God’s Special People (Micah)

Lección 7:

KEY TEXT

(Miq. 6:8).

THIS WEEK, WE WILL SEE AGAIN THE HANDS OF THE LORDALWAYS OPEN TO FORGIVE AND LOVE HIS PEOPLE

Micah, as did Isaiah, carried on his prophetic ministry in the critical period of the latter half of the 8th century b.c., when Assyria was the dominant world power. In his own country Jotham, the king of Judah, when he began his prophetic ministry, “did that which was right in the sight of the Lord,” although the people of his kingdom “sacrificed and burned incense still in the high places” (2 Kings 15:34, 35). Ahaz, Jotham’s son and successor, went the full length of idolatry, even burning “his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen” (2 Chron. 28:3). He did not hesitate to rearrange and change the brazen altar of burnt offering, and the laver, and to place within the sacred Temple precincts an idolatrous altar which he saw at Damascus (2 Kings 16:10–12, 14–17). These and other iniquitous acts against the true worship of the Lord made Ahaz probably the most idolatrous king who had reigned over Judah. During the time of this spiritual declension among the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judah, Micah exercised his prophetic office. The contents of his book set forth the moral and religious conditions among the people during the reigns mentioned. (SDA Bible Commentary, Introduction to Micah)

“Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked; I will make a

wailing like the jackals and a mourning like the ostriches” (Micah1:8)

Why did the prophet moan like that?

Micah had mixed feelings about God’s judgment.

On one hand, he had to proclaim the divine judgment and the destruction of his people.

On the other hand, he deeply loved his brothers and identified himself with them.

The pain he felt for his people was shown with great moan and a vehement desire of repentance, so destruction wouldn’t be necessary.

Many prophets from all ages

felt those mixed feelings too.

“I take away from you the desire of your eyes with one stroke; yet you shall neither mourn nor weep, or shall your tears run down”

(Ezekiel 24:15-18)

“in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness—besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches”

(2 Corinthians 11:23-28)

Concern about making the printing work, the Adventist education or the health message go on. Poverty, internal fights…

(Biographical notes of Ellen G. White)

“I am not able to bear all these people alone, because the burden is too heavy for me”

(Numbers 11:10-15)

“the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant… I alone am left”

(1 Kings 19:14)

“For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt”

(Jeremiah 8:21-9:2)

Micah introduces the moral national

scene of Judah during the reign of

Ahaz:

They were always thinking about evil (Mic. 2:1) They coveted and stole; they burdened the poor (Mic. 2:2) They expropriated the widow’s and orphan’s possessions

(Mic. 2:9) They listened to false prophets (Mic. 2:11; 3:5) They hated good and loved evil (Mic. 3:2)

E.G.W. (Conflict and Courage, January 2)

“Repentant sinners have no cause to despair because they are reminded of

their transgressions and warned of their danger. These very efforts in their

behalf show how much God loves them and desires to save them. They have

only to follow His counsel and do His will, to inherit eternal life. God sets the

sins of His erring people before them, that they may behold them in all their

enormity under the light of divine truth. It is then their duty to renounce them

forever”

“Her heads judge for a bribe, her priests teach for

pay, and her prophets divine for money. Yet they lean

on the Lord, and say, “Is not the Lord among us? No

harm can come upon us.”” (Micah 3:11)

Despite all the evil within the people, they still praised God and offered sacrifices. They thought they wouldn’t be destroyed although their works broke the divine Law.

This message must move us to search ourselves and our relationship with God.

Just remember that God “forgives iniquity ” but “He by no means clears the guilty” (Numbers 14:18)

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the

thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One

to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from

everlasting” (Micah 5:2)

The most wonderful mystery is introduced with that brief message: The incarnation of the everlasting God.

And He wasn’t born in a big city or in the bosom of an influential family or surrounded by wealth.

He was born in a humble village in the bosom of a humble family. He lived a humble life: “And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8)

This great truth gives meaning to our lives and brings hope for something greater than anything the world could offer.

“He has shown you, O man, what is good; and

what does the Lord require of you but to do

justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with

your God?”(Micah 6:8)

“There are men who may be represented as

doing justly and loving mercy, but who

have not the true principle within them, the

faith that will lead them to walk humbly

with the Lord. They may seem to have

every specification needed but that of

sanctified faith, but lacking this, they lack

all. The life is not sanctified, and without

this sanctification of motive and purpose, it

is impossible to please God… Each is to

prove in his life his right to the claim he

makes for citizenship in the kingdom of

Christ and of God”

E.G.W. (The Review and Herald, September

30 1909)

“He will again have compassion on us, and will

subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into

the depths of the sea”(Micah 7:19)

The good news presented by Micah is that punishment is never God’s last word. God’s action in Scripture consistently moves from judgment to forgiveness, from

punishment to grace, and from suffering to hope.

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