HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 1188
Micah
E X C I T E M E N T B U I L D S as the crowd waits for the famous person to
arrive. At last the moment comes, and the person walks into the room,
surrounded by an aura of greatness. Everyone has seen this great one
a hundred or a thousand times on TV or in the movies, but never in
person. There is a sense of magic in the air. A movie star, a football or
basketball player, a notable political figure, a famous singer—the great
one could be any of these. But she is beautiful and famous. Or he is big
and handsome and rich.
It has always been this way. People set the rich
What you will be
reading about
and famous, the strong and powerful, on tall
pedestals, sometimes so tall that they are revered
1:1 – 2 :13
God’s sentence on Samaria
to the point of worship. So it was in the time of
and Jerusalem
Micah, a time of unusual prosperity in both the
3:1-12
northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingThe leaders of Israel are
dom of Judah. Power and affluence were everycorrupt
where, along with a lifestyle that honored, almost
4:1-13
worshiped, the rich, famous, and powerful. The
The Lord will be King
people had become blind to the sins growing in
5:1-15
the garden of prosperity. Wallowing in wealth,
A prediction of Jesus’ birth
the people were equally blind to the growing
and eternal kingdom
power of Assyria to the north.
6:1-16
Judgment would come, Micah proclaimed. It
God puts his people on trial
would come only after repeated warnings, but
7:1-20
then, like a loving father should, God would disGod promises restoration for
his people
cipline. God’s unfailing love for his people does
not mean he turns a blind eye to their sin. Only
discipline could root out that sin. And there would be a healthy dose of it.
Micah describes the coming judgment of Samaria, capital of Israel. The
graphic description of the punishment is so vivid and terrible that Micah himself is bowed down with grief.
But Micah also has words of hope. Discipline works to preserve, not destroy.
A small remnant of people would heed God’s discipline, rededicate themselves
to be faithful to him, and form the core of ancestors from which Jesus, the Messiah, God’s Son, would be born. Micah predicted not only the birth of Jesus but
also the place of his birth (5:2) hundreds of years before it actually occurred.
In a day when we revere the wealthy, the famous, and the powerful—parpage 818