November 18, 2020

Micah 
 
Micah 7:18
 
Who is like Jehovah?” That is what Micah means. Evidently his parents wanted to make sure that Micah never forgot that truth. He was reminded of it every time he heard or wrote his name— Who is like Jehovah?” The answer obviously was no one, especially not the false gods of the heathen!
 
He came from Moresheth, a town on the Philistine border and, therefore, constantly threatened by those ancient foes of Israel. And besides the words that he spoke, that is all we know about this man, just his name and his address, and the fact that he was a prophet.
 
We can sense his reaction when God called him: “Me? Why do you want me? After all, you’ve got Isaiah, and he’s a very big prophet indeed. Moreover, he is cousin to the king, he has friends in high places, he is eloquent in the Scriptures, and he has a tremendous grasp of current events. Why do you want me?” The answer, of course, was that the Old Testament Law required a twofold witness before truth could be established.
 
Already the shadow of Assyria lay over the land of the Hebrew people. Weak King Ahaz of Judah, alarmed by the alliance of Syria and Israel against him, and disdainful of Isaiah’s warnings, had appealed to Assyria for help. It was a foolish thing to do, like inviting the cat into the cage to keep peace between the canaries.
 
But if the Assyrians were coming, so was God. His feet would soon be “trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath were stored ”! The worship of Baal, of foul Ashtaroth, and of fierce Moloch had taken over the land. God was coming in wrath. The earth had already begun shake beneath His feet. Volcanoes erupted. The stones cried out. And dark was His path on the wings of the storm.
 
The swirling vortex of the approaching storm was directed at Samaria-beautiful Samaria drowning in the vileness, the violence, and the of its false and futile faiths. Its massive temple of Baal has been paid for by the hire of her harlot priestess.
 
Worse still, all this religious infamy had now been imported into Judah. And neither godly King Hezekiah nor the great and gifted Isaiah could stem the rising tide of wickedness in the land.

Even while, Micah was preaching, weak King Abaz, father of Hezekiah was busy importing a pagan altar from Damascus. Solomon’s great brazen altar was to be pushed out of the way and this heathen altar installed in its place.
 
No wonder the Assyrians were coming, The prophet made puns of the place names, places in the path of the coming conqueror, Puns such as “rolling in the dust at Dust-Town”; “falsehoods paid for at Falsehood Town”: and so on (1: 10, 14). There was, however, another ‘town that told a better tale and Micah is the one who put that town forever on the map. The town was Bethlehem! There, in that little backwoods Judean town, ‘the Christ of God would one day enter into human life. Micah said so.
 
Then Micah remembered an unrecorded and almost forgotten fragment of an old Bible tale. It was the story of Balaam, the Mesopotamian psychic, and his wily employer, King Balak of Moab. Moses had told the ‘tale of Balaam and his sins, his sermons, and his final suggestion. But Micah remembered another sermon this pagan prophet preached. “What would God take as fair payment for my sins?” the King of Moab sked. Then, like a desperate man haggling for something he desires, the king kept on raising his offer. Finally, he reached his limit. He would have his firstborn son on the altar of sacrifice; the fruit of his body for the sin of his soul. “If you wish to buy your salvation, my lord king, the prophet had replied, “then do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly before God.” This was God’s message to His people. But it was too late for Israel. Judgment was on the way.
 
Micah makes one more pun before he puts down his pen, a pun indeed, on his very own name: “Who is a God like unto thee, that delighteth in mercy.’ This was the rainbow shining forth on the wings of the storm, the promise of grace in the midst of wrath to come.

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