For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Micah 1:1-7

1 The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah—the vision he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

2 Hear, you peoples, all of you,
    listen, earth and all who live in it,
that the Sovereign Lord may bear witness against you,
    the Lord from his holy temple.

3 Look! The Lord is coming from his dwelling place;
    he comes down and treads on the heights of the earth.
4 The mountains melt beneath him
    and the valleys split apart,
like wax before the fire,
    like water rushing down a slope.
5 All this is because of Jacob’s transgression,
    because of the sins of the people of Israel.
What is Jacob’s transgression?
    Is it not Samaria?
What is Judah’s high place?
    Is it not Jerusalem?

6 “Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of rubble,
    a place for planting vineyards.
I will pour her stones into the valley
    and lay bare her foundations.
7 All her idols will be broken to pieces;
    all her temple gifts will be burned with fire;
    I will destroy all her images.
Since she gathered her gifts from the wages of prostitutes,
    as the wages of prostitutes they will again be used.”

A. Find Out

1. Through whose reigns did Micah prophesy? v.1
2. To whom does this first word come? v.2
3. Who is coming with what effect v.3,4
4. Why? And where has idolatry been seen? v.5
5. So what will happen to Samaria? v.6
6. With what outcome? v. 7

B. Think:

1. Why do you think the Lord wants the whole world to pay attention?
2. What has provoked Him to come?
3. What appears His end goal?

C. Comment:

Micah prophesies through the reigns of three kings of Judah (Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah) and although he wants the whole world to pay attention (v.2a), his focus is on the capitals of Israel in the north (Samaria) and Judah in the south (Jerusalem). (v.5)

In passing note that Jotham was a good king (see 2 Chron 27:2,6). Ahaz a bad king (see  2 Chron 28:1-5), and Hezekiah mostly good (see 2 Chron 29-3). Also note Samaria was destroyed in 722BC, about 7 years into Hezekiah’s reign.

Initially he paints a picture of the Lord coming personally in power that moves the earth, presumably to bring judgment, specifically against the idol worship that He sees in both those cities (v.5b,c) although initially the prophecy focuses on Samaria (v.6).

The word ‘transgression’ occurs twice (v.5) pointing out that Israel have turned away from the Law of Moses that forbade such idol worship. That is their sin, but tragically it has occurred in both cities.

The consequence of His judgment will be the complete destruction of Samaria (v.6a). In the city itself all signs of idol worship will be removed (v.7a). Everything they had gathered to themselves in their relationships with pagan nations (the fees of prostitution v.7b) will be swept away and they will have nothing left. The purging that will take place will be complete.

D. Application:

1. Before He judges, the Lord always warns.
2. His judgments are always just, against ongoing sin/

Micah 1:8-16

8 Because of this I will weep and wail;
    I will go about barefoot and naked.
I will howl like a jackal
    and moan like an owl.
9 For Samaria’s plague is incurable;
    it has spread to Judah.
It has reached the very gate of my people,
    even to Jerusalem itself.
10 Tell it not in Gath;
    weep not at all.
In Beth Ophrah
    roll in the dust.
11 Pass by naked and in shame,
    you who live in Shaphir.
Those who live in Zaanan
    will not come out.
Beth Ezel is in mourning;
    it no longer protects you.
12 Those who live in Maroth writhe in pain,
    waiting for relief,
because disaster has come from the Lord,
    even to the gate of Jerusalem.
13 You who live in Lachish,
    harness fast horses to the chariot.
You are where the sin of Daughter Zion began,
    for the transgressions of Israel were found in you.
14 Therefore you will give parting gifts
    to Moresheth Gath.
The town of Akzib will prove deceptive
    to the kings of Israel.
15 I will bring a conqueror against you
    who live in Mareshah.
The nobles of Israel
    will flee to Adullam.
16 Shave your head in mourning
    for the children in whom you delight;
make yourself as bald as the vulture,
    for they will go from you into exile.

A. Find Out

1. How will the prophet react to all this? v.8
2. How had the sin extended? v.9
3. How many towns are then mentioned v.10-15
4. What are they told to do? v.10,11
5. What also? v.13,16
6. Why? v.13b, 15a

B. Think:

1. What sense is conveyed in respect of all these towns?
2. Why? What has taken place?
3. Thus how extensive is the sin of the nation

C. Comment:

The content of these verses can only convey a state of anguish throughout the land. It points out Gath (v.10a) in the south-west in the land of the Philistines, then Beth Ophrah in the northern part of Benjamin (but still in the south). Then Shaphir (v.11) to the further south, and so it goes on. The point is that each of these places is just as guilty as Samaria and Jerusalem, this idolatry has spread throughout the land; it’s not just those two cities. When Hezekiah started his reign, it was necessary to carry out a spiritual cleanup (see 2 Chron 29 & 31:1) yet as soon as he died his young son, Manasseh, resurrected idol worship (1 Chron 33).

But this present passage anguishes over the state of the whole land and challenges all of its occupants to likewise anguish because of both their state and what is soon coming.

It is perhaps easy to skim over words of prophecy about coming judgments, but the prophet will not let us do that, as one by one he warns individual towns of what is to come. It is only when we slowly absorb such all-embracing words that we can really start to take in the awfulness of both the spiritual state of the Land and what the Lord was going to have to do to cleanse it and bring the nation back to a state that it should have been. These words are part of divine scripture to teach us and need to be understood.   

D. Application:

1. We need to truly understand the depths to which sin can take a nation.
2. We also need to realise the significance of the Lord’s cleansing work.