Micah 1

CHAPTER 1THEME: The prophet’s first message; directed against Samaria, reaches to JerusalemThe first three chapters, as I have indicated in the Introduction, are denunciatory. In every chapter of this remarkable little book there will be a striking statementsometimes in a single verse, sometimes in many verses as in this first chapter.

Micah 1:1

Let me repeat, Samaria was the capital of the northern kingdom. The city was built originally by Omri, king of Israel, and was the seat of idolatry. It was made famousor infamousby Ahab and Jezebel who built there a temple to Baal. The city stood in a very lovely location, but it lies in ruins today. I have pictures of it, which I took while on a trip to Israel. The desolate ruins bear mute testimony to the accuracy of Micah’s prophecy concerning Samaria. “Micah the Morasthite” means that he was a native of Moresheth of Gath, which is southwest of Jerusalem. Although he was in the kingdom of Judah, he prophesied to both kingdoms, but his main message was directed to the northern kingdom. I have often wondered about that. His contemporary, Isaiah, was a prophet to the southern kingdom; and perhaps, since Micah was probably a younger man, he felt that Isaiah could take care of the southern kingdom while God directed him to speak to the northern kingdom. You will never misunderstand Micah, because he makes it very clear to whom he is speaking.

Micah 1:2

THE PROPHET’S FIRST MESSAGE"Hear, all ye people" means all people. That includes you wherever you are today. Micah has a message for us. As with all the prophets, although speaking into a particular situation which has long since disappeared, his message is relevant for our day because certain principles are laid down. Micah gives a philosophy of human government. He deals with that which is false and that which is true authority in government.

This would be a good book for both Republicans and Democrats in Washington to consider. It wouldn’t hurt them to look at God’s philosophy of government because, very candidly, their form of government is not working today. The reason it cannot work properly is because it was originally put together by men who, although some of them were not Christians, had a respect and reverence for the Bible. They felt that the great principles stated in the Bible were worth following, and therefore they wove them into the warp and woof of our government. It will never work in the hands of godless men. Frankly, that is our problem.

Actually, the form of government is not the important feature, although we think it is. Let me give you an example: when Cromwell was a dictator in England, they had about the best form of government they could possibly have had. Don’t misunderstand me, I am not recommending a dictatorship, but it is good if you have the right dictator. When Jesus comes to reign on this earth, my friend, He is going to be a dictator and the right kind of dictator. The character of the ruler is of utmost importance. It makes no difference if there is a monarchy, a limited monarchy, an autocracy, a democracy, or a representative form of government; if the right men are in charge, it will work.

I hope that I am getting it over to you that I am not talking politics, but I am speaking of a philosophy of government and am attempting to pinpoint our current problem. We need men in government who have character. The concern of the American people is whether or not their government leaders have TV personalities. We are more interested in charisma than character. Micah deals with this matter in the third chapter: “The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD among us? none evil can come upon us” (Mic_3:11). Micah puts his finger on the fact that they had false prophets, false religion, and false leaders. “Hearken, O earth, and all that therein is.” Since most of us are on this earth, he means all of us. “And let the Lord GOD be witness against you.” Micah is calling God as a witness to the thing which he is going to say. “The Lord from his holy temple.” The Lord was in His holy temple, in His heaven, then as now. The Lord will come down in judgment

Micah 1:3

This language is absolutely beautiful, although it is frightful in many ways. “Tread upon the high places of the earth.” You recall that the high places were the locations of idol worship. Idols were set up in groves upon the hills and mountains. Also in that day the cities were situated on elevated places. Both Samaria and Jerusalem were built on mountains. The Lord Jesus mentioned that a city that is set upon a hill cannot be hid, and the city has a tremendous influence upon the area around it (see Mat_5:14). When the city is the seat of government, it has a tremendous influence not only upon the immediate area but often upon the entire world. That is the case of many great cities in the past and present. Also cities are centers of great sin. For these reasons God is coming down upon them in judgmentHe will “tread upon the high places of the earth.”

Micah 1:4

“The mountains shall be molten [melted] under him, and the valleys shall be cleft.” This is definitely a picture of volcanic action and of earthquakes. We find this same language in the Scriptures from Judges through Habakkuk. For example, Psa_18:7-10: “Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth. There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it. He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet. And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind.” Although this language is highly figurative, it is a tremendous, actual, exact picture of what took place. This raises a question about what or who controls the weather and natural forces. Well, God is the One who controls nature and earthquakes and volcanoes and weather. I believe that God judges nations and that He judges peoples, and these things are warnings. I have always felt the Great Depression of the 1930s and the dust storms in the Midwest were warnings from God. But America didn’t listen to God. Then we entered World War II, and we have not recovered from that yet. God is still moving in the affairs of this world. I think of Turkey, especially along the west coast, and the ruins of the great cities like Ephesus and Pergamos which at one time were the very lifeblood of the Roman Empire. Now they are lying in ruins. Why is it that there is no great population but only little towns there today? Well, you may say, it is earthquake territory. You are right. It is interesting that man always flocks to earthquake territory. That is true in California where I live. I have seen people come out here by the millions. We are ready for an earthquake, let me tell you. The greatest population of the Roman Empire was in modern Turkey, and look what happened to it. Historians tell us that an earthquake destroyed the cities and caused the people to flee. That was the judgment of God, you see. God makes it clear here about His judgment

