7:1Woe to me! For I have become like [the] gatherings of summer fruit, like gleanings of a vintage. There is no cluster of grapes to eat, [no] early fig [which] my soul desires.
7:2The faithful person has perished from the land [or earth], and there is no-one upright among mankind. All of them lie in wait for blood: a man will hunt his brother [with a] net {Or, [as a thing] devoted to destruction}.
7:3Concerning [the] bad, both hands do [it] good [or well]: the prince [is] asking [for money], and the judge [is seeking] a bribe, and the great man [is] speaking [from] the perversity of his own soul, and they [i.e., all three] weave it [i.e., the perversity] together.
7:4Their good/best is like a brier [i.e., all woven and tangled together], [their most] upright [person is sharper than] a thorn hedge. The day of your watch and your visitation has now come. It will be their confounding.
7:5You (mp) shall not believe in your neighbour, you (mp) shall not trust in your intimate friend. From the one lying in your bosom, guard (ms impv) the opening of your mouth (ms).
7:6For a son disrespects [his] father, a daughter stands against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, the ones opposing a man [are the] men of his house!
7:7So I will watch expectantly for Yahweh. I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.
7:8You shall not (fs) rejoice over me, my enemy (f). Though I have fallen, I got up. Though I will dwell in the darkness, Yahweh [is] light to me.
7:9I will bear the outrage of Yahweh for I have sinned against him, until he who will contend my contention [comes], and he will do my justice. He will bring me out to the light. I will see in his righteousness.
7:10And my enemy will see, and shame will cover her [my enemy], the one who says to me, "Where is Yahweh your (f) God?" My eyes will see her. Now she [Jerusalem/my enemy] will be a place to be trampled, like [the] mud of [the] streets.
7:11[There will come] a day to build your (fs) walls [Jerusalem?]; that day the boundary [or statute] will be distant/removed;
7:12that day he will come as far as you (ms) from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, and from Egypt and as far as [the] river [Euphrates], and [to] sea from sea, and [from] mountain [to] the mountain [Is ‘the’ mountain ‘Mount Zion’? I think so.]
7:13And the land/earth will be for a devastation/waste upon [the basis of] its inhabitants from the fruit of their practices.
7:14Pasture (ms impv) your (ms) people with your staff of your flock, your possession, settling in isolation, a thicket in the midst of a plantation. Let them pasture in Bashan and Gilead like the days of antiquity.
7:15Like the days when you brought out from the land of Egypt, I will show you (ms) wonders.
7:16Nations (mp) will see, and they (mp) will be ashamed of all their strength. They (mp) will set a hand upon [their] mouth. Their ears (fp) will become silent.
7:17They (mp) will lick [the] dust like the serpent, like the crawlers of the earth. They (mp) will [come] quaking from their closures/borders unto Yahweh our God. They (mp) will be in dread and they (mp) will fear you (ms).
7:18 Who is [a] God like you (ms)? Forgiving iniquity and passing over transgression to the remnant of his inheritance. He does not maintain his anger forever. For he delights in unfailing love {hesed}.
7:19He will return. He will love us. He will subdue our iniquities, and you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. You (ms) will give faithfulness to Jacob, steadfast love to Abraham, which you swore to our fathers from former days.
It must have been a very painful job to be a prophet. It was painful because his job was to speak the uncomfortable truth to power. He was sent by God. The people were sinning and needed to be warned. His ministry was one of love. But it was loving like the anti-smoking ads are loving, or the anti-obesity ads, or the anti-speeding or drink driving ads, or the ‘Australia says no to violence against women’ ads. It is tough love. It is painful to watch a person dying of mouth cancer, or to see the aftermath of a high speed car accident. It is horrible to watch a woman with black eyes portraying the results of domestic violence. It’s uncomfortable as a fat person hearing about type 2 diabetes, or seeing a fat person puffing as they chase their kids.
But is it good? Is it necessary in our society? Is it an act of love from one human being to another to tell them the truth? I think most of us would say, ‘yes’.
