Miquéias 1

Miquéias 1

MICAH - WHO IS LIKE JEHOVAH? Chart from recommended resource Jensen's Survey of the OT - used by permission Chart by Charles Swindoll OVERVIEW OF MICAH: WHO IS LIKE JEHOVAH? RETRIBUTION Micah 1:1-2:13 KINGDOM Micah 3:1-5:15 WORSHIP Micah 6:1-7:20 First Message: Judgment Will Come Second Message: Blessing will follow Judgment Third Message: An Indictment of Sin & A Promise of Blessing Judgment Micah 1:1-2:11 Promise Micah 2:12-13 Judgment Micah 3:1-12 Promise Micah 4:1-5:15 Judgment Micah 6:1-7:10 Promise Sin and Judgment Hope and Comfort Controversy and Pardon Sin & It's Outcome Incurable The King & His Kingdom Inevitable First Coming - Mic 5:2-3 Second Coming - Mic 5:4-15 The Lord & His Justice Inescapable Message of Destruction for Samaria & Judah Message of Doom & Deliverance Message of Denunciation God Gathers to Judge and Deliver God Judges Rulers and Comes to Deliver God Brings Indictments and Ultimate Deliverance Question 1: Is God Responsible for the Destruction we face? Question 2: How Do We Know God is with Us? Question 3: What Does God Want from Us? About 25 Years 735-710 BC Approximated Ryrie: The Prophet Whereas Hosea prophesied to the northern tribes of Israel, and Isaiah to the court in Jerusalem, Micah, a Judean from Moresheth in the SW of Palestine, preached to the common people of Judah. His name means "who is like Yahweh?" Ryrie has an excellent outline... Key Verses: Micah 6:8, Micah 7:18 William Moorehead: We may summarize the predictions of Micah thus: (1) The fall of Samaria and the dispersion of Israel, Micah 1:6-8, 9-16; 5:7, 8. (2) The cessation of prophecy, Micah 3:6, 7. (3) Destruction of Jerusalem, Micah 3:12. (4) Deliverance of Israel, Micah 4:10; 5:8. (5) Messiah’s birth place, Micah 5:2. (6) God’s kingdom established over the whole world, Micah 4:1-7. (Ref) KEY TO UNDERSTANDING: GOD uses men to proclaim His message. Here, through the instrumentality of a chosen man, some amazing details of future history are given to all who will hear. As always, GOD warns before He sends punishment. THEME: Little is said of his personal history, the book is given over to reproof and warning to both Kingdoms. Micah has been called the "prophet of social reform" due to his emphasis on the sins of the rulers and false religious leaders against the people. National shortcomings are also emphasized with judgment promised. There is a better day coming for God's people. (William Orr) OUTSTANDING TEACHINGS: It was to Micah's prophecy the scribes of Jerusalem referred when the wicked King Herod sought to know concerning the birth of the new King (Matthew 2:2-6; Micah 5:2). A glorious passage (somewhat identical with Isaiah 2:2-4) is found in Mic 4:1-5 as the prophet speaks of a warless, prosperous, godly world with God's chosen people in the foreground. Other prophetic subjects include the invasion by Shalmaneser (Mic 1:6-8); invasion by Sennacherib (Mic 1:9-16); the dispersion of Israel (Mic 5:7, 8); the cessation of prophecy (Mic 3:6, 7); the utter destruction of Jerusalem (Mic 3:12). (William Orr) A T Pierson on the importance of context - As in any organism, no member or part, however minute, can be fully understood aside from its relation to the whole; so, in Scripture, every paragraph and sentence is part of its totality, and must be studied in relation to all the rest. The text will be illumined by the context, or scripture immediately preceding and following. Every occurrence and utterance should be studied in its surroundings. How, why, when a word was spoken or an act done, helps to explain it, is its local coloring. Hidden relationships must be traced like underground roots and subterranean channels. GREAT TRUTHS IN MICAH - by Sidlow Baxter Some of the mightiest truths in the Old Testament are expressed in Micah. As our prophet relates the sovereignty of Jehovah to human life and history he recognizes and emphasizes resultant realities of immense importance. Note first the profound significance of the Divine dealings with the Hebrew nation. Micah addresses a small people in a strip of land merely about the size of Wales, yet in Micah 1:2 and Micah 6:1,2, he