Micah 1:5

“For the transgression of Jacob …and for the sins of the house of Israel.” You see, he is speaking to both kingdoms and their capitalsSamaria of Israel and Jerusalem of Judah (or Jacob). “What is the transgression of Jacob?” Rather, who is responsible for the transgression of Jacob? The answer is: “Is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem?” The prophet places the blame on the capital cities, Jerusalem and Samaria. Jerusalem was the place where they were to worship God. Were they worshiping Him there? Well, yes, they would go to the temple, but they also were going to the high places where idolatry and the grossest forms of immorality took place. And God says that it is for these things He is going to judge these two great cities because of their tremendous influence over the nations of Israel and Judah. This has, I believe, an application to my own nation because we have a philosophy of government that is wrong. As we have seen, it is not the form of government that is wrong; it is the people who head it up who are wrong. I do not know that there is too much difference between having one godless dictator or having a whole godless Senate and a whole godless House of Representatives. The founders of our nation formed three branches of government because they had had a bad experience with old King George back in England, and they knew they could not trust men. Their theory was that the three branches of government could watch each other. Well, in our day all three need watching. Why? Because it takes the right kind of men for any government to function properly. The problem in Micah’s day was that Samaria and Jerusalem had become corrupt, and God was going to judge them. What about my own country? It is my personal opinion that America has gone over the hill. The United States does not appear in the prophecies of the end times for one of two reasons: either it will have disappeared as a nation or it will no longer be a world power. We had a marvelous opportunity to lead the world following World War II. So what did we give the world?

We gave it rock music, hippies, the new morality, a love of pleasure, and a love of affluence. And today the United States of America is on the way down. This is distressing to me because I love my country, and I hate to see a godless outfit take over and spoil this nation which I do believe was founded under God for a very definite purpose. It is a government under God that Micah is espousing. This is God’s philosophy of government, you see. Now we come to the first striking statement, and it is the longest one. It goes through the remainder of the chapter, from verse Mic_1:6 to verse Mic_1:16. It is a miniature of the great destruction that will come in the last days. We will return to the subject of judgment during the last days when we come to the fourth chapter of Micah; but, here in the first chapter of Micah, it is a local judgment in which Assyria will destroy Samaria. I wish I could show you some of my pictures of Samaria. At one time it was a lovely city. It was a city of great influence and culture. It was a city of great promise, but today it lies in dust and ashes.

Micah 1:6

“I will make Samaria as an heap of the field, and as plantings of a vineyard.” That is what it is today. I saw a little vineyard planted by Arabs growing right in the ruins of one section of Samaria. There are other places where you can find an orchard planted in the ruins and different kinds of trees which were planted here and there. “I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley.” I have stood on the acropolis, the very highest place in Samaria, and have looked down the steep embankment. Do you know what is down there? There are all kinds of pillars and stones that formerly had been hewn out and used in buildings. They have been rolled down, down into the valley. I can’t think of anything more literal than this fulfillment of “I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley.” “And I will discover [uncover] the foundations thereof.” I would like to show you the pictures I took of the foundations which were there in the time of Ahab and Jezebel. Also I have pictures of the later foundations which were built by the Romans. God has uncovered them all, and they are all there in ruins for you to take a good look at today. The foundations reveal that there had been a tremendous city there, but it has long since gone out of business.