The prophet’s job was to warn. More often than not, the prophet’s job was to tell of an imminent disaster. Much of the time, the standard response was to shoot the messenger.
He was one of the people called tell people what they didn’t want to hear. They would want him to shut up, to say better things. Eventually they would want him dead.
Many of the prophets grieved over the job they had to fulfill. It was personally costly.
Hosea endured his wife’s adultery. She fathered children to other men. God made sure his disgrace was total by commanding him to call the children names like ‘not mine’ and 'not loved’. Hosea’s marriage was God’s sermon illustration to his people (Hosea chapter 1).
For over a year, Ezekiel lies on his side tied up by Yahweh with ropes. Ezekiel symbolically bore the sin of his people. Cooking his food on cow pats. (Ezekiel chapter 4)[1]. Ezekiel a walking talking visual aid of the pain that was about to come.
Spare a thought for Isaiah. As another sermon illustration, Isaiah goes around naked and barefoot for 3 years. He bares his buttocks to the world, because that is what will happen to the Egyptian and Cushite captives (Isaiah 20).
Perhaps the greatest prophetic sufferer is Jeremiah. God’s call brings him unending suffering and anguish (Jeremiah 15:18)[2]. God forbids him to marry or have children (Jeremiah 16:2). He is betrayed by his own family and friends (Jeremiah 12:6, 20:10). Jeremiah is beaten, put in stocks, imprisoned, thrown in a dungeon, even down a muddy cistern till he sinks up to his waist, expecting to die (Jeremiah 20:1-4; 32:1-7; 37:12ff; 38:1ff). He continually faces death threats (Jeremiah 11:21ff, Jeremiah 18:18ff; 26:8ff; 38:24ff). His prophecies are burned and ignored (Jeremiah 36:26ff). For twenty-three years nobody listened to his message (Jeremiah 25:3). And even after the stuff he prophesied came true, they still refused to listen (Jeremiah 44:14ff). Fellow prophets like Uriah are slaughtered. He lived continually in suspense and fear (Jeremiah 26:20; 15:15). God is ever commanding him to do strange symbolic acts. He is called a mad man (Jeremiah 29:24)[3]. He cries out in complaint to God:
I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me. 8 Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction. So the word of the LORD has brought me insult and reproach all day long. 9 But if I say, "I will not mention him or speak any more in his name," his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot. (Jeremiah 20:7-9 NIV)
The prophets took on both God’s pain, and the pain of the people caused by their sin. The prophet bears the pain of the people, and even their sins.
Chapter 7 leads us from experiencing Micah’s misery as his suffering prophet to seeing that his people will experience pardon through their Shepherd King.
In chapter 7, Micah uses the first-person singular: I, me, my. One of the things we will have to work out is, ‘Who is talking?’ Is Micah talking for himself? Is Micah talking for God? Is Micah talking for Jerusalem? Throughout Micah this feature is a puzzle to be solved[4]. And it is especially so in chapter 7.
Micah stands all alone among the wicked (vv 1 ,7). He has had a fruitless ministry in Jerusalem. Chapter 7 starts with an anguished cry[6], verse 1:
7:1Woe to me! For I have become like [the] gatherings of summer fruit, like gleanings of a vintage. There is no cluster of grapes to eat, [no] early fig [which] my soul desires.
There are two ways you can take the original of verse 1. Many versions take it as Micah likening himself to a farmer going out to find fruit. But there is none. But the original literally reads[7]. ‘Woe to me! For I have become like gatherings of summer fruit, like gleanings of a vintage.’ Micah is likening himself to the fruit, not the farmer. And as far as the fruit of hearing God’s word goes, Micah is all there is.
Only Micah, it seems, has responded to God’s word. At the beginning of the season, Micah himself is the only fruit that can be found. And at the end of the season, Micah is the only fruit that can be gleaned. Micah is all alone, one righteous man among all the sinful[8]. Apart from him, the spiritual crop has completely failed.
Now, we actually know that King Hezekiah did respond to God’s word. He did repent at the preaching of Micah (Jeremiah 26:18-19). But at the time when Micah prophesies, he hasn’t evidenced this. For all that Micah has seen, there has been no response.