commands the whole earth, the mountains, the hills, to attend (in Scripture usage mountains and hills frequently symbolize kingdoms). This is no mere rhetoric. Micah realized that the covenant people were brought into their unique relationship with Jehovah so that through them the sovereignty of the true God, in its governmental administration among the nations, might be objectified to all peoples and for all time. Had Israel remained faithful she would have displayed the munificence of the Divine government. Alas, Israel exhibits a tragically different yet vastly significant aspect of the Divine government; and well may the nations of today heed it! Note, too, the solemn yet glorious significance of the contrast which Micah strikes by the unmasking of false rulership versus the unveiling of true rulership in Christ. God delegates authority to human rulers. Micah recognizes this fact in the Divine economy, and addresses the princes, priests, and prophets as the ordained representatives of the Divine administration. Their responsibility is commensurately great. See Micah's scathing indictment of false rulership in chapter 3 versus the arresting description of the true "RULER," in Micah 5, who was yet to come. Christ is God's ideal of rulership. Micah traces the perversion and adversity of the people to the misrule of those over them; and all who abuse such authority incur equal penalty. Let the rulers of today take heed! Finally, we revert to Micah's august declaration as to the true essence of religion. A great scholar has said of Mic 6:1-8: "These few verses in which Micah sets forth the true essence of religion may raise a well-founded title to be counted as the most important in the prophetic literature." Underline that eighth verse. Note that God "REQUIRES," for He is God. And God also REVEALS, for "He hath showed thee, O man, what is good..." (a reference to the Law of Moses Deut 10:12). Yet even this is not enough. If we would know the full chord in the music we must turn on to the New Testament, and learn there that God REDEEMS. He "requires" because He is God. He "reveals" because He is good. He "redeems" because He is love. The Christ of God has been already to redeem. He will come again to restore. Meanwhile let us view all our life in the light of the Divine purposes and the future reappearance of the great "RULER" whose goings forth have been "from of old, even from everlasting." (Baxter's Explore the Book- J. Sidlow Baxter - Recommended Resource) A M Hodgkin Christ in Micah (Christ in All the Scriptures) Micah’s home was the village of Mareshah, in the maritime plain of Jonah, near the borders of the Philistines. He was a contemporary of Hosea and Isaiah, and prophesied in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and the earlier years of Hezekiah, kings of Judah. He prophesied concerning both Samaria and Jerusalem, but the burden of his prophecy was for Judah. Micah bore the same name, abbreviated, as Micaiah, the son of Imlah, the prophet of Israel, who stood alone for God against the 400 false prophets, 150 years before this, in the days of Ahab, when he and Jehoshaphat went against Ramoth-Gilead (1 Kings 22). Micaiah had concluded his prophecy with the words, “Hearken, O people, every one of you.” Micah begins his prophecy with the same words. The three divisions of his book each begins with this call to Hear: Micah 1:2; 3:1; 6:1. Micaiah had seen “all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd.” Micah’s prophecy abounds in allusions to the Good Shepherd and His pitiful care over His flock. With much brokenness of heart Micah denounces God’s judgments upon Judah for their sins, but he seems to hasten over the words of judgment, and to linger over the message of God’s love and mercy, concluding his prophecy with a specially beautiful proclamation of it, with which he identifies his own name, Micah, which means “Who is like God?” “Who is like the Lord, the Pardoner of sin, the Redeemer from its guilt, the Subduer of its power? For no false God was ever such a claim made. This was the one message that he loved above all to proclaim; and his own name was the