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THE MINOR PROPHETS

 

The Prophet Micah

God Has A Controversy with His People

Lesson #7

Victor M. Eskew

 

INTRODUCTION

 

A.   What is the one thing that the book of Micah is known for?  The prophecy concerning the birthplace of the Messiah.

1.    The prophecy (Micah 5:2).

2.    When the chief priest and scribes were asked about the place where the King of Jews was to be born, they answered:  “In Bethlehem of Judea” (Matt. 2:5).  They immediately referred to Micah’s prophecy as proof (Matt. 2:4b-5).

 

…for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda:  for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.

 

B.   Beyond this, most know very little about this sixth Minor Prophet.  The book consists of seven (7) chapters and one hundred five (105) verses.

 

C.   Before we delve into our overview of this book, let’s look at some passages that might intrigue us if we were studying the book verse-by-verse.

1.    “For her wound is incurable…” (Mic. 1:9).

2.    “Then shall they cry unto the Lord, but he will not hear them…” (Mic. 3:4).

3.    “He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Mic. 6:8).

4.    “The good man is perished out of the earth:  and there is none upright among men…” (Mic. 7:2).

5.    “Who is a God like unto thee…” (Mic. 7:18).

6.    “Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old” (Mic. 7:20).

 

I.             THE NAME OF THE BOOK

 

A.   The name of the book is the author of the book (Mic. 1:1).

 

The word of the Lord that came to Micah…

 

B.   The name Micah means:  “Who is like Jehovah?” 

1.    It is similar to the name Michael which means:  “Who is like God?”

2.    In Micah 7:18, Micah makes a play on his name as he describes God (Micah 7:18).

 

Who is like unto thee…

 

C.   Again, the real author is God.  Micah is merely the spokesman for God.

1.    “The word of the Lord that came…”

2.    “But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the Lord, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin” (Mic. 3:8).

 

 

D.   We know very little about Micah.

1.    He was from a town called Moresheth (Mic. 1:1).

 

The word of the Lord that came to Micah the Morasthite…

 

a.    This town was located about 25 miles southwest of Jerusalem.

b.    Sometimes it is referred to as Moresheth-gath because it was located on the dividing line between Israel and Philistia near the Philistine lordship of Gath.

 

Micah 1 | Lumina

 

c.    This was not a large city.  It was an agricultural town.

 

II.           THE DATE OF THE BOOK

 

A.   Micah helps set the date of the book in the first verse of his prophecy by telling about the kings who were reigning at the time.  (See Handout)

 

…in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah…

 

B.   The dates for these kings is between 752 B.C. and 697 B.C.

 

C.   Micah is a contemporary of both Isaiah and Hosea.

 

III.         THE RECIPIENTS OF THE BOOK

 

A.   The recipients of the book seem to be both Israel and Judah. 

1.    This is seen in Micah 1:1.

 

…which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

 

2.    He mentions both several times in the book.  There are times he addresses the capitals of the kingdoms, Samaria and Jerusalem.

a.    Micah 1:5

 

For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel.  What is the transgression of Jacob?  is it not Samaria?  and what are the high places of Judah?  are they not Jerusalem?

 

b.    See also Micah 2:12, 3:1, 8, 9

 

B.   Most believe the primary recipients were the citizens of the kingdom of Judah.

1.    Micah mentions only kings of the Southern Kingdom in Micah 1:1.

2.    Micah is the first prophet to mention that the Babylonians will be the ones to bring Judah into captivity (Mic. 4:10).

 

In pain, and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail:  for now shalt thou go forth the out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon:  there shalt thou be delivered; there the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies.

 

3.    Micah speaks of the Northern Kingdom often as a warning to the Southern Kingdom.  Sadly, they do not learn from their kinsmen.  They follow down the same path (Mic. 1:13b).

 

…for the transgressions of Israel were found in thee.

 

IV.         THE THEME OF THE BOOK

 

A.   The theme we have chosen for the book is:  “God Has A Controversy with His People” (Mic. 6:2).

 

Hear ye, O mountains, the Lord’s controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth:  for the Lord hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel.

 

B.   In Micah 2:3, we are told:  “…for the time is evil.”  The American Standard Version translates the verse with these words:  “…it is an evil time.”

1.    All segments of society had been corrupted.

2.    The leadership was corrupt and vile from the princes to the priests to the prophets.

a.    Micah 3:1-2a

 

And I said, Hear, I pray you, O head of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel; Is it not for you to know judgment?  Who hate the good, and love the evil…

 

b.    Micah 3:5

 

Thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him.

 

c.    Micah 3:9

 

Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity.

