The prophecy of Micah is of the same date, and, up to a certain point, has the same character as that of Isaiah: that is to say, it treats especially of the introduction of the Messiah into the scene of the development of God's dealings towards Israel; and even speaks particularly of His presence in connection with the attack of the Assyrian. This prophecy has nevertheless its own peculiar character; it enters, like those of Hosea and Amos, into the moral condition of the people, and connects the judgment of the world at large with the condition of the. Jews, as we have had it typically brought before us in Jonah. Samaria also is in part the subject of this prophecy.
The Lord speaks in this book of His temple, and addresses all the peoples—the whole earth. That is to say, He takes His place upon His earthly throne to judge the whole earth, in testimony against all the nations. But He comes from on high, coming forth out of His place to tread upon the high places of the earth. And all that is lifted up shall be molten under Him, and all that is abased shall be as wax before the fire. And wherefore this intervention in judgment? Why does He not leave the nations still to walk in their own ways, afar from Him, in long-sufferance to their folly? It is because His own people, the witnesses for His name upon the earth, are in transgression against Him, have given themselves up to the service of other gods, or to iniquity. There is no longer any testimony of God in the earth, except indeed it be a false testimony; and God must therefore render it to Himself. All the sins of the nations then come into remembrance before Him, and spread themselves out before eyes that cannot endure them. He leaves His people to the consequences of their sin, so that they fall under the power of their enemies, whose pride, on this account, rises to such a height that it brings down the judgment of God, who intervenes to deliver the remnant whom He loves, and to take His place of righteous ruler over all the nations.
We have already seen, more than once, that the Assyrian plays the principal part in these closing scenes of the ways of God upon the earth. We again find him here as the rod of God-a prominent subject in the prophecy of Micah.
IC 1:6-1:8Chapter 1:6,7,8. The iniquity of Samaria, and her graven images are the cause of this terrible scourge, according to the just judgment of God; and the waves of this flood reach even to Judah.
It will be remarked here, that the 'events which took place in the days of the prophet who speaks, having the same moral character as the definitive judgment of the last days are used to introduce the grand action of that judgment, while also, as a warning to the people for the time then present. We have already seen this more than once in the prophets.
Shalmaneser and Sennacherib are doubtless in view here; but they are only the occasion of the prophecy, looked at in its full extent. The Assyrian comes up to the gates of Jerusalem. His progress is described in ver. 11-16, as in Isaiah, only that the description is more intermingled with the causes of the judgment upon the different cities that he attacks than it is in Isaiah, who enumerates them rather as the stages of his march.
IC 2In chap. 2 the prophet points out the moral causes of the judgment of God—violence and shameless oppression. They formed plans of violence to gratify their covetousness, and the Lord formed also plans of judgment upon them (ver. 1-5). They refused the word of testimony. It shall be taken from them. They rose up as an enemy; their wickedness spared neither women nor children (ver. 8, 9). The Lord calls on all who have ears to hear, to arise and separate themselves from all this iniquity. A state of things like this could not be the rest of God's people; how could the saints of the Lord rest amid pollution (ver. 10, 11)? Nevertheless, the Lord in no wise renounced His settled purpose of blessing with respect to Israel. He would gather them all together, the numerous flock of His protection. The breaker, he who should clear the way and overthrow every obstacle, should go before them. They should go forth from the place of their captivity. Their King should pass on before them, and the Lord at their head (ver. 12, 13).
IC 13Chapter 3 The prophet again denounces the heads and princes of Jacob. They should cry unto the Lord, but He would not hear them. No prophet should enlighten them with the light of His word. The seers should be confounded; there should be no answer from God (ver. 1-7). It was not thus with the prophet, full of power by the Spirit of the Lord, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and unto Israel his sin: (ver. 8). This he does by again denouncing the chief among the people, who judged for reward, and the prophets, who divined for money. Therefore should Zion be plowed as a field, and the mountains now ornamented with palaces, should be made like the heights of a forest (ver. 9-12).
