Mic 1:9-16 | KingComments | STEP | Micah gives two reasons for the loud, powerful exclamations of his sorrow. First, is because the judgment of Samaria is so radical. The wounds resulting from the plagues with which God strikes it are “incurable”. There is no way out anymore. God’s patience is finished. The armies of Assyria will destroy the city and take the population with them. The second reason for his great sorrow is that he sees in his vision how the Assyrians invaded Judah. This is probably the first invasion ( ). The enemy has set his foot on his land, his home. This is unbearable for him. God’s land is his land, God’s people are his people. It cannot be the case that others are entitled to it. That God allows it is because of the sins of the people. Micah acknowledges this, but that does not take away the fact that bringing the enemy into God’s land causes him great sorrow. Yet Jerusalem is not conquered. The conqueror stops at the gate of Jerusalem. He may reach the gate, reach Jerusalem. That he does not come into Jerusalem is the result of the intercession of Hezekiah ( ) . By this the LORD grants Jerusalem a delay of one hundred and twenty-four years.

‏ Micah 1:9-16

The Wound Is Incurable

Micah gives two reasons for the loud, powerful exclamations of his sorrow. First, is because the judgment of Samaria is so radical. The wounds resulting from the plagues with which God strikes it are “incurable”. There is no way out anymore. God’s patience is finished. The armies of Assyria will destroy the city and take the population with them.

The second reason for his great sorrow is that he sees in his vision how the Assyrians invaded Judah. This is probably the first invasion (2Kgs 18:13). The enemy has set his foot on his land, his home. This is unbearable for him. God’s land is his land, God’s people are his people. It cannot be the case that others are entitled to it. That God allows it is because of the sins of the people. Micah acknowledges this, but that does not take away the fact that bringing the enemy into God’s land causes him great sorrow.

Yet Jerusalem is not conquered. The conqueror stops at the gate of Jerusalem. He may reach the gate, reach Jerusalem. That he does not come into Jerusalem is the result of the intercession of Hezekiah (Isa 37:14-20) . By this the LORD grants Jerusalem a delay of one hundred and twenty-four years.

Gath and Beth-le-aphrah

From Mic 1:10 the invasion of the Assyrians and their siege of Jerusalem is described. Also in Isaiah this march is described (Isa 10:28-32). But there is a difference. Isaiah lists more the different places as stops on the march of the Assyrians. The description of Micah is more mixed, with the causes of the different cities being affected by this judgment.

In Mic 1:10-15 different places are mentioned that will be the scene of misery. Most of the places are known to be in the vicinity of Micah’s birthplace. The prophet thus sees a terrible doom coming over his place of birth and its immediate surroundings.

Ten cities are mentioned. Ten is the number of responsibility. That is where Israel and Judah have failed and as a result of that now comes the judgment of them. The first cities mentioned are located in the hilly country of Judah on the route of the enemy from Samaria to Jerusalem. The next cities are near Jerusalem. The cities of Judah that have experienced its scourge are listed, each in terms that show a play on words with the name of the city.

The list is divided by Mic 1:12, where again the gate of Jerusalem is mentioned. Two times, five disparate cities on each occasion are mentioned. This has given rise to the suspicion that the first five cities are located to the north and the next five to the south of Jerusalem, with which Micah at the same time indicates that the judgment takes place from the north.

The section of Mic 1:10-15 begins with words reminiscent of David’s grief over the deaths of Saul and Jonathan (2Sam 1:20). The section ends with the name of the cave where David hid from Saul (1Sam 22:1). These dark moments in David’s life form as it were, the backdrop for the description of the fall of the cities Micah speaks of. The fall of Saul symbolizes the fall of the entire kingdom of Israel. In the cave we see that during times of judgment there is a refuge for those who acknowledge God’s judgment as justified. There is and hides the glory of Israel (Mic 1:15).

The first thing Micah does is to warn the people that this message will not be passed on to Gath of the Philistines. The prophet fears the vengeful cheers of these enemies of God’s people (cf. 2Sam 1:20). They should not even show any expression of sadness there.

It also determines that they have to carry the judgment in their own city. They are not allowed to seek support from others. The full weight of it must enter them. It is also a warning that they should not seek pity in the wrong places, with the wrong persons. If they do, it will only make their pain worse.

The first city in Judah is “Beth-le-aphrah”, which means “house of the dust”. Micah’s call to this city to roll themselves in the dust is a play on words. It is a call to behave according to the meaning of the name of their city. To roll themselves in the dust is a sign of mourning (Jos 7:6; Job 16:15; Isa 47:1). God always wants to work with His judgment, that man humbles himself before Him and acknowledges the righteousness of His judgment.

