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Majoring on the Minor Prophets – Lesson 26, Book of MICAH, pt. 1 – “Judgement”
The Book of Micah is the sixth of the twelve minor prophets in the Hebrew Bible. [1] Ostensibly, it records the sayings of Micah, whose name is Mikayahu ( Hebrew: מִיכָיָ֫הוּ ), meaning “Who is like Yahweh?” The book has three major divisions, chapters 1–2, 3–5 and 6–7, each introduced by the word “Hear,” with a pattern of alternating announcements of doom and expressions of hope within each division. Micah reproaches unjust leaders, defends the rights of the poor against the rich and powerful; while looking forward to a world at peace centered on Zion under the leadership of a new Davidic monarch, The Messiah. The book is divided as follows: I. Oracles of Punishment ( 1:2-3:12) II. Oracles of Salvation ( 4:1-5:14) III. Announcement of Judgment ( 6:1-7:6) IV. Confidence in God’s Future ( 7:7-20). Micah, a prophet during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, would’ve been a contemporary of Hosea and Isaiah. He provides one of the most significant prophecies of Jesus Christ’s birth in all the Old Testament, pointing some seven hundred years before Christ’s birth to His birthplace of Bethlehem and to His eternal nature ( Micah 5:2 ).
Destruction in Israel and Judah – Micah 4:1-11 NASB1995
“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.
2 Hear, O peoples, all of you;
Listen, O earth and all it contains,
And let the Lord God be a witness against you,
The Lord from His holy temple.
3 For behold, the Lord is coming forth from His place.
He will come down and tread on the high places of the earth.
4 The mountains will melt under Him
And the valleys will be split,
Like wax before the fire,
Like water poured down a steep place.
5 All this is for the rebellion of Jacob
And for the sins of the house of Israel.
What is the rebellion of Jacob?
Is it not Samaria?
What is the high place of Judah?
Is it not Jerusalem?
6 For I will make Samaria a heap of ruins in the open country,
Planting places for a vineyard.
I will pour her stones down into the valley
And will lay bare her foundations.
7 All of her idols will be smashed,
All of her earnings will be burned with fire
And all of her images I will make desolate,
For she collected them from a harlot’s earnings,
And to the earnings of a harlot they will return.
8 Because of this I must lament and wail,
I must go barefoot and naked;
I must make a lament like the jackals
And a mourning like the ostriches.
9 For her wound is incurable,
For it has come to Judah;
It has reached the gate of my people,
Even to Jerusalem.
10 Tell it not in Gath,
Weep not at all.
At (I.e. house of dust) Beth-le-aphrah roll yourself in the dust.
11 Go on your way, inhabitant of
(I.e. pleasantness) Shaphir, in shameful nakedness.
The inhabitant of (I.e. going out) Zaanan does not escape.
The lamentation of
(I.e. house of removal) Beth-ezel: “He will take from you its support.”
12 For the inhabitant of (I.e. bitterness)Maroth
Becomes weak waiting for good,
Because a calamity has come down from the Lord
To the gate of Jerusalem.
13 Harness the chariot to the team of horses,
O inhabitant of Lachish—
She was the beginning of sin
To the daughter of Zion—
Because in you were found
The rebellious acts of Israel.
14 Therefore you will give parting gifts
On behalf of Moresheth-gath;
The houses of Achzib will become a deception
To the kings of Israel.
15 Moreover, I will bring on you
The one who takes possession,
O inhabitant of ((I.e. possession) Mareshah.
The glory of Israel will enter Adullam.
16 Make yourself bald and cut off your hair,
Because of the children of your delight;
Extend your baldness like the eagle,
For they will go from you into exile.” Micah 4:1-11 NASB1995