Micah 1
FROM verse 1 it is seen that this prophet served God in the land of Judah at the same time as Isaiah, but beginning later, for Isaiah 1:1 includes an earlier king, Uzziah, the father of Jotham, whose long reign ended with his death in B. C. 758. “Morasthite” means an inhabitant of Moresheth, a town in the west of Judah, in which section the other places mentioned in verses 10-16 were found.
The prophecy of Micah has been called a key to the much more extended book of Isaiah, since it has largely the same character, though again differing, so as to have a character of its own. Both tell of the Messiah’s coming and rejection, and as we shall see, Micah contains important details of prophecy found nowhere else.
The first two chapters are introductory. The whole earth is called to hear (verse 2), and judgment, awful in its intensity, is announced for the day of Jehovah’s coming out of His place (verses 3, 4). (See Isaiah 2:1.2-22; 2 Thessalonians 1:7, 8).
There is always a divine purpose (which will repay prayerful study) in the names by which God is spoken of in His Word, and as three names are used in verses 2 and 3 it may be appropriate to remark that “the Lord GOD” (the Lord Jehovah) combining His Old Testament name of relationship with man and particularly with Israel, with one telling of lordship, of authority and power, is associated with the judgment of the rebels against Him, whether of Israel or of the world at large. “The LORD” is the translator’s usual substitute for “Jehovah” in the Old Testament, and is not the same as “The Lord”. “Jehovah” is the name used generally in the book of Micah, “Lord Jehovah” being used but once, “Lord” twice, and “God” ten times (in chapters 3 to 7).
It is because of the transgression of Jacob, and for the sins of the house of Israel, that God will come forth, —because His people have left Him no testimony in the earth (except a false one). He must render a testimony, therefore, to Himself, and in view of that, all the sins of the Gentiles must be judged.
Samaria and Jerusalem, respectively the seats of government in the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, were the chief places of departure from God; Samaria the worse of the two, devoted to idolatry, was to be made a heap of ruins, and its idols beaten to pieces, the idol gifts burned with fire.
Verses 8 to 16 speak of the coming- of the Assyrian enemy which was to overthrow the ten tribes and carry them off to captivity in the east, and to menace Judah, even to the gate of Jerusalem. (See the parallel passage in Isaiah 10:28-34). In both cases the events connected with the Assyrian invasion are used to introduce the scenes of the last days which are yet to be enacted—for the Assyrian will reappear as the king of the north, the last enemy of Israel to be dealt with at the beginning of the Millennium.
ML 03/28/1937