Mic 3 | TNotes | STEP | Summary for Mic 3:1-5:15: 3:1–5:15 This message indicts the evil leaders who were destroying God’s people and contrasts them with a glorious vision of God’s kingdom and the reign of a righteous king. After suffering judgment and exile, a purified people of Israel would return and experience God’s blessings. Summary for Mic 3:1-4: 3:1-4 Micah relentlessly indicted the leaders of Israel because they were responsible for the peoples’ well-being. The horrors here depict the terrors of a people under siege (cp. Deut 28:53 ; 2 Kgs 6:29 ). 3:1 The leaders, who were supposed to know true judgment and justice (6:8 ; Deut 10:12-13 ), were morally responsible for Israel’s guilt.

Summary for Mic 3:1-5:15: 3:1–5:15 ^a This message indicts the evil leaders who were destroying God’s people and contrasts them with a glorious vision of God’s kingdom and the reign of a righteous king. After suffering judgment and exile, a purified people of Israel would return and experience God’s blessings.
Summary for Mic 3:1-4: 3:1-4 ^b Micah relentlessly indicted the leaders of Israel because they were responsible for the peoples’ well-being. The horrors here depict the terrors of a people under siege (cp. Deut 28:53 ^c; 2 Kgs 6:29 ^d). 3:1 ^e The leaders, who were supposed to know true judgment and justice (6:8 ^f; Deut 10:12-13 ^g), were morally responsible for Israel’s guilt.
Summary for Mic 3:2-3: 3:2-3 ^h The leaders, like wild animals, destroyed their own people.
3:4 ⁱ Then: Even after oppressing the Lord’s people, the leaders would selfishly beg for help from the Lord.
3:5 ^j The false prophets were among the spiritual leaders of Israel, so they fell under Micah’s accusations. Prophets were supposed to call Israel to the true way, not to send them astray (see Deut 13 ^k, 18 ^l). These prophets used their gifts to benefit themselves.
Summary for Mic 3:6-7: 3:6-7 ^m Micah announced God’s judgment on the false prophets. Without God’s special communications, these seers and fortune-tellers were like the pagan court prophets of such nations as Babylon, Mari, and especially Assyria, who were expected to toe the party line but who had no real revelation from the Lord (cp. 1 Sam 28:6 ⁿ; Amos 8:11-12 ^o).
3:8 ^p There was a strong contrast between the true prophet and the false prophets (3:5-7 ^q). Truth, justice, and power come from God’s Spirit, who gave Micah the moral and ethical strength to declare his true message about the sin and rebellion of his people.
Summary for Mic 3:9-12: 3:9-12 ^r The leaders of Israel were building Jerusalem on a foundation of murder and corruption. Because of this, the city would be dismantled; it would be reduced to wilderness and ruins (3:12 ^s).
3:11 ^t the Lord is here among us: This expression indicates the Lord’s approval (see Exod 3:12 ^u, 14 ^v; 25:8 ^w; Mic 2:5 ^x; Zech 2:11 ^y) and his dwelling among his people. The false prophets wrongly claimed God’s presence.
3:12 ^z Mount Zion, where the Lord once lived, would become a thicket, an uninhabitable wilderness. Utter destruction awaited the fallen Jerusalem. Jeremiah later quoted this passage (Jer 26:18 ^aa).

• Just as a field needs to be cleared to prepare it for cultivation, Jerusalem had to be reduced to ruins in judgment.