Sermon Tone Analysis

I've had one verse running through my head for the past several days.

It was like a song that gets stuck and plays again and again.

But when I needed an answer from God, that was it.

Because this verse would not leave me, I believe it is also an answer from someone here this morning.

We looking at the book of Micah this morning.

Micah is considered a minor prophet.

Not minor, because what he had to say was minor, but because his book was small in comparison to a major profit like Jeremiah or Isaiah.

The name Micah a means "Who is like the Lord?"

And that should give you an indication of the theme of this book.

Micah is known for his condemnation of the rich for their exploitation of the poor.

And when you consider that God gave us the prophecy that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem in the book of Micah.

It should come as no surprise that the Messiah would be born in the humblest places.

The Prophet Micah served in his homeland of Judah during the reigns of the Kings: Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.

He ministered for about 59 years between the years, 743 and 698 B.C.

 

The book of Micah consists of three sections; each begins with a rebuke and ends with the promise.

·                 The nations of Judah and Israel were in a period of moral decline.

·                 The Assyrians were growing in strength and Micah was sure that God would use Assyria to bring judgments against Judah and Israel.

·                 If they didn't get their acts together and turn back to God.

 

Micah is also known as the champion of the oppressed.

·                 He condemned wealthy land owners for taking advantage of the poor.

·                 He attacked dishonest merchants for using false scales, bribing judges, and charging huge interest rates against people who borrowed from them.

·                 Even the priests were caught up in this wave of greed and dishonesty.

In fact, the priests of the day felt that since the temple was situated in Jerusalem no evil could come near them.

If they simply did due diligence, and offered God is required sacrifices.

·                 Micah warned them that there was no magic saving power in the temple or their rituals.

Micah reads like a legal thriller.

·                 Judah and Israel are the accused.

·                 God is the prosecuting attorney, the witness for the prosecution in the sentencing judge.

·                 God also calls creation to be a witness against his people.

The bottom line is, God is calling his people to be accountable for their behavior.

He insists that they keep their part of the covenant.

And yet even when He makes those demands, He reminds them of his grace and forgiveness.

Turn to Micah 1:

            2 Hear, O peoples, all of you,

listen, O earth and all who are in it,

that the Sovereign Lord may witness against you,

the Lord from his holy temple.

Micah is the court bailiff.

Here ye, hear ye, the Honorable Judge God Almighty, presiding.

3 Look!

The Lord is coming from his dwelling place;

he comes down and treads the high places of the earth.



And the charges brought before this Court today are the sins of Israel.

Now it's the accused attorney who jumps forward, “I object Your Honor.”

*5b* What is Jacob’s transgression?

Is it not Samaria?

What is Judah’s high place?

Is it not Jerusalem?

In other words,”My client has not sinned.

Look, we have places to worship you.”

And attorney God responds, “Let me tell you about those places of worship…”

            6 “Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of rubble,

a place for planting vineyards.

I will pour her stones into the valley and lay bare her foundations.

            7 All her idols will be broken to pieces;

all her temple gifts will be burned with fire;

I will destroy all her images.

Since she gathered her gifts from the wages of prostitutes, as the wages of prostitutes they will again be used.”

And the judgment for this sin:

15 I will bring a conqueror against you who live in Mareshah.

[Micah’s home town in Judah].

He who is the glory of Israel will come to Adullam.

[Adullam is the cave where David hid from Saul, here it refers to the place of safety and hiding.

Judah thought they were safe from the judgment that had already come to Israel.]

16 Shave your heads in mourning for the children in whom you delight; make yourselves as bald as the vulture, for /they/ will go from you into exile.

Peter talked about this last week.

Priests were forbidden to shave their heads.

It was a sign among the people of deep mourning.

More charges against them:

*2* Woe to those who plan iniquity, to those who plot evil on their beds!

At morning’s light they carry it out

because it is in their power to do it.

2 They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them.

They defraud a man of his home, a fellowman of his inheritance.

And the punishment for these crimes:

3 Therefore, the Lord says: “I am planning disaster against this people, from which you cannot save yourselves.

You will no longer walk proudly, for it will be a time of calamity.

4 In that day men will ridicule you;

they will taunt you with this mournful song: ‘We are utterly ruined; my people’s possession is divided up.

He takes it from me!

He assigns our fields to traitors.’”

We will skip over the next few verses, in them the false prophets or the attorneys for the accused urge Micah to shut up, and the people to ignore him./

/

 

We would expect the attorneys to begin arguing with each other at this point.

But we must remember that this is God’s court room.

And despite the charges brought against them, and despite the judgment that followed that charge, Judge God is merciful.

The Judge speaks:

            *12* “I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob;

I will surely bring together the remnant of Israel.

I will bring them together like sheep in a pen,

like a flock in its pasture; the place will throng with people.



Attorney God now singles I don't individuals in the group.*

*

*3* Then I said, “Listen, you leaders of Jacob,

you rulers of the house of Israel.

Should you not know justice, 2 you who hate good and love evil; who tear the skin from my people and the flesh from their bones; 3 who eat my people’s flesh, strip off their skin and break their bones in pieces; who chop them up like meat for the pan, like flesh for the pot?”

Their conduct towards the poor was so bad, it was compared to the butchering of animals.

And the punishment for these crimes:

5 This is what the Lord says: “As for the prophets

who lead my people astray, if one feeds them,

they proclaim ‘peace’; if he does not, they prepare to wage war against him.

6 Therefore night will come over you, without visions, and darkness, without divination.