Micah stands amongst his people as Christ stands among us. Micah was the only one righteous in a relative sense. Christ is the only one righteous in an absolute sense. Here we see the prophet Micah’s pain in the lack of his people’s response to God and his message. And in this he prefigures Jesus Christ, who grieves over Jerusalem’s willfulness. Jesus Christ approached Jerusalem, and saw the disaster that awaited the city, and wept over it (Luke 19:41-42). Jesus Christ said to the same city to which Micah preached, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” (Luke 13:34 NIV) .
Micah’s pain over Jerusalem, ‘Woe to me’, prefigures Christ’s pain, ‘you were not willing’. And if Micah and Christ himself don’t see a response to their message, should we necessarily expect better from God?
Micah grieves over his people. He makes his diagnosis and gives his prognosis. The diagnosis is chapter 7 verses 2 to 4a.[9].
7:2The faithful person has perished from the land [or earth], and there is no-one upright among mankind. All of them lie in wait for blood: a man will hunt his brother [with a] net {Or, [as a thing] devoted to destruction}. 7:3Concerning [the] bad, both hands do [it] good [or well]: the prince [is] asking [for money], and the judge [is seeking] a bribe, and the great man [is] speaking [from] the perversity of his own soul, and they [i.e., all three] weave it [i.e., the perversity] together. 7:4Their good/best is like a brier [i.e., all woven and tangled together], [their most] upright [person is sharper than] a thorn hedge. The day of your watch and your visitation has now come. It will be their confounding.
Bribery and corruption are rife among the ruling classes. Their sins are described as a brier or a thorn hedge. Their corrupt practices are so entangled that they are impenetrable. So Micah's prognosis is imminent judgment, in the last part of verse 4: " The day of your watch and your visitation has now come. It will be their confounding" (v 4b)[10]. The city of Jerusalem must be destroyed root and branch. And that is what Micah now promises.. You can’t stop the judgment of God, you simply must run to the safe place.
Now, of course, many of us take that safe place as family and friends. A man’s home is his castle. My home is where I go to lick my wounds after a hard day in the embrace of my wife, and in the love of my children. If you were to ask the average Aussie bloke, ‘what’s your religion’, the thoughtful non-churchgoing Aussie, he would say: "Mate, my religion is my family. Don’t talk to me about this God and Jesus and church stuff. Give me something more real, more tangible: being a good bloke, looking after your family, being a mate." That’s Australian religion: friendship, mateship, family.
And Micah says, on the day of judgment, family and friends provide no refuge. As important as family and friends are, they are no safe haven in the face of God’s judgment, verses 5 to 6:
7:5You (mp) shall not believe in your neighbour, you (mp) shall not trust in your intimate friend. From the one lying in your bosom, guard (ms impv) the opening of your mouth (ms). 7:6For a son disrespects [his] father, a daughter stands against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, the ones opposing a man [are the] men of his house![11]
We know that for as much joy and love family provides, we also know that family and friendship are also the arena of pain and anguish. Often family relationships become toxic, and friendship goes wrong. For every story where someone becomes a Christian and their family life improves, there is another where someone becomes a Christian, and family just goes pear shaped
When push comes to shove, on the day of judgment, family can’t help you. Friends can’t help you. It is you and God, one on one. There is no intermediary, no friend, no support network, no safety net, except the one mediator, advocate and friend that God himself has provided, the Lord Jesus Christ. We must put our hope in something that will stand up on the final day: the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus picks up Micah’s prophecy about family life in two places. He warns about the judgment to come when he returns and says: "51Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. 52 From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law" (Luke 12:51-53 NIV). At another time he says,: "21Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 22 All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved…34 "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn "'a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law-- 36 a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.' {36 Micah 7:6} 37 "Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38 and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it" (Matthew 10:21-22, 34-39 NIV).
Jesus intensifies Micah’s prophecy. Micah comes along and says, ‘in the judgment, this is what will happen.’ And then Jesus says, ‘And hey, guess what, I’m the one who brings this about’. And moreover, if you don’t love me more than mum and dad, brother or sister, son or daughter, you are not worthy of me.
