Session 11 Micah 3:1-12
MICAH 3:1-12
MEMORY VERSE: MICAH 2:1
Many children on playgrounds have played the game Follow the Leader. The designated leader designs a course and leads the way. Some leaders create courses that everyone can follow while other leaders take the group on a path few can finish. The same scenario gets played out in real life, with some leaders taking paths to safety while others take a dangerous path. God’s people need godly leaders who help them stay on God’s path.
(In PSG, p. 100)
Micah was a contemporary of Hosea, Isaiah, and possibly Amos. He lived during the time of the fall of the Northern Kingdom of Israel to Assyria in 722 BC. Even though he ministered primarily in Judah, some of his prophecies were directed toward the Northern Kingdom before it fell.
Micah began his prophetic message with pertinent introductory information. First, the word of the Lord came to him. Micah was from Moresheth-Gath in Judah, located about twenty-five miles southwest of Jerusalem. Second, the Lord revealed a message to Micah concerning Samaria, the capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and Jerusalem, the capital of the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Third, Micah received his message during the reigns of three kings of Judah: Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah (Mic. 1:1).
Like a prosecuting attorney in a courtroom, Micah brought charges against Israel and Judah. The Lord would be the witness, judge, and executioner of judgment on His rebellious and idolatrous people. God would make Samaria a heap of ruins, and that is exactly what began to happen to Samaria in 725 BC when the Assyrian’s laid siege on the city. The ruined city’s defenders finally capitulated to their invaders in 722 BC (Mic. 1:2-6; 2 Kings 17:5-6).
As Micah delivered this terrible news to his people, he was overwhelmed with grief. He wept as he mentioned several towns, including his own, where the people would become casualties in the coming invasion either in loss of life or being taken into exile. Micah was no dispassionate bystander. It is likely he was to become a victim as well (Mic. 1:7-16).
In Micah 2:1-11, the prophet condemned those who were greedy and devised ways to steal lands of inheritance and homes from their fellow Israelites. Therefore, God’s punishment would be fitting. The Assyrians would take possession of their lands and homes and taunt them by mimicking their cries (2:1-5). Next, Micah condemned the corrupt false prophets who opposed him and tried to silence him. They did not want Micah to preach a negative message. But the prophet responded by saying his words were not negative for people who
walked uprightly. Micah’s message targeted those who oppressed foreigners, the physically maimed, and helpless women and children. The false prophets promised plenty of wine and beer, but Micah prophesied about Israel’s destruction (2:6-11). Micah continued his confrontation of Israel’s civil and spiritual leaders in chapter 3.
EXPLORE THE TEXT
Micah called out the rulers of Israel for the distortion of justice seen in their self-serving policies. He explained that their calls to God would go unanswered because of their sin.
1 Then I said, “Now listen, leaders of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel. Aren’t you supposed to know what is just? 2 You hate good and love evil. You tear off people’s skin and strip their flesh from their bones. 3 You eat the flesh of my people after you strip their skin from them and break their bones. You chop them up like flesh for the cooking pot, like meat in a cauldron.”
The beginning of verse 1, then I said, separates this passage from chapters 1–2 and indicates a new section of Micah’s message. As in Micah 1:2-7, Micah, the prosecuting attorney, was in God’s divine courtroom leveling charges against the leaders of Israel. His focus was on the civil leaders who had the responsibility of upholding justice and defending the cause of the weak and oppressed. These leaders were in contrast to the Lord, Israel’s true leader and King (2:13). Micah’s first words to these leaders came in the form of a rhetorical question. It communicated that these leaders who openly violated the law were supposed to know what is just and to execute justice on behalf of God’s people. This included hearing the cases of the oppressed and rendering just decisions on their behalf.
It should be noted that Micah, along with some of the other prophets, interchanged the words Jacob and Israel when referring to all of Israel. Normally, when the prophets spoke of “Jacob” and “Israel” together, the expression was a reference to all of Israel and Judah, but sometimes it was a reference to just the Northern Kingdom. When prophets like Hosea spoke of “Israel” and “Ephraim” together, or interchanged these place names, they were speaking specifically of the Northern Kingdom of Israel that split from Judah in 931 BC. Some Bible students believe that Micah was referring only to the Northern Kingdom here, but the context of the passage clarifies who Micah was addressing. In verses 9-12, it becomes apparent Micah had Judah in mind along with the Northern Kingdom of Israel as he spoke of “Zion” and “Jerusalem.”
Micah declared that Israel’s leaders had inverted a basic principle of God’s expectations of His covenant people. They were supposed to love good and hate evil as they imitated the Lord’s character. This holy way of life was to supposed to be the foundation of Israel’s society as the people of God (Pss. 45:7; 97:10; 119:163; Amos 5:14-15; Isa. 1:17). Those who had agreed to uphold justice abandoned everything it stood for. Micah’s contemporary, Isaiah, exhorted these people, saying: “Wash yourselves. Cleanse yourselves. Remove your evil deeds from my sight. Stop doing evil. Learn to do what is good. Pursue justice. Correct the oppressor. Defend the rights of the fatherless. Plead the widow’s cause” (Isa. 1:16-17).
