Verses 1-2
When I lie down at night and there is a quietness in the house and I am alone with my thoughts. The things that I think about are typically the things that are most important to me in that moment. Maybe there is something exciting that is happening the next day and I am thinking about it. Maybe there is something challenging happening the next day (work, school, conversation) and I am thinking about those things.
In verse 1, Micah says at night when the wicked lie in bed they think about ways they can become richer. And not through honest means but through wicked means. They actually delight in finding new ways to steal land and houses and people’s inheritances.
And these are not just thoughts about what they could do (fi they were able) but these were thoughts that they would do because it was in their power to do so. They were in positions of authority, power and influence to simply take what they wanted to take. They would not experience the consequences of stealing, abusing, or oppressing.
In chapter 1, Micah asked the question he knew his listeners were asking when he spoke judgment on Israel and Judah for their sins. He said, “What is the transgression of Jacob?
And here in chapter 2 Micah tells them you covert your neighbors possessions (violating the 10th commandment) you have seized or stolen your neighbors commandment violating the 8th commandment. And you have broken the second greatest commandment, “love your neighbor as yourself.”
When you ask the question, “what are our sins?” while standing in the middle of your sins you either do not know the Word of God or you do not honor the word of God.
I find most of the time for Christians when we enter into sin it is not because we were ignorant of sin but because I desired the temporary pleasure of sin over the joy of walking in obedience to God. Yes, there are times, we can sin out of ignorance. Maybe as a younger Christian I do not know what God has spoken in this area. But most of the time when I enter into sin it is choosing myself over God
And Micah says your sin is clear before you. You have coveted, stolen and oppressed.
Verse 3
The Lord says “against this family I am devising disaster.” The Lord is saying there will be great disaster that will come upon you and I will be the one who orchestrated it. It will come from me.
Most likely Micah is speaking directly to the people of Judah but of course these words could apply to the Northern Kingdom also known as Israel. And so we know that Judah would be attacked by the Assyrians and Jerusalem would ultimately fall at the hand of the Babylonians. That is what history records for us. But Micah tells us that the real fall of Judah came at the hands of the Lord. It was the Lord that orchestrated this disaster.
How different history will probably look if we ever have the opportunity to view it from the lens of God. So often we separate God from the pain of history when it very well might be there were times God devised disaster to bring judgment on sin.
Micah says that the oppressors will not be able to walk around haughtily. That word means “arrogantly superior.” The oppressors were walking around able to do whatever they wanted to do because they had placed themselves in a position in which they were above everyone and everything. They placed themselves in a position in which they were better. They were arrogant and prideful. And we see a very graphic image of Micah saying your heads will no longer be held high but your necks will be held in a noose. And you will not be able to escape.
Part of the disaster that will come upon them is that their land and homes will be taken from them. The very thing they were doing to others will happen to them. And Micah says that people will taunt them. And I believe that it is a taunt that is coming from the oppressors own words of despair.
Verse 4
I think these are the lamenting of the oppressor but the irony of these words creates a taunt. And the taunt is that those who were oppressing others are now crying out because they are being oppressed. Those who were stealing land are now crying out because their land is being stolen. And what is even more ironic is that those whose hearts had abandoned God are now crying out because people who had abandoned God are occupying their land. These oppressors who loved injustice are now ardent defenders of justice. Those who had rebelled against God are now very concerned about people being faithful to God.
Isn’t it interesting how we can ignore injustice all around us. We can actually be a part of injustice but when someone is unjust against us we all of sudden become defenders of justice. This is what is happening which is why people were taunting them.
Micah is preaching a message that is very difficult to hear. First, he is call these rich and powerful landowners who are oppressing people wicked. He is calling out their sin and the overall sin of the nation Second, he is declaring that disaster will overcome them. In other words, you have sinned and there are consequences for your sin.
And so false prophets begin to preach against Micah.
Verse 6
The false prophets preached back at Micah and their message was a message of rebuke: Stop saying these things. You should not be preaching about these things. Their rebuke wasn’t directed by God but their rebuke may have been rooted in their history with God.
The false prophets may have been thinking about Dueteronomy 28 in which the Lord said to Israel shortly before they entered into the land He had promised them: “You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven. The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.”
