God’s judgment and God’s love are real

Introduction

Content

Lessons learned

Application

• Micah – Judah (Southern Kingdom)

• Hosea – Israel (Northern Kingdom)

• Isaiah – Court in Jerusalem

Key VerseMicah 6:8

“He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

Author◦ Probably Micah, perhaps a collection of various prophets

Purpose◦ To warn the Jewish people of God’s coming judgment for their

sin and disobedience. Also, to teach them to live with justice and holiness in anticipation of the messiah to come.

Time Period742-687 B.C.Reign of Jotham, Ahaz and HezekiahPeriod of Assyrian Dominance

Setting

◦ Political tensions during the reign of Ahaz which led to subjection to Assyria

◦ Hezekiah attempts to break free from Assyrian rule, but fails

◦ The people worshipped God as an obligation, no life-changing reality

◦ They didn’t walk humbly with God but instead failed to practice justice and pursued idolatry

Important, relevant dates:

The Assyrians captured Samaria in 722 (cp. Micah 1: 6). In 606, the first groups of Judaeans were taken to Babylon as captives. Jerusalem captured by Babylon in 597 (cp. Micah 4: 100). Jerusalem fell in 586 (cp. Micah 3: 12). First group returned in 536. Walls of Jerusalem rebuilt in 444 (cp. Micah 4).

Micah means “Who is like Yahweh?” The prophet of authentic worship/service to

God and social justice Contemporary of Isaiah and cited by

Jeremiah as an anti-establishment prophet who was respected by the king

Southerner from Moresheth, from a rural background

Micah, The Book

Two basic parts◦ Chapters 1-5

Judgments and promises for Jerusalem and Samaria

◦ Chapters 6-7 The trial of the people and their restoration

1:1 God coming to judge Israel and Judah because of idolatry

2:12

First Oracle: Promise of Judgment and Eventual Regathering The Lord will eventually regather His

people and be their Shepherd

3:1 Judgment against Rulers and False Prophets in the Land

4:1

Second Oracle: Judgment against leaders and Israel’s future glory Future glory of the Mountain of the

House of the Lord

6:1 The Lord charges the nation with disloyalty to the Covenant

7:8

Third Oracle: God’s Covenant Lawsuit against Israel and the Ultimate Triumph of the Kingdom

The Lord will restore the nation, judge the earth and forgive past iniquities

1:1 2:12 3:1 4:1 6:1 7:8

First Oracle Second Oracle Third Oracle

Judgmentof idolatry

Promise ofregathering

Judgmentagainst Rulers

Promise offuture glory

Judgment ofdisloyalty

Promise ofrestoration

1. Corrupt leaders of both nations denounced

2. Fall of Samaria and Jerusalem foreseen

3. Justice for the poor and oppressed

4. Prophets of peace are false

5. Restoration of the Davidic Kingdom and Jerusalem

1. The Lord requires proper lifestyle, not empty ritual

2. Jerusalem is guilty because of injustice

3. The people will be restored after punishment

Section one (chapters 1 and 2).

1. The Judgment of God (1: 2-4). A. Samaria not overlooked (1: 6, 7). B. Particular sins specified (2: 1-11, 7). 2. Promise of restoration (2: 12, 13).

Section two (chapters 3, 4, 5).

1.The “heads” of the people are addressed and especially held accountable (3: 1, cp. Heb. 13: 17). 2. Particular sins of these leaders (3: 2, 3, 4, 9, 10). 3. The teachers are addressed (3: 5, 11).

Section two (chapters 3, 4, 5), cont’d.

4. The destruction of Jerusalem and restoration (3: 12, 4: 1-2). 5. Babylon is named as the invading Kingdom (4: 10). 6. In keeping with Micah’s style, immediately restoration is again presented (5: 1, 2).

Section three (chapters 6 and 7).

1. God challenges his people (6: 1, cp. Amos 4: 12). 2. They are urged to remember God’s mindfulness of them (6: 3-5). 3. Israel, both realistically and ideally is presented (7: 1-7).

A. 3:9-12 “Zion shall be plowed as a field, Jerusalem shall

become a heap of ruins.”

B. 4:1-5“They shall beat their swords into plowshares and

their spears into pruning hooks…they shall no longer learn war.”

C. 5:2-4“But you O Bethlehem Ephrathah…from you shall

come forth one who is to be a ruler in Israel.”