herald to the people in his day” (Dr. Pussy). Samaria and the Cities of Judah. Micah proclaims the coming judgment first upon Samaria, and then upon the cities of Judah. These were all speedily fulfilled by the armies of Assyria. The idolatry of Israel had spread to Jerusalem, and the strong city of Lachish seems to have been the connecting link, “the beginning of the sin of the daughter of Zion” (Micah 1:13). It is this spread of idolatry, and all its attendant evils, to Judah, under king Ahaz, which Micah specially deplores. He rebukes the extreme oppression of the poor, women and little children being driven from their homes; covetousness and self-aggrandizement, even at the price of blood, which he graphically likens to cannibalism. He specially denounces the sins of the rulers, bribery among the judges, false weights and balances. Micah further proclaims the captivity in Babylon (Micah 4:7), and the destruction of Jerusalem (Micah 3:12), even to the plowing up of the city, which was fulfilled by the Emperor Hadrian. We are distinctly told in the book of Jeremiah that this prophecy led to the great turning to the Lord of King Hezekiah and his people, at the beginning of his reign, which averted the destruction of the city, it may be for 136 years, and led also to the great reformation under that king. The elders of Judah reverted to this prophecy of Micah about 120 years after it was uttered, when the priests would have put Jeremiah to death for predicting the same doom. “Bethlehem of Judah.” But for us the great interest of the prophet Micah centers round its clear prophecies of the Savior who was to come. It was from this book that “all the chief priests and scribes of the people,” gathered together by Herod, proclaimed unhesitatingly that it was at Bethlehem of Judah that the Christ, the King, should be born. This prophecy proclaims His eternity. He who was to go forth from Bethlehem as the Ruler, was He whose goings forth were “from the days of eternity.” Micah 5:3 is closely connected with Isaiah 7:14. “He shall stand and feed (or rule) in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord His God.” Here we have the majesty of the Royal Shepherd caring for His flock. Micah’s picture of the restoration of Zion and many nations flowing to it, and the glory and prosperity of Christ’s Kingdom, with its reign of universal peace, was introduced by Isaiah into his prophecy. BOOK OF MICAH "WHO IS LIKE THE LORD" INTRODUCTION TO MICAH Sidlow Baxter (Explore the Book): Some Bible teachers have it that the little work consists of three addresses, each opened by the word "Hear" (Micah 1:2; 6:1). This is simply division according to literary form rather than subject-matter. If we would get the message of the book as a whole we must analyze according to subject-matter; and when we do this we find, as just shown, a triple message, the logical sequence of which is clear: 1. IMMINENT JUDGMENT DECLARED (Micah 1-3) 2. ULTIMATE BLESSING PROMISED (Micah 4-5). 3. PRESENT REPENTANCE PLEADED (Micah 6-7). Key Words: Jacob (11x/10v), Israel (12x/12v), Jerusalem (8x/8v), Zion (9x/9v), Samaria (3x/3v) Walk (8x/7v), Hear (7x/6v), Nations (6x/6v), Remnant (5x/5v), Righteousness, Destroy/Destruction (6x/5v), People (My, Thy, His) (12x/12v), That day (4x/4v) See related discussion - key words and marking key words Micah on a Timeline: Chronology of History of Israel Wilkinson - In some ways, Micah is an Isaiah in miniature. Both prophets addressed the same people and problems: compare Micah 1:2 <> Isa. 1:2 Micah 1:9–16 <> Isa. 10:28–32 Micah 2:8–9 <> Isa. 10:2 Micah 2:12 <> Isa. 10:10–23 Micah 2:13 <> Isa. 52:12 Micah 3:5–7 <> Isa. 29:9–12 Micah 4:1 <> Isa. 2:2 Micah 5:2 <> Isa. 7:14 Micah 5:4 <> Isa. 40:11 Micah 6:6–8 <> Isa. 58:6–7 Micah 7:7 <> Isa. 8:17 Micah 7:12 <> Isa. 11:11 But Micah focused on moral and social problems while Isaiah placed greater stress on world affairs and political concerns. A quote from Micah 3:12 a century later in Jeremiah 26:18 concerning the coming destruction of Jerusalem was instrumental in delivering Jeremiah from death. Micah is quoted in the New Testament: Micah 5:2 <> Mt. 