like the Lord”
He is from Moresheth Gath – located 25 miles to the southwest of Jerusalem on the border between Judah and Philistia – near Gath. He was a country boy.
He prophesied during the reigns of 3 kings of the southern kingdom. Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah. (11, 12, 13)
So, Micah was a contemporary of the prophet Isaiah and Hosea.
- Isaiah 1:1 “The vision concerning… that Isaiah saw… during the reigns of Uziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah…”
- Hosea 1:1 “The word of the Lord… during the reigns of Uziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah…”
Micah, Isaiah, Hosea all worked in the same period.
- Jotham was a good king, but failed to remove the idolatrous places.
- Ahaz was a terrible, evil, wicked king. During his reign, the southern kingdom was threatened by Assyria.
- Hezekiah was one of the best kings of the southern kingdom and he withstood the Assyrian siege with the help of God.
740-700BC
We know what happened during this time, right? What happened again?
(Review)
- United kingdom was divided in 930BC because of Solomon’s idol worship.
- Northern kingdom was destroyed by Assyria in 722-721BC.
- Southern kingdom was destroyed (three stages?) by Babylonia in 586BC.
Micah ministered during the time of 740-700BC. During his ministry, the northern kingdom was conquered and destroyed by Assyria – but not yet the southern kingdom.
During this time (world history – we need to know the background to understand the real lesson / spiritual lesson for us today), from 740-700BC, at least 3 significant historical events happened.
734-732BC – the Assyrian king (Tiglath-Pileser – 2 Kings 15:29) – led a military campaign against Judah, Israel, Askelon, Damascus. So the northern kingdom lost most of its territory.
2 Kings 15:29 “29 In the time of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel Beth Maakah, Janoah, Kedesh and Hazor. He took Gilead and Galilee, including all the land of Naphtali, and deported the people to Assyria.”
In the time of Pekah – the 2nd last king of the northern kingdom (out of 19). The last king was Hoshea.
At this time, the northern kingdom was almost totally destroyed.
- 734-732BC – Judah, Israel, Edom, etc – all the small countries around that territory, paid tribute to the Assyrian king.
- 722-721BC – northern kingdom of Israel was destroyed completely by Assyria
- 701BC – Judah joined the revolt against Assyria – but was overrun by Sennacherik (another Assyrian king)
During this time, the most powerful empire in this world was Assyria – even Babylonia was still a weak country. So, in this book, Micah, it was already prophesied that the northern kingdom would be destroyed (1:5-7)
5 All this is because of Jacob’s transgression, because of the sins of the people of Israel. What is Jacob’s transgression? Is it not Samaria? What is Judah’s high place? Is it not Jerusalem? 6 “Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of rubble, a place for planting vineyards. I will pour her stones into the valley and lay bare her foundations. 7 All her idols will be broken to pieces; all her temple gifts will be burned with fire; I will destroy all her images. Since she gathered her gifts from the wages of prostitutes, as the wages of prostitutes they will again be used.”
During this time, Assyria reached the peak of its power on earth – and it gave constant threats to Judah. Judah’s captivity to Babylonia was prophesied in this book – but it must have seemed unlikely at that time because Babylonia was weak and Assyria was strong.
Micah 4:10 “10 Writhe in agony, Daughter Zion, like a woman in labor, for now you must leave the city to camp in the open field. You will go to Babylon; there you will be rescued. There the LORD will redeem you out of the hand of your enemies.”
(Judgment and (future) restoration)
These are the keywords of this book.
It is difficult to analyze this book – but the 7 chapters can be divided into 3 parts:
- chp 1-3 – prediction of judgment
- chp 4-5 – prediction of restoration
- chp 6-7 – plea for repentance
Remember,
- God HATES injustice, idol worship, rebellion, disobedience, empty worship.
- But at the same time, he LOVES pardoning the penitent.
Today’s highlight = the coming of the Messiah to rebuild the Messianic and Davidic kingdom (on earth and in heaven)
Micah 5:2 (memorize it)
2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”
“From ancient times” means “from everlasting” or “from eternity” (KJV)
Matthew 2:5-6 (scribes paraphrased this verse when describing Jesus’ birth)
5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet (Micah) has written: 6 “ ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ” (paraphrase of Micah 5:2)
The background story:
Jesus’ birth – after that, during the time of king Herod (the Great) – the Magi (Wise men) came to Jerusalem and asked the king, “Where’s the king?” … “Uh…”
When Herod heard this he was very angry, “You’re looking at him! It’s me, duh! What are you talking about?” Then he asked the priests and in this situation, they answered in this way – in verse 6.
1. Jesus, fully human
Jesus, fully human by revealing his birthplace, fully divine by revealing his immutability – more than 700 years before his birth in Bethlehem.
From this prophecy in Micah, we can see
- his full humanity (birthplace), and
- his full divinity (origin – from of old).
Let’s look at his birthplace (Bethlehem) – it’s 5 miles from the southern part of Jerusalem. It is famous as the town / birthplace of David and Jesus.
In Israel’s history, Samuel ordained David as Israel’s king in Bethlehem (“The house of bread”). How appropriate, that the “Bread of Life” was born in the “House of Bread.”
Jesus says, “I’m the bread of life, whoever comes to me will never go hungry, never be thirsty” (communion after this).
John 6 “I tell you the truth, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you. But whoever does, has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
Yes, food is essential for life.
Jesus “I am the Way, the Truth, the Life. There’s no other way to reach heaven than by / through me.”
2. Jesus’ full divinity (origin – “from eternity”)
Eternity is infinite in duration – no limit – all the time, ever-abiding presence. Jesus’ eternity is always youth without infancy or old age. His eternity is always life with birth, death. His eternity is always present, without past, future. (He never changes, he is the same yesterday, today, and forever) – his nature never changes.
It is not possible that he should possess one attribute at one time that he doesn’t possess at a different time.
He is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent. These attributes are never mutable (changeable).
He is fully man, fully God.
Micah 5:2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”
Yes, today’s lesson is a little hard to digest, but remember that Jesus is a God of judgment and restoration – He is a God of hope.
“If we claim to be without sin, we are liars and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
Let’s pray.
