Micah 1

CHAPTER 1

Judgment Against Samaria and Jerusalem (1:1–7)

1–2 Micah prophesied in Judah during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah (see 2 Kings 15:32–38; 16:1–20; 18:1–16). His first message (verses 1–7) consists of the vision he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem—the capitals, respectively, of the northern and southern kingdoms of the once united ISRAEL. Micah calls upon all the people of the earth to observe what the Lord is about to do to these two cities,¹because a similar judgment will one day come upon them if they do not turn to the Lord. In effect, the Lord’s judgment on His own people will serve as a witness against all other people (verse 2): if the Lord judges His own, He certainly will judge the others²(see 1 Peter 4:17).

3–5 Look! The LORD is coming. The Lord is coming from heaven to intervene in human history, this time with judgment. Micah describes the Lord’s coming in dramatic, figurative terms in order to emphasize the severity of His judgment on Samaria and Jerusalem (verse 4). The judgment is coming because of Jacob’s (the northern kingdom’s)sins; the judgment will affect both Jacob and Judah, both northern and southern kingdoms³ (verse 5).

6–7 Here Micah quotes the Lord directly. The Lord will first destroy Samaria and the northern kingdom. (This came true in Micah’s lifetime when Assyria conquered Israel, the northern kingdom.) All the places where the Israelites have gathered to worship idols—to commit spiritual prostitution—will be broken to pieces (verse 7). Here the term prostitutes can refer either to idol worshipers who prostitute themselves to false gods (Exodus 34:15–16), or to actual temple prostitutes. Either way, the “wages” of gold and silver collected as a result of Israel’s idolatry will be taken to Assyria and used for the same purpose.

Weeping and Mourning (1:8–16)

8–9 Because of this (the coming destruction of Samaria), Micah will publicly mourn over the loss of the northern kingdom. Samaria’s wound is incurable (verse 9); that is, the judgment coming upon Israel is irreversible. Not only that, it is coming to Judah as well, right to the gate of Micah’s own people—the gate of Jerusalem.⁴

10–16 In these verses, Micah mentions the names of a number of towns in Judah which would eventually experience God’s judgment at the hands of the Babylonians. Micah has chosen these towns as examples because their names sound like other Hebrew words. For example, in verse 10, Gath sounds like the Hebrew word for “tell”; so Micah says: Tell it not in Gath. That is, don’t let the pagan Philistines of Gath hear about the troubles coming on God’s people lest they gloat⁵ (see 2 Samuel 1:20). Also in verse 10, the people of Beth ophrah (house of dust) are told to roll in the dust as a sign of mourning.⁶

Micah ends this section by telling the people of Israel and Judah to mourn for their children who will soon be sent into exile (verse 16). Israel was taken into exile by the Assyrians in 722 B.C.; Judah was taken into exile by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. (see 2 Kings 17:7–23; 25:1–21).

If only Israel and Judah had submitted to God, they could have avoided the judgment that overtook them. Let their fate be a warning to all nations—and to all individuals. Each of us has a choice:we can submit to God in joy now, or we can submit to Him in mourning later. Sooner or later all of us will submit to God; it’s much better to do it “sooner.”