D. 6:1-8“What does the Lord require of you…do justice, love

mercy, walk humbly with your God.”

Perverting faith

Oppression

The Messiah---King of Peace

Pleasing God

Explanation – God will judge the false prophets, dishonest leaders, and selfish priests. They perverted their faith by mixing their selfish motives with an empty display of religion.

Importance – Don’t try to mix your own selfish desires with true faith in God.

Explanation – Micah predicts ruin for all nations and leaders who were oppressive towards others. God will not put up with such injustice.

Importance – Don’t ask God for help while ignoring those who are needy and oppressed or condoning the actions of those who oppress them.

Explanation – God promises a new king to bring strength and peace to his people. He will restore his people through the Messiah.Importance – We can have God’s peace now by giving up our sins and welcoming Christ as king.

Explanation – Micah preaches that God’s greatest desire was not the offering of sacrifices, but he rather delights in faith that produces justice, love for others, and obedience to him

Importance – True faith in God generates kindness, compassion, justice and humility.

All of her idols will be smashed,All of her earnings will be burned with fire,And all of her images I will make desolate,

For she collected them from a harlot's earnings,

And to the earnings of a harlot they will return.

Samaria

Past Blessing The ProphecySo Judah and Israellived in safety, everyman under his vineand his fig tree, fromDan even toBeersheba, all thedays of Solomon. (1Kings 4:25).

And each of them will situnder his vineAnd under his fig tree,With no one to makethem afraid,For the mouth of theLORD of hosts hasspoken. (Micah 4:4).

Notwithstanding the many infractions of God’s people, He remains longsuffering and willing to forgive (Micah 7: 18-20, cp. 2 Peter. 3: 9).

AN INDICTMENT AGAINST AN INDICTMENT AGAINST LEADERSLEADERS

1 And I said, “Hear now, heads of JacobAnd rulers of the house of Israel.Is it not for you to know justice?

2 You who hate good and love evil,Who tear off their skin from themAnd their flesh from their bones,

3 And who eat the flesh of my people,Strip off their skin from them,

Break their bones,And chop them up as for the pot

And as meat in a kettle.

11 Her leaders pronounce judgment for a bribe,

Her priests instruct for a price,And her prophets divine for money.Yet they lean on the LORD saying,

“Is not the LORD in our midst?Calamity will not come upon us.”12 Therefore, on account of you,Zion will be plowed as a field,

Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins,And the mountain of the temple will

become high places of a forest.

And it will come about in the last days

That the mountain of the house of the LORD

Will be established as the chief of the mountains.

It will be raised above the hills,And the peoples will stream to 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,

That He may teach us about His ways

And that we may walk in His paths.”

For from Zion will go forth the law,Even the word of the LORD from

Jerusalem.

And He will judge between many peoples

And render decisions for mighty, distant nations.

Then they will hammer their swords into plowshares

And their spears into pruning hooks;

Nation will not lift up sword against nation,

And never again will they train for war.

9 Now, why do you cry out loudly?Is there no king among you,

Or has your counselor perished,That agony has gripped you like a

woman in childbirth?10 Writhe and labor to give birth,

Daughter of Zion,Like a woman in childbirth,

For now you will go out of the city,Dwell in the field,

And go to Babylon.There you will be rescued;

There the LORD will redeem youFrom the hand of your enemies.

1 Now muster yourselves in troops, daughter of troops;

They have laid siege against us;With a rod they will smite the judge of Israel on the cheek.2 But as for you, Bethlehem

Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of

Judah,From you One will go forth for Me

to be ruler in Israel.His goings forth are from long ago,

From the days of eternity.

6 With what shall I come to the LORD

And bow myself before the God on high?

Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings,

With yearling calves?7 Does the LORD take delight in

thousands of rams,In ten thousand rivers of oil?

Shall I present my first-born for my rebellious acts,

The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

He has told you, O man, what is good;

And what does the LORD require of you

But to do justice, to love kindness,And to walk humbly with your God?

Who is a God like Thee, who pardons iniquity

And passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession?

He does not retain His anger forever,

Because He delights in unchanging love.

19 He will again have compassion on us;

He will tread our iniquities under foot.

Yes, Thou wilt cast all their sins Into the depths of the sea.

20 Thou wilt give truth to JacobAnd unchanging love to Abraham,

Which Thou didst swear to our forefathers

From the days of old.

“2: But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of 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” (Micah 5).