Micah Week 2
Review Book of Micah
We’re learning about the book of Micah. Micah is our last minor prophet who will preach while the Northern Kingdom Israel is still in existence. The opening verse tells us he prophesied during the days of Hezekiah. Hezekiah is one of the significant kings in Judah’s history. You’ve probably heard of his name before. He is the king of Judah when Israel is destroyed by the Assyrians. There’s a whole story about Assyria which then surrounds Jerusalem and attempts to destroy the nation of Judah as well, but they are miraculously saved by God. It’s a story prominently featuring Hezekiah as king and Isaiah as prophet. It’s significant enough to be told three times in the Old Testament, in 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, and in Isaiah. Each devoting multiple chapters to it.
We also talked about where Micah fits in the overall story of the Bible. The Bible has an introduction telling us who the characters are: God and man. It tells us the setting: earth. Then we have a turning point: man sins and is separated from God and is under the curse of death. This is what our story is going to be about. There is rising action which is the whole of the OT. Many attempts are made at reconciling God and man, but none of them are effective. Kings, laws, and prophets don’t solve the problem. Then the climax of our story is Jesus. He does battle with the enemies - sin, death, and Satan - and he defeats them all. But the story isn’t over, in the “falling action” section we see that the characters have been changed (at least man has been changed, God has not) and they live life differently because of the victory of Jesus earlier. Finally, our story reaches its resolution where we return to the place we began, God’s presence in a garden, and all the problems introduced earlier have been resolved and man has been transformed.
Micah takes place during the rising action portion This means that we’re going to see lots of problems being addressed - here’s where we’re sinful and in need. And we’re going to see lots of anticipation for some future resolution of these problems.
We also mentioned that Micah can be broken down into an outline featuring three similar cycles of judgment followed by salvation. We talked through the first cycle last time in chapters 1-2. We’ll cover the second cycle today in chapters 3-5.
3:1-4
Last week, the judgment section of our cycle was very long and the salvation part was only 2 verses. This time the judgment section is one chapter while the salvation portion is two chapters long. Which is great news because everybody likes to hear about salvation more than about judgment.
Look at verse 1, it says, “Hear, you heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel” put a box around that phrase. I mentioned last time that each time Micah starts his judgments he introduces it with the word “Hear” then he mentions who the judgment is against. So we saw this at the beginning of chapter 1 in the first cycle, we see it here in the second cycle and we’ll see it again at the beginning of chapter 6 for the third cycle.
He starts off by declaring to them what their responsibility is as leaders. They are supposed to know justice. Circle the word justice, we’ll encounter it again. But the rulers of Israel are doing the opposite. They hate good things and love evil things. They have inverted justice.
So what does that look like? In verses 2-3, Micah describes rather graphically that what they are doing is like cannibalism. They are eating their own people. And this highlights what a good leader ought to look like and what justice ought to look like. The people should never exist for the sake of the leaders, but leaders are there for the sake of the people. The rulers of Israel should have been advancing the causes of the people. Helping them get what they needed. But instead, they are abusing the people to feed off of them.
What is the result? Circle in vs 4 - he will not answer them. They cry to the Lord, but he does not answer. The people had cried out to them for help and they didn’t listen. Now they cry out to the Lord and he likewise does not listen.
3:5-8
The oracle of judgment continues, this time it is specifically the prophets that are addressed. You can put a box around “Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets”
It is clear that these so-called prophets are absolute mercenaries. Give me food to eat and I’ll prophecy peace and good things. Don’t feed me and I’ll declare there is war and horrible things. Again, like the rulers, they are not serving the people. They are taking advantage of them.
The consequences of their actions are laid out in vs 6-7. God will go silent. No dreams, no visions, and just like last time - no answer from God. Circle in vs 7 - There is no answer from God.
In verse 8, Micah by contrast is a prophet that has the Spirit of Yahweh on him. How can you tell the difference? He is courageous. He is willing to speak hard things. And he works for the good of the people. He’s filled with justice. Circle that word justice. This is the opposite of the mercenary prophets above.
