Fear No Fear

(All scripture from Lexham English Bible, Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software)

Micah was from Moresheth, a town about twenty miles southwest of Jerusalem. He was a contemporary of Isaiah, Joel, and Hosea. He spoke to both nations, but mostly to the northern kingdom of Israel. He spoke during the times of king Jotham, king Ahaz, and king Hezekiah (750 to 700 B.C.). Micah had to have been active for a minimum of seventeen years to cover all three reigns. The book was probably written between 735 and 700 B.C. Israel fell during Micah’s life (722 B.C.) and Judah ALMOST fell to the Assyrians in 701 B.C. The assumption is that Micah’s prophesies were what triggered Hezekiah’s repentance and the revival in Judah (2 Chronicles 29-30). Micah is believed by scholars to be the Micaiah found in 1 Kings 22:8-28. He prophesied warning to the nations. He prophesied against the general practise of his day where the wealthy were abusing and oppressing the poor – after all, that’s what got Egypt judged (Judges 6:9).

Micah opened by asking ALL people to hear the prophesy. Not just Samaria and Jerusalem (the main audience), but everyone everywhere could take a lesson from what he was going to say. The Lord called the Earth and the heavens to be His witnesses that He was speaking truth (2 Corinthians 13:1; Deuteronomy 19:5). The Lord was going to come and tread on the high places (not just where they practised idolatry). Mountains would melt. Valleys would split. The landscape would be altered. It would come about because of the transgression of Judah and Israel. Samaria and Jerusalem. These were capital cities and leading places, but they were NOT leading in godly ways. Samaria would be made a heap of ruins, good only for farmland (they were destroyed in 721 B.C., about a century before Judah also was destroyed). The carved images would be beaten into nothing but pieces – archaeologists have found no intact idols. They had prostituted themselves with idols and would get the pay of prostitutes. Micah would WAIL and HOWL to demonstrate the mourning of the Lord. This would be utter agony for all involved – humanity AND God. The wounds of active rebellion were incurable (like stage 4 cancer) and needed to be cut out to preserve ANY of His children. They would go in naked shame, and the Lord warned the surrounding nations not to rejoice about it. These nations would not be able to help Israel, but they were also not to rejoice.

What about individual, not national, sins? The Lord spoke through Micah and made it clear that those who practised wickedness WITH INTENT and ON PURPOSE were going to be judged. These were people who were spending time and effort to PLAN their evil actions and words. They were stealing fields, stealing houses. They were oppressing men and interfering with inheritances. The Lord would judge them. He would make it so they could NOT be haughty and could NOT escape out from under it. It will be so evident to everyone that they would become a proverb for others to pay attention to. God’s judgment would remove all boundaries and all lots from the land. Micah also warns the false prophets to stop speaking. To stop claiming everything will be okay because it will NOT be okay. Micah would not listen to their pleas to stop prophesying. They were making themselves and the people of the Land enemies of God. The king of Israel had invaded Judah and taken hundreds of thousands of women captive. Would God not do something? They had defiled the Land. They were walking around in lies. Their leaders were also lying. This was NOT acceptable. They would be wiped out and God would gather to Himself obedient children. He would set them up and keep watch over them.

Micah was calling for the leaders of the people to take note. They were choosing evil, not good. They were not performing justice. They were slack with the people because of all the evil in their own hearts. They were getting rich at the expense of the nation. When judgment came, they would cry out to God. But in that day He would NOT hear them. NOW was the time to repent, not when it was too late. God would keep knowledge from the false prophets. He would give it – through His Spirit – to the true prophets. To those willing and obedient to tell God’s message of hope-filled restoration through repentance. He called for all who abhorred justice and perverted equity, who built their cities with bloodshed and iniquity to pay attention. Those who taught and ruled for bribes and unjust gain were going to be judged by God. Their cities would be plowed like a field. Their capitals would be heaps of stones – even Jerusalem. They would become bare hills. No Temple. No Holy City. Nothing.

“And it will be that at the end of those days, the mountain of Yahweh will be established as the highest of the mountains, and it will be lifted up above the hills, and people will stream to it.” (Micah 4:1)

As true as the prophesy of destruction was, Micah was quick to speak about the future restoration of the things that had been defiled. They would NOT be without a place to worship forever. They would NOT be away from the Lord forever. They WOULD have a restoration. There WOULD be a remnant preserved. Jerusalem would be restored – we have seen a PARTIAL fulfillment of this from the rebuild in Nehemiah’s time and the building projects of Herod, but it cannot be FULLY fulfilled as worded until the Millennial Kingdom (Revelation 20:1-6). The nations would go up to Jerusalem, to God’s mountain. he would judge between MANY peoples and rebuke nations. There would be peace. No one would participate or teach war. It would be a great time (Isaiah 2:4, 11:6-9, 65:25; Hosea 2:18) of total peace and security. Where people now follow their own gods, in that day ALL would follow Yahweh. The lame and the outcast would be assembled together, delivered and turned into a great nation. The Lord would reign over them. Yes, judgment was coming, but here were words of GREAT encouragement of their future security. The judgments were like birth pains. What would come out of that experience would be strong and mighty because God would be at the centre of it all. The wicked will try and stop it, but they don’t have the thoughts of the Lord about it (1 Corinthians 2:16). It would come to pass and the people would live in the prosperity of the Lord. This is the true hope that the people could embrace and hold close to their hearts.

Summary

Key Players: God, Micah

Key Verse(s): Micah 1:3-9, 2:1-7, 12-13; 3:1-7; 4:6-10