Micah 1
COMMENTARY:
: 2 Hear, all you people; hearken, O earth, and all that therein is: and let the Lord GOD be witness against you, the Lord from HIS holy temple. (5707 “witness” [ed] means testimony, evidence, or recorder.)
DEVOTION: Is it hard to get your attention? When your parents call you to do something, how long does it take you to reply? If you are older, if your boss asks you to do something, how long does it take you to do it? If you are married, how long does it take for you to answer your spouse?
Too often we pretend to be hard of hearing. The prophet wants the people of Samaria and Judah to give him their attention. Was he shouting? It sounds like it. It is sad that we don’t listen until a person starts shouting. The people were not hard of hearing but didn’t care to listen.
After he had their attention he gave them the message from the LORD. The LORD was not pleased with their present actions and wanted them to change. An accusation is something someone is doing wrong that needs correction.
CHALLENGE: Is the LORD using your parents, boss or pastor to get your attention, so that, you will change into a better servant of HIS?
: 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? (6588 “transgression” [pasha] means trespass, rebellion, wantonness, crime, wrongdoing, or refusal to accept authority.)
DEVOTION: What are “high places?” These are areas where the people of the Old Testament went to worship their false gods. They thought if their altars were high on a mountain they would be closer to their gods. They wanted the gods to think that they were important to the people.
Elijah had a contest with the false gods on top of Mount Carmel. They set up altars to both the true God of the Bible and the false gods of the people. The false god, Baal, didn’t answer after a full day of calling on him to bring fire down from heaven. Elijah poured water over the altar and then called on God and HE answered right away with fire from heaven.
Fire from heaven is also used in judgment for the people who are worshiping false gods throughout the Old Testament.
Transgressions and sins are what filled the lives of all twelve tribes of Israel at the time of Micah. He was warning both groups of coming judgment because of their worship of false gods. The Sovereign God of the Bible doesn’t want to share us with any other god. HE wants exclusive rights to all of our attention. HE wants us to eat, sleep and walk with HIM.
CHALLENGE: When we walk with HIM we walk in truth. When we walk in truth we sin less. That should be our daily goal.
: 9 For her wound is incurable; for it is come unto Judah; he is come unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem (605 “incurable” [‘anash] means to be sick, weak, frail, desperately wicked, or woeful.)
DEVOTION: In the other references to this word we find that it talks about wounds and diseases. Judah had the disease of disobedience to the LORD. Samaria had the disease of disobedience to the LORD. Judgment was on the way. It was coming and nothing will stop it.
They had made idols and graven images to worship. They were far from the LORD. Some were waiting for good to come but only evil came their way.
God was a witness against them. The LORD was in HIS holy temple watching what was happening. Instead of them being in the temple worshiping the LORD they were in the high places worshiping false gods. These same false gods were going to be beaten into pieces.
When all this happens, Micah is going to wail and howl, like the animals in the wild. He realizes that they are so sick that there is no healing coming. It is hard on a prophet to see his people in such a state. It is hard for us to see it in our day and age.
We sometimes think that we would never fall into the temptations that the Israelites fell into in the Old Testament. The Old Testament was written for us to learn about God and human nature or sin nature.
We see all the lessons but never seem to understand that we have the same human nature as God’s people in the Old Testament. We sometimes have the opinion that we would not be as sinful as they were in the Old Testament. We sometimes think that we would not have eaten of the fruit in the garden and want to blame Adam and Eve for all our problems.
One lesson we need to learn is that we commit the same things that the Old Testament saints did.
We have a place to turn, just like they had a place to turn. They chose not to turn back to the LORD until after their captivity. What are we choosing each day?
CHALLENGE: Remember to keep short accounts with God for the purpose of fellowship and blessing. Are cure is the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross for our sins. HE is our advocate with the Father today. Praise HIS name!!!
: 12 For the inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for good: but evil came down from the LORD unto the gate of Jerusalem. (2343 “waited carefully” [chuwl] means to dance, whirl, twist, tremble, writhe, anxiously wait for relief, to be in labor, or pain.)
DEVOTION: My wife had five children. The first one I remember the best because her labor was very long. It lasted through three shifts. We should have eaten before we came in. I still have a scar from her digging her fingernails into my hand in pain.
Here we find the prophet informs the people that while the city of Maroth was waiting for relief from the Assyrian army they received none. God was judging them for their following the example of Samaria. They were committing sin just like the ten tribes did before their captivity.
Micah is warning the children of Judah that they were going to have the same judgment because they were just as sinful as their sister nation. God was going to cause Jerusalem to fall in the future to the Babylonians. It was not happening yet because Hezekiah turned to the LORD and the LORD gave deliverance.
Crying out for help after living a lifestyle of sin usually doesn’t work with the LORD. HE wants to see genuine repentance not just an easy escape for consequences to sin.
Are we presently anxiously waiting for good as a nation? Are we presently waiting for relief from our present situation as an individual? The best question would be – Are we willing to change?
God wants us to be faithful obedient servants of HIS. Not just individuals who mess up and want HIM to come to the rescue. HE does that at times but HE wants to be number one all of the time in our life.
Micah tells them to mourn because judgment is coming. If we are HIS people we can fast and pray and HE can send revival even in our generation.
CHALLENGE: Do we want to end the pain? Pray for revival first in your life and then in the lives of all those who are followers of the LORD around you.
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