Mi 1

• Why could his address to a specific people (Israel/Samaria and Judah/Jerusalem) in history be relevant to a world-wide audience? [The sins of Israel and Judah are a global problem. Everyone, in all times, needs to hear this message.]

3) Still looking at v2: How does Micah describe God and his doings?

• What does “speaking as a witness against you” make you think of?
  [court of law, with God as a prosecution witness. => played out later in the book.]
• How did God speak here as a ‘witness’? [through Micah]
• How does this square with the notion that the saints are accused by the devil?

4) Verse 3 mentions ‘high places’: What was their significance in ancient worship? => 

• What is the meaning of God ‘treading on them’? [The ‘high places’ was where pagan worship happened and where its power was concentrated]

5) vv4-7: Micah sees the judgment that is coming against Israel/Judah as being like a volcano exploding, a natural disaster. What is God judging his people for, vv5&7?

• Where did Micah locate the cause of the trouble?
  [In the capital cities – the seat of authority, power and influence. In fact judgment did come against Samaria first. She was captured and destroyed by the Assyrians in 722BC – in Micah’s lifetime.]
• Much of the OT addresses the problem of idolatry. How did Samaria “gather gifts of prostitutes”, v7? =>
  • What did idolatry go hand-in-hand with in Micah’s days?

6) Look at v8-9: Why does Micah grieve? [Samaria is terminally ill, and her sickness has spread to Jerusalem] =>

• How does Micah’s sorrow at the coming judgment differ from that of some preachers? Why is that?
• How do we respond at the prospect of judgment coming on those who reject God’s word?

7) vv10-16 list several towns in the prosperous hill country around Jerusalem who will fall under judgment (Assyria raided the area in 701BC ). The list starts with Gath (v10) and ends with Adullam (v15).

• v10: ‘Tell it not in Gath’ is a direct quote of 2Sa 1:20 =>
  • What happened there? [King Saul and his son Jonathan died in a crushing defeat by the Philistine army] =>
• v15: Read 1Sa 21:14-22:1. What happened there to king David while he was persecuted by Saul?
• What then did Micah’s reference to Gath and Adullam imply? [By recalling Saul and Jonathan’s deaths in Gath, Micah may imply that their successors will meet a similar fate: As both Saul (the bad?) and Jonathan (the ‘good’) were succeed by David, so Israel’s leaders will be replaced by Messiah. And like David, Israel’s princes (i.e. his sons, ‘the glory of Israel’) will flee to the caves at Adullam, where David had fled to when he was hunted down.

8) In vv10-16, Micah uses word-play. Below are the meanings of each of the town names he mentions. Look at each one in the context of its verse: How does he use the names of these towns to poetic/dramatic effect? (You can see this by exchanging the name for the meaning in each verse)

• v10: Beth-le-aphrah means ‘house of dust’  (they will roll in the dust)
• v11: Shaphir sounds like ‘beautiful’ (the Beauty-town – will be stripped naked in shame and disgrace);
• v11: Zaanan sounds like ‘going forth’ (‘The going-forth town’– but they don’t come out and fight.)
• v11: Beth-Ezel sounds like ‘foundation’ (Foundation-town will be left with no place to stand.)
• v12: Maroth sounds like ‘bitter’ (Bitter-town is looking for goodness, for deliverance from Jerusalem, but finds none.)
• v13: Lachish sounds like ‘steeds/horses’ (Like the horses pulled the chariots of this garrison city, Lachish was the first to drag Judah into the idolatries of the northern kingdom of Israel, thus becoming their downfall instead of their deliverance)
• v14: Moresheth Gath means ‘to be betrothed’ (But instead of marrying her, and receiving a dowry, these towns will be taken away, and instead of receiving they will leave parting gifts).
• v14: Aczib means ‘deception’ (And it will prove to be a deceptive town – it too will not survive)
• v15: Mareshah means ‘conqueror/possessor’ (The conquering town will be conquered)

9) Personal and application

• Do you find this passage convincing that God is in fact merciful and slow to judge? Why or why not? [He sends a prophet – in fact many prophets – to call to repentance; he does not judge and destroy immediately].
• vv3-4 describe God ‘coming down in judgment’. Should we expect something similar when God returns in Christ?
• Do you believe that everyone will be held accountable to God in a final judgment for what they did in this life? Should we fear God’s judgment, and if so how?