I’m surprised that A Current Affair or Today Tonight haven’t got hold of this one. This is Jesus the home wrecker. Jesus says he’s more important than you, your loved ones, your children. Jesus says that he is more important than motherhood and children, than you. Who does he think he is, God or something? Yes, that’s about right.
Now, I’ve got a vested interest in keeping families together. My job in no small way depends on my marriage. . When I used to prepare couples for marriage, mainly non-church couples, I took it as an opportunity to encourage them to build their marriage on Jesus and the bible. I would go through my spiel, that between 1 in 3 to 1 in 2 marriages end in divorce within 10 years. I say that none of us expects be a statistic, but there is a big risk, so I say, ‘prepare, read the bible, do your pre-Marriage preparation. In every marriage that I do I say with the prayer book ‘In marriage a new family is established in accordance with God’s purpose, so that children may be born and nurtured in secure and loving care, for their well-being and instruction, and for the good order of society, to the glory of God’. (AAPB, p561). And I believe it. As a parent, I think the 5th Commandment is a good idea. Honour your father and mother, that it may go well with you in the land that God is giving you. I’m all for families being together.
But with all these concessions admitted, I say this: there is something more important than your family, your mother, your father, your children, your friends, even your wife and your marriage, and yes, even your life itself. You must make an appropriate response individually to your creator and redeemer, Jesus Christ. Your individual eternal destiny is at stake. Name Jesus as your personal Lord and Saviour, and live it out in your life, and your eternal destiny is as secure and sure as his death and resurrection. But say, ‘My religion is my family’, and ‘I’m a good bloke’, and ‘my wife and children are more important than Jesus Christ’ and ‘I don’t need this Jesus stuff and his church’, then the King Jesus of the bible will confront you will this truth:
37 "Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38 and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (Matthew 10:37-39 NIV)
And you will lose them and yourself for a Christless eternity and you will lose your soul in hell.
Look at verse 7 with me[12]: "7:7So I will watch expectantly for Yahweh. I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me."
For the people of Micah’s day, they will watch for the coming of God in terror. Yahweh will bring judgment and confusion upon them. But for Micah, a righteous man amongst the wicked, the coming of Yahweh means salvation. Micah does not put his hope in his family or friends. He has put his hope in the coming of God. He is confident that Yahweh will hear his prayers. Micah sees hope in and through the judgment. For God’s coming means two things: first, judgment for God’s enemies; and second, salvation for those waiting for him.
Jesus likewise looked at the judgment of God lying before him on the cross and saw both things. He saw judgment on God’s enemies: on sin, death and the devil. But he also saw salvation, for himself, in his resurrection from the dead, and salvation for all those in Christ, through his sin bearing death and victorious resurrection. It was for the joy set before him that he endured the cross and scorned its shame.
And that is also what the second coming of Christ means: judgment for the enemies of Christ and salvation for those waiting for Christ. So can I urge you once again, to put your hope in Christ in the face of the coming judgment of God.
In verses 8 to 10 Micah continues to speak in the first person. But the question is, ‘who is speaking?’ Because there seems to be a change in tone. Micah seems to have taken on the persona of Jerusalem, the doomed city. Let me re-read for you Micah chapter 7 verses 8 to 10[13].
7:8You shall not (fs) rejoice over me, my enemy (f). Though I have fallen, I got up. Though I will dwell in the darkness, Yahweh [is] light to me. 7:9I will bear the outrage of Yahweh for I have sinned against him, until he who will contend my contention [comes], and he will do my justice. He will bring me out to the light. I will see in his righteousness. 7:10And my enemy will see, and shame will cover her [my enemy], the one who says to me, "Where is Yahweh your (f) God?" My eyes will see her. Now she [Jerusalem/my enemy] will be a place to be trampled, like [the] mud of [the] streets.