The false prophets do have a place to go to back up their rebuke. Look, you should not be preaching about the destruction of Israel. God will not allow it. These things will not happen. They probably felt incredibly justified in their rebuke. In today’s language they may have said, Micah, you are a false teacher, you are not a biblical preacher.”
But the problem with their rebuke is that they had a wrong understanding of God’s promises and blessings. Because if we go back to that same passage in Deuteronomy before the blessings of verse 3 we have these words in verses 1-2: “If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. 2 All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God…”
The blessings are the fruit of obedience. The blessings come when we are walking in a right relationship with God. That is where our joy is. We were created to know God and respond to God and live before God in a manner that reflects his character and nature.
When we live outside of that not only do we experience the natural consequences of sin. But we experience the discipline of God.
Later in Deuteronomy 28 the Lord says that if Israel does not obey they will experience the curses of the Lord one of which was, “The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven, and you will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on earth.”
The Lord’s purposes in these curses is not simply vengeance but to draw His people back into a right relationship with him. When God acts it is for His own glory. And His relationship with His people is rooted in that we give him glory. That is why we were created. And so He will use blessings and curses for the sake of His Name, for the sake of His glory. And there will be times that God will devise destruction in our lives for His glory.
But sometimes we can develop a wrong theology of God in which we can believe that God will not take things from us. That God, himself, will bring harm to us. That God only wants earthly happiness for us.
When someone preaches a message of destruction and death that comes from the consequences of sin, it can be easy to say, ‘Hey, don’t preach that.” When someone preaches a message about God taking us into through the valley of the shadow of death, we can say, “don’t preach that.”
Too many times we can develop a theology of God that says pain and trails and hardship are the curses of the world and God’s role is to be getting us out of those things. God’s role is to give us blessings and comfort. When in fact, for the glory of God and for the maturity of His people, God has and God will continue to discipline His people to draw us back to Him. And God may, if he chooses, devise discipline that may bring destruction or devastation into areas of our lives.
I met with a man this week who is trying to take steps toward God. He said, ‘I doesn’t have any problem coming to a place of believing that God is real but it is all of the trials of my life that make it difficult.’
If there is pain in our life, God can’t be real. Or if there is pain in our lives God can’t be good.
And so if Micah proclaims a message that God is going to bring pain in fact, he is going to devise disaster against His own people. You can see why people who have a wrong understand of God would say, “don’t preach that message. One shouldn’t preach about such things.”
But God’s primary concern is about His glory and if he created us for His glory then he is going to do whatever it takes in our lives so that we are living according to His will in a manner that gives him glory.
Verse 7
Micah is saying that these false prophets want to tell you that God will never grow impatience and that he would never bring destruction us, that is not his ways.
Bad theology often begins when we say, “God wouldn’t do it. God would allow that.” Or “God wouldn’t want that in your life.” And we place upon God our human wisdom and understand creating an “infallible” view of God that is actually a wrong understanding of God.
One of the themes of the book of Job is the wrong assumptions that we too often make about God . And God confronts both Job and his friends who assumed they knew the mind of God based on their understand of who God was. And when we move away from His word, we will find ourselves on the same path of redefining God.
Our understanding of God must always be driven His Word. And yet too much of our understanding of God is driven by our own emotions or feelings or human wisdom.
Micah tells his audience. We know what God has asked of us. We know it. His Word tells us. If we obey, we will find delight in His words. Words such Deut. 28 that describe the blessings that come from obedience.
Verse 7b
The judgment that God is bringing should not surprise us. God is not unfair. He has not changed. His relationship with Israel remains consistent. If you obey my commands, you will experience the joy and blessing of being in a right relationship with me. If you choose not to obey, there are consequences to sin.
Later in verse 11, Micah speaks of these false prophets and says, “If a man should go about and utter wind and lies, saying, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink, he would be the preacher for this people!
The NIV says, “If a liar and deceiver comes and says, ‘I will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer,’ that would be just the prophet for this people!” You want to hear what you want to hear. Micah is saying, Israel, you want to hear message that doesn’t cause you to have to repent and obey. You want a message that allows you to do whatever you want while still experiencing the blessings of God.