DAY 195: Micah

Micah in Isaiah’s Era: Judgment on Samaria and Jerusalem

Welcome to 5-Minute Bible, your daily guide for your daily reading. Today's July the 14th and we'll be looking at the book of Micah. Now yesterday Isaiah spoke into the growing Assyrian darkness and the promise that a child will be born, that a son would be given, and a shoot would rise up from the stump of Jesse.

Now today we turn to Micah and again this is not a random jump. Micah prophesied during the exact reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. These are the kings that we've been looking at. The same period as Isaiah.

So he also speaks as Assyria is rising, Israel is nearing collapse, and Judah is becoming increasingly corrupt. So Micah joins Isaiah as another voice, another covenant witness, exposing the sins of Samaria and Jerusalem while also pointing forward to the Shepherd King from Bethlehem.

And in that way Micah begins by announcing that the Lord is coming out of his holy temple to judge. Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom, will be shattered because of her idolatry. But then the warning reaches Judah as well.

Jerusalem is not innocent. The corruption is spreading not only in Israel but also southward in Judah. And then Micah confronts the wealthy and the powerful who devise evil in their beds and seize fields and oppress households and even crush the vulnerable.

In the same way he condemns the false prophets who are preaching peace when they're paid, but they declare war against those who will give them nothing. After this Micah turns to the rumors of Jacob and asks whether they should know justice.

Instead they devour the people like meat in a pot. And because of this corruption Zion will be plowed as a field. Jerusalem will become ruins and the mountain of the temple will become a wooded height.

The Mountain of the Lord and Peace Among the Nations

Yet at the same time Micah gives a breathtaking promise of hope. In chapter 4 the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established and the nations are gonna stream to it. God's law is gonna go out from Zion, swords are gonna be beaten into plowshares, and each man will sit under his own vine and fig tree without fear.

Then in chapter 5 Micah promises that from Bethlehem is gonna come a ruler whose going forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity, and this coming shepherd is gonna stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord.

Finally Micah returns to the covenant lawsuit against the people. The Lord asked what he has done to his people and reminds them of his saving acts. He says, what does the Lord require but to do justice and love kindness and walk humbly with God?

And the book then ends with hope, praising the God who pardons iniquity, who delights in his steadfast love, and casts his people's sins into the depths of the sea. So as you read today I want you to ask the following question.

What does God require from a people surrounded by worship but who are filled with corruption? Micah answers that the Lord desires not religious performance that is detached from covenant life, but justice, mercy, humility, and faithfulness before him.

Justice, Mercy, and Humility Before God

And with that, the central tension in these passages is corrupt cities and coming restoration. Samaria and Jerusalem are supposed to lead God's people in truth. They're supposed to lead in worship and justice, but instead their rulers are devouring the people.

The ten tribes in the north and the two tribes in the south, their prophets sell comforting lies and their powerful men treat the weak as prey. So on the one hand Micah is painfully direct. He doesn't allow religious language to hide their greed.

He doesn't allow national identity to excuse their injustices. He doesn't allow the leaders to claim God's favor while crushing God's people that God even commanded them to protect. And this presses directly into our life as well because it's possible to say the right things about God while mistreating the people who are made in God's image.

It's possible to want worship without humility, blessing without repentance, and peace without righteousness. But in the same way Micah 6 reminds us that God is not impressed by extravagant offerings that are used to avoid ordinary obedience.

Thousands of rams, rivers of oils cannot replace a humble walk before the Lord. The issue is not that sacrifices are bad or that religious performances are bad. The issue is that sacrifice and religion without repentance becomes just another form of rebellion.

But on the other hand Micah isn't merely tearing down things. He's showing what God intends to build in the future. The nations are gonna stream to a renewed Zion. The Word of the Lord is gonna go forth from the house of David again.

A remnant is gonna be gathered a shepherd is gonna arise out of Bethlehem. Their sins are gonna be forgiven. Mercy is gonna triumph because God delights in steadfast love. That means that Micah gives us both a near-term warning and a future hope.

God's not gonna ignore the corruption of Jerusalem and Samaria, but neither is he going to abandon his covenant promises either. And in that way Micah points us directly to Jesus. The promised ruler from Bethlehem is fulfilled in him.

When the wise men come seeking the newborn King, the chief priest and the scribes quote Micah 5 to identify Bethlehem as the place where the Messiah would be born. But Micah tells us more than just mere location.

He says this rulers going forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity, which means that he's not just some ordinary king. He is in fact God. Now Christ is the shepherd king that's unlike Israel's rulers, he doesn't devour the flock.

He feeds it. He guards it. He gathers it. He lays down his life for the sheep. In the same way Micah's vision of the nation streaming to the mountain of the Lord finds its fulfillment in the kingdom of Christ.

Through the gospel the word has been going out from Zion and the nations have been discipled under the Messiah's reign for the last 2 ,000 years. And at the same time Micah's call to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with God finds its perfect expression in Christ.

He is just without any cruelty. He's merciful without compromise and humble without weakness. He is everything that Israel and Judah failed to be. And finally Micah's closing question becomes gospel glory.

Who is a God like you who pardons iniquity? Well at the cross God shows how he can pardon sin without ignoring justice, because Christ is one who bears the guilt of his people. He rises in victory and he casts their sins into the depths of the sea.

So Micah exposes the corrupt cities of Jerusalem and Samaria, but he also gives us the Bethlehem hope. The rulers of Israel and Judah are gonna fall, but the shepherd king is gonna come from Bethlehem to save.

So as you read Micah, notice how the prophet stands beside Isaiah in the same troubled era, announcing both judgment and hope. And tomorrow the darkness is gonna deepen. Ahaz will compromise Judah's worship.

Israel will fall to Assyria. The northern kingdom will be carried off into exile for rejecting the Word of the Lord. But with that, read your Bible carefully, devotionally, and joyfully, and may the Lord use his word to sanctify you completely, and we will continue our journey tomorrow.

God bless you.