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Micah, the Prophet of Unchanging Love, Part 5

In the third chapter of Micah, the prophet denounces the rulers and the prophets for their injustice toward the people. Micah 3:1-4 says,

¹ “Hear now, heads of Jacob and 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 them and their flesh from their bones, ³ 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.” ⁴ Then they will cry out to the Lord, but He will not answer them. Instead, He will hide His face from them at that time because they have practiced evil deeds.

We are not told how literal we should take this. It is possible that such cruelty was practiced upon certain people, but it seems unlikely that these people would be chopped up and put in a stew. It is more likely that the prophet was using figurative language to say that the rulers had lost all sense of right and wrong. When the time of judgment arrived, “then they will cry out to the Lord, but He will not answer them.”

Blind Prophets

The prophet then turns his attention to the prophets. Micah 3:5 says,

⁵ Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who lead my people astray; “When they have something to bite with their teeth, they cry, ‘Peace,’ but against him who puts nothing in their mouths they declare holy war.”

These prophets misuse their gift, prophesying “peace” to those who feed them, while declaring “holy war” against those who do not support them. The gift determines the nature of the prophecy.

Micah 3:6, 7 continues,

⁶ “Therefore it will be night for you without vision, and darkness for you—without divination. The sun will go down on the prophets, and the day will become dark over them. ⁷ The seers will be ashamed and the diviners will be embarrassed. Indeed, they will all cover their mouths because there is no answer from God.”

It is important to note first that Micah does not call them false prophets. He acknowledges that they are indeed prophets, but that they had not subjected their gift to God. For this reason, Micah tells us, God will cease to speak to them. The light of His word will not be seen in them. “The sun will go down on the prophets.” If they continue to prophesy after the presence of God has departed from them, then their prophecies come from their own carnal mind (or understanding).

Here we may compare Micah with Isaiah, who sets forth the great light (Isaiah 9:2) brought forth by Jesus Christ. At the same time, blindness was to come upon Israel as a whole (Isaiah 6:10). Blindness was also to afflict the prophets. Isaiah 29:10, 11 says,

¹⁰ For the Lord has poured over you a spirit of deep sleep. He has shut your eyes, the prophets; and he has covered your heads, the seers. ¹¹ The entire vision [given earlier in 29:1-8] will be to you like the words of a sealed book…

This blindness appears to be limited to their understanding of “the entire vision” of Jerusalem’s destruction that is described in Isaiah 29:1-8. The result is that most prophets will misunderstand this prophecy and continue to teach that Jerusalem will remain as the capital of the Kingdom in the age to come.

So whereas Micah speaks of the day when prophets no longer walk in the light of His word, Isaiah affirms this but also shows how prophets can be blind in a specific area. Blindness is a characteristic of fleshly Israelites, but Paul tells us that the remnant that receives the promises of God is not blind. Romans 11:7 says,

⁷ What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened [or “blinded,” KJV].

This does not mean that the remnant knows everything. God does not give all revelation to any one person, nor is anyone born with all knowledge. Yet God knows those that He has chosen, and He gives revelation accordingly in His own time and manner.

We may conclude, then, that many prophets even today suffer from blindness without realizing it and that this means they are not actually part of the remnant (overcomers). It does not mean that they are unsaved but that their faith falls short. They have Passover faith and even Pentecostal faith, but they lack Tabernacles faith.

Micah’s Status and Message as a Prophet

Micah 3:8 says,

⁸ On the other hand, I am filled with power—with the Spirit of the Lord—and with justice and courage to make known to Jacob his rebellious act, even to Israel his sin.

It appears that this is the passage that Jesus referenced in Acts 1:8, “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.”

Micah 3:9-11 continues,

⁹ Now hear this, heads of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice and twist everything that is straight, ¹⁰ who build Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with violent injustice. 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.”

The problem with blindness is that carnal people do not think they are blind. Even though they perpetuate injustice, they think God is in their midst and believe that God would never allow them to see calamity. Is this not the ultimate manifestation of blindness?

It appears that this warning was directed at Jerusalem in particular. Its leaders “build Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with violent injustice.” This word is most relevant today in the Zionist state, which, for the past 76 years, has been built upon bloodshed and violent injustice—especially toward the Palestinian people. Ezekiel 22:2 calls Jerusalem “the bloody city.”

Micah 3:12 concludes,

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.

Using figurative language, the prophet tells us the fate of Jerusalem. He falls short of telling us if this would be fulfilled entirely in the coming Babylonian conquest, or if this was to be fulfilled in the latter days. His words encompass both views. It is only in Jeremiah 19:10, 11 where we are told specifically that the destruction of Jerusalem would be total and that the city would never again be rebuilt. This, obviously, is a prophecy of the future, because the city has been rebuilt many times throughout history.