2:5–6; Jn 7:42) Micah 7:6 <> Mt. 10:34–36; Mk 13:12; Lk 12:53) Compared with other prophets, Micah’s proportion of foretelling relative to forthtelling is high. He has much to say about the future of Israel and the advent and reign of Messiah. (Wilkinson, B., & Boa, K.. Talk thru the Bible) OUTLINE OF MICAH I. The Superscription, Micah 1:1 II. A Message of Destruction for Samaria and Judah, Micah 1:2-2:13 A. The Revelation of the Coming Judgment, Micah 1:2-16 B. The Reasons for the Coming Judgment, Micah 2:1-13 III. A Message of Doom and Deliverance, Micah 3:1-5:15 A. Doom: The Coming Judgment, Micah 3:1-12 1. Judgment on the leaders, Micah 3:1-4 2. Judgment on the false prophets, Micah 3:5-8 3. Judgment on Jerusalem, Micah 3:9-12 B. Deliverance: The Coming Kingdom, Micah 4:1-5:1 1. The glories of the Kingdom, Micah 4:1-8 2. The suffering that precedes the kingdom, Micah 4:9-5:1 C. Deliverer: The Coming King, Micah 5:2-15 1. His First Coming, Micah 5:2-3 2. His Second Coming, Micah 5:4-15 IV. A Message of Denunciation, Micah 6:1-7:10 A. God's First Indictment, Micah 6:1-5 B. Israel's First Reply, Micah 6:6-8 C. God's Second Indictment, Micah 6:9-16 D. Israel's Second Reply, Micah 7:1-10 V. Epilogue: Blessings for Israel, Micah 7:11-20 (Ryrie Study Bible, Expanded Edition NASB 1995) Micah 1:1 The word of the LORD which came to Micah of Moreshethin the days of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. Micah 14,15; Jeremiah 26:18 Jotham 2 Chronicles 27:1-32; Isaiah 1:1; Hosea 1:1 which Amos 1:1; Habakkuk 1:1 concerning 5; Hosea 4:15; 5:5-14; 6:10,11; 8:14; 12:1,2; Amos 2:4-8; 3:1,2; 6:1 Introduction: The following notes are a compilation from Scofield and various other resources as well as Bible Dictionary articles (hyperlinks = blue) Book Introduction - Micah Micah, a contemporary of Isaiah, prophesied during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah over Judah, and of Pekahiah, Pekah, and Hoshea over Israel 2Kings 15:23-30; 2Kings 17:1-6. He was a prophet in Judah Jeremiah 26:17-19 but the book called by his name chiefly concerns Samaria. Micah falls into three prophetic strains, each beginning, "Hear": 1. Micah 1:1 to Micah 2:13 2. Micah 3:1 to Micah 5:15 3. Micah 6:1 to Micah 7:20 The events recorded Micah cover a period of 40 years (Ussher). MICAH 1 SUMMARIZED G Campbell Morgan's Summary of Micah 1 The first message of Micah consists of a summons, a proclamation of Jehovah, and a prophetic message based on the proclamation. This division ends with an account of the interruption of the false prophets, and finally the promise of ultimate deliverance. In the summons the prophet had clearly in mind the attitude of Jehovah toward the whole earth. All peoples are called upon to attend. Israel was Jehovah's medium of teaching, if not in blessing, then in judgment. He witnesses among the nations by His dealings with Israel. The description of His coming forth from His place is full of poetic beauty. Under the figure of a great upheaval of nature the prophet described the advent of God. The proclamation of Jehovah first declares the cause of judgment. It is for the transgression of Jacob . . . for the sins of the house of Israel." The reason for judgment is the apostasy of the nation as evidenced in the cities. Jehovah next describes the course of judgment, commencing with the destruction of false religion. The city wherein was gathered the wealth and wherein authority was exercised was to be demolished, and the religion of apostasy swept away. On the basis of this proclamation the prophet delivers his message. It opens with a personal lamentation expressive of his own grief concerning the incurable wounds of the people. This is followed by a wailing description of the judgment. The passage is a strange mixture of grief and satire. At the calamity the prophet was grieved. Because of the sin he was angry. This merging of agony and anger flashes in satire. The connection of contrast is not easy to discover. A translation of the proper names appearing in this section may enable the reader to discover the remarkable play on words which runs through it. GLOOM AND GLORY INTERMINGLED John