Disaster from the Lord
Opening Prayer
O Lord, be ever mindful to regulate equality and fairness in all of our societies here on earth.
Read Micah 1:1—2:5
The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah—the vision he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
2 Hear, you peoples, all of you,
listen, earth and all who live in it,
that the Sovereign Lord may bear witness against you,
the Lord from his holy temple.
Judgment Against Samaria and Jerusalem
3 Look! The Lord is coming from his dwelling place;
he comes down and treads on the heights of the earth.
4 The mountains melt beneath him
and the valleys split apart,
like wax before the fire,
like water rushing down a slope.
5 All this is because of Jacob’s transgression,
because of the sins of the people of Israel.
What is Jacob’s transgression?
Is it not Samaria?
What is Judah’s high place?
Is it not Jerusalem?
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.”
Weeping and Mourning
8 Because of this I will weep and wail;
I will go about barefoot and naked.
I will howl like a jackal
and moan like an owl.
9 For Samaria’s plague is incurable;
it has spread to Judah.
It has reached the very gate of my people,
even to Jerusalem itself.
10 Tell it not in Gath;
weep not at all.
In Beth Ophrah
roll in the dust.
11 Pass by naked and in shame,
you who live in Shaphir.
Those who live in Zaanan
will not come out.
Beth Ezel is in mourning;
it no longer protects you.
12 Those who live in Maroth writhe in pain,
waiting for relief,
because disaster has come from the Lord,
even to the gate of Jerusalem.
13 You who live in Lachish,
harness fast horses to the chariot.
You are where the sin of Daughter Zion began,
for the transgressions of Israel were found in you.
14 Therefore you will give parting gifts
to Moresheth Gath.
The town of Akzib will prove deceptive
to the kings of Israel.
15 I will bring a conqueror against you
who live in Mareshah.
The nobles of Israel
will flee to Adullam.
16 Shave your head in mourning
for the children in whom you delight;
make yourself as bald as the vulture,
for they will go from you into exile.
Human Plans and God’s Plans
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 people of their homes,
they rob them of their inheritance.
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 people 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.’”
5 Therefore you will have no one in the assembly of the Lord
to divide the land by lot.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
“Praise to the Lord, above all things so wondrously reigning… Have you not seen? All you have needed has been met by his gracious providing” (Joachim Neander, 1650–1680).
Think Further
Micah proclaims that the Lord is bringing disaster upon Samaria and Jerusalem. Such a message is hard to hear for many readers today. We do not like to think that calamity, disaster or evil should be attributed to God. In a way, of course, this instinct is understandable. Deuteronomy teaches us that God’s “works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he” (Deut. 32:4). There can be no sense, then, in which God is said to originate moral evil. Yet the Bible portrays God as one who can bring trouble upon a people, in order to turn them to what is right and good.
In Micah’s day, rich landowners were driving poor farmers off their lands. The justice system was skewed in favor of the rich. Court prophets and religious leaders supported the status quo. We sometimes speak today of a “culture of impunity.” The term refers to a situation in which the authorities tacitly condone or routinely fail to punish crimes against humanity. Such cultures breed injustice and impede human flourishing. God’s covenant people had fallen into just this condition, and Micah says it cannot go on. God would bring the invading Assyrian army and decades later the Babylonians to punish the rulers of God’s people by carrying them away into exile.
What I greatly admire about Micah is that when he announces divine judgment, he does so with great anguish. His is not the attitude that loves to condemn people. On the contrary, his concern is pastoral as well as prophetic. He raises a lament at the prospect of impending doom. When he must denounce the sins of others, he does so in solidarity with suffering victims and with an anguish that might further reflect the anguish of God.
Apply
The New Testament teaches, “It is time for judgment to begin with God’s household” (1 Pet. 4:17). What do you think this might mean for our churches, and how might we respond?
Closing prayer
Lord, help me to be more like Micah. Help me to be passionate in my hatred of sin but compassionate in my dealings with those ensnared therein.
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