Shaphir, Zaanan and Beth-ezel

The play on words applies to all the places mentioned by Micah. For each city, Micah has a call that matches the meaning of its name. “Shaphir” means “clean”. Micah speaks of the shame to which Shaphir will be abandoned. Of her beauty nothing remains. The city will experience the opposite of the meaning of her name: she will undergo a humiliating treatment.

“Zaanan’ means ‘place of crowds’ or ‘that has gone out’. With a crowd we can think of strength to fight the enemy. But no one will leave the gate. For fear of the enemy they will stay inside the gates. There is no question of any heroism. Micah mentions that they will not venture out to escape.

“Beth-ezel” means house of the neighbor’. But they will not be able to give help to their neighbors. The city will not be a place where refugees can stay because the city itself is full of misery. The misery into which the enemy has plunged the city will make it impossible to serve as a stop place for those who have been driven away. They are powerless to be a support for their loved ones because the LORD takes His support away from them. He takes His support away from them because they do not rely on Him.

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).

Lachish, the Beginning of Israel’s Sin

Lachish means, among other things, ‘invincible’. But Lachish is called upon to flee from the approaching enemy and to do so as quickly as possible. Horses, which are an example of fearless strength in warfare (Job 38:24-25), are commended by Micah as the means for a quick and defamatory retreat. After Sennacherib has taken Lachish, he establishes his headquarters there and receives there the envoys of Hezekiah (2Kgs 18:14 ; 17; Isa 36:2).

In Lachish is the “beginning of sin” of Judah. The beginning of sin is where sin started and in which she also revealed her full strength. It will mean that in Lachish, as the first city in Judah, idolatry was ‘imported’ from Israel and from there spread further into Judah. The sins of Israel did not stop at the border of Judah. Lachish opened the gate for it and brought sin in.

Moresheth-gath and Achzib

Also “Moresheth-gath” will fall into enemy hands. Moresheth-gath means ‘possession or inheritance of Gath’. The city will have to give up its inheritance. It will become the property of the enemy, while its inhabitants will go into exile. In view of this, Micah says that a parting gift should be given to that city. It is like a gift that a father gives to his daughter at her wedding, when she leaves the house. It means that this city will also be lost to the realm.

“Achzib” means ‘lie’, ‘deceit’. The city will disappoint the kings who have placed their hopes in it. The achzabim in the Old Testament are brooks or wadi’s that are dry in summer and thus deceitful for the thirsty traveler (cf. Job 6:15; Jer 15:18b). “The houses of Achzib” are named because they can be compared to the brook bed that deceives. There cannot be confidence in it, no counting on, they offer no protection whatsoever.

The kings of Judah are here called “the kings of Israel” because they are not inferior to the kings of Israel in anger. They will embrace the greatest deception if they accept the Antichrist. They will think that they have in him their deliverer. But how deceived they will come out with that. This man will “become a deception”. He will turn out to be an unparalleled ‘brook of lies’.

Mareshah and Adullam

Mareshah means ‘possession’ or ‘conquest’. Once conquered by the Israelites, now it is about to be conquered by their enemies. All their possessions will fall into the hands of the Assyrians, “one who takes possession”. Here Micah emphasizes once more that the LORD is the Processor of their doom (cf. Mic 1:12).

All distinguished people, people of standing, will flee to Adullam, the cave for chased peoples (1 Sam 22:1). “The glory of Israel” is the nobility (Isa 5:13), but can also mean the whole people, those who have no right to exist (Hos 9:11-13). Because this place is so reminiscent of the flight of David and all who have joined him, it may also be that God designates this cave as a refuge for all faithful believers.

Signs of Mourning Because of Exile

Micah returns to his mourning, which he started in Mic 1:8 in connection with the deportation of the people, which he described in the verses that follow. Here, he no longer addresses a particular city, but makes a general appeal to the whole land. It can be about the deportation by the Assyrians (2Kgs 18:13-19) as well as about the deportation to Babel (Mic 4:10).

By talking about “the children of your delight”, Zion (Mic 1:13) is addressed as the mother of her people. The members of the people are the children of her delight. They are the children about whom she has rejoiced so much as a mother. Now that her children are gone into exile, her joy over them turns into great sorrow.

Micah calls to express that sorrow. He wants them to make themselves bald and cut their hair as a sign of mourning (Job 1:20; Eze 27:31; Amos 8:10). Bald and cut off the hair are two words for the same act, they are synonyms. By using both expressions the thought of mourning is strengthened. This amplified thought is reinforced by connecting the baldness spot to the eagle or the vulture. An external characteristic of the vulture is that it is bald on the head and in the neck. With the mention of the eagle or the vulture the aspect of judgment is emphasized even more (Mt 24:28).