Here is Micah speaking as Jerusalem. Jerusalem is so sure to fall that it is spoken of in the past. Jerusalem is doomed. Sure, there is a hundred-year delay because of Hezekiah’s repentance. But her fate is sealed. Jerusalem shall bear her sin and God’s fierce anger. But her fall will not be final. Jerusalem will rise again from. God will save Jerusalem in his righteousness and bring her up from the grave .
But Micah so identifies himself with his people, that he says ‘I’ all the way through. I have fallen. I rose again. I have sinned against Yahweh. I bear his wrath. Until I will see the light again, and his righteousness. And then I will be victorious.
And that points to another, more than a prophet, who came to Jerusalem; the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus fell and rose again. Jesus so identified with his sinful people, that though he knew no sin, he became sin for us. Jesus so entered into our tragedy that he bore the wrath of God, until he saw the light of life, until he saw justice and light, when God justified him and raised him from the dead. And in so doing, the once fallen one rose again, and triumphed over all his and our enemies. Micah points us to Jesus’ death and resurrection for us.
And so, with its fall and rise, with its death and resurrection, with it having born wrath for its sin but now seeing light and righteousness, a new start comes for the city of Jerusalem. There is hope beyond the destruction of the city. Jerusalem will be restored. It will be a place where people from all the nations take refuge. And then the earth will be judged. Let me read for you Micah chapter 7 verses 11 to 13:
7:11[There will come] a day to build your walls; [on] that day, the boundary will be extended. 7:12On that day [they] will come as far as you from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, even from Egypt and as far as [the] river [Euphrates], and [to] sea from sea, and [from] mountain [to, literally,] the mountain [‘the’ mountain ‘is probably Mount Zion’.] 7:13And the land will be a devastation because of its inhabitants, because of the fruit of their practices. [14][15][16].
The picture here is of the city of Jerusalem rebuilt, but her walls are extended out. The boundaries of the city are to be extended out. And the reason for this becomes plain in verse 12: the city needs to be expanded because of the people who are pouring in. People from near and far, from North, South, East and West pour into Jerusaelm. They come literally to THE mountain, Jerusalem, Mount Zion. Mount Zion is the mountain that Micah said in chapter 4 verses 1 and 2 will be raised above every other mountain, and many people will pour in. And then the earth is laid waste. Verses 13, after those who have been saved have fled to the safety of Jerusalem, those of the nations who have not entered the expanded boundaries of Jerusalem are judged with desolation because of their evil deeds.
And who are those who have fled the judgment of God to the newly built Jerusalem? It is you, if you’ve put your trust in Jesus Christ. The ultimate fulfillment of this prophecy is not the rebuilding carried out under Haggai, Zechariah, Zerubbabel, and Nehemiah. It is not found in taking a pilgrimage to modern day Jerusalem. The present city of Jerusalem is in bondage with her children. Rather, it is found in the words of Paul, in the free Jerusalem that is above (Galatians 4:26). For when we repent towards God and believe in Jesus Christ, we learn from the author to the Hebrews that we have come ‘to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God (Hebrews 12:22 NIV). It is a city we only see with the eye of faith, but which Abraham and Sarah and Isaac and Jacob looked forward to. It is this Jerusalem which John in his Revelation saw descending from God as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband (Revelation 21). And in that city there will be more than enough space for the redeemed from every corner of the globe, people from every nation from every era of humankind.
But with the expansion of Jerusalem, and people from every nation taking refuge, we have two groups: the sheep; and here, it is not the goats but something more sinister, it’s the snakes.
The sheep (vv 14-15; cf 4:6-8; 5:4-5)
Micah introduced the coming shepherd King in chapter 4 verses 8 to 9. A King will come to the daughter of Zion. Former dominion will be restored to Jerusalem. And then again the Shepherd King is mentioned in chapter 5 verses 2-5. Chapter 5 verse 2 tells us that there will be a birth in the home town of David, Bethlehem. Out of Bethlehem will come the ruler of Israel. His origins will be ancient, as ancient as David, son of Jesse, and as ancient as Judah, son of Jacob. And we read in chapter 5 verses 4-5:
4 He [this ruler born in Bethlehem] will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. 5 And he will be their peace (NIV).