3:9-12
We begin with the word “Hear” again. So we can tell the judgment portion of this cycle is continuing. Put a box around “Hear this…. House of Israel”
Just like we saw in verse 1, there’s a problem with the leaders and justice. Circle justice there in vs 9. You see the similarities here between this verse and verse 1-2. In 1-2 they are supposed to know justice, but they hate good and love evil. Now they detest justice and make crooked what was once straight. It’s that same idea of inverting justice.
Similar to previous verses we see them being mercenary again in vs 11. I’ll help you out, but only if you give me what I want first. You can buy their favor with gifts.
They are presumptuous thinking that because they have God’s place - the temple - that they are exempt from any judgments.
But as vs 12 makes clear, the temple and all of Jerusalem will be flattened. Specifically it says the mountain of the house. Circle that phrase.
So to sum up this verse judgment section - they have no justice. So God says, he will remove his Word from them and his place from them. No justice, no word, no place. I had you circle those three things.
In this next section in chapter 4, we’re going to see those 3 things returned. There will be a place. There will be a word. And there will be justice.
4:1-7
There’s lots here in this short passage. First I want to highlight what I just mentioned. We saw that there was no justice, no word, and no place. These things will return in reverse order.
First notice there is the return of the place. In verse 1 we see the mountain of the house again. Circle that. God says his place will return. More than just a building, but his presence will return.
Everyone is going to go to the place of God and what will they find? Look at verse 2. They will be taught. They will receive the law. And very specifically, they will receive the word of the Lord. Circle the word of the Lord.
In verse 3, you see the violence has been reversed because of the word of the Lord and in a famous passage, weapons are being turned into gardening tools.
Now jump over to verses 6-7. The word justice does not appear here, but you see demonstrated how justice has returned. If you want to circle something, you can just circle all of verse 6. The people’s sin caused the place, the word, and justice to be removed. Now all three of them will be returned by God’s grace.
Now I told you there is a lot here, look at the words of verse 1. When will the place, the word, and perfect justice return? In the latter days? When are the latter days? Have they already happened? This is not an easy question to answer and let me show you why.
DRAW TWO MOUNTAINS, THE SECOND TALLER. THE FIRST MOUNTAIN IS JESUS’ 1ST COMING. THE SECOND IS JESUS’ 2ND COMING. MICAH IS TO THE LEFT OF THE FIRST MOUNTAIN AND A DOTTED LINE FROM HIM TO THE PEAK OF THE FIRST MOUNTAIN CAN ALSO GO PAST IT TO THE SECOND MOUNTAIN.
He could be speaking of either advent or of both. This is how the prophets work. They talk about a latter day or sometimes “in that day” as we have talked about meaning the Day of the Lord. And some of it is fulfilled in Christ’s first coming. While some of it has not yet been fulfilled yet. It takes some discernment to understand which.
SOMETIMES THERE’S A THIRD TINY MOUNTAIN RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE PROPHET, WHICH IS IMMEDIATE FULFILLMENT.
So that’s a little bit about how prophecy fulfillment works. But again, there’s more to be said here in this brief passage. I want you to look at 4:1-3. And I am going to read you a passage from Isaiah 2:2-4.
Sounds similar right? It’s almost verbatim. Isaiah and Micah lived at the same time. In fact, Isaiah was the prophet to king Hezekiah. Isaiah’s ministry takes place in Jerusalem. And from what we know Micah’s ministry was in the rural towns in Judah like the small town he was from. It seems likely that these two prophets knew each other, but it’s impossible to say which one of them penned this passage first. They must have recognized the spirit of the Lord in one another and been comfortable sharing the other’s prophecy as truth.
This becomes even more interesting when we consider that in Joel 3:10, Joel uses this same image from verse 3, but in reverse. He says “Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears.” Again we don’t really know when Joel was written. He could have borrowed from Micah and Isaiah or they could have borrowed from him. But the prophets were familiar with one another’s works.
Now before I read this next section, I want you to observe all of the feminine references - lots of use of the words daughter and woman and giving birth imagery.
4:8 - 5:5a
Hopefully you saw all of them, but I want us to underline them. In verse 8 you see daughter twice. Underline those. In verse 9-10 you see, woman, daughter, woman, underline those. In both 4:13 and 5:1 you see daughter again. Underline those. He’s talking to Israel as if she is a woman. This is pretty common.
