Micah 2:1-13.  The first part of today’s reading is called a “woe oracle”.  An oracle is a message from a god or God, in this case God.  The word “woe” basically means “hey!”  In this case it’s like saying “look out”.  In this case the person or people who need to “look out” are those who planning to do something bad.  The example given is of people planning to steal land from some one who is less powerful than they are.  In ancient Israel God gave the land to the various tribe and it was divided between the families of that tribe.  Land was so important that God set up a system that kept the land in each family’s possession basically forever.  At the end of this “woe oracle” we see the mention of a measuring line.  The idea is of a surveyor measuring land and defining boundaries.  For the powerful thief there will be no one to measure out “land” for them in “assembly of the LORD”.  That last phrase is talking about eternity.  You might loosely say, “There will be no place in Heaven” for those people.

In verses 6-7 Micah is quoting false prophets and the evil people mentioned above, they are telling Micah to “shut up”.  They don’t like his warning.  In verse 7 he confronts their attitude that God is not mad at them.  His response is “you bet he is”.  The end of verse 7 is pretty cool though because it give hope.  Sure they were getting in trouble for their evil ways but Micah’s words would be good for people who would obey God.

Stealing land was no the only thing these people were doing, in fact it was probably used as an example to make a contrast between wealth on earth and true wealth in Heaven.  In verses 8-9 Micah tells them that God is not mad for no reason and he gives them a couple of more examples of the things they are doing wrong they evict widows and leave their children hopeless and they steal clothes from people passing by on the street.  The reason that they did not want to listen to Micah was because they wanted to stay focused on God’s promises of a forever kingdom for Israel.  “Hey we are God’s chosen people” was what they kept saying.  Micah’s response was, “Think again, for you there is no place of rest.”  And he tells them why, because they have been disobedient and rebellious; they were sinning.  The Bible uses the example of dirt as a way of describing what sin makes us.  God is clean and we are unclean or dirty.  The result is we cannot be with God; we are destined for destruction.  In my work I use a lot of rags.  I usually wash them and reuse them but sometimes they are too dirty and I throw them away.  We are that dirty, sort of.  There is one way we can become clean, if we allow Jesus to be thrown away for us, that is what he did at the cross, he was forsaken by God the Father.  In his mercy God allows that undeserved punishment as a substitute for each of ours.

In verse 11 Micah points out that the powerful people don’t want to hear all of this, they just want to keep listening to people who will tell them that they are chosen and that God is planning a party for them.  In verse 12 God speaks direct to them and tells them that he is good for his promises, but only for some.  God bring them to the eternal kingdom but it will only be those who follow their king, Yahweh.

I like it that there is hope but it requires bowing to God our king.  We need to realize that God is pure and that we need help.  We are offensive to God but he is willing to clean us up.  We can be part of the “remnant” if we will put our lives in his hand.  If we want to keep pretending that God will let us into Heaven no matter what, we are fooling ourselves and headed for an eternity without God.  That will be so miserable it is called destruction.  God loves us and warns us and provides a way for us but we must listen to the truth and put our lives in his care.

God thank you for taking my punishment on the cross.  Jesus thank you for enduring a separation between you the Father so I do not have too.  Help me follow you better each day.  Help me have a cleaner life each day.  Thank you for your mercy.  Thank you for the promise of eternity with You.

Micah 1:1-16.  If you pay attention to the dates on the Reading Schedule you will see that this has not been much of a “daily” lately.  I actually wrote most of the “Intro to Micah” during the Junior High Retreat the first weekend in February.  I had a paragraph to go and ran out of time.  After the retreat I got sick, nothing serious but enough to slow me down for the last four weeks, that along with a very demanding work schedule.  That does not means that I have been out of touch with God for the last four weeks.  I have still done Friday Night Alive and Sunday Scripture Exploration, which require prayer, time considering what God wants us all to learn, and Bible study.  I have also been spending some time with an old friend while at work and we have talked a great deal about God.  Finally I am very thankful for Christian radio.  My current project requires about two hours of driving a day and I have been encourage by listening to both sermons and music on KWVE (107.9), KFSH (95.9), KKLA (99.5), and a new Christian music station in our area Air1 (92.7).  Although I am not completely well hopefully today will mark the beginning of a new series of daily posts.

