Questions for thought:
1. Why does it seem evil comes out ahead of good? Will it always be that way or will God intervene?
2. As God’s chosen people, Israel had the responsibility to let the other nations know the true God. They failed in many ways. How is their failure a picture of the church today?
3. Just as God hid His face from fallen Israel, might He not also hide His face from fallen Christians? What would be the result?
Micah prophesied around the same time as Hosea, Amos, and Isaiah. We read in verse 1 the Lord came to him during the days of Jothan, Ahaz, and Hezekiah which is the same thing we read concerning Isaiah. Those kings reigned from around 793-697 B.C. We are not given any information concerning how Micah became a prophet or how God called him to prophecy. He is mentioned by Jeremiah in Jeremiah 26:18 as a prophet of God.
Micah’s prophecy is one in which he shows how the poor had been oppressed by those who should have been looking out for them, how the rulers had misused their power, and how integrity had been lost. He told the people of God’s complaints against them and what God was going to do to them.
Similar to Isaiah’s opening, Micah begins in verse 2 with a call to the people to hear what he has to say and what he has to say is very similar to what we have already studied Isaiah prophesying. Throughout the book, we read the Lord’s appeal to the people to return to Him and walk in His ways and the promises of destruction for those who do not. There continues just as in Isaiah, the idea of a remnant that will obey and it is through that remnant, Israel will be blessed.
In chapter 1, Micah said the Lord would come down from His holy temple and tread upon the earth for the sins of Jacob and the sins of the house of Israel. Again in Micah, we see Israel divided into its two divisions which came about after King Solomon died. Samaira being the capital of the northern tribes and Jerusalem as the capital of Judah or the southern tribes are specifically mentioned in verse 5 as representative of the whole nation of Israel.
The cause of the judgment to come is given in chapter 2:1-2. The people were totally wicked. They laid in bed and thought of evil to do and when the morning came, they did it. By evil means, they took what was not theirs, and they oppressed others. Is that any different from what we see in our land today? Do not evil men oppress good men? So, in verse 3 God was sending them word of the evil He was preparing for them. He will not allow evil to prevail in the end.
The evil people did not want to hear what Micah had to say. In 2:6 they were telling Micah to stop such prophecy. They were people of Judah and they were God’s people. Would God allow such destruction to happen to them? Such prophecy must be foolishness. They could not or would not look at their evil ways and turn back to God. They failed in their responsibility to be the true Israel of God and when correction came, they refused to give heed.
Much the same happens today when leaders in Christ’s church begin to go the way of the world, following after false teachings and doctrines of men. Those trying to remain faithful to Christ’s teachings who attempt to correct those who are falling away are ridiculed and rejected. The world laughs and the church suffers.
In Micah 2 beginning in verse 8, Micah continued to tell the people of their evils, but he emphasized just as Isaiah did, there would be a remnant who would turn back to God. This remnant was to be gathered from the exiles in Babylon, but in chapter 5 we again see the remnant in the Messianic future.
Having promised judgment to both the north and south, Micah became even more specific in chapter 3 where he called out the leaders of the people. He called them the heads or the princes in verse 1. He accused them of hating the good and loving the evil. He said they plucked off the skin of the people. That’s like we say when someone had cheated somebody: “You sure got skinned.” After treating the people so poorly, these leaders had the nerve as shown in verse 4 to call on the Lord, but the Lord would hide His face from them.
Those prophets who were prophesying what the people wanted to hear are condemned in 3:5. They were causing the people to sin. God said they would have no vision. They would be in the dark. They would be ashamed because even though they sought answers from God, none would be given. Those leaders who were being condemned in this section were told of their evils in verses 9-11. They were prophesying for gain and because of them, Zion and Jerusalem would become ruins.
But once more we have in chapters 4-5 the promise of a deliverance. In chapter 4 verses 1-3 we read almost the same things Isaiah said in Isaiah 2:2-4 about the mountain of the house of the Lord and many nations coming to it. Jesus told His apostles to stay in Jerusalem until they received power from on high in Luke 24:49. Back in verse 47 He declared repentance and remission of sins would be preached in His name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem. And this was done in Acts 2.
Beginning in verse 6 of Micah 4, God is again stating what will happen “in that day.” The day he has reference to is the last days of 4:1 to which we just referred. In that day, the remnant would bring forth the Savior, Jesus Christ. Remember, the Messiah, the future king, was to come from the seed of Abraham. Here Micah has reference to that Messiah who would provide deliverance, but Micah in the same pattern as Isaiah goes back and forth between the upcoming captivity and deliverance and the deliverance promised for the last days. Now in 4:11, he is back to what was about to happen to Israel in their upcoming captivity. But this captivity has to take place, so the Lord can deliver His people.
Chapter 5 is a definite prophecy concerning the coming Messiah. He was to come out of Bethlehem. It was the same birthplace of David the one whose throne the Messiah would take. Of course, it was not the throne in Jerusalem, but the spiritual throne in heaven from which Jesus Christ rules over His kingdom the church. At the time of His coming (verse 3), the remnant of His brethren would return to Israel. This man, Jesus, would be their peace (verse 5).
The remnant would then have great blessings (verse 7-8). The power of the evil would be cut off. This was not to happen in physical Israel, but in spiritual Israel or the church. In verses 12-15, God said witchcraft and soothsayers would be gone and the graven images or idols and high places would be destroyed with His vengeance being shown upon those who were not His faithful children.
Again, in chapters 6-7 God reminded the people of how He had brought them up from Egypt and redeemed them for a people of His own, but how they had disowned Him to follow false gods. Micah replied to God in 6:6-9 telling the people that God’s requirement is to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. God continued to tell the people of the upcoming punishments through chapter 6. Then in chapter 7 Micah again replied saying the good man is perished out of the earth and there is none upright among men.
The only hope for Israel and for us is given in Micah 7. We must look to the Lord and wait for the God of our salvation (verse 7). We must bear whatever the Lord chooses to give us because of our sins (verse 9), but when the Lord, Himself pleads our cause and pardons our iniquity (verse 18), He will cast all our sins into the sea. Then we will be free from our sin and can live eternally with God.
This completes the prophesies of Joel, Obadiah, Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, and Micah. All these prophets warned the people about their sinfulness, tried to get them to return to God, and promised them an upcoming captivity. The northern kingdom fell to Assyria around 723/722. Prophecy concerning Judah continued until her fall in 586. Next, we will begin looking at the four prophets of Judah, Nahum, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, and Jeremiah.
Christian Women's Responsibility in Sharing God's Word 