Faith

Okay, I know it’s been two weeks since I started Micah… I’ve no excuse other than busyness. Today we’ll be looking at Micah 2.

Looking At Scripture – the problem

Micah starts off this chapter speaking out against those who devise wickedness, planning it while they lay abed.

Woe to those who devise wickedness  and work evil on their beds!

Then in the morning, they put their evil plans to work. 

why?  because it is in the power of their hand.

So basically these are people in positions of power

If they want a field or a house, they take it.  Oppression of others happens because they feel like it. 

Looking at scripture – the answer

Looking at Scripture – arguments

I think this section has the evil folks arguing with Micah.  Don’t tell us such things, we won’t be disgraced! 

⁶ “Do not preach”—thus they preach—
    “one should not preach of such things;
    disgrace will not overtake us.”

Micah’s response is simple… He challenges them (or at least that’s how it reads to me and I might be wrong).  The upright have nothing to fear.  
⁷ Should this be said, O house of Jacob?
    Has the Lord grown impatient?
    Are these his deeds?
Do not my words do good
    to him who walks uprightly?

BUT the people are acting like God’s enemy.  People who should be trusted are being thieves. Women driven out of their homes.  Children being removed. 
⁸ But lately my people have risen up as an enemy;
you strip the rich robe from those who pass by trustingly
    with no thought of war.
⁹ The women of my people you drive out
    from their delightful houses;
from their young children you take away
    my splendor forever.

Looking at Scripture – then go!

Micah talks to the people telling them to GO.  This is not a place for rest, there is too much uncleanness, too much evil here.   Men who lie, too many people willing to listen to those lies. 

¹⁰ Arise and go,
    for this is no place to rest,
because of uncleanness that destroys
    with a grievous destruction.
¹¹ If a man should go about and utter wind and lies,
    saying, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,”
    he would be the preacher for this people!

Micah tells the people that God will assemble this remnant of Israel.  Just like a group of sheep is gathered into a fold is this group of noisy people.   He will go on before them.  Their Lord will lead them. 
¹² I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob;
    I will gather the remnant of Israel;
I will set them together
    like sheep in a fold,
like a flock in its pasture,
    a noisy multitude of men.
¹³ He who opens the breach goes up before them;
    they break through and pass the gate,
    going out by it.
Their king passes on before them,
    the Lord at their head.

Questions

What does it mean to say : they will have none to cast the line by lots?   Looking at alternative translations here gave me an idea about what is being said here.  They will be so ruined that no one will be left to be able to draw lots, which is a regulated by the temple. 

Ponderings

I read about God’s anger at the people’s sin, their willful planning of evil. I can understand his anger. I read about what they were doing and I feel angry. God’s wrath therefore doesn’t really surprise me.

I was, … oh, I’m not sure of the right word. surprised at the destroying them so completely that they can no longer take part in lot draws (so out of the temple). I don’t completely understand that section, but not even a remnant left of that evilness.

but oh..those last few verses eh? God so often preserves for himself a remnant, a group of people he gathers unto himself. He often calls this remnant his sheep and like a shepherd he leads them, like a king he’s the head of the group.

Micah 1:2-16 is our reading for today. Last time we met we discussed the beginning of Micah. I don’t know that we will get through all 15 verses today, but we’ll how it goes eh?

Hear, you peoples, all of you;
pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it,
and let the Lord God be a witness against you,
the Lord from his holy temple.
3 For behold, the Lord is coming out of his place,
and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth.
4 And the mountains will melt under him,
and the valleys will split open,
like wax before the fire,
like waters poured down a steep place.
5 All this is for the transgression of Jacob
and for the sins of the house of Israel.
What is the transgression of Jacob?
Is it not Samaria?
And what is the high place of Judah?
Is it not Jerusalem?
6 Therefore I will make Samaria a heap in the open country,
a place for planting vineyards,
and I will pour down her stones into the valley
and uncover her foundations.
7 All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces,
all her wages shall be burned with fire,
and all her idols I will lay waste,
for from the fee of a prostitute she gathered them,
and to the fee of a prostitute they shall return.

