Hope of salvation
1) vv1-4a: Why was Micah dejected?
- v1: Why did Micah compare himself to a vine after the harvest and to a fig tree?
- What curse of sin and idolatry was spelled out in the preceding passage? [no fruit of the Spirit, even in Israel, cf Mt 22:18-19]
- vv2-4: How many did he find to be not guilty, in Israel or abroad? How about the best of them? Or if you have someone to be sufficiently intimate, will that increase chances that (s)he will be above without vice, v4a? cf Ro 3:10-12.19 (quoting Ps 14 & 53)
- Why did Micah refuse to simply put up with this like everyone else and move on? Was it just his morbid character, taking pleasure in accusing?
- Why does God’s word relentlessly expose human wickedness for what it is? [The law condemns all to reveal our need for Christ Ro 3:23-24 & Ro 10:4]
2) Do vv4b-6 extend the list of sins, or do they describe their punishment?
- What forms of punishment are described here? [Confusion, betrayal, loneliness]
- How can confusion be a form of judgment? [Confusion (of language) was the first judgment of mankind, Gen 11:7; God also confused Israel’s enemies: Ex 23:27; Deut 7:23; 1 Sa 7:10; Under the curse of the law, confusion is also part of God’s judgment of unbelieving Israel, Deut 28:20-28]
3) vv7-9: Why and how did Micah in this final chapter speak of himself all of a sudden?
- What did he identify above as the cause of his own personal distress?
- Did he blame his own unfruitfulness (v1) for Israel’s ungodliness (vv2-8)?
- Why did he do that? cf Isa 6:4-7
- Why did neither of these great prophets consider themselves as more deserving and superior to the people they were addressing? What kept them humble?
- vv7-9: After his cry ‘Woe to me’ (v1), did Micah find any comfort at all? How (or when)?
- v7: How did he cast himself on the mercy of God?
- v8: Why future tense that ‘The Lord will be light to me’?
- What caused Micah to have such confidence that God was indeed his God and Savior (v7)? cf Heb 6:18
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- v9: How did he resolve to cope with the calamities that were to befall him together with Israel?
- Do God’s people still have to bear consequences of their sins, despite being forgiven? cf 2 Sa 12:14
- How did Micah find courage to bear such ‘indignation’ as coming ‘of the Lord’?
- v9: How did he resolve to cope with the calamities that were to befall him together with Israel?
4) What are vv10-13 about? [Vindication of Israel by God’s judgment of her enemy]
- Who could be the enemy mentioned in v10 (and already v8)? (her gender in Hebr. is female: Rules out that Micah may have meant Satan]
- Does Micah speak of:
- a specific person as a personal opponent?
- or of one nation hostile to Israel [e.g. Chaldeans, according to Jerome (Hieronimus) and others following this ancient commentator]
- or of an apostate church persecuting a faithful remnant? [e.g. Gill]
- => to find out, look what led Micah to mention this enemy:
- triumphant joy about his own prevailing over her?
- (deferred) hope that one day in the future she will be judged, after a remnant of Jacob will return (Mi 5:7-8)? => from where? [v12: from many nations=seas and kingdoms=mountains]
- whose judgment are vv11-13 talking about? [v13, [Inhabitants of the ‘earth’: cf Rev 13:11-12, where a ‘beast arising from the earth’ (apostate church) aids the ‘beast from the sea’ (nations), Rev 13:1. Also in chapter 5, i.e. in the 2nd cycle of pronouncing judgment and restoration, Micah spoke of hope in the same context of persecution of the faithful by an apostate movement, Mi 5:1]
- Does Micah speak of:
5) vv14-17: What is this metaphor of the Shepherd’s rod all about? What use did Micah foresee for a rod (or staff)?
- Was Micah thinking of Ps 23:4, or rather in the language of Ps 2:9, or both?
- How is the staff/rod of the shepherd a comfort for the sheep? [Because it defends them against the wolves and lions]
- Where and when did Micah expect Messiah to so rule and use his rod to threaten nations and smite them with fear?
- From a Jerusalem on earth for 1000 years after his descent from heaven
- Or after his rejection and ascension to heaven? cf Mi 5:3-4; 5:10
- 7:19 Before the iniquities of the remnant of Jacob have been removed, or after? [Micah speaks of the rule of Christ from heaven from where he administers his judgment of the nations, cf Rev 19:11-16. Supremacy of a militant Israeli state predicted in Mi 5:8-9 is part of that, even though it must in the end give way to something greater on the day when Christ returns to make an end to all iniquity, Mi 5:10-15]
6) vv18-20: What was Micah’s hope even beyond restored Israeli statehood and military security?
- v18: What led him to call out: ‘Who is a God like you…’ (a bit like Paul’s famous doxology in Ro 11:33)? What did he discover as so unparalleled by any gods of any religion?
- v19: How will God go beyond mere ‘tolerance’ or ‘longsuffering’ of the sins of his people?
- ‘Steadfast love’ is mentioned twice (vv18+20):
- As something God expects, or as something he takes pleasure to give?
- How does normal and steadfast love differ from each other?
- v20: What is said to guarantee this unwavering love of God? => By inference, what CANNOT guarantee it?
- that e.g. the writer of Hebrews could
- Heb 11:39-40 says of OT saints that ‘…they did not yet receive what was promised…’. Since already in the Old Testament God’s love was guaranteed by his oath (i.e. not by man’s merit), Mi 7:20, what was still missing in Micah’s time?
7) Personal and application
- vv1-9: What can we learn from Micah’s example of leadership how he viewed himself and how he addressed God’s people by identifying with them?
- How might his example encourage you when you struggle with depression?
- vv10-17: With the Middle East in the news each day and people talking about it, do you find the books of Micah and maybe other OT prophets helpful to interpret what is happening there, or are they rather creating the problem of religious conflict?
- Does the tragic non-ending turmoil in that region lead people to explore and think about biblical promises of non-ending peace
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