Mic 1:12 | KingComments | STEP | “Maroth” means ‘bitterness’. The inhabitant looks forward to the good, but it does not come. If bitterness is the hallmark of the city, there is no connection with the good and looking forward to it is unfounded and in vain. Because the city has left the LORD, it has left the source of the good. Judgment is imminent. That will mean the loss of all the good that is still there. The good can only be looked forward to with joy from the relationship with Him. In the center of the description of the conquest of the Assyrians, Micah reminds that all the doom that the enemy brings comes down from the LORD. It is He Who punishes His people for their sins. Assyria is the rod with which He punishes His people for their persistence in deviating from Him ( ). Micah also indicates the boundary which the LORD has set for His discipling rod and therefore will not be crossed by the enemy. It is “to the gate of Jerusalem” and not through it into the city (cf. ).

‏ Micah 1:12

Maroth

“Maroth” means ‘bitterness’. The inhabitant looks forward to the good, but it does not come. If bitterness is the hallmark of the city, there is no connection with the good and looking forward to it is unfounded and in vain. Because the city has left the LORD, it has left the source of the good. Judgment is imminent. That will mean the loss of all the good that is still there. The good can only be looked forward to with joy from the relationship with Him.

In the center of the description of the conquest of the Assyrians, Micah reminds that all the doom that the enemy brings comes down from the LORD. It is He Who punishes His people for their sins. Assyria is the rod with which He punishes His people for their persistence in deviating from Him (Isa 10:5-6). Micah also indicates the boundary which the LORD has set for His discipling rod and therefore will not be crossed by the enemy. It is “to the gate of Jerusalem” and not through it into the city (cf. Mic 1:9).