8 For this I will lament and wail;
I will go stripped and naked;
I will make lamentation like the jackals,
and mourning like the ostriches.
9 For her wound is incurable,
and it has come to Judah;
it has reached to the gate of my people,
to Jerusalem.

10 Tell it not in Gath;
weep not at all;
in Beth-le-aphrah
roll yourselves in the dust.
11 Pass on your way,
inhabitants of Shaphir,
in nakedness and shame;
the inhabitants of Zaanan
do not come out;
the lamentation of Beth-ezel
shall take away from you its standing place.
12 For the inhabitants of Maroth
wait anxiously for good,
because disaster has come down from the Lord
to the gate of Jerusalem.
13 Harness the steeds to the chariots,
inhabitants of Lachish;
it was the beginning of sin
to the daughter of Zion,
for in you were found
the transgressions of Israel.
14 Therefore you shall give parting gifts
to Moresheth-gath;
the houses of Achzib shall be a deceitful thing
to the kings of Israel.
15 I will again bring a conqueror to you,
inhabitants of Mareshah;
the glory of Israel
shall come to Adullam.
16 Make yourselves bald and cut off your hair,
for the children of your delight;
make yourselves as bald as the eagle,
for they shall go from you into exile.

Understanding God’s Word

¹⁰ Tell it not in Gath;
    weep not at all;
in Beth-le-aphrah
    roll yourselves in the dust.
¹¹ Pass on your way,
    inhabitants of Shaphir,
    in nakedness and shame;
the inhabitants of Zaanan
    do not come out;
the lamentation of Beth-ezel
    shall take away from you its standing place.

¹² For the inhabitants of Maroth
    wait anxiously for good,
because disaster has come down from the Lord
    to the gate of Jerusalem.

It’s a hard thing you know?   To see a land destroyed. Micah tells the people, don’t speak of it in Gath.  Those in Beth-le-aphrah… roll in the dust.  People of Shaphir… be ashamed.  Zaanan… stay where you are. And the sadness of the people of Beth-ezel… you won’t be able to stand in the presence of it.  The folk of Maroth wait for good. Not quietly with hope, but with anxiety.

You see… disaster has come.  The Lord has come down hard on Jerusalem.

¹³ Harness the steeds to the chariots,
    inhabitants of Lachish;
it was the beginning of sin
    to the daughter of Zion,
for in you were found
    the transgressions of Israel.

Sin, sin has been found.  Israel has transgressed.  Lachish… the sin started here.  Here was the beginning of Israel’s wrongdoing. 

¹⁴ Therefore you shall give parting gifts
    to Moresheth-gath;
the houses of Achzib shall be a deceitful thing
    to the kings of Israel.
¹⁵ I will again bring a conqueror to you,
    inhabitants of Mareshah;
the glory of Israel
    shall come to Adullam.
¹⁶ Make yourselves bald and cut off your hair,
    for the children of your delight;
make yourselves as bald as the eagle,
    for they shall go from you into exile.

And so we see, exile is in the works.  They need to give parting gifts to Moresheth-gath, and the house of Achzib will lie to them.  A conqueror is coming. Weep, be sad, show your shame and dismay.  Exile is coming. 

Questions

I don’t really understand these lines:

What is the transgression of Jacob?
    Is it not Samaria?
And what is the high place of Judah?
    Is it not Jerusalem?

Answers and thoughts

Matthew Henry’s commentary addressed those lines. He talked about how Samaria and Jerusalem where the main cities. So if God is coming to discipline his wayward people, then those centres of power and influence would be where he addressed his concerns.

It’s hard right? These verses. Seeing God’s judgment is about to fall of the people. All the sorrow seen. The hardship felt. The anxiety this warning would produce. The punishment will be severe for the offence is against our holy God.

But God warned them. He didn’t have to. There’s no regulation saying before punishment the people must be warned it’s coming. In warning, heartfelt sorrow could be shown and then God could have relented. There are other occasions in the bible when God says “smart’en up” and the people do, and God relents in his anger.

So in the warning, I can see his love.