We saw that the Shepherd will shepherd is flock securely, And now Micah prays to the Shepherd King, chapter 7 verses 14 to 15 [17]:
7:14Pasture (ms impv) your (ms) people with your staff of your flock, your possession, settling in isolation, a thicket in the midst of a plantation. Let them pasture in Bashan and Gilead like the days of antiquity. 7:15Like the days when you brought out from the land of Egypt, I will show you (ms) wonders.
We saw in verses 11 to 12 that the walls of Jerusalem will be built, and in fact their boundaries will be extended and their area will be expanded. The mention of Bashan and Gilead harkens back to the glory days of Israel. This is a substantial expansion of Jerusalem's territories. And into this expanded city of Jerusalem come people far and wide. It is now populated from a people gathered from sea to sea. And then in verse 13, the earth is laid desolate. And then in verse 14, Micah calls upon the Shepherd King to shepherd his expanded and multi-national people. The city of the new Jerusalem is a massive sheep pen, expanded to perhaps even include Bashan and Gilead. So effective is the desolation of the earth, and so safe and secure is the flock, that the flock "lives by itself’, in other words, there are no threats surrounding it. The sheep are at peace, cared for by their shepherd King.
You will remember that Moses brought the people up out of Egypt into the promised land. His first victory was over two kings, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og King of Bashan. He won from these two kings great tracts of fertile grazing land: Bashan and Gilead. Of course, when Micah writes, the two areas of Gilead and Bashan were no longer Israelite land. They came under Assyrian control by at least 722 BC. But now, Micah speaks of a time when the Shepherd from Bethlehem, the Davidic King, will expand the walls of Jerusalem to include the best pasture lands. Gilead and Bashan will once again come under a Son of David[18]. The whole land, even the most northerly part, will have the protection that Jerusalem has. And that protection is not just the walls of Jerusalem surrounding them, but their protection is that they are sheep of the Shepherd King, the Son of David who rules over them.
The snakes (vv 16-17)
But there is another group that crawls out of the devastated earth. They come from their borders as from holes in the ground. They come trembling in fear. So we read in verses 16 to 17[19]:
7:16Nations (mp) will see, and they (mp) will be ashamed of all their strength. They (mp) will set a hand upon [their] mouth. Their ears (fp) will become silent. 7:17They (mp) will lick [the] dust like the serpent, like the crawlers of the earth. They (mp) will [come] quaking from their closures/borders to Yahweh our God. They (mp) will be in dread and they (mp) will fear you (ms).
Here the nations slither out and crawl prostrate before Yahweh. These are not the sheep that gather in the expanded Jerusalem. These are the snakes. They are not those reconciled as recipients of God’s grace. They come as those exposed by the devastation of the earth in verse 13. Their hiding places are exposed. The war is lost. So they crawl out of their holes, hands on their heads, and come trembling to Jerusalem as Yahweh’s defeated enemies, with nothing to expect but wrath and anger. They are not coming as God’s penitent people. They come as defeated enemies of God’s people, whose hiding places are all destroyed. The book of Revelation describes the same event:
Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16 They called to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?" (Revelation 6:15-17 NIV)
Friends, don’t wait to meet the Shepherd King in his wrath as an enemy. Embrace him today in his love as Shepherd King.
It is God’s judgment on his enemies that brings into sharp relief the great gift of forgiveness. For where is God’s forgiveness and mercy to be seen in all it’s richness? It is in contrast with his just judgment of his enemies. And so Micah finishes in praise of Yahweh, who forgives the remnant of his people. Micah’s last word is that ‘mercy triumphs over judgment’. Let's read Micah 7:18-20: [20].
7:18 Who is [a] God like you, forgiving iniquity and passing over transgression to the remnant of his inheritance? He does not maintain his anger forever, for he delights in unfailing love [hesed]. 7:19He will return. He will love us. He will subdue our iniquities, and you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. You will give faithfulness to Jacob, steadfast love to Abraham, which you swore to our fathers from former days.
