Micah 6:1-16.  In yesterday’s reading we saw that God cares and has a plan to deal with our sins (disobedience and rebellion) but we have responsibility too, we have to want what God is offering and accept that we cannot fix the relationship on our own or by our own power.

Today’s reading starts with a kind of trial.  God asks the mountains and hills to listen in on the trial.  Both have been around since the beginning so they have seen it all.  There is an old saying, “If these walls could talk imagine the stories they could tell.”  Here God is asking the hills and mountains to lisen because they know all those stories.  It’s a way of saying that what he is saying is true and everyone should know it.  In this case the story is about how much he has cared for the Israelites.  The original twelve sons had gone to Egypt during a famine begging for help.  They became a large group while there, so large that the king or Pharaoh of Egypt eventually made them slaves.  After 400 years in Egypt God brought them out of Egypt and eventually put them in the land he had promised to their ancestors.

In verse 4 God mentions that he also gave them leaders, Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.  Although the idea for the Israelite government was that God would be their king in a way Moses served that function.  He wasn’t the king but was the kings representative, maybe a president or prime minister.  Aaron’s family was assigned the duties of priests in the honor and worship of God.  Priest under the Law of Moses were “go betweens” between God and the people.  Miriam was called a prophetess.  A prophet was assigned the duty of helping the people remember God’s words and rules.  Prophets also gave new information from God in those days when God wanted them to have some new information.   This three part leadership made a full and complete way of caring for the people.  Eventually God combined these three functions in the one person of Jesus.

In verse 5 God asks them to remember the story of Balaam and Barak.  You might remember this story because Balaam’s donkey talked to him about an angel with a sword who was looking to kill him.  Balaam was a prophet and Balak was a king of a group of people living near the land promised to the Israelites.  Balak was afraid of the Israelites and though that they would destroy him and his kingdom so he asked Balaam to cures them.  Instead Balaam repeatedly blessed them.  The story would make the Israelites remember that he was going to take care of his people even thought the world hated and feared them.

Finally in verse 5 they are told to remember the journey from Shittim to Gilgal.  Shittim is on the east bank of the Jordan River and Gilgal is on the west.  Shittim is the last place the wandering Israelites camped before crossing the Jordan River, Gilgal is the first place they camped on the west side.  Although the Israelites eventually controlled land on both sides of the Jordan River, crossing the river represented entering the land promised to them by God.  The journey is a symbol of God fulfilling his promises to his people.  Altogether the people are being asked to remember God’s love, care, and faithfulness to them.  There is a Hebrew word for theses ideas, hesed.  It is a very big word.

In verses 6-8 Micah asks the people how he should come to God.  Should he bring some sort of physical offering, something he has made or owns?  Micah’s answer is no!  When we come to God we need to bring three things:  a life filled whith doing the right thing toward other people (justice), to love kindness or mercy, and to walk with God without pride.  The word translated kindness or mercy is that big Hebrew word “hesed” and I think Micah is telling them to hold on tight to what they are supposed to remember, they need to love what God has done for them.  And then they are to live each day close to their faithful God.  These three things remind me a lot of Jesus’ answer to the lawyer who asked him what the greatest commandment in the Law of Moses was.  Jesus told him the greatest was to love God with all he is and has.  Jesus then went on to tell him that the second most important commandment was to love his neighbor as much has he loved himself and that theses two commandments really told you all there was to know about making God happy.

Verses 9-16 get back to the trial.  First we saw the witnesses the hills and mountains.  Then we met the plaintiff, the person with the complaint, God.  We saw that he had been a good and faithful God to his people.  Then we were reminded of the rules that we need to use to see if the other side (the Israeilites) had failed.  Now we will see the evidence against them.  Verse 9 wars the people that they are about to be evaluated, tested, and they ought to show some respect (that is the idea behind the word fear).  Verses 10-12 point out that the people have been unfair with each other, they have used measuring devices which cheated others.  No justice here!  Clearly they have broken the first rule and verses 13-15 describe the punishment they will be sick, hungry, conquered in battle, and not enjoy the things they have worked for.

Omri was a king in the history of the Northern Kingdom.  He was wicked and encouraged worship of false gods.  Ahab was his son who was even more wicked and brought in worship of Baal and even human sacrifice.  The people followed in Ahab’s foorsteps.  Instead of Loving God’s mercy (and being merciful too) and instead of walking with God they walked in their own pride with their former kings Omri and Ahab.

The verdict is clear, God is God and he has certain expectations, rightly so.  We can either live the way he wants and be cared for or live by our own rules and suffer harsh consequences.  God is very merciful, hesed is a big word, but he is also just.  The choice and responsibility are ours we can either do things his way or suffer.

God thank you for caring enough to make a way out of my disobedience and rebellion.  Thank you for your love and care and mercy.  Thank you for your faithfulness to your promises.  Thank you that as “many as truly put their eternal destiny in Jesus hands you will give the right to be your forever children”.  Thank you for offering that to me.  Help me treat others the way you would treat them, thank you for your mercy in my life, and help me walk each day along your path by your side.

Micah 5:1-15.  In yesterday’s reading we saw both a promise that one day the promised forever kingdom would come and also a “reality check” that at that time the Israelites were not being very faithful and thus deserved the coming punishment.  In today’s reading the focus is on the king of that kingdom and his ability to take care of Israel’s problems.

