Bible brief: Micah

The opening verse of Micah indicates the prophet's origin (“of Moresheth”), time of prophesying (during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah—about 750-700 BC) as well as the object of his prophecy: the people of Samaria (northern Israel) and Jerusalem (the capital of Judah in southern Israel). Less obviously, it also presents us with Micah's main theme: his name means “Who is like Yahweh?”, a question that is paraphrased in 7:18: “Who is a God like you?”. While there are many great themes in Micah, such as judgement, hope and justice, the main theme is that Yahweh, Israel's covenant God, is Lord.

In three courtroom-style scenes, this prophecy depicts the relationship between God and his people. All three contain indictments of the people's failure to live as God's people, followed by statements concerning the Lord's impending punishment, and, finally, some offers of hope for a renewed relationship between God and his people.

Prayer for the month

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Heavenly Father,

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Help me to only ever rest my hope and confidence in you. I am sorry that I have not lived as one of your people. But thank you for forgiving my iniquity in Jesus and hurling all my sins into the depths of the sea. Thank you for delighting in your steadfast love. Please help me to respond to you by exercising justice, loving mercy and walking humbly with you.

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Amen.

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Reading 1 Micah 1:1; 2 Kings 15:29-16:4, 18:1-16

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1. What were each of the kings from Micah's time like?
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2. What happens to Samaria and Judah during this time?
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3. What is the significance of removing or not removing the high places? (See pointer.) What does this indicate about the king's trust in the Lord as the only true God?
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PONDER How is society today similar to that of Micah's time?

PRAYER IDEAS Ask God to help you trust in him as the only true God, and to walk in his ways.

POINTER 2 Kgs 15:35, 16:4, 18:4: The high places were essentially shrines where sacrifices were often made to pagan fertility gods.

Reading 2 Micah 1:2-5

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1. This is the start of a courtroom scene. Who is on trial?
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2. God is both the prosecutor and the judge. What is he like?
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3. Remembering the high places from yesterday, what sin/crime has been committed?
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PONDER Verses 3-4 offer a majestic view of God coming in judgement. How often do you think of God in this way? How does this change your attitude towards God?

PRAYER IDEAS Confess your sin to God. Ask him to expand your vision of him.

Reading 3 Micah 1:6-16

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1. How does the punishment in verses 6-7 fit the crime from reading 2?
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2. What is Micah's response to this pronouncement of judgement (vv. 8-9)?
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3. What is the connection between the town names and the disaster that is about to come on each of them? (See pointers.)
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PONDER Romans 1:18-32 shows that the behaviour of the Israelites was not exclusive to Micah's time. How is your society similar? Do you mourn for them the way Micah did?

PRAYER IDEAS Ask God to help you to give him the honour and thanks he is due. Ask him to turn your heart and the world's from idols to trust in him alone.

POINTER vv. 10-15: Gath sounds like the Hebrew word for ‘tell’. Beth-le-aphrah means ‘house of dust’. Shaphir means ‘beautiful’. Zaanan sounds like the Hebrew word for ‘come out’. Beth-ezel means ‘house of nearness’. Maroth sounds like the Hebrew for ‘bitter’. Lachish sounds like the Hebrew for ‘team’. Moresheth-gath means ‘possession of Gath’. Achzib means ‘deception’. Mareshah sounds like the Hebrew for ‘conquer’. These towns all surround Micah's hometown, Moresheth-gath.

Reading 4 Micah 2:1-5

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1. List the Israelites' unjust actions in verses 1-2.
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2. Retributive justice is perfectly matched punishment (Exod 21:23-25). How do the Lord's actions demonstrate this principle (vv. 3-5)?
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3. What does this tell you about God's character and your accountability before him?
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PONDER In what ways has the current global financial crisis highlighted society's injustices? Have you shared in these injustices?

PRAYER IDEAS Thank God for being just in his judgements. Ask him to help you to love others with the love the Lord has shown you (cf. Matt 6:12-15).

POINTER v. 5: This is saying that the oppressors of verse 1 will not participate in future land distribution (Deut 32:8-9).

Reading 5 Micah 2:6-11

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1. How do the false prophets respond to Micah's prophecy of judgement?
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2. What do they prophesy (v. 11)?
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3. What is the reality of the situation?
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PONDER Read 2 Timothy 4:3. What things do your itching ears long to hear? How open are you to hearing the truth? What pressures are there on preachers to preach only positive things?

PRAYER IDEAS Ask God to help church leaders and preachers preach the whole truth, not giving in to pressure to preach only the positive. Ask him to soften your heart so that you will be open to hearing the whole truth.