IC 4Chapter 4 But again the prophet, in the spirit of Isaiah, concludes his denunciations of sin, and hi prophecies of judgment and desolation, by announcing the full reestablishment of blessing and glory in Zion. The Spirit repeats (there was no room for change) the declaration of the glory of Zion in the last days, given in Isa. 2 But, the prophecy being much less developed, it connects this declaration immediately with the events of the last days (ver. 4). Israel should dwell in perfect peace. Each nation, say they, will boast of its God; but the Lord is our God forever and ever. The Lord is the glory of His people. In that day the Lord will accept the remnant of His people; He will assemble the poor, feeble, halting Jacob, and re-unite that which He had scattered and afflicted. It should be the remnant of His desire; that which He had cast off should be a strong nation. The Lord Himself would reign over them in Zion forever.
Nevertheless, the order of the events through which the people had to pass is brought out only so much the clearer by the shortness of the prophecy, which is thus a key to the more lengthened developments of Isaiah. The prophet announces that "the first dominion," the kingdom of David and Solomon, shall return to Jerusalem. But meanwhile, the royalty with which the glory of Jerusalem was connected, had to be set aside (ver. 9). The daughter of Jerusalem must go to Babylon, and there be delivered and redeemed from the hand of her enemies, by the power of God. She was to be their captive, far away from Zion. But another event was to characterize these last days of her history. Many nations should be assembled against her, seeking to profane her and to gaze insultingly upon her; but they knew not the thoughts of the Lord. He had gathered them together as sheaves into the threshing floor. The daughter of Zion should trample on them and beat them in pieces, and consecrate their spoils unto the Lord, who in that day will magnify His name of the God of the whole earth. Compare Isa. 17:12-1412Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters! 13The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind. 14And behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us. (Isaiah 17:12‑14); and Zech. 14:2; 12:2, 32For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. (Zechariah 14:2)
2Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. 3And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. (Zechariah 12:2‑3); Psa. 83.
IC 5Chapter 5 But there was something, more definite still to be declared: the principal enemy of the last days was to be pointed out. The daughter of troops gathers herself in troops to besiege Jerusalem-the Assyrian army (see ver. 5). But here it is quite a different thing from the attack of Sennacherib. Judah had plunged much deeper into sin and rebellion. The true Judge of Israel should be smitten with a rod upon the cheek. The Christ should be mocked and beaten. Ver. 2 describes Him in a striking manner. It was on this verse that the scribes and chief priests rested, when they certified Herod that Christ should be born at Bethlehem. It represents Him as being born at Bethlehem, and at the same time as eternal, and as the true Ruler in Israel.
The second verse is in parenthesis. It declares the birthplace, whence He that should rule over Israel for the Lord, should go forth; and at the same time it reveals the eternal glory of His presence. Ver. 3 is connected with ver. 1, and exhibits the consequences of the sin there pointed out. Israel, and more especially Judah, is given up, yet only for a season, the period of which is designated in a remarkable and instructive manner. Israel, exercised, travailing, long preferring to stand on the footing of Hagar rather than on that of Sarah, must pass through all the afflictions, the anguish, the judgments, the chastisements of God, necessary to lead her to the acceptance of the punishment of her iniquity; being at length by His grace, thoroughly convinced of the need of that grace, and of the mercy of God, and thus brought into a condition fitted to her being the vessel of the manifestation of that Son who should be born unto her-the Naomi brought back by grace, to whom (with respect to his manifestation in this word) the King is reputed to be born. Compare Isa. 9, where the idea is developed in connection with Israel, and Rev. 12, where the historical fact, and its connection with Israel in the last days, are brought together.
Another very important element of this last scene of the present age, is pointed out in this verse. Israel is given up to judgment, forsaken of God, in a certain sense, for having rejected the Christ, the Lord. But now, she who travailed has brought forth. Afterward, the remnant of the brethren of this first-born Son, instead of being added to the church (Acts 2), turn unto the children of Israel. The Christ is not ashamed to call them His brethren; but at this period they no longer become members of His body. Their relation is with Israel. That is the position in which they are placed before God.