Now remember he’s talking about the “latter days” right now. So it’s sometime in the future. Back in the judgment section he said, that sometime in the future they will have their place destroyed. Jerusalem will be flattened. Obviously that means there will be no king in the land then. But here in vs 8-9 he says, you’re going to have a king again. Your “former dominion” shall return. Circle the words dominion, kingship, and king in vs 8-9. Their problem is that they don’t have a king anymore and they need a king.
Then in verses 9-10 Micah says pain has come upon you like a woman in labor. You are about to have a baby.
But there’s a problem: they are kicked out of the city, they are taken away to Babylon. But God says he will rescue them from Babylon.
Vs. 11-13 states this same problem again. All of the nations have gathered around to destroy Israel, but again God says I will protect you from them.
This takes us to the very famous passage in 5:2. In Bethlehem, shall come forth a ruler. The word come forth here is sometimes used for a baby being born. The baby comes forth. So a baby is born in Bethlehem who is the ruler. And just to be clear, verse 3 says she who is in labor has given birth. Israel was expecting a baby. They were anticipating a king. Now in Bethlehem a baby is born who will be king.
This is a pretty clear prophecy of Jesus the coming Messiah. In fact, in Matthew chapter 2, the wise men follow the star and come to Herod and say, Where is the one born king of the Jews? So Herod asks his priests and scribes and they tell him, “Oh yeah, everyone knows he’s going to be born in Bethlehem” and they quote this verse. It wasn’t just the educated scribes that knew this one. In John 7, there’s a debate about if Jesus can really be the Christ because they say, “Jesus is from Galilee, but the Christ is supposed to be born in Bethlehem”. Everyone knows it’s Bethlehem. This verse is clear.
Vs 4 says He’s going to arrive and he’s going to shepherd his people. If you remember from last week. Those two tiny verses that were the Salvation part of the first cycle. Micah 2:12-13. In that section Micah said your king is going to shepherd you. Now we see that same theme drawn out. This man who is born king, is going to shepherd his people.
5:5b-6
So what happens as a result of this king shepherding them? When they are attacked they will raise up leaders to fight. And this is where reading closely is helpful. “They” shall fight Assyria and “he” shall deliver them. That’s subtle, but the reason they are able to defeat their enemies is because the king/shepherd fights for them.
5:7-9
Notice that verses 7 and 8 both start the same. “The remnant… in the midst of many peoples” Underline both of those.
Then after each one he’s going to give an illustration. In verse 7 it’s “like dew” you can circle that. Dew is a life giving force or blessing that cannot be stopped and it cannot be delayed.
In the next verse he says they are like a lion. Circle like a lion. A lion is like a destructive force or a curse that cannot be stopped or delayed. So God’s people who he redeems, the people who are led by his shepherd/king, the ones that he fights for will be in the midst of many peoples. And to some they will be an unstoppable blessing, but to others they will be an unstoppable curse. But either way, they are an unstoppable people.
In the New Testament Paul says in 2 Corinthians 2:15-16 - “For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life.”
5:10-15
Now this next section sounds like a punishment God is enacting on the people. He’s going to destroy everything they have! But it’s actually a deliverance.
In verse 10-11, First he’s going to cut off horses, chariots, cities, and strongholds. Underline those. These are all things that represent military power. So write military power next to it. He’s going to get rid of all their military power. Why? Because they won’t need it. They won’t call on military power anymore to deliver them, because they will have the king/shepherd to deliver them.
Next in verses 12-14, he’s going to cut off sorceries, tellers of fortunes, carved images, pillars, works of your hands, and Asherah images. Underline those too. These represent idolatrous powers. But idolatrous is too hard to spell so just write false gods next to it. They will no longer depend on false gods and idols. They will depend on the Lord.
And finally he says anyone who doesn’t get rid of their military powers and false gods, I will destroy. You trust completely in God to rule you, or you trust something else and are destroyed by him.
This concludes the second cycle in Micah. We’ll close out the third one next week!