Reading 6 Micah 2:11-13

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1. These verses end the first section of Micah. What note does the section end on? How does this compare to the rest of the section?
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2. Read 1 Samuel 16:11-13 and John 10:1-16. Who is the shepherd king of the past? Who is the shepherd king of the future?
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3. Read Revelation 7:9-10. Who did the multitude consist of in Micah 2:11-13? Who will the heavenly multitude consist of?
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PONDER Who is gathering this remnant? How certain are you that the hope for a shepherd king will be fulfilled?

PRAYER IDEAS Thank God for Jesus, the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep (John 10:11). Ask him to help overseas missionaries as they tell people about Jesus. Ask him to be merciful and gather people into his heavenly multitude.

Reading 7 Micah 3:1-7

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1. Compare the start of this section (v. 1) to the previous one (1:2). What is similar?
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2. Who is addressed in this section (vv. 1, 5)? What are they charged with?
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3. What is the Lord's punishment (vv. 4, 6-7)? How does his punishment fit the crime?
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PONDER How would you feel if God hid his face from you and did not answer you (vv. 4, 7)? Would this still happen today? (Cf. Matt 7:21-23.)

PRAYER IDEAS Ask God to help you and your leaders to do his will (Matt 7:21).

Reading 8 Micah 3:8

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1. What are the differences between Micah and the false prophets in 3:5?
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2. What gives Micah the boldness to declare the truth to Jacob and Israel?
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3. Read 2 Timothy 1:6-14. How does Paul encourage Timothy to have the same boldness for proclaiming God's truth?
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PONDER Who are the false prophets in your society? What gives you the boldness to declare the Lord's truth in your context?

PRAYER IDEAS Ask God to help you to be obedient to the work of his Spirit in you.

Reading 9 Micah 3:9-12

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1. Compare 3:9-12 with 3:1-7. What are the similarities in addressees, indictments and structure?
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2. This is the third time justice had been mentioned in this chapter. How do the parallel lines of the poetry in verses 1-2 and 9 (see pointer) help you to define justice?
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3. How does the Lord once again demonstrate justice in his punishments (vv. 10, 12)?
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PONDER How strongly do you feel the need for justice? Read Romans 3:25-26. How has God demonstrated his justice to you?

PRAYER IDEAS Ask God to help your leaders to act justly. Thank him for taking the punishment on your behalf in Jesus.

POINTER Micah's poetic style includes parallel lines where the second line often repeats and enhances the idea of the first line.

Reading 10 Micah 3:12-4:5

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1. What strikes you about the contrast between 3:12 and 4:1-5? How can these things both be true? (Note the time frame of 4:1.)
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2. In 2:12, the future hope was for a remnant from Israel. Who is included in this new vision of hope? What marks their inclusion?
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3. What are the consequences of the law (v. 2), the word of the Lord (v. 2) and God's just judgements (v. 3) going out?
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PONDER How does this prophecy encourage you to persevere and “walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever” (4:5)?

PRAYER IDEAS Thank God for giving you a sure hope for eternity. Ask him to fulfil this prophecy by bringing his kingdom in.

Reading 11 Micah 4:6-8

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1. What actions does the Lord undertake in these verses? How is each action a reversal of a previous action?
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2. Remembering the key theme of Micah (see introduction), what does this tell you about God's character?
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3. In verse 8, it seems that Jerusalem will be restored to its former position in David's time—that of the stronghold and centre of kingship. Why would that have been reassuring to Micah's hearers?
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PONDER Compare 4:6-8 to Revelation 21:1-4. Who is the focus of both passages? How does this encourage you?

PRAYER IDEAS Ask God to help you long for the new Jerusalem.

Reading 12 Micah 4:9-13

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1. The first half of chapter 4 was set “in that day”. When is this second half set? List all the references to ‘now’.
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2. While the vision of the future is victorious, what are things like ‘now’?
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3. What hope do the Israelites have in the face of their present suffering? Whose plans are really being carried out (v. 12)?
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PONDER The nations taunt God's people because they do not understand God's plans for them. Read Matthew 3:11-12. Who threshes? What is the significance of his threshing floor (cf. Mic 4:12)? How does this change the way you view those who taunt you?

PRAYER IDEAS Thank God for rescuing and redeeming you and Israel from the hands of your enemies.

POINTER v. 10: The exile to Babylon took place 200 years after Micah.

Reading 13 Micah 5:1-6

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1. Compare verse 1 with verses 2-5. What are the differences in time and situation?
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2. What will the new ruler be like (v. 2)? How will he be different to earthly rulers?
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3. Read Matthew 2:1-6. Why was King Herod so afraid when this prophecy was read to him about 750 years later?
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4. What is Jesus the ruler like? How does he fulfil this prophecy?
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PONDER Hearing about this ruler gave God's people confidence against their enemies (v. 6). How does the fact that Jesus fulfils this prophecy give you confidence in your war against your greatest enemy—sin?