He then, who had been rejected, becomes the Shepherd of Israel, and that according to the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord His God. Israel dwells in safety, for his King becomes great unto the ends of the earth. By Him the Assyrian shall be overthrown, and his land shall be laid waste by that Israel whom he had sought to overthrow.
Israel in that day possesses a double character. The remnant of Jacob is the instrument of refreshing in the precious grace that comes from God, and waits not for the labored and varied efforts of man. They shall be as the showers upon the grass, that tarry not for any man. But nevertheless, Israel is also that which rises up among the nations, as a lion among the beasts of the field, from whom none can deliver. They are the instrument and testimony of the power of God. The blessing and the strength of the Lord is with them. The prophet declares that all the enemies of Israel shall be cut off and perish. But the Lord will at the same time destroy out of the midst of Israel, all their false human strength, their chariots, their strong cities, all that ministers to the pride of man and leads him to trust in himself. He will destroy all their idols; Israel shall no longer worship the works of their own hands; every trace of idolatry shall be taken away. At the same time, vengeance and wrath, such as had not been heard of, shall be executed upon the nations. This division of the prophecy ends here. The first, at the close of the second chapter.
IC 6Chapter 6 After having thus declared the counsels of God in grace, the Spirit returns to His pleadings with Israel in respect of their moral condition. The Lord had a controversy with His people. In a touching appeal to their heart and conscience, He asks what they could have against Him. He had redeemed them from Egypt, had led them by the hand of Moses, Aaron, and Miriam; He had refused to hearken to Balak and Balsam, who had done their utmost to curse Israel. If they would but consider, they would know His faithfulness. After this, He lays before them in detail, the universal wickedness that reigned among them (ver. 13-16); therefore also the judgment must surely fall upon them.
IC 7In chap. 7 the prophet takes the place of intercessor before God, in the name of the people; presenting to Him at once their deep misery and their iniquities. He seeks anxiously among the people for something suitable to their title of the people of God; he finds nothing but fraud and deceit, and lying in wait for blood, that they might do evil with both hands earnestly.
We find here a striking circumstance. The Lord Jesus declares in the gospel that that which the prophet describes as the height of iniquity, should be produced by the preaching of the gospel; such is the iniquity of the, heart, which the light brings into activity, stirring up a hatred which is only the more exasperated by the nearness of its object.
The effect on the prophet, of that which he sees around him (that which the Spirit of Christ produces, where he acts in view of the all-pervading evil), was that he looked to the Lord and waited for the God of his salvation. He takes the position pointed out as that which the Lord could recognize. He accepts the indignation of the Lord, until He Himself should plead the cause of His servant.
In fact, the Lord would bring him forth to the light, would show him His righteousness. The deliverance should then be complete; and she who said to Jerusalem, "Where is thy God?" (the constant cry of the unbeliever, who rejoices in the chastisement of the people of Christ, as in the sufferings of Christ Himself, mistaking these righteous dealings of a God whom he knows not). She who rejoiced in the abasement of those whom the Lord loved, should be trodden down as the mire of the streets (ver. 7-10).
From that time they should come from Egypt, from Assyria, from the seas and the mountains, to the rebuilded city; but before this the land should be desolate. Nevertheless, the Lord would lead His people as a shepherd, and plant them again in their land as at first; and God would show forth His marvelous works, as when He brought them up from Egypt; and the nations should be confounded at all the might of Israel, and should be afraid before the Lord their God.
The last three verses of the prophecy express the faith and the sentiments of adoration that fill the prophet's heart, at the thought of the goodness of God, who pardoned the iniquities of the people and cast their sins into the depths of the sea; who delighted in mercy, and who would perform His promises to Abraham, and that which He had sworn' unto the fathers in days of old.
Who was a God like unto Him-who manifested Himself in His ways of grace towards His beloved people, towards the feeble remnant, despised of all, but whom the Lord in His love never forgot, in His faithfulness never forsook, in spite of all their rebellion?