Sermon Tone Analysis

/MICAH/

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*Theme:     *Divine judgment upon social injustice, but restoration for the remnant in the future Messianic kingdom

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*Summary:*     The God who punishes the social injustice of Judah and Samaria will pardon and restore a remnant of His people in the Messianic Era.

 

*Date:  *750-700 BC

 

!!!! *Introductory comments*

 

Micah was from the (rural) /South/, the area experiencing the heavy impact of the Assyrian invasion of 701.

Micah was to Judah what Amos was to Israel.

Micah heavily influenced the reformation of Hezekiah (Jer.

26:18-19).

/One man can make a difference/.

* *

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!!!! *Detailed outline*

* *

Micah consists of three sections, each beginning with the Hebrew imperative “Hear!” (1:2; 3:1; 6:1).[1]

*I.

**Scattering and Regathering (chs.

1-2)*

 

/A.

//Divine judgment upon Samaria and Judah (1:2-16)/

 

1.

Announcement of Yahweh’s coming forth (1:2-4)

2.       Brief statement of the reason for His coming forth (1:5)

3.       Judgment upon Samaria (by the Assyrians) as a warning for Jerusalem (1:6-9)

Micah refers undoubtedly to the fall of Samaria to the Assyrians in 722 B.C.

This Assyrian judgment upon Samaria was to be a warning to Jerusalem and Judah (v.

8-9).

God would use these same Assyrians, under King Sennacherib, to “spank” Judah in 701.

4.

Judgment upon Judah’s southwestern cities as a warning for Jerusalem (1:10-16)[2]

 

The cities or towns mentioned in vv.

10-16 are in the lowlands area of southwestern Judah, Micah’s home area.

His own city of Moresheth is mentioned in 1:14.

Micah plays on words a number of times in these verses in order to convey his point.

“Tell it not in Gath” is a reference to David’s comments in II Samuel 1:20.[3]  /Aphrah/ literally means “dust.”

The inhabitants of /Shapir/ (meaning pleasant or “Fairtown”[4]) will go into exile in shameful nakedness (v.

11).

/Zaanan/ is similar in sound to the Hebrew verb translated “came forth” (/yatsah/; v. 11).

/Maroth/ sounds like “bitter” (which describes the destiny of its inhabitants).

/Moresheth-Gath/, Micah’s hometown, sounds like the Hebrew word for betrothed.[5]

A parting gift—a dowry[6]—would be given for /Moresheth/,[7] alluding to her being given over to the Assyrians (much like a bride is given over to the authority of her new husband).[8]

/Achzib /(v.

14) is a play on the word “lie” or “deception” (/achzab/).

/Mareshah/ (v.

15) sounds like the word “possession” (/hayyoresh/).

Verse 16 is addressed to Jerusalem or Zion.[9]

Ultimately, the fate of these Judean towns was intended as a warning for Jerusalem, the capital city of Judah.

As Micah prophesies (see 1:12), the Assyrian calamity would extend to the gate of Jerusalem (/see Isaiah 8:8)/, but through God’s sovereign intervention on behalf of the godly King Hezekiah, Sennacherib’s conquest of Jerusalem would fail.

/B.

//Elaboration of the crimes of God’s people (2:1-11)/

/ /

1.

The sins of the oppressors (2:1-5)

 

Like Amos, Micah’s focus is the social sin of His people.

Their ill-treatment of their fellow man was the cause of the coming judgment.

Micah 2:3-4 exemplifies the /lex talionis/ judgment that characterizes Micah.

God plans a calamity or disaster against those who plan evil on their beds (vv. 1, 3).

Those who stole the fields and houses of others will have their fields apportioned (“divided,” KJV) and taken from them (vv.

2, 4).

2.

The oppressors and their false prophets (2:6-11)

 

Very difficult to translate, Micah 2:6 evidently speaks of the desire of the people (or the false prophets) to silence Micah.

They did not want to hear his words of judgment.

Why were prophecies of judgment coming /to them/ from the Spirit of the Lord (Mic.

2:7)?

Surely God’s Words to Judah, the home of His sacred people, would be peace.

God’s words, however, are only good tidings to those who walk uprightly (2:7), not to those who unjustly oppress others (2:8-10).

Micah closes by sardonically describing the kind of prophet that these people desire to hear (v.

11).

They do not want sound doctrine; they want teachers who will scratch their “itching ears” (II Tim.

4:3-4).

/C.

//The remnant regathered behind their Conqueror (2:12-13)/

 

Micah closes his first sermon with a reference to future restoration.

Typical of the prophets, Micah’s prophecies of judgment and restoration lie in close juxtaposition.

Verse 12 prophesies the future regathering of both Israel and Judah to its land.[10]

This concept of the “remnant” is one to which Micah will return.

“Micah’s doctrine of the remnant is unique among the Prophets and is perhaps his most significant contribution to the prophetic theology of hope” (McComiskey, 399).

This future regathering will occur in connection with /Messiah/, described as /The Breaker/ (2:13).

The day will come when regathered Israel shall march united behind its Messianic Conqueror.

*II.

**Two Kingdoms—The Unjust and the Messianic (chs.

3-5)*

 

/A.

//The Present Kingdom of Injustice /(3:1-12)

 

The recurring theme of chapter three is justice (/mishpat/, vv. 1, 8, 9; “judgment,” KJV)—or really, the /lack of justice /(3:10).

1.

Indictment of the unjust political leaders (3:1-4)

 

Micah vividly portrays the gross injustice and cruel oppression of the political leaders (vv.

2-3).

/Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard (Prov.

21:13)./

2.

A word to the false prophets (3:5-8)

 

The actions of the false prophets mirrored those of the political leaders.

These prophets preached for profit.[11]

If they had something to bite with their teeth (i.e., someone gave them a gift), then they prophesied peace.

To those who gave them no reward, they declared war.

These were prophets who taught things that they ought not /for filthy lucre’s sake/ (Tit.

1:11; cf.

Rom.

16:18; Phil.

3:19).

/Even a true prophet of God must guard against adjusting his message to please those who pay his salary./

Their punishment befits their crime.

Since they refused to declare the words of the Lord, they will have no words to speak.

Prophetically, it would be night for them—no vision and no divination.

Micah stands in contrast to these false prophets.

Unlike them, he is filled with the Spirit of the Lord.

Unlike them, he preaches a message of justice.

Unlike them, he addresses the sins of His people.

3.

Rebuke of Zion’s leaders—the cause of Jerusalem’s coming destruction (3:9-12)

 

Once again, social injustice comes to the forefront.

Zion’s leaders—religious and political—by their injustice were leading Jerusalem to destruction.

Yet despite their evil ways, they still thought themselves safe from the Lord’s wrath,[12] like those that Jeremiah addresses in his temple sermon (Jeremiah 7).

Micah 3:12 is the verse quoted by Jeremiah in Jeremiah 26:18.

!!! B.       The Coming Kingdom of Messiah (chs.

4-5)

 

1.

Jerusalem as the center of Yahweh’s kingdom (4:1-8)

 

Chapter three ended with a prophecy of Jerusalem’s destruction.

Chapter four opens with a reversal of that dismal prediction.

In Micah 4:1-8, Micah prophesies of the day when Jerusalem will be the religious and political capital of Yahweh’s kingdom.

Jerusalem’s former dominion will return (v.