Micah 1:1-16--The Coming Destruction

Micah 1
English Standard Version

1 The word of the LORD that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

The Coming Destruction
2 Hear, you peoples, all of you;
    pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it,
and let the LORD God be a witness against you,
    the LORD from his holy temple.
3 For behold, the LORD is coming out of his place,
    and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth.
4 And the mountains will melt under him,
    and the valleys will split open,
like wax before the fire,
    like waters poured down a steep place.
5 All this is for the transgression of Jacob
    and for the sins of the house of Israel.
What is the transgression of Jacob?
    Is it not Samaria?
And what is the high place of Judah?
    Is it not Jerusalem?
6 Therefore I will make Samaria a heap in the open country,
    a place for planting vineyards,
and I will pour down her stones into the valley
    and uncover her foundations.
7 All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces,
    all her wages shall be burned with fire,
    and all her idols I will lay waste,
for from the fee of a prostitute she gathered them,
    and to the fee of a prostitute they shall return.

8 For this I will lament and wail;
    I will go stripped and naked;
I will make lamentation like the jackals,
    and mourning like the ostriches.
9 For her wound is incurable,
    and it has come to Judah;
it has reached to the gate of my people,
    to Jerusalem.

10 Tell it not in Gath;
    weep not at all;
in Beth-le-aphrah
    roll yourselves in the dust.
11 Pass on your way,
    inhabitants of Shaphir,
    in nakedness and shame;
the inhabitants of Zaanan
    do not come out;
the lamentation of Beth-ezel
    shall take away from you its standing place.
12 For the inhabitants of Maroth
    wait anxiously for good,
because disaster has come down from the LORD
    to the gate of Jerusalem.
13 Harness the steeds to the chariots,
    inhabitants of Lachish;
it was the beginning of sin
    to the daughter of Zion,
for in you were found
    the transgressions of Israel.
14 Therefore you shall give parting gifts
    to Moresheth-gath;
the houses of Achzib shall be a deceitful thing
    to the kings of Israel.
15 I will again bring a conqueror to you,
    inhabitants of Mareshah;
the glory of Israel
    shall come to Adullam.
16 Make yourselves bald and cut off your hair,
    for the children of your delight;
make yourselves as bald as the eagle,
    for they shall go from you into exile.

---

The book of Micah is going to be different in that it is not written to just one people, but to all the nations of the world.  The prophet warns all the peoples of the world that the LORD is coming in judgment and that when that day comes He will come forth from His Holy Temple in Jerusalem to make the high places low and the make the low places high (all men in all places will be equal under His system of justice).  Judgment will start with the LORD's people for their idolatry and rebellion.  Samaria, the capital city of Israel was full of wickedness and Jerusalem, though it was the City of the Great King was just as bad, maybe even worse.  The LORD is telling all the nations what He is going to do to Samaria and Jerusalem so they will understand that it is for the sake of His name and for the good of His people that He judges them.

This does not stop Micah from grieving the destruction that is going to come over his people--the people of Jerusalem.  He does not want them to be destroyed and to have to go into exile.  The LORD knows that the enemies of the Jews (like the Philistines) will gloat, but their day of judgment is also coming.  Micah then names several places and plays on their names to tell people of those cities how they should react and prepare for the coming Day of the LORD.  Make use of the free Bible resources under the Links and Resources section if you want to have a fuller understanding of what the place names mean and how that ties in with the message that the LORD is giving to Micah to share with all people about what He is about to do to His people.

​In short, all the people that would think about rejoicing in the punishment of Israel and Judah should humble themselves because the LORD is about to bring judgment on all of them as well, and He has no intentions of preserving a remnant of these evil peoples like He does for His covenant people.  These people will be taken into exile and will never return, but His people will return and be restored.  These Gentile nations should start preparing themselves for their time of mourning by stripping themselves naked, rolling around in the dust, cutting off all their hair and giving their riches away to other while they still can.  Judgment is coming swiftly on them--perhaps there is a chance that the LORD will spare some of them if they repent.