- Chapters 1-3 God’s Retribution
- Chapters 4-5 God’s Restoration
- Chapters 6-7 God’s Reconciliation
Micah’s ministry lasted 40 years during a time the 10 northern tribes of Israel were engaged in a not so civil war against their southern brothers of Judah and Benjamin. In 2nd Chron. 28 we are told that in one day’s battle 120,000 men from Judah were killed. Micah’s prophetic ministry is unique as he is the only prophet sent to both kingdoms. His home town Gath lay 25 miles southwest of Jerusalem on the boarder between the two kingdoms in the area of Philistia (the land of the Philistines). Micah 1:1 tells us that Micah prophesied “in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah” which make him a contemporary of Hosea, Amos and Isaiah. In fact when you compare Isaiah to Micah it appears that he may have been a disciple of Isaiah as Micah 4:1-3 and Isaiah 2:2-4 are a mirror image of each other. Since the two of these prophets wrote about the same things why did God include both in our Bibles? Well I think that both Micah’s Isaiah’s message are so important that they bore repeating and Isaiah being 66 chapters to Micah’s 7 chapters enabled the reader to the abridged version. Interestingly 120 years later as Jeremiah was on the eve of the nations captivity to the Babylonians in 26:18 he chooses to quote Micah (3:12) and not Isaiah.
I. Chapters 1-3 God’s Retribution
Chapter 1: After a brief introduction of himself and the time frame in which he wrote Micah launches into a general declaration of judgment towards Israel. To drive home his point Micha use a play on words that is lost with out the English translations of the Hebrew words:
- 1:10 “Tell it not in Gath, weep not at all; in Beth Aphrah roll yourself in the dust”. Here the play on words is Aphrah as the name of the city is “dust”.
- 1:13 “O inhabitant of Lachish, harness the chariot to the swift steeds (She was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion), for the transgressions of Israel were found in you.” Here the play on words is Lachish which means “swift steeds”.
- 1:14 “Therefore you shall give presents to Moresheth Gath; the houses of Achzib shall be a lie to the kings of Israel.” Here the play on words is “houses of Achzib”, which means “a lie”.
It seems as though God wanted these truths to stick in the minds of the hears of Micah’s prophecies. Ah but look at what he said prior to this in 1:8 where Micha said that these words caused him to “wail and howl” and to feel “stripped and naked” “mourning like the ostriches”. Saints we should not get the impression that those who carried the truth of God in judgment some how were unaffected personally by the truths they spoke. Isaiah 55:11says that God’s “Word that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” I’m of the impression that the first place where the word should accomplish its purpose is in the instrument God has used to speak it.
Chapter 2: In spite of their failure God will be faithful and gather a remnant God says in verse 12. How amazing is God’s love towards those who according to 2:8 had “risen up as an enemy”. In 2:12-13 God promises, “I will put them together like sheep of the fold, like a flock in the midst of their pasture; they shall make a loud noise because of so many people. The one who breaks open will come up before them; they will break out, pass through the gate, and go out by it; their king will pass before them, with the Lord at their head.” Our Lord Jesus is the One who broke open the barriers we have set up because of our sin and now our King has passed before us and is our head!
Chapter 3: In this chapter God speaks through Micha against:
- Princes (1-4) “Who hate good and love evil” verse 3
- False prophets (5-8) “Who make the people stray” verse 5
- Priests (9-12) “Teach for pay, as the prophets spoke for profit” verse 11
It was for this reason that the nation was going to become a heap of ruins. Pail told 2 Timothy in 2 Tim. 4:3 that there would come a time “When they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers”.
II. Chapters 4-5 God’s Restoration
Chapter 4: For the next two chapters Micha speaks a message of the hope of God’s restoration. In 4:2 Micha predicts that there will come a time when, “Many nations shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion the law shall go forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” A contrast is made between the people of the world and God’s people in 4:5 where we read that, “All people walk each in the name of his god, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.” Listen to the promise in 4:6-7 “In that day,” says the Lord, “I will assemble the lame, I will gather the outcast and those whom I have afflicted; I will make the lame a remnant and the outcast a strong nation”. Dear ones is that not what the Lord has done in our lives? He has assembled the lame, the outcast; those afflicted and has made us a strong nation by the indwelling of His Spirit!
Chapter 5: We have given a most remarkable prophecy 700 years before it took place in verse 5:2 as Micha wrote, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.” Make no mistake about it the priests understood this to be a messianic prophecy as we are told in Matthew 2:5-6 when questioned by Herod’s men with regards to the birth place of the Messiah they gave this prediction. Verse 5:3 predicts their rejection of the long awaited Messiah and His eventual 2nd coming. And in verses 5:4-5 we are given the Messiahs ministry as it says, “He shall stand and feed His flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord His God; and they shall abide, for now He shall be great to the ends of the earth; and this One shall be peace.” In verse 7-15 Micha speaks to the remnant that God will one day restore saying in verse 5:7 that they “Shall be in the midst of many peoples, like dew from the Lord, like showers on the grass, that tarry for no man nor wait for the sons of men.” They will be like this because according to verse 5:13 they “shall no more worship the work of your hands”.
III. Chapters 6-7 God’s Reconciliation
Chapter 6: Here God pleads through Micha for the repentance of the people so that they can be reconciled with their God. God calls His creation (the mountains and the hills) to sit on the jury to judge the nation. In verse 6:2-3 God acts as a prosecuting attorney and asks the mountains to hear the Lord’s complaint saying, “O My people, what have I done to you? And how have I wearied you? Testify against Me.” Micha is also called as a witness in verses 6:7-8 and asks, “Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” Oh little did Micha know that God would do just that! Then he tells the nation “He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”
Chapter 7: Micah concludes with a series of promises from the Lord. In verses 7:18-20 he proclaims, “Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. You will give truth to Jacob and mercy to Abraham, which You have sworn to our fathers from days of old.”