Micah 1:7

“And all the graven [carved] images thereof shall be beaten to pieces.” When I was there, I asked my guide, “Are there any images around here? Have the archaeologists found any images?” His answer was, “No. There is no evidence of idolatry although we know that there was idolatry here.” Let me remind you that the high places which are mentioned were places where idols stood and where the basest kind of worship took place. For example, in the worship of Molech, the idol formed a red-hot oven where children were actually offered. What an awful thing that was! And the grossest forms of immorality were carried on in connection with idol worship. In other words, religion and illicit sex were very much the same thing. It is abroad again today in Satan worship and outgrowths of the occult. “And all the hires thereof shall be burned with the fire.” The word hires is very interesting. It refers to the costly vessels that had been given to the heathen temples. My guide told me that, in the ruins of the palace of Jezebel, archaeologists have found remains of quite a few smaller ivory vessels which were evidently jars to hold perfume and some larger ones to hold wine. There has been a great deal of excavation done there. “She gathered it of the hire of an harlot, and they shall return to the hire of an harlot.” Sex was at the heart of these idolatrous rites. In Corinth, for instance, they know today that in the worship of Aphrodite upon the Acropolis, there were a thousand “vestal virgins,” who were nothing in the world but prostitutes. Sex was a part of the religion. A man had to pay when he went into one of their places of worship. Whether in temples or out-of-doors, they were brothels. It was all done in the name of religion. This was true among the Phoenicians; it was true among the Philistines; and Israel had adopted their religions. It is quite interesting that contemporary thought is returning to that viewpoint. The so-called “new morality” is as old as the worship of Molech and of Baal and of other heathen religions of antiquity. This is one reason I insist that religion has not been a blessing to the world. If you want to see what religion has done, go to India. There religion has kept a wonderful people in a pitiful state. The people are absolutely impoverished and bound by the fetters of religion. Christianity, of course, is not a religion; Christianity is a Person. The Lord Jesus made that clear when He said, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (Joh_8:36). He can deliver you from things that are sinful, and He can also deliver you from the bondage of religion. The last part of the verse says, “she gathered it of the hire of an harlot, and they shall return to the hire of an harlot.” Micah is saying that the hires will go right back and be used for sin again. Some of these vessels were apparently used again in Roman times. It was Herod who rebuilt that city. He liked the location; it was a delightful place to live, but it also has been destroyed and is in ruins today. Heathen worship was the main sin. It was number one on the sin parade, but Micah is going to mention some other sins, too.

Micah 1:8

LAMENTATION OF MICAHThe remainder of the chapter is Micah’s lamentation. He is deeply affected by Israel’s sins and their consequences. Micah is not just a paid preacher; he is a prophet called of God. He is very much like Jeremiah and Hosea in that he had a tender heart. We tend to think of all the Old Testament prophets as being hard-nosed like Elijah and Ezekiel. You may remember that, when God commissioned Ezekiel, He warned that He was sending him to an impudent and hardhearted people. But, He said, “I am going to make your head harder than theirs.” There was a need for hardheaded prophets, and these men could speak right out; but many of God’s prophets were very tenderhearted, and Micah was one of them. Listen to him “I will go stripped and naked.” When a man removed his outer garments, it meant that he was in deep mourning and deep trouble. “I will make a wailing like the dragons [jackals], and mourning as the owls [ostriches].” If you have ever heard a wolf or a hyena howl at night, you know it is a mournful and terrible sound. Job uses this same expression: “I am a brother to dragons [jackals], and a companion to owls [ostriches]” (Job_30:29). I did not know that ostriches mourn until several years ago when my wife and I were visiting the San Diego Zoo. We were walking around when we heard a mournful sound. It was a very plaintive and pitiful sort of a sound. At first I thought an animal had been trapped or hurt in some way.

As we continued our walk, we met a man and I asked him, “Do you know what is making that sound?” He replied, “It’s the ostriches.” I thought the man was pulling my leg. I didn’t even thank him for the information because I thought he was kidding. But soon we walked around a bend in the road, and there were the ostriches. They were all standing there, just looking around. I didn’t see any reason for their mourning, but they were making the most mournful sound I have ever heard. Micah said that he would mourn like the ostriches.

He would wail like they did. In other words, the message that this man was giving to the people was affecting him just as the message that Jeremiah gave affected him. This is another example of the type of man God wants to deliver a harsh message. It must be a man with a tender heart if the message is to be harsh. Why? Because before God judges a people, He wants them to know how He feels; so He sent the weeping prophet Jeremiah and then this weeping prophet Micah. When the people listen to his message, then to his mourning and wailing, they understand how God feels about their sin.

God is not vindictive. Although He takes no delight in judgment, He must judge sin. If you will turn that over in your mind a little, my friend, you will recognize that God cannot permit evil and wrong to be done to one of His creatures without His judging the guilty party. He would not be God if He did not give justice to His creatures. When evil is done and sin is committed, God is going to move in judgment. It takes Him a little while to get around to it; but, when He moves, nothing can stop Him.