The flow of today’s reading is kind of interesting.  We live in an area surrounded by hills and mountains.  On a clear day if I am standing someplace a little high up (like on Signal Hill or the top of the Disneyland Parking Structure) I can see hills that are closer to me and mountains farther away.  If I am looking eastward I can see the hills around Anaheim, the Santa Ana Mountains a little farther back, and even San Jacinto farther away yet.  Sometimes when a prophet spoke his writings were like that he sees many events spread out over several centuries of even millennia and puts them all together.  In Micah we have the more immediate conquest of Israel (the Northern Kingdom) in view, but Micah also refers to the Babylonian invasion of Judah which is still more that a century in the future.  Micah also was looking forward to the eternal kingdom.  In today’s reading Micah describes a king who will take care of Israel.

In verse one the city is probably Jerusalem so the invasion is not the one of the Northern Kingdom (which may have already happened by the time Micah gave this speech).  In verse one a king is struck on the cheek.  Many see a reference to Jesus here when he was struck by the Roman soldiers during his middle of the night trials.  From verse 2 and other parts of the Bible it is clear that Jesus is the coming forever ruler of the promised kingdom.  Micah 5:2 clearly tells us that the king will not be born in Jerusalem but in nearby Bethlehem.  Some experts point out that Jerusalem is under siege in verse one and that it was not under siege when Jesus was alive.  The Hebrew word though comes from a root that can mean to confine or put in a bag.  The Jews of Jesus’ time certainly felt oppressed and confined by the Roman rulers of their land.  Although Jerusalem was besieged in 701 BC by the Assyrians it was never captured and the king was not beaten.  In 586 BC when Jerusalem was attacked and taken over by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, the king of Judah at that time, Zedekiah, was captured and tortured.  It is hard to tell exactly whether Micah is talking about Zedekiah or Jesus and he may actually be talking about both.  When we read through Isaiah we saw that some times prophecies have more than one fulfillment (“day of the LORD” as an example in Isaiah 14:24-15:9).   Zedekiah may have been the closer fulfillment for Micah with Jesus being the ultimate fulfillment.  I think God does this here and now to help us keep living for then and there.

Verses 3-4 certainly sound like events talked about in the book of Revelation regarding a seven year period of struggle where Israel and the Jewish people are a central focus and also the following 1000 year reign of Jesus as ruler over Israel and the whole earth  (See especially Revelation 12:1-5 compared to Micah 5:3).

In verse 5 we see the new ruler from Bethlehem bringing peace.  In Isaiah 9:6 the promised ruler of the coming kingdom is called the “prince of peace” and in yesterday’s reading we saw that there would be no war during Jesus’ 1000 year reign on earth.  This verse also talks about the Assyrians invading and trampling the city.  Micah is probably using the Assyrians as an example here of all of Israel’s enemies.  Remember that the Assyrians were the most immediate enemy in everyone’s mind.  In Hebrew thinking seven is a sign of perfection so seven leaders for the people would be a symbol of enough leaders by adding an eighth Micah is telling us that there will be more than enough leadership.  This is a way of telling his readers that the new king will be more than capable of caring for his people.

Verses 6-9 tell me that the king will not only care for the Israelite people during his physical reign on earth (the 1000 years of Revelation 20:4) but through out history.  Remember that in some respects Micah is looking over all of Jewish history from his time to the end.  It would seem that if the Assyrians in verse 5 are representative of Israel’s enemies in general then the following verses are talking about the same sort “overall” picture.  In verses 6-9 we see that the Israelites will be “among the nations”, that they will be both a blessing (dew and showers in verse 7) and also a source of trouble (8-9).

The history of the Israelite people is amazing.  In 586 BC the last remaining Jewish people were conquered and taken captive to Babylon.  Interestingly Nebuchadnezzer did not do wha the Assyrians did earlier, he did not have the Jews intermarry with others people groups.  Later in that century the kings of Babylon began moving the Jewish people back to their land but they lived there always under foreign rule.  In  the time of Jesus  the Jewish people were living under the rule of Rome.  In 70 AD the Jewish people revolted against the Romans and Jerusalem was destroyed as well as the Temple.  The Jewish people were scattered through out the whole world.  From 70 AD until 1948 the Jewish people lived “among the people”.  In 1948 at the conclusion of World War 2 the Jewish people were given land, their former homeland was restored to them.  During their time of “scattering” the Jewish people both prospered and were persecuted.  Often their prosperity was the reason they were persecuted.  But still they persisted.  Since 1948 the persecution has not ended as they Israelites continue to fight to maintain their homeland.  Neither has the prosperity ended with the country of Israel being a major produce supplier to Europe.  The story of the Israelites is unique in history being the only people group to come back from exile after almost 2000 years.  It is the story of a people who are truly bless by God, truly the “apple of his eye” (Deuteronomy 32:9-10).  To the world the Jewish people have been both a blessing and a curse for the last 2000 years and a person should be wary of despising them.

IN verses 10-15 we see god’s perfection and holiness as Micah warns that God will deal with pride and unfaithfulness not only among the Jewish people but an all nations who do not obey him.  The destruction of horses and chariots is a symbol of the judgment of pride.  In the time of Micah and Isaiah the Jewish people of both kingdoms were constantly making alliances with foreign powers in attempts to control their safety.  They did this in spite of God warning them that he alone would keep them safe.  God had no need of their armies or their forts.  The carved images and sacred pillars were symbols of their honoring false gods.  God would destroy those too.

So in today’s reading we see a big picture view of God’s care and plan for the Jewish people.  One that requires faithfulness to him and trust in his care.  We also see that God’s love for the Jewish people is about us too.  Just as God judges disobedience in the nations he love all people and Jesus sacrifice make Heaven available to all who will believe (See 1 John 2:2; John 1:12; 3:16).

God thank you for the example of the Jewish people.  Thank you for your commitment to them.  I know that your commitment to them is a sign to me of how much you love me, how forgiving you are, and how serious you are.  Help me be faithful to you.  Thank you for forgiving me and help me never ever despise your special people the descendants of Israel.