Micah 1:2-16
Summary for Mic 1:2-2:13: 1:2–2:13 a This message of judgment introduces some of the major concerns of Micah’s prophecies and asserts God’s determination to judge his people and put them into exile (1:16 b; 2:4-5 c), but it concludes with the Lord’s assurance that he will rescue a remnant from exile (2:12-13 d).Summary for Mic 1:2-7: 1:2-7 e This oracle concerns Samaria prior to 722 BC, when Samaria was destroyed and its people were deported. The Sovereign Lord was coming to judge his people. 1:2 f Attention! translates the same word that introduces the Shema (“Listen!”) in Deut 6:4 g.
• The holy Temple is the Lord’s heavenly abode, not the corrupt Temple in Jerusalem (Mic 1:2-3 h).
1:3 i Tramples the heights implies a theophany, an appearance of the God who is behind the historical convulsions about to afflict Samaria (cp. Deut 33:29 j; Ps 108:13 k; Amos 4:13 l). God is sovereign over nations and nature. The Canaanite god Baal was also thought to be active in this manner—descriptions of God like this one emphasize that the Lord, not Baal, is truly sovereign.
1:4 m The strong and apparently immovable mountains will melt at the Lord’s presence (see Ps 97:5 n). Nothing can stand against him.
1:5 o Rebellion is parallel to sins; these two key words describe Israel’s failure in the Old Testament.
• Who? ... Where? The capital cities of God’s people should have been holy places, but they were sources of corruption instead. Samaria, capital of the northern kingdom of Israel, was built by Omri (885–874 BC) as a political, military, and economic crossroads of the ancient Near East (1 Kgs 16:24 p). Omri was an evil king, and so his city was evil (cp. Mic 6:16 q, 1 Kgs 16:25 r).
• Jerusalem: The prophet would not allow the people of Judah to be smug about the northern kingdom’s imminent destruction. Judah’s beautiful Temple was no different from a Canaanite center of idolatry (literally high place).
Summary for Mic 1:6-7: 1:6-7 s a heap of ruins: The Lord threatened to devastate his treasured cities. Assyria virtually annihilated Samaria in 724–722 BC in a horrendous three-year siege.
• Samaria, like most cities, was built on a hill. Here, the stones of her walls crash into the valley below as they are violently dismantled. Ancient armies would systematically shatter city walls down to their foundation stones.
• Samaria and Jerusalem were filled with carved images and sacred treasures put there by worshipers or taken as war booty.
• Prostitution pictures Israel’s persistent spiritual and physical waywardness. This metaphor was regularly used by the Israelite prophets to express Israel’s abandonment of the Lord, her true husband, in order to obtain the blessings promised by the pagan gods. In addition, the worship of those gods often in fact involved sexual activity.
• Elsewhere refers to the exile of Samaria into Assyria and its various provinces and conquered vassal states (722 BC). The same outcome was forecast for Jerusalem (3:12 t; Jer 26:18 u).
Summary for Mic 1:8-16: 1:8-16 v In response to the Lord’s predicted judgment, Micah walked around barefoot and naked to express mourning (cp. Isa 20:2 w; Lam 2:10 x; Ezek 24:17 y), vividly depicting what would happen to Samaria (Israel) and Jerusalem (Judah). They would be stripped of their wealth, power, and population.
• A jackal and an owl make forlorn sounds and live in forsaken wilderness areas (Isa 34:13 z; Jer 50:39 aa).
1:9 ab into Judah ... Jerusalem: The corruption now permeated the entire nation, north to south.
Summary for Mic 1:10-15: 1:10-15 ac The cities listed were in the lowlands of southwestern Judah’s coastal areas. The sequence may represent the Assyrian army’s march down the coastal plain and from there into Judah’s heartland in 703–701 BC.
1:11 ad Exile was the ultimate, most devastating curse (Deut 4:29 ae; 28:37 af, 48 ag; Jer 25:7-11 ah).
1:12 ai even to ... Jerusalem: God’s judgment reaches wherever corruption has taken hold (cp. 1:9 aj).
1:13 ak Lachish was the second most important city in Judah, after Jerusalem, and was Judah’s main center of defense against their enemies. Even today, a massive tell over 150 feet (46 meters) high remains. Lachish fell in 701 BC, having been besieged, terrified, starved, and demolished by Sennacherib’s war engines. Sennacherib celebrated its fall as one of his greatest victories and featured the event in monumental carvings on his palace walls.
1:14 al Farewell gifts said good-bye to the doomed people of Moresheth-gath as that city also became Assyrian property.
1:15 am the leaders (literally the glory): The leaders of Israel should have been Israel’s “glory” by setting examples of moral excellence and wise, caring leadership. Instead, God’s shepherds corrupted their nation.
• Adullam was destroyed by Assyria in 701 BC.
1:16 an The people of Judah, including Jerusalem, were exiled and deported to distant lands in Babylonia in 605, 597, and 586 BC. Babylon was some 1,000 miles (1,700 kilometers) from Jerusalem.
• shave your heads: This act of mourning and despair (see also Jer 41:5 ao) could also signify purification (Lev 14:7-10 ap; Num 6:10-11 aq).
Micah 2
Summary for Mic 2:1-2: 2:1-2 ar Power had corrupted the wealthy, who should have been ready to help their fellow Israelites (cp. Gen 4:9 as; Josh 1:14 at).• Thinking up evil plans ... because you have the power to do so indicates a corrupt heart, mind, and character (Gen 6:5 au).
• When you want: They possessed the property of others in a way that amounted to stealing and broke God’s law that forbids coveting (Exod 20:17 av). A family’s inheritance was a sacred gift from the Lord, intended as a permanent possession (Lev 25:8-55 aw; cp. 1 Kgs 21 ax; Isa 5:8 ay). God looked for righteousness among his people, but instead he found oppression (1 Kgs 10:9 az; Isa 5:7 ba; 2 Pet 2:13 bb).
Summary for Mic 2:3-5: 2:3-5 bc The Lord, the Judge, reads out the sentence. He would pay back his people’s evil hearts and actions with evil in kind. The prophet is engaging in wordplay here. The Hebrew word translated “evil” has a wide range of meaning. It can connote moral evil, as in the first instance; it can also connote calamity or disaster as in the second instance. The Lord would bring calamity on them in response to their wickedness.
2:4 bd The power brokers would be ruined financially as their enemies confiscated their property. The land that they had seized unjustly from fellow Israelites would be violently taken from them (2:5 be).
2:6 bf There was a pathetic attempt to stifle the words of a true prophet.
• the people respond: They thought that exile and other such disasters could not happen to them, but they were wrong.
Summary for Mic 2:7-10: 2:7-10 bg The maltreatment of their fellow Israelites was tantamount to an attack against the Lord and his prophet. The fault lay with the people, not with Micah’s inspired and righteous message.
2:11 bh a prophet full of lies: These evil people loved to hear deceptions from their favorite good-time prophets (cp. Jer 28:8-9 bi). False prophets proclaimed assurance that Israel and Judah could escape from judgment. When judgment came, they had no comfort to give.
Summary for Mic 2:12-13: 2:12-13 bj God showed his love and care for his rebellious people by giving them a promise of hope even as he spoke of exile and despair. Israel would be scattered, but they would be brought back (cp. Deut 4:26-29 bk; 30:1-6 bl).
2:13 bm The Lord did lead Israel out of exile, foreshadowing the even greater freedom from slavery that the Messiah, Jesus Christ, would later bring.
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