PRAYER IDEAS Thank God for his faithfulness in fulfilling Micah's prophecy in Jesus.

Reading 14 Micah 5:7-15

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1. What two images are used to describe the remnant's role among the people/nations in verses 7-8? How do they compare?
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2. Read 2 Corinthians 2:14-16. How does the church fulfil this prophecy today?
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3. Back then, the Israelites thought their greatest enemies were Assyria and Babylon (5:5-6, 4:10). What ‘enemies’ will the Lord cut off from them (vv. 10-14)? What will happen to Assyria and Babylon (v. 15)?
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PONDER What ‘enemies’ would the Lord cut off from you and from the society around you?

PRAYER IDEAS Thank God for Christ, who “always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere” (2 Cor 2:14). Ask him to cut off the idols from your life and help you to trust in him alone.

POINTER v. 7: “dew from the Lord” (cf. Zech 8:12, Hos 14:5).

Reading 15 Micah 6:1-5

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1. What marks this as the start of a new major section? (Cf. 1:2 and 3:1.)
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2. Who are the witnesses called in this case? What makes them good witnesses (v. 2)?
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3. The Lord says he has an indictment against his people, but then goes on to list all the ways he has saved them in the past. What is the indictment?
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PONDER How easy is it for you to forget God's saving acts? When are you tempted to live as though he doesn't exist or as though his claim on your life is wearying?

PRAYER IDEAS Ask God to help you to always remember his saving acts and to live with him as your Lord.

Reading 16 Micah 6:6-8

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1. In the book of Leviticus, the Lord had set up an extensive sacrificial system to allow the people to come before him. How have his people abused that system?
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2. What did the people think the Lord's requirements were? What are his requirements? (Cf. Hos 6:6.)
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3. What do these requirements tell you about God's character?
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PONDER How are you going at living God's way? Are you still trying to offer up sacrifices instead of walking humbly with your God (v. 8)?

PRAYER IDEAS Respond to all that God has done for you: ask him to help you to “do justice”, “love kindness” and “to walk humbly” with him (v. 8).

Reading 17 Micah 6:8-16

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1. What were the first two requirements of the Lord? How have the people failed to meet them (vv. 9-12)?
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2. How is the Lord's punishment just (vv. 13-15)?
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3. Whose ways have the people walked in (v. 16; cf. 1 Kgs 16:25-34)? What is their punishment?
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PONDER What injustices do you see in the world around you that are a result of people's failure to walk with God? How have you acted unjustly in your own life?

PRAYER IDEAS Ask God to forgive you for your own injustices. Ask him to have mercy on the world so that it will know God and walk with him humbly.

Reading 18 Micah 7:1-7

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1. Why does Micah lament? (Cf. Lev 19:9-10.) What was he hoping to harvest?
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2. Once again, the failure of Jerusalem's leadership is on view (vv. 2-4a). What does Micah accuse them of?
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3. What is the punishment for this ungodliness (vv. 4b-6)?
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4. How does Micah's attitude in verse 7 compare with verse 1 and the attitude of the ungodly?
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PONDER Jesus paraphrases Micah 7:6 in Matthew 10:34-39. In Micah, this breakdown in family relationships is punishment. What causes the breakdown in Matthew? Are you willing to apply Micah 7:7 to yourself, even if it means this?

PRAYER IDEAS Ask God to help Christians with family who oppose their beliefs to stand firm in Christ. Ask God to help you to put him before your family.

Reading 19 Micah 7:8-17

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1. What is the future of the remnant (vv. 8-9, 11-12, 14)? What is the future of their enemies (vv. 10, 13, 15-17)?
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2. Where are the people going to God for salvation coming from (v. 12)? What happens to those who don't come (v. 13)?
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3. From the passage, what evidence is there of the remnant's increasing confidence in God?
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PONDER How do you respond to the sort of mocking the remnant receives in verse 10?

PRAYER IDEAS Pray for specific people you know who have not yet come to God for salvation.

Reading 20 Micah 7:18-20

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1. List all the words for sin in these verses. How pervasive is it?
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2. List all the ways God is going to deal with sin. How thorough is his treatment of it?
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3. How has God been faithful to his people in the past (v. 20)?
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PONDER Read 1 Peter 2:24. How thoroughly has God dealt with sin now? What gives you confidence that God will fulfil his promises in the future?

PRAYER IDEAS Thank God for being Lord, for being faithful to his promises, and for doing everything for you so that your hope can be sure. Ask him to help you to continue to have faith and confidence in him.