Read Micah 1

Micah spoke the word of the LORD from around 750-700BC (see chart at end of booklet for dates of kings and prophets).  He was a prophet around the same time as Isaiah (Isa. 1:1).  Micah’s message was similar to Isaiah (esp. compare Micah 4:1-5 and Isa. 2:2-4) leading some to wonder if one was copying the other, a question only asked if you assume that God could not and did not reveal the same message to each.  Possibly they were linked in a school of the prophets as was common.  But the Bible is clear: both spoke the word of the LORD.

Micah spoke to both kingdoms which he refers to by their capitals, Samaria and Jerusalem.  Samaria was about to be ruined and dispersed by the Assyrians (709BC).  The transgression of Jacob was the idolatry involving the gold calves that was part of the Northern Kingdom from its beginning (1:5).  Israel earned her wages from harlotry (i.e. the idolatry, spiritual harlotry) and now those wages would be the pay of a harlot given to the idolatrous Assyrians (1:7).

But now this idolatry had come to Jerusalem (1:8-9).  The result would be that Jerusalem will experience God’s law of the harvest as can be seen by a study of 1:10-16.  Micah uses the names of various cities around Jerusalem to demonstrate this.  (Use the accompanying map to find some of

these locations.)

·        1:10: Tell it not in Gath quotes David’s Song of the Bow, a mourning song he sang at the death of King Saul and Jonathan (2 Sam. 1:20).  Micah quotes it here because of the grievous events that will befall God’s people.

·        1:10: Beth Aphrah (an unknown city; it may refer to Jerusalem itself) means house of dust.  The people will roll in the dust, a picture of mourning.

·        1:11: Saphir means beautiful. A naked woman in the world is often considered beautiful; even she may flaunt her beauty.  But as God has said, nakedness paraded before others is shameful and it will be thus when the captives of Judah are so treated.

·        1:11: Zaanan means going out but in judgment they will be confined.

·     1:11: Beth Ezel means house of narrowing, referring to a narrow place where one can stand secure.  But in judgment Judah’s footing will not be secure.

·        1:12: Maroth (bitterness) longed for good things but will experience disaster.

·        1:13: Lachish (invincible) was said to be the city in Judah through which the idolatry had first come.  It had not been very many years before (767BC) that a conspiracy against Judah’s King Amaziah caused him to flee to Lachish.  He was killed there.  That may be why the people are told to harness the chariot to the swift steeds; their attempt to escape judgment will likewise be futile.  (Prophecy fulfilled: Jer. 34:7!)

·        1:14: Moresheth (possession of) Gath would be a gift to the enemy.

·        1:14: Achzib (lie) would be a lit to the kings of Israel, a false defense.

·        1:15: To Mareshah (inheritance) would come an heir, the enemy king.

·        1:15: To Adullam, where David had hid in a cave (1 Sam. 22:1), David who was the most glorious king of Israel, would come the glory of Israel in the possession of the king God would use to judge Judah.

Judah would reap judgment for sowing the same seeds of harlotry that the kingdom of Samaria had chosen.  She would mourn grievously as 1:16 describes (cutting off one’s hair was an extreme form of mourning).  Let us remember that this is one of those universal principles in the universe.  Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows that he will also reap (Gal. 6:7).