If you read the “Intro to Micah” you know that the times in which Micah lived were very troubling.  There was basically a war between two groups of the Israelites, the Northern and Southern kingdoms, Israel and Judah.  Bible experts sometimes call this war the Syro-Ephraimite Crisis.  Syria was an ally of the Northern kingdom in this war against Judah.  Ephraim was one of the larger tribes of the Northern Kingdom and here represents the whole kingdom.  In addition the Northern Kingdom had made up their own way of worshipping the one true God (Yahweh or Jehovah) and was also worshipping false gods like Baal.  The Southern Kingdom on the other hand wasn’t fully trusting God to care for them and was making alliances with various foreign powers.  Israel was supposed to be an example to the nations around them, a place where all the people on the earth could look to learn about the one true God and his dealings with mankind.  The were an example, but unfortunately an example of our failure to honor God with our lives.  On the other hand the world God to see not just the purity and holiness of God but also his love and patience.  All of these attributes of God are seen in the words of his messengers, prophets like Micah.

This first chapter is pretty gloomy.  After introducing himself Micah declares a judgment or punishment on the Northern Kingdom.  But the words are not just for the Northern Kingdom, verse 9 tells us that the effects of the rebellion have been felt as far south as the gates of Jerusalem.  Also we see that Micah calls the whole world to check out what God is doing.  The judgment of the Northern Kingdom is supposed to be a warning to the rest of the world.  God has standards and when you break God’s rules there is a price to pay.  When we read through the book of Isaiah we saw God using Assyria to discipline the Suothern Kingdom but when Assyria took the invasion too far Isaiah told them God would judge them too.  In verse 5 Jacob is mentioned.  Jacob was the name of Israel before God changed his name to Israel (see “What’s in a Name”).  In verse 5 we are told tht Jacob has rebelled, this is probably a reference to the whole nation, both kingdoms.  Israel (the nation) had ‘sinned”.  The word sin means to “miss the mark”, like missing the bull’s-eye in archery.  The end of verse 5 helps us understand that the whole nation has missed the mark when Israel is linked with the city of Samaria, the capital of the Northern Kingdom and place of false worship and when Jerusalem, the capital of the Southern Kingdom is referred to as a “high place”, a term often referring to a place of worship of false gods.

Although the whole nation is being warned only the Northern Kingdom will pay with destruction at this time (well actually 20 years in the future).  Verses 6-7 tell us that Samaria will be destroyed.  In verses 8-9 Micah mourns because the Northern Kingdom is beyond hope and also because he sees Judah (the Southern Kingdom) in trouble too.  In verses 10-16 Micah lists the names of several towns in the Southern Kingdom which will ultimately suffer too.  What is interesting about this list and the trouble coming their way is the irony in what will happen.  Verse 15 is a good example.  Mareshah means “to posses or own”.  The trouble that will eventually come to Mareshah is that they will be taken over by a “possessor”, they will be owned by one who conquers.  The same sort of statements are made about the other towns in this list.  Verse 13 tells us why Judah will suffer too, because they followed the Northern Kingdom’s example of rebellion.  In verse 16 the people of Judah are told to shave their heads.  Shaving your head was a sign of sadness or a way of showing you wanted to change.  Here Micah is telling Judah to be sad because their children will eventually be sent into exile.

I like it that the “punishment” matches the attitudes and actions of the people.  That shows me that God is personally involved in our lives and that he is fair and consistent.  It’s a scary thought that God is watching me but it’s comforting too. The reason it’s comforting is because I see not only punishment in the Old Testament but also mercy.  Of course the mercy part becomes more clear in the New Testament as we see Jesus coming and taking our punishment but the story of mercy goes all the way back to Adam and Eve when God promises that a descendant of Eve will crush the devil.  And the very fact that God sent messengers like Micah tells me of his mercy too.  There isn’t a lot of guess work in the Old Testament about what God wanted the Israelites to do and there is a lot of warning and second chances.  No matter how many chances we a re given though we continue to fail, like Judah did.  But God is faithful and forgiving and even Judah and Israel will be given another chance during Jesus reign on earth in the future (See Revelation 19-20).  But that will be an Israel sold out to Jesus, one that stops missing the mark with the help of God.  We too must “make ourselves bald” before God, we must be sad and return to him, we too need to be sold out to Jesus, wee too need his help.

God help me honor you today.  Let me be sold out to you.  Let me mourn my own sins.  Thank you for your mercy.