Micah 1:1-8

Introduction

The name Micah means “Who is like the LORD.” Micah prophesied from about 750-700 B.C. because the names of Jotham (750-735 B.C.), Ahaz (741-725 B.C. Co-regent with Jotham from 736-735 B.C.), and Hezekiah (715-686 B.C.) are mentioned.  The main theme of Micah is that God was displeased with their national sins.  Micah exposed the social and religious sins and had warned of impending judgment if they did not come to repentance.  The ministry of Micah was aimed at both Capital cities in Israel, which was Jerusalem in Judah and Samaria in the northern ten tribes.  Micah’s home was about 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Jerusalem in Moresheth which is modern Tel el-Judeidah which was a mound about 1200 feet high (366 meters) and overlooked the coastal plain. 

 

Micah 1:1

The word of the LORD that came to Micah the Morasthite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

 

The book of Micah opens as many prophetical books do with the word of the LORD coming to Micah.  Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.  (Jeremiah 26:18)  Jeremiah had recorded the words of Micah that Jerusalem would be plowed like a field, that is, judgment would come to Jerusalem if they did not repent of their ways.  The Assyrians had continued their imperial expansion which was begun by Tiglath-Pileser III in 745 B.C.   Hosea, Isaiah and Micah were keenly aware of the threat the Assyrians posed to both Israel and Judah.

 

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.

 

Micah begins his prophecies with a few imperatives that all the people in both Samaria and Jerusalem need to hearken to what was about to be said to them from God.  The word “hearken” means to “pay attention, give heed.”  This prophecy is not only to be heeded by Israel but all the people of the earth who are guilty of sins they must give account for.  Israel and Judah are being told that the Lord GOD himself is witness against them and it is not just accusations coming from another people.  The LORD is speaking from his holy temple in Heaven where the word is being sent forth to Micah.  The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD'S throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.  (Psalm 11:4)

 

Micah 1:3

For, behold, the LORD cometh forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth.

 

The LORD is going to come forth, that is, as a judge to judge his people because of their national sins.  The place he comes from is Heaven and will be speaking through Micah but the physical judgements that will be coming will be orchestrated in Heaven and fulfilled on the earth.  And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.  (Isaiah 2:17)  The high places of the earth will not only be the places like Bethel where a pagan temple was used or where Jeroboam built the two golden calves but it will also be the pride of man’s heart thinking they can get away with the sins and suffer no consequences.

 

Micah 1:4

And the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a steep place.

 

The judgment will be so thorough that it will be like the mountains melting like wax when touched with fire.  Many times the mountains were looked to for a place of refuge but that will not be possible because the judgment will be total.  The valleys will also be cleft, that is, divided or burst as the wax that comes in contact with fire.  The waters which come down a steep mountain is very strong and cannot be stopped just as the judgment of God by means of the Assyrians will not be able to be stopped once it commences.

 

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?

 

Samaria and Jerusalem are the direct objects of God’s coming judgment. The transgression of Jacob is seen as a single transgression even through there were many transgressions.  The entire transgression can be summed up as iniquity.  Jacob here is pointing to the ten northern tribes as Samaria was the hotbed of idolatry ever since it was founded by Omri and after Omri came Ahab in 874 B.C. when he began to introduce Baal worship.  Ahab was married to Jezebel who was the daughter of Ethbaal II and like Solomon, Ahab’s wife caused his heart to turn from the LORD and that began 153 years of idolatry until the ten northern tribes were removed by Assyria in 721 B.C.  Jerusalem like Samaria had the same effect upon the people as they were capital cities and normally as these cities went, the rest of the country would follow.  Ahaz was a major idolater as is recorded in 2 Kings 16.

 

{2} Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, and did not that which was right in the sight of the LORD his God, like David his father.  {3} But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yea, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel.  {4} And he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree. ( 2 Kings 16:2-4)

 

Micah 1:6

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.

 

The coming invasion of Samaria by the Assyrians will be so devastating that Samaria will be nothing but ruins.  It will be devastated so badly that the place will only be good for planting a vineyard since all the buildings will be torn down and the city made flat.  The stones which were used in building the buildings will be torn down to the foundations.  This means a complete destruction of Samaria making it an unlivable place.

 

Micah 1:7

And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces, and all the hires thereof shall be burned with the fire, and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate: for she gathered it of the hire of an harlot, and they shall return to the hire of an harlot.

 

Then all the graven images which were used to worship the false gods will be completely destroyed.  Then all the hires which were the gifts or the rewards which the idolaters had received will also be burned in the coming conflagration by the Assyrians.  The idols will all be destroyed and none will survive the onslaught. Then the temple prostitutes which served the temple in Samaria will be taken to Assyria where they will once again resume their profession in the false religion temples in Assyria.  There they will be forced to do what they did voluntarily in Samaria.

 

Micah 1:8

Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls.

 

After understanding and in anticipation of the coming desolation of the ten northern tribes, the prophet Micah will howl and lament the situation which has come upon them.  He will go as if he was stripped and naked which could refer to his lamenting with sackcloth and ashes or as if he would be stripped of his clothing by the enemy.  He will make a wailing like the jackals of the wilderness and as the mourning of the owls at night.  These sounds will represent Israel’s desolate and miserable situation.

Back