Micah: Who Is Like God?
Lessons From Micah
- The roots of pure religion are found in one's attitude and in his service
- A pure nation can only be obtained when w have pure religion within the individuals
- The God we serve is Holy and Righteous
- The LORD will not tolerate continual rebellion
- The LORD is merciful and willing to forgive the penitent
- God's Word is intended to work "good" whether it be in the form of chastening to bring about repentance or in the form of exhortation to encourage
- The LORD will reject any and all who ignore His word
Purpose:
To warn God's people that judgment is coming and to offer pardon to all who repent. Author: Micah, a native of Moresheth, near Gath, about 20 miles southwest of Jerusalem Original Audience: The people of Israel (the northern) kingdom) and of Judah (the southern kingdom) |
Date Written:
Possible during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah (742-687 B.C.) Setting: The political situation is described in 2 Kings 15-20 and 2 Chrnicles 26-30. Micah was a contemporary of Isaiah and Hosea. |
Key Verse:
"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 humble with your God" (6:8). |
Key People:
The people of Samaria and Jerusalem Key Places: Samaria, Jerusalem, Bethlehem Key Themes: Perverting Faith, Oppression, The Messiah—King of Peace, Pleasing God |
Special Features:
This is a beautiful example of classical Hebrew poetry. There are three parts, each beginning with "Hear" or "Listen" (1:2, 3:1, 6:1) and closing with a promise. |
Equally Skilled
How miserable I am
I feel like a fruit picker who arrived here After the harvest There's nothing here at all There's nothin at all here that could placate my hunger The godly people are all gone There's not one honest soul left alive here on this planet We're all murders and thieves Setting traps here for even our brothers |
And both of our hands
Are equally skilled At doing evil Equally skilled At bribing the judges Equally skilled At perverting justice Both of our hands Both of our hands The day of justice comes And is even now swiftly arriving Don't trust anyone at all Not your best friend or even your wife |
For the son hates the father
The daughter despises even the mother Look! Your enemies arrive Right in the room of your very household And both of their hands are equally skilled At doing evil Equally skilled At bribing the judges Equally skilled At perverting justice Both of their hands Both of their hands |
No, don't gloat over me
For though I fall, though I fall I will rise again Though I sit here in darkness The Lord, the Lord alone He will be my light I will be patient as the Lord Punishes me for the wrongs I've done against Him After that He'll take my case Bringing me to light and to justice For all I have suffered |
And both of His hands are equally skilled
At ruining evil Equally skilled At judging the judges Equally skilled Administering justice Both of His hands Both of His hands are equally skilled At showing them mercy Equally skilled At loving the loveless Equally skilled Administering justice Both of His hands Both of His hands |
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"Righteousness was in the Old Testament, and will ever remain, one of the three cardinal virtues of permanent religion. As human nature is always a constant quantity, so the essential requirements of religion are always fundamentally the same. Once and forever Micah brushed aside sacrificial ritual, even the holocaust of a first born, as of trifling importance compared with ethical righteousness. Like Hosea he taught that religion and ethics are inseparable. He also conceived of Israel, that is of the nation, as one gigantic personality which sinned as one ought to repent as one. He sympathized entirely with the poorer classes. He regarded Jehovah as the spiritual Vindicator of Judah's voiceless sufferers. He looked into the pinched faces of the helpless proletariat, and poured forth the strongest invectives against the landed aristocracy who kept on joining house to house. He refused to recognize the claims of a would-be nobility. He knew that the land of Israel belonged to Jehovah, and that a Year of Jubilee was needed as a sort of shaking up, to give a new start to all. In thus preaching ethical righteousness Micah anticipated the modern sociologist, and furnished the only possible solution of social discontent. The patricians of his day were self-centered and the plebeians became victimized. Let us take heed lest 'the slants' of our lives are too often inwards!" —(George L. Robinson, The Twelve Minor Prophets, pg. 103)