Here is the wonder of God’s forgiveness of wickedness, rebellion and sin. The remnant of Israel who have flocked to the new Jerusalem, together with those from the nations who have fled to the Shepherd King from the nations, God does not stay angryat them forever. Those from the far off mountains who have come to THE mountain, Mount Zion, raised above all the mountains, for those in the new Jersualem, and them alone, God delights to show them mercy. Here is wonder of divine election, not according to what they’ve done, but according to his mercy. God has bound all people to disobedience so that he might have mercy on them all. And from his flock, the good shepherd removes their sins.
There are two pictures of forgiveness in verse 20 worth pondering. First, God treads the sins of his people underfoot. The sins of God’s elect are like a used cigarette butt. They are like cockroaches underfoot. They are thrown away as refuse. Second, Yahweh takes our all our iniquities and hurls them into the depths of the sea. This is what happens with most of Sydney’s sewage. After it gets treated and disinfected for a while, it gets pumped out a few kilometers offshore. And there in the deepwater ocean outfall, it is diffused in the depths of the ocean. And that is what God does with our sins. He flushes our iniquities, treats them and disinfects them at the cross of his Son, and then pumps them kilometers off shore to be dispersed into the very depths of the unfathomable ocean of his mercy, kindness, and grace.
Who is a God like Yahweh, who is revealed to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Who is the God who takes our sin and wickedness on himself in such a way? It is our Lord Jesus Christ, he who knew no sin but became sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. God was in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. There is no one like the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He is Holy, Holy, Holy. Elector, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, deserving of our eternal praise.
Let’s pray.
[1] Or again, God widows Ezekiel, taking away his beloved wife. Then Yahweh then tells Ezekiel not to mourn for her, because that is what will happen to the people (Ezekiel 24:15-27).
[2] He says: ‘Oh, my anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain. Oh, the agony of my heart! My heart pounds within me (Jeremiah 4:19 NIV; cf 6:11). He says, ‘Since my people are crushed, I am crushed; I mourn, and horror grips me.’ (Jeremiah 8:21 NIV; cf 23:9). He weeps for them again and again: ‘Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night for the slain of my people’ (Jeremiah 9:1 NIV; cf Jeremiah 13:17; 14:17). Like Job, he curses the day of his birth; he wishes he had been killed in the womb (Jeremiah 20:14-18).
[3] He makes a yoke and wears it around the place as a sermon illustration (Jeremiah 27:2ff). While in prison during the siege of Jerusalem, and while he keeps telling Jerusalem that they’re going to lose, God tells him to buy a field, another sermon illustration (Jeremiah 32:6ff).
[4] Compare 1:6-7 (Micah for YHWH) with 1:8 (Micah for himself, weeping and howling); in 3:1, he speaks from Yahweh, yet in 3:8 he clearly speaks as Micah himself, then in 3:13, Micah returns to speak on behalf of Yahweh. The ‘I’ in 5:10-15 and 6:1-5 is YHWH. In 6:6-7 it is Micah speaking as a righteous worshipper. In 6:11, the ‘I’ stands for a corrupt Israelite. In 6:13-16, ‘I’ is YHWH again.
[5] Anderson & Freedman, 563, note a chiasm in terms of person:
1st person (v 1)
3rd person (vv 2-3)
2nd person (v 5)
3rd person (v 6)
1st person (v 7)
Thus I include verse 7 with verses 1-6. Verses 1-6 outline rife unfaithfulness and sinfulness. Only Micah is good and upright. There seems to be no fruit to his ministry. He calls to a people who don’t listen and therefore who are unfruitful. Thus he uses universalistic language. Micah is at once one with God in his condemnation (note ‘they’ and ‘you’, not ‘we/us’ language) but also there is a type of oneness Micah has with his people, because he is part of the crop that has failed. Thus, the prophet is alone as an early fruit which is not followed with a harvest, because everyone does evil.
[6] Micah has already shown his own grief. In chapter 1 verse 8 Micah wails and howls and mourns and laments because Samaria’s fate has reached Judah.
