Mic 1:8-16 | TNotes | STEP | Summary for Mic 1:8-16: 1:8-16 In response to the Lord’s predicted judgment, Micah walked around barefoot and naked to express mourning (cp. Isa 20:2 ; Lam 2:10 ; Ezek 24:17 ), 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 ; Jer 50:39 ).

Summary for Mic 1:8-16: 1:8-16 ^a In response to the Lord’s predicted judgment, Micah walked around barefoot and naked to express mourning (cp. Isa 20:2 ^b; Lam 2:10 ^c; Ezek 24:17 ^d), 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 ^e; Jer 50:39 ^f).
1:9 ^g into Judah ... Jerusalem: The corruption now permeated the entire nation, north to south.
Summary for Mic 1:10-15: 1:10-15 ^h 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 ⁱ Exile was the ultimate, most devastating curse (Deut 4:29 ^j; 28:37 ^k, 48 ^l; Jer 25:7-11 ^m).
1:12 ⁿ even to ... Jerusalem: God’s judgment reaches wherever corruption has taken hold (cp. 1:9 ^o).
1:13 ^p 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 ^q Farewell gifts said good-bye to the doomed people of Moresheth-gath as that city also became Assyrian property.
1:15 ^r 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 ^s 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 ^t) could also signify purification (Lev 14:7-10 ^u; Num 6:10-11 ^v).