 

d.    Micah 3:11

 

The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priest thereof teach for hire, and the prophets divine for money:  yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say, Is not the Lord among us?  None evil can come upon us.

 

3.    The list of sins set forth my Micah is extremely long.  In his book, Know Your Bible, Frank J. Dunn presents a list of 12 sins committed by God’s people on page 355.

a.    All forms of idolatry-graven images, idols, pillars, work of their hands (1:7; 5:13)

b.    Evil plans and devices (2:1)

c.    Covetousness (2:2)

d.    Grabbing of lands and houses (2:2, 9)

e.    Witchcrafts (3:7; 5:12)

f.     Dishonesty, scant measure, wicked balances, deceitful weights (6:10-11)

g.    Violence (6:12)

h.    Lying (6:12)

i.     Walking in the counsels of Omri and Ahab, instead of obeying God’s law (6:16)

j.     Universal corruption, from the least to the greatest – “…That they may do evil with both hands earnestly…” (7:2-4)

k.    Treachery, so that none could trust even a friend (7:5)

l.     Dishonor in the family, so that “…a man’s enemies are men of his own house” (7:6)

 

C.   It is because of all of this lawlessness that God calls His people into court for examination (Micah 6:1-2).

 

Hear ye now what the Lord saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice.  Hear ye, O mountains, the Lord’s controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth:  for the Lord hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel.

 

1.    The Lord had shown them what was required (Mic. 6:8).

 

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.

 

2.    God’s people were going through some of the outward actions that they believed would satisfy God (Mic. 6:6).  The Lord, however, was not pleased with their thousands of rams and rivers of oil (Mic. 6:7).

3.    His people were guilty and they would suffer judgment for their sinful behaviors.

a.    Samaria (Mic. 1:6-7)

 

Therefore I will make Samaria as an heap of the field, and as plantings of a vineyard:  and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations thereof.  And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces, and all the hires thereof shall be burned with fire, and all the idols therefore will I lay desolate:  for she gathered it of the hire of a harlot, and they shall return to the hire of a harlot.

 

b.    Jerusalem

1)    Micah 3:12

 

Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.

 

2)    Taken into Babylon (Mic. 4:10)

 

 

…for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon…

 

D.   God does not want this judgment to fall upon His people.  Therefore, throughout the book, He exhorts the nations to “hear.”

1.    Micah 1:2

 

Hear, all ye people; hearken, O earth, and all that therein is:  and let the Lord God be witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.

 

2.    Micah 3:1

 

And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel…

 

3.    Micah 3:9

 

Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel…

 

4.    Micah 6:1

 

Hear ye now what the Lord saith…

 

E.   God, however, is also a gracious God.  He will ultimately deliver His people from their bondage.

1.    God’s nature (Mic. 7:18)

 

Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage?  he retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy.

 

2.    Micah 4:6-8

 

In that day, saith the Lord, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; and I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation:  and the Lord shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even forever.  And thou, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion, the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.

 

3.    There ultimate deliverance would be “in the last days.”  Two things would happen.

a.    The Messiah would be born (Mic. 5:2).

 

But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though be little among the thousands in Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

 

b.    The church would be established (Mic. 4:1-3; compare with Isaiah 2:2-4).

 

But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.  And many nations will come and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his way, and we will walk in his paths:  for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.  And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks:  nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

 

F.    God would restore the Jews because He is a God who is faithful to His promises (Mic. 7:20).

 

Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.

1.    Abraham (Gen. 22:18)

2.    Isaac (Gen. 26:4)

3.    Jacob (Gen. 28:14)

 

CONCLUSION

 

A.   In this book, we learn so many spiritual lessons.

1.    We need to ask:  “What does the Lord require of us?

2.    We desperately need to “hear” what God has to say.

3.    We need to remember that our sins bring us into a controversy with God.

4.    If we will not repent, God will bring us into judgment.

5.    Fortunately, God is a gracious God (Mic. 7:18-19).  He will:

a.    Pardon iniquity

b.    Pass by the transgression

c.    Not retain His anger forever

d.    Delight in mercy

e.    Turn again, and have compassion on us

f.     Subdue our iniquities

g.    Cast our sin into the depth of the seas

 

B.   NOTE:  We are here today as God’s children because God performed the truth to Jacob and the mercy to Abraham (Mic. 7:20).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the eyes of the Lord

are over the righteous,

330+ Striking Words to Describe Eyes

 

 

 

 

…and his ears are open

unto their prayers…

The Healing of Malchus's Ear | Christian Library

 

 

 

 

 

…but the face of the Lord

is against them that do evil

(1 Peter 3:12).