Micah 2

In Ch. 1 Micah predicted coming judgment on Samaria and Jerusalem.  The reasons for this judgment centered on idolatry that had long been part of life in the Northern Kingdom but had now made its way to Judah.  If you read the narrative of the reigns of the various kings during Micah’s ministry (2 Kings 15-32: Jotham; 2 Ki. 16: Ahaz) you can see this.  In each case, though Jotham was righteous and Ahaz evil, neither removed the high places (i.e. places other than the temple) where idolatry was carried out.  Micah 1:13 says the idolatry of Israel was first found in Judah in the city of Lachish; 2 Ki. 16:3 speaks of this event when it says King Ahaz and Judah began to walk in the ways of the kings of Israel.

Micah 2 reveals the evil lifestyle that resulted from this false worship. 

·        2:1-5: Woe is pronounces on those who devise and plan evil.  What evil are they planning?  They are figuring out how to seize the good fields and nice houses they covet.  The judgment promised by the LORD will be that He will make His own plan, a plan of disaster.  It will involve changing the heritage of my people, a reference to their inheritance of land.  The result will be that there will be no need for anyone to do survey work to determine property boundaries because the land will be lost.  Again, the narrative how this happened.  In the reign of Jotham we are told that the LORD began to send Syria and Israel (who had allied themselves) against Judah.  In the reign of Ahaz they captured Elath, Judah’s southern port.  And of course in Israel itself, it was in the early years of Hezekiah’s reign that the Assyrians dispersed the northern ten tribes.

Note the way that sin is devised.  It begins with the god we choose.  Israel chose to trust in a false god; thus their desires were evil, leading to covetousness which then bore the fruit of stealing from others.  If you want to meditate on this and see how the same thing will happen to us, read Rom. 7:7-8 and Jas. 1:12-16.

·        2:6-11: In the NKJV in v6 (3x) and v11 (2x) there is a word translated prattle(er) and prophesy.  It is not the normal Hebrew term for a prophet.  The word actually means drop or drip.  It is being used of the people to refer to the prophets who spoke God’s good words (v7).  To someone like Micah or Isaiah they would say, “Turn off your dripping faucet; we don’t want to hear your preaching.”  So God says (v6) that they won’t prophesy and thus will not give the word that would prevent the coming insult on His people.  Those who are devising plans to steal from others (v8-9) are going to find that trusting in their god who tells them they can be happy (at rest, v10) with the things they stole will not, in fact, be happy.  They rejected the LORD’s words that do good to him who walks uprightly; instead they will hear the preaching of those with a false spirit, and in the end they will see that those words are like the dripping of a leaky faucet.

·        2:12-13: The closing words of the chapter, in which God says the time will come when a remnant of Israel will be restored, is simply God’s way of saying that whatever people thought of His good words, in the end those words that were being preached will prevail.

This chapter is a valuable source of truth for us today.  It goes to the place of the word of God in our daily lives.  Have our minds been renewed?  Are our minds being renewed even to this day, regardless of how long we have been saved?  Daily our desires are being directed by the god/God we revere.  Whose word are we hearing and heeding?  We can even say that it goes to the meditation we are involved in as we lie in bed.  Are we planning evil?  Or are we meditating on the good words of God that will do good to him that walks uprightly?  The truly happy man delights in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night (Psalm 1:2).