Tonight we begin our 18th and last in this series of studies in the prophecies of Micah. I hope and pray that you have found these studies at least something of the education that I have found them to be, not least, I say once more, owing to the …
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The last verses of the prophecy seem to be a single oracle, but we will take it by halves, vv. 8-13 tonight.
v.8 The Speaker is "Lady Jerusalem" — a more specific metaphor than s…
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v.1 The picture is of a vinedresser and orchard manager who, after long and patient labor on his vines and trees, comes to his vineyard to find some of the first ripe grapes or figs and finds …
In the remaining verses of chapter 6, Micah closes the door to any remaining hope of restoration and pronounces the sentence against Israel for her betrayal of the covenant. In other words, these verses represent the end of the "lawsuit"…
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v. 1 The first phrase, "Listen to what the Lord says" is what rhetoricians call an "anacrusis", something that stands outside of the poetry.
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The previous oracle has linked the earlier prophesies of a golden age, a time of the triumph of the kingdom of God in the world, with the coming of the Messiah. The golden age will be the messianic age; his rule and work will bring it to pass.
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v.1 Once again, Micah is going to move from the present distress of Israel — in this case the Assyrian invasion of 701 B.C. — to a future deliverance (as he did twice in 4:9-13). (The NIV om…
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v.6 In that day, i.e., the same time as the events of 4:1-5.
He anticipates the exile that has already been prophesied. Th…
We come now to the first of the oracles of salvation in Micah 4-5. As we pointed out last time, these are oracles of "Israel’s Golden Age," not of some specific, near-term deliverance of Micah’s contemporaries, such as we had in 2:12-13….
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3:9-12 is the third of these three oracles against the corrupt leadership of the people of God that make up the third chapter. The first one addressed the political/judicial leadership, the second the prophets, and this last the …
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Remember, chapter 3 contains three oracles in almost identical form (address; accusation; judgment) with the same subject, viz. the corrupt leadership. The first oracle concerned the political/judicial leadership. This next one a…
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Chapter 3 contains three oracles of judgment of equal length and identical in form. An address (1,5,9); accusation (beginning with "you who" 2,5,9); and judgment (with a logical connector — then or therefore — 4,6,12) …
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The history of the interpretation of these two verses has been a history of conflict between two very different viewpoints. Some have held that these two verses are actually a further prophecy of woe and judgment. They observed …
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What follows is an oracle against the false prophets and against the leadership of the people that favored these prophets and approved of their teaching.
v.6 The imperative "do not pr…
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This next oracle is a pronouncement of judgement against the venal, mercenary leadership of Judah.
v.1 "At morning’s light" = when the law courts met; they had the law in their p…
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The next paragraph, vv. 8‑16, now describes the judgment that will fall upon Judah, the southern kingdom. She committed the same kinds of sins and will receive a similar punishment. Samaria was the chief object of the atten…
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1:1 This is what distinguishes the Bible from all other books. It is the product of the prophet Micah, to be sure, but still more, it is the word of God, his communication to the world and to his…
Read: Micah 1:1
It has been some time since we have been together in one of the minor prophets and I have wanted to take up Micah for some time. I want to begin with a few reasons why we ought to look forward to a study of one of the minor pro…