Micah 1

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.”