In contrast to what God’s prophets told these leaders to do, Israel’s leaders acted like bloodthirsty cannibals. Micah used an inhumane metaphor with gory details to describe what these leaders were doing to the people. These leaders were both meticulous and thorough in the devouring of their victims: (1) they skinned them, (2) they stripped their flesh from their bones, (3) they broke their bones, (4) they chopped them up like meat for a cooking pot, and (5) they ate their flesh (v. 3). The emphasis was not on the sequence of events but on the repulsiveness and comprehensiveness. Micah painted a grisly picture of how these vile leaders totally consumed the weak and defenseless of their society.
Micah’s picture also highlights the delight these wicked leaders took in committing such heinous acts together. When people in ancient Israel prepared and partook of meals together, the occasions were ways of expressing the common bond between them. Micah’s language demonstrates how this was a systemic problem; these wicked leaders worked together for their own common good as they devoured helpless people.
4 Then they will cry out to the LORD, but he will not answer them. He will hide his face from them at that time because of the crimes they have committed.
Divine covenant lawsuits in the Old Testament normally end with a description of the judgment to come once the defendant’s guilt had been established. Verses 1-3 established what crimes were being committed by Israel’s leaders. But Bible teachers often debate the meaning of the first word in verse 4, then, and wonder what judgment would happen to these criminals that would cause them to cry out to the LORD.
One possibility is that, though they were committing the crimes Micah described, these leaders continued with their insincere acts of worship, acting as if they were devoted to God. The Lord would not listen to their hypocritical prayers. However, this would be an unusual fit for the Hebrew structure and syntax of this verse.
Another possibility is that they would cry out for help when invading armies came to take them into captivity. But God would hide his face from them when it happened. It would not be a cry of repentance because of their sins but a cry for help to save them from the consequences of their sins. This is probably a better understanding. It fits the timing of the nearness of the Assyrian invasions of both the Northern and Southern Kingdoms.
The divine Judge’s judgment on His people would be the hiding of His face from them in their desperate time of need. What could be a worse judgment than that? Jesus experienced this horrible judgment on the cross as He cried out, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” (Matt. 27:46b).
(In PSG, p. 102)
5 This is what the LORD says concerning the prophets who lead my people astray, who proclaim peace when they have food to sink their teeth into but declare war against the one who puts nothing in their mouths. 6 Therefore, it will be night for you — without visions; it will grow dark for you — without divination. The sun will set on these prophets, and the daylight will turn black over them. 7 Then the seers will be ashamed and the diviners disappointed. They will all cover their mouths be-cause there will be no answer from God.
The divine covenant lawsuit continues with Micah turning his attention to Israel’s false prophets. Prophets in ancient Israel were supposed to be messengers from God who were authorized to speak on His behalf. Therefore, it was essential that Micah began his charges against these counterfeit prophets with the words, This is what the LORD says. This was in contrast to what they had been doing. They were not proclaiming the message of God, though they claimed to be doing so. Instead, they misrepresented God by misleading the people of God with false messages. These prophets caused the people to stray from the path of righteousness.
The false prophets prostituted their office by giving a favorable or unfavorable message based on how much people could pay them. They turned a blind eye to the powerful and rich who paid them handsomely to endorse their wicked ways. When people could not pay them, these prophets revealed their true nature by declaring war against them. This could mean they actually prophesied that war would come upon the people if they did not pay. More likely, it was a figurative way of saying the prophets were pronouncing curses on them. Either way, it was serious.
The prophets in ancient Israel, whether they prophesied for the Lord God or in the name of false gods, had a great deal of power because most people believed them. Therefore, the false prophets held the people hostage with the threat of cursing them if they failed to meet their demands. Also, Micah may have used a play on words here. The Hebrew word meaning “to bite,” translated here as to sink, elsewhere in the Old Testament refers to a snake’s bite. Perhaps Micah was implying they were like poisonous snakes.
Micah declared that God’s judgment on the false prophets would be darkness and silence. Just as one loses the ability to see in the darkness, these prophets would be unable to receive any answers from God when they inquired of Him. Visions were one way God communicated His messages to His prophets. Now, they would be hidden from them. Even though divination was strictly forbidden by God (Deut. 18:9-14), the false prophets of Israel engaged in it (2 Kings 17:14-18). Micah’s intent apparently was not to discuss their disobedience in practicing divination as much as it was to say that nothing they could do would succeed in getting God to reveal His word to them. That God would cause the daylight to turn black over them implies that at some point they had received God’s word as God’s prophets. If so, these false prophets were at one time servants of God who allowed greed to grip their hearts.