Micah 1:9

“Her wound is incurable.” The nation had passed over an invisible line from which there was no possibility of returning. While I do not know where that line is, I do know it exists. And when an individual or a nation passes over that line, there is no possibility of reclamation. It is not that God is not merciful and gracious, but the individual or the nation is so bent to sin and has turned a deaf ear to God for so long that there is nothing left but judgment. The wound is incurable. They will no longer hear God. This disturbs me, because I wonder if my own country may have passed over that line. All I know is that they are not hearing the voice of God and do not want to hear it. In spite of the fact that there is a tremendous reception today for the Word of God, I sometimes wonder how deep it is. Are the hearing of the Word of God and obedience to the Word of God synonymous? I actually know of folk who are living in sin or have lived in sin and never repented of it, yet speak of loving the Word of God! Is it possible that they have stepped over that invisible line and that there is nothing left for them but judgment? “For her wound is incurable; for it is come unto Judah; he is come unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.” The Assyrian army under Sennacherib came down from the north and mowed down the northern kingdom. They got as far south as the walls of Jerusalem, and the king Hezekiah was afraid that they were going to take the city; but God instructed Isaiah to tell the king that Jerusalem would not be invaded but that this was a warning to them. Well, Judah heeded the warning for awhile, but it wore off and they turned back to their idol worship and their sin. The day came when God had to judge Judah as He had judged Israel. Now we are given a series of names of ten different urban centers that were affected by Samaria and Jerusalem. Not all of these places are on the map, but the list begins in the north with Samaria and moves south toward Jerusalem and beyond Jerusalem. The meanings of the names reveal a play upon words.

Micah 1:10

“Declare ye it not at Gath.” The name Gath means “weep-town.” God is saying, “Weep not at Weep-town.” Gath belonged to the Philistines, the inveterate enemies of Israel, and He is saying, “Don’t let them know that judgment is coming upon you.” “In the house of Aphrah roll thyself in the dust.” Aphrah means “dust-town.” To put dust on the head was the sign of the deepest grief. The site of this town is not known, but the thought seems to be that the people were to lament in their own territory.

Micah 1:11

Saphir means “beauty-town.” Believe me, the inhabitants passed away and also the town itself so that the site of it is absolutely unknown. Beauty-town would be no longer beautiful"having thy shame naked." “The inhabitant of Zaanan came not forth in the mourning.” Zaanan means “march-town.” March-town didn’t march. The site of this town is also unknown to us.

Micah 1:12

“The inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully [anxiously] for good.” The name Maroth means “bitterness.” They waited for a good report, for good news, but it was a bitter report"evil came down from the LORD unto the age of Jerusalem." The Assyrians were marching to the very walls of Jerusalem.

Micah 1:13

Lachish was “Horse-town.” There were great stables of horses there. It is a city southwest of Jerusalem, over near the Philistine country, the place where idolatry was first introduced into the southern kingdom of Judah. Apparently Lachish was the link of idolatry between Israel and Judah. “Bind the chariot to the swift beast” is a reference to the horse, and we know know that this is the place where horses were kept which were used in the worship of the sun. You will recall that even the Greeks had their Apollo driving a chariot across the sky in connection with their worship of the sun. God is condemning Lachish because she introduced this idolatry into Judah, the southern kingdom.

Micah 1:14

“Moresheth-gath” was, of course, the hometown of Micah; it was in the southern kingdom of Judah. “The houses of Achzib shall be a lie to the kings of Israel.” Achzib means “lie-town.” Lie-town, as did all these other towns, lived up to its name. The inhabitants were given over to lies. The name Achzib is the Hebrew word for a “winter brook” or a “lie.” The reason for this is that the brooks in Israel are very much like the brooks in Southern California. In fact, a friend of mine was riding with me one day when we crossed over the Los Angeles River. In the winter, during the wet season, this river can really go on a rampage, but in the dry season there is not much more than a trickle of water in it. As we crossed the river, my friend said, “That’s a good place for a river.” I replied, “It sure is, and in the winter there is a river there.” In Israel there are many dry river beds like that.

But a flash flood out in the desert can transform them into raging torrents. Now you can see why achzib means a “winter brook” or a “lie.” And the town of Achzib was Lie-town because they had promised help to the northern kingdom, but they actually gave no help at all. “The houses of Achzib shall be a lie to the kings of Israel.”

Micah 1:15

Here is a suggestion that help is coming to Israel but not at this time. It is only a faint suggestion that “the glory of Israel” is the heir in the line of David, and the Lord Jesus Christ is the only one who fits this description. One of His names is FaithfulHe is faithful and true, and He is coming to deliver them. He will not come from Lie-town, that’s for sure. However, in Micah’s day Israel was deceived, greatly deceived, and no help came to them when the Assyrian army came down from the north and overran their land. Now Micah calls upon Israel to mourn as a nation

Micah 1:16

When Assyria invaded Israel the first time, they took the young people into captivity, and the people are called upon to mourn because of that. Making themselves bald was an indication of grief. Although in the Mosaic Law they were told not to trim their beards nor shave their beards, now because of the sin that had come into the nation they are told to express their grief in this manner. Isaiah, who was a contemporary of Micah, had something to say about this custom. In Isa_15:2 we read, “He is gone up to Bajith, and to Dibon, the high places [of idolatry], to weep: Moab shall howl over Nebo, and over Medeba: on all their heads shall be baldness, and every beard cut off.” This verse describes deep mourning and wailing. They had lost their children, you see. This is the judgment of God upon them.