[7] The NIV also represents the understanding of Andersen & Freedman and Waltke, and the LXX. This is hard to understand, as literally 7:1 says, ‘Woe to me! For I have become like gatherings of summer fruit, like gleanings of a vintage.’ The prophet is the one who is likened to the first fruits, not the harvester of the first fruits.
[8] And just as in chapter 6 verses 14 to 16, Micah warned of the crop failing as punishment for sin. So now, the spiritual crop has failed.
[9] The kind person has perished from the earth, and there is no-one upright in Adam. All of them lie in wait for blood, a man will hunt his brother [with a] net [Or, [as] devoted to destruction]. Concerning bad, both hands do [it] good, the prince asking [for money], and the judge [asking for money] in return [for judgment], and the great man speaking the desire of his own soul. And they [ie all three] weave it [ie the desire] together. 4Their good is like a brier [ie all woven together], [their] upright [person] [come] from a thorn hedge.
[10] Literally, The day of your (ms) watching closely, of your (ms) visitation/punishment, has come. Now their consternation/confounding will occur. Verse 4b is difficult. Is this addressed from Micah to God, from God and Micah to the people, or from God to Micah? Probably it is addressed from God and Micah to the people.
[11] 7:5You (mp) shall not believe in your neighbour, you (mp) shall not trust in your intimate friend. From the one lying in your bosom, guard (ms impv) the opening of your mouth (ms). 6For a son is disrespecting [his] father, a daughter standing against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, the ones opposing a man [are] men of his house!
[12] Literally, 7And I will watch closely/expectantly for [lit in] YHWH, I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me[12].
[13] 8You shall not (fs) rejoice over me, my enemy (f). Though I have fallen, I got up. Though I will dwell in the darkness, YHWH [is] light to me. 9I will bear the outrage of YHWH, for I have sinned against him, until he who will contend my contention [comes], and he will do my justice. He will bring me out to the light. I will see in his righteousness. 10And my enemy will see, and shame will cover her [my enemy], the one saying unto me, ‘Where is YHWH your (f) God?’ 10bMy eyes will see (fp) by/through/in her [my enemy]. Now she [Jerusalem/my enemy] will be for a place to be trampled, like mud of [the] streets.
[14] ‘The repetition of the/that day signifies that the three activities – the building of the enclosure, the expanding of its limits, and the coming of the peoples within it – belong together: Waltke, Micah: TNTC, 204.
[15]11[There will come] a day to build your (fs) walls [Jerusalem?]; that day the boundary [or statute] will be distant/removed; 12that day he will come as far as you (ms) from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, and from Egypt and as far as [the] river [Euphrates], and [to] sea from sea, and [from] mountain [to] the mountain [Is ‘the’ mountain ‘Mount Zion’? I think so]
[16] Literally, 13And the land/earth will be for a devastation/waste upon [the basis of] its inhabitants from the fruit of their practices.
[17] 14Pasture (ms impv) your (ms) people with your staff of your flock, your possession, settling in isolation, a thicket in the midst of a plantation. Let them pasture in Bashan and Gilead like the days of antiquity. 15Like the days when you brought out from the land of Egypt, I will show you (ms) wonders.
[18] Bashan and Gilead are part of the highly contested Golan Heights, which Israel annexed in 1967.
[19] Literally, 16Nations (mp) will see, and they (mp) will be ashamed of all their strength. They (mp) will set a hand upon [their] mouth. Their ears (fp) will become silent. 17They (mp) will lick [the] dust like the serpent, like the crawlers of the earth. They (mp) will [come] quaking from their closures/borders unto YHWH our God. They (mp) will be in dread and they (mp) will fear you (ms).
[20] 18 Who is [a] God like you (ms)? Forgiving iniquity and passing over transgression to the remnant of his inheritance. He does not maintain forever his anger. For he delights in unfailing love {hesed}. 19He will return. He will love us. He will subdue our iniquities, and you will cast into the depths of the sea all their sins. You (ms) will give faithfulness to Jacob, steadfast love to Abraham, which you swore to our fathers from former days.