Micah 2:6-11, How good is your bed (resting place)?

 Everyone needs rest.  Here is a special Hebrew word, menuha.  It involves a blessing of our salvation.  Let’s begin with passages that will help define the term.

·       Gen. 49:15: In Jacob’s blessing on Issachar he says, He saw that rest was good, and that the land was pleasant.

·       Jud. 20:43: In Israel’s “civil war” the 11 tribes easily trampled the Benjamites.  So rest is a hard job that is easily done.

·       Ruth 1:9: According to Naomi, settling down with a husband would be rest for Ruth.  Think about this in our society where marriage is often ridiculed.

·       2 Sam. 14:17: According to the woman of Tekoa sent by wicked Joab to get David to do his bidding, bringing back Absalom would be comforting for everyone, which of course did not exactly turn out to be comforting.

·       1 Chr. 22:9: Solomon would be a man of rest, likely referring to fact there were no wars in Solomon’s reign.  Solomon’s name is akin to “shalom” (peace).

·       Jer. 45:3: Baruch, in time of Babylonian seige, found no rest (peace of mind).

Now let’s consider this work in relation with the LORD.

·       Jer. 51:59: “quartermaster” is literally mehunah sar, the quiet prince.  This may mean he was not like the princes who had been contentious with Jeremiah. Or as Feinberg says (whom I would trust) he may have been the one to look after the comfort of the king.

·       Zech. 9:1: Damascus, the capitol city, is the resting place of Syria.

Now consider the LORD’s resting place.

·       1 Chr. 28:2: David intended to build a resting place for the Ark, a footstool for the LORD.  That place in Jerusalem is God’s resting place (Ps. 132:8,14).  The future resting place of Messiah will be glorious (Isa. 11:10).  All this is God’s grace because He is too great to make a temple His resting place (Isa. 66:1).

·       And what of Israel’s resting place?  In the wilderness journeys they continuously sought out a place to rest (Num. 10:33) because they had not yet come to the rest of the land, their inheritance from the LORD (Dt. 12:9).  But God promised the land to be Israel’s rest (1 Ki. 8:56).  Though some were denied that rest (Ps. 95:11) because they refused to trust God and enter the land, and others who trusted in Egypt instead of the LORD (Isa. 28:12) and trusted lying prophets (Micah 2:10) in the days of Babylon, yet Israel will someday be at rest in that land (Isa. 32:18).

·       Ah, which leaves us with two great reminders from the Psalms:

Ps. 23:2: He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. 

Psalm 116:7: Return to your rest, O my soul, for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.