Reflections on Micah 1

Micah 01 (Contemporary English Version)


1. I am Micah from Moresheth. And this is the message about Samaria and Jerusalem that the LORD gave to me when Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were the kings of Judah.
   
2. Listen, all of you! Earth and everything on it, pay close attention. The LORD God accuses you from his holy temple.
   
3. And he will come down to crush underfoot every pagan altar.
   
4. Mountains will melt beneath his feet like wax beside a fire. Valleys will vanish like water rushing down a ravine.
   
5. This will happen because of the terrible sins of Israel, the descendants of Jacob. Samaria has led Israel to sin, and pagan altars at Jerusalem have made Judah sin.
   
6. So the LORD will leave Samaria in ruins-- merely an empty field where vineyards are planted. He will scatter its stones and destroy its foundations.
   
7. Samaria's idols will be smashed, and the wages of temple prostitutes will be destroyed by fire. Silver and gold from those idols will then be used by foreigners as payment for prostitutes.
   
8. Because of this tragedy, I go barefoot and naked. My crying and weeping sound like howling wolves or ostriches.
   
9. The nation is fatally wounded. Judah is doomed. Jerusalem will fall.
   
10. Don't tell it in Gath! Don't even cry. Instead, roll in the dust at Beth-Leaphrah.
    
11. Depart naked and ashamed, you people of Shaphir. The town of Bethezel mourns because no one from Zaanan went out to help.
    
12. Everyone in Maroth hoped for the best, but the LORD sent disaster down on Jerusalem.
    
13. Get the war chariots ready, you people of Lachish. You led Jerusalem into sin, just as Israel did.
    
14. Now you will have to give a going-away gift to Moresheth. Israel's kings will discover that they cannot trust the town of Achzib.
    
15. People of Mareshah, the LORD will send someone to capture your town. Then Israel's glorious king will be forced to hide in Adullam Cave.
    
16. Judah, shave your head as bald as a buzzard and start mourning. Your precious children will be dragged off to a foreign country.
    

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Moving from Jonah to Micah in these reflections we have jumped in time some 40-50 years. Assyria was no different than Israel in her loyalty to God. The people of Nineveh turned to God as a result of Jonah's preaching there, but by Michah's time they have reverted back to their old ways. It is now Assyria that is the instrument of God's judgment on Israel, the northern kingdom, which is the focus of Micah's message. Although Micah's message also includes Judah and her coming destruction at the hands of the Babylonians.

Both Israel and Judah are included in Micah's opening statement in verse 1. The word of the Lord that came to Micah was regarding Samaria, capital city of Israel, and Jerusalem, capital city of Judah. Verse 2 takes up the Lord's case against these two nations. He calls for the people of the earth to be witness to His case against them, assuming that the people would agree that God's judgment was just. God was coming Himself to deal with the two nations, leaving His place in heaven to "trample the heights of the earth." As a result, Samaria would be left in ruins so extensive it would be a suitable place for planting a vineyard. And the reason for this judgment was Israel's turning from God to the worship of idols. In the courts of the country in which I live there is freedom of religion allowing one to worship whatever he will or nothing at all. Not so, however, in God's court. Do we dare call this unfair? Not hardly since God is the one and only God who has made us and to whom we owe everything. In light of this, is it fair to God that we, His creation, should worship an object we have made ourselves as if it were our creator? It is not only the turning of their backs on God that is Israel's sin here. It is also crediting idols with what God had done for them. This is the implication when we turn our worship to other so-called gods and away from God.

Micah says he will "lament and wail" at Israel's destruction. Israel's "wound," her sin, was incurable and had, in fact, infected Judah as well. The only solution was to cut out the infection, which was what the invading nation of Assyria would do. Various comments are addressed to certain cities of Israel such as Gath, Shaphir, Zaanan, etc. Each comment has a significance related to the sin of that city. For instance, it is said of Lachish that it was this city where Israel's sin began. Then in verse 16 their attention is directed to their "precious children." Their sin had not only affected themselves, but now their children will be taken into exile with them. They squandered God's blessings to them and now their children must suffer. Don't blame God, blame yourselves.