BLOG

Micah, the Prophet of Unchanging Love, part 4

In chapter 2, Micah turns his attention to corrupt officials and false prophets who share the blame for the impending judgment. Micah 2:1, 2 says,

¹ Woe to those who scheme iniquity, who work out evil on their beds! When morning comes, they do it, for it is in the power of their hands. ² They covet fields and then seize them, and houses, and take them away. They rob a man and his house, a man and his inheritance.

The law of God demands that every Kingdom citizen should have a land inheritance within the borders of his tribe. So all the land was divided among the tribes and families in Israel. The only way they could be disinherited was if they had to sell their land rights on account of poverty. Yet their property was to revert back to them in the year of Jubilee.

Moreover, God reserved the right to disinherit any tribe that persisted in disobedience.

Micah focuses upon the evil ones who stay up nights trying to figure out how to steal the inheritance of others. God judges sin in equal measure to the seriousness of the crime. The implication is that God will disinherit the nation even as these covetous men disinherit the people.

False Prophets

Micah 2:3-5 says,

³ Therefore, thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am planning against this family a calamity from which you cannot remove your necks; and you will not walk haughtily, for it will be an evil time. ⁴ On that day they will take up against you a taunt and utter a bitter lamentation and say, ‘We are completely destroyed! He exchanges the portion of my people; how He removes it from me! To the apostate He apportions our fields.’ ⁵ Therefore you will have no one stretching a measuring line for you by lot in the assembly of the Lord.”

The “calamity” being planned by God was an Assyrian invasion. To this we can add the Babylonian invasion of Judah a century later. Because evil men had plotted to take over the land so that many Israelites had become employees of others, the judgment of God is that “He exchanges the portion of my people…To the apostate He apportions our fields.”

Those who find themselves under such judgment usually have difficulty understanding the justice of God. Why would God give my land to the apostate Assyrians? Are they more righteous than I? When we are part of a nation, we receive either the blessings of national obedience or the judgments for national disobedience. So Daniel and his three friends were taken to Babylon, even though they were righteous. It is important to note, however, that God also has individual relationships with people, so God can prosper and protect the righteous who are in captivity.

Micah 2:6 says,

⁶ “Do not speak out,” so they speak out. But if they do not speak out concerning these things, reproaches will not be turned back.

It appears that the unrighteous tell the prophets, “Do not speak out,” or “do not prophesy” (nataf). The prophets speak out in order to confront the unrighteous. Prophetic warnings are designed to turn back “reproaches,” God’s displeasure, resulting in judgments.

Micah 2:7 says,

⁷ “Is it being said, O house of Jacob: ‘Is the Spirit of the Lord impatient? Are these His doings? Do not My words do good to the one walking uprightly’?”

We may understand this to mean that the false prophets and the unrighteous see impending judgment and ask, “Is the Spirit of the Lord impatient?” In other words, “what’s your hurry?” Such people have reason to be alarmed, but “to the one walking uprightly,” the prophetic words “do good.”

God’s People Become His Enemies

Micah 2:8 says,

⁸ Recently My people have arisen as an enemy—you strip the robe off the garment from unsuspecting passers-by, from those returned from war.

The law in Leviticus 26:40-42 tells us that the Israelites would become God’s enemies if they remained disobedient to His law. Isaiah 63:9, 10 affirms this as well,

⁹ In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them; in His love and in His mercy He redeemed them; and He lifted them and carried them all the days of old. ¹⁰ But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; therefore He turned Himself to become their enemy. He fought against them.

God protected them and led them until “they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit.” Then God became their enemy. An enemy of God is not a non-Israelite. God’s enemies are not based upon their genealogy. The Israelites themselves could be—and indeed were—God’s enemies, and for this reason God raised up the Assyrians to bring judgment upon them.

Micah 2:9 continues with real-life examples as to how one can become God’s enemy:

⁹ The women of My people you evict, each one from her pleasant house. From her children you take My splendor [hadar, “honor, glorify, be high”] forever.

If a woman is evicted from her house, she would probably return to her father’s house. But this is not always an option. If someone else does not take her in, it is likely that she would have to become a prostitute in order to survive. Her children are also affected. Normally, an entire family would be sold into slavery, including the children. As slaves, they were deprived of God’s splendor, that is, positions of honor and glory.

When children grow up as slaves, they obtain a slave mentality, and it becomes difficult for them to adjust to a Kingdom mindset.

Micah 2:10 says,

¹⁰ Arise and go, for this is no place of rest because of the uncleanness that brings on destruction, a painful destruction.

This verse is often quoted in a positive sense. However, the context shows that it refers to going into captivity. The prophet asserts that the land of Israel “is no place of rest.” This implies that the captives may find a place of rest more easily in the land of their captivity.

Recall that the Ark of God sought for “a resting place for them” (Numbers 10:33). Ultimately, the goal is to enter God’s rest (Hebrews 4:4, 5, 9). God’s rest is the Jubilee-rest. The prophet was telling the people: “Leave this place; there is no Jubilee fulfillment here.”

Micah 2:11 says,

¹¹ If a man walking after wind and falsehood had told lies and said, “I will speak to you concerning wine and liquor,” He would be spokesman to this people.

Speaking of “wine and liquor” would have been met with enthusiasm in those days. Wine and liquor held priority over righteousness and uprightness.

True Prophecy and the Promise of God

Micah 2:12 says,

¹² I will surely assemble all of you, Jacob, I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together like sheep in the fold, like a flock in the midst of its pasture they will be noisy with men.

The wording makes a distinction between the flock of Jacob and the remnant of Israel. In the days of Elijah there were 7,000 in this “remnant.” Paul tells us in Romans 11 that the promise was given to all of the Israelites—and indeed to the whole world—but that these promises are fulfilled only in the chosen remnant. It seems that when they are gathered to Him, it will cause a great commotion.

Micah 2:13 concludes,

¹³ The breaker [paras] goes up before them. They break out [paras], pass through the gate and go out by it. So their King goes on before them, and the Lord at their head.”

Here Micah uses the Hebrew name for the constellation Perseus, for whom Persia was named. Perseus is the Greek name, and he was pictured carrying a club to break things in pieces. In Daniel 5:28 the prophecy about the fall of Babylon says,

²⁸ PERES; thy kingdom is divided [peras], and given to the Medes and Persians.

Perseus himself pictured Christ Himself, whose coming will break apart Babylon into three pieces (Revelation 16:19) and establish the Kingdom. Stars not only mark the nighttime hours but they were also created to be “signs.” Every star and constellation was named by God (Psalm 147:4).

Hence, Micah was referring specifically to the Persian conquest of Babylon. In the original overthrow of Babylon, Cyrus was the “messiah” (Isaiah 45:1); in the final overthrow of Mystery Babylon