It was their sin that would ultimately blind them so that they would no longer be able to see visions from God.
In verse 7, Micah described the humiliation and shame the prophets would experience when they were no long capable of receiving a word from God. The title seers connects verse 7 to verse 6 since seers were supposed to be able to see visions. Their shame is emphasized by the statement they will cover their mouths. The covering of one’s mouth (literally “mustache” in Hebrew) was associated with the actions of an outcast from society (see Lev. 13:45; Ezek. 24:17,22). Therefore, not only would these prophets be cast out of God’s service, they also would mourn over the loss of their status in the eyes of the people.
8 As for me, however, I am filled with power by the Spirit of the LORD, with justice and courage, to proclaim to Jacob his rebellion and to Israel his sin.
After laying out the charges against the false prophets, Micah then declared there was still one true prophet in Israel. While God would render them impotent, Micah was filled with power by the Spirit of the LORD. The Spirit of the Lord enabled Micah to stand up courageously and powerfully for the cause of justice and to confront Israel’s rebellion against God.
(In PSG, p. 106)
9 Listen to this, leaders of the house of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice and pervert everything that is right, 10 who build Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with injustice. 11 Her leaders issue rulings for a bribe, her priests teach for payment, and her prophets practice divination for silver. Yet they lean on the LORD, saying, “Isn’t the LORD among us? No disaster will overtake us.”
Micah concluded this divine covenant lawsuit by once again focusing on Israel’s contemptible leaders and exhorting them to listen to his final charges and declaration of judgment. The leaders of God’s covenant people abhorred justice and therefore perverted everything that is right. To abhor means they loathed justice and regarded it with extreme repugnance. They detested the standards of righteousness and justice God had established for His covenant people in His law. The word pervert literally means “twist" in Hebrew. They were twisting everything God established to be right in their society into a system that was polluted and perverse at every level. They turned what was wrong into what was right and what was right into what was wrong (see Isa. 5:20). Note how their mindset regarding justice led to their aggressive pursuit to pervert justice. Their actions were the result of their attitude.
Micah spoke of Zion and Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the geographical name of the city, while Zion was the name used to highlight its religious significance as the place of the temple and God’s presence among His people. It was there where Israel’s leaders replaced a society established on righteousness and justice with a corrupted society built on injustice and bloodshed. The prophet Habakkuk later spoke of this after the Northern Kingdom of Israel had been taken into exile: “Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and founds a town with injustice!” (Hab. 2:12). Bloodshed in verse 10 means murder. These leaders celebrated and magnified themselves with magnificent building projects at the expense of others. They oppressed the weak by robbing them of their homes, their properties, and their lives. The prophet Jeremiah described the same kind of situation in his day (Jer. 22:13-14,17). The weak and oppressed paid the price for the wealthy and powerful of Jerusalem.
The civil leaders and magistrates, along with the religious leaders, were more concerned about getting rich than about rightly carrying out their responsibilities under God. In the courtrooms, judges were willing to help a person; if there was a religious issue, the priests were ready to take care of it; and if a person needed personal guidance, the prophets were more than willing to give a desired answer—as long as the money was right.
The Scriptures are clear that the people of God are to pay those who minister to them (see Num. 18:21-24; 1 Tim. 5:17-18). But these leaders were willing to circumvent justice and tell people what they wanted to hear in order to get paid. Instead of obeying God and trusting Him to provide for them through His people according to God’s law, Israel’s leaders became self-serving and overcome with greed. To make matters worse, Israel’s leaders went from twisting what was wrong into what was right to actually believing what was wrong was right. In their delusional state of mind they believed God approved of them and would not punish them. Micah had told them disaster was coming upon them (Mic. 2:3), but they dismissed it.
12 Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become ruins, and the temple’s mountain will be a high thicket.
Micah concluded with a poignant word of judgment. Not only would disaster come; it would come because of them. The word therefore indicates that God’s judgment would happen because of everything Micah had described. Nothing would be spared. The farms, the cities, even the temple would be laid to waste. Micah did not say when it would happen but that it would happen. And it did happen. The Northern Kingdom of Israel and its capital, Samaria, was laid to waste in 722 BC by the Assyrians. The Southern Kingdom of Judah and it’s capital, Jerusalem, was laid to waste in 586 BC by the Babylonians, including the temple.
(In PSG, p. 107)
The Christian and the Social Order
Every Christian should seek to bring industry, government, and society as a whole under the sway of the principles of righteousness, truth, and brotherly love. (See Micah 6:8; James 2:8.)
BIBLE SKILL
Use a Bible dictionary to learn more about a feature of Israel’s leadership.
Use a Bible dictionary to look up the offices of “judge,” “priest,” and “prophet.” Note your findings about these offices and their roles and importance in the life of Israel in the Old Testament. How does this information shed light on Micah’s message?