Micah 1:6-11

SAMARIA TO BE DESTROYED. Micah 1:6-11

RV. Therefore I will make Samaria as a heap of the field, and as places for planting vineyards; and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will uncover the foundations thereof. And all her graven images shall be beaten to pieces, and all her hires shall be burned with fire, and all her idols will I lay desolate; for of the hire of a harlot hath she gathered them, and unto the hire of a harlot shall they return. For this will I lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will make a wailing like the jackals, and a lamentation like the ostriches. For her wounds are incurable; for it is come even unto Judah; it reacheth unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem. Tell it not in Gath, weep not at all: at Bethleaphrah have I rolled myself in the dust. Pass away, O inhabitant of Shaphir, in nakedness and shame: the inhabitant of Zaanan is not come forth; the wailing of Bethezel shall take from you the stay thereof.
LXX. Therefore I will make Samaria as a store-house of the fruits of the field, and as a planting of a vineyard: and I will utterly demolish her stones, and I will expose her foundations. And they shall cut in pieces all the graven images, and all that she has hired they shall burn with fire, and I will utterly destroy all her idols: because she has gathered of the hires of fornication, and of the hires of fornication has she amassed wealth. Therefore shall she lament and wail, she shall go barefooted, and being naked she shall make lamentation as that of serpents, and mourning as of the daughters of sirens. For her plague has become grievous; for it has come even to Juda, and has reached to the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem. Ye that are in Geth, exalt not yourselves, and ye Enakim, do not rebuild from the ruins of the house in derision: sprinkle dust in the place of your laughter. The inhabitant of Sennaar, fairly inhabiting her cities, came not forth to mourn for the house next to her: she shall receive of you the stroke of grief.

COMMENTS

SAMARIA. SCENE OF DESOLATION. Micah 1:6-7

Samaria had been first to succumb to Baal worship. Before Jerusalem, Samaria had first become shot through with sin as a result of false gods. Samaria had chosen to break with the government in God's chosen city, Jerusalem. Samaria would be first to feel the wrath of God against a rebellious people.

Micah had actually seen this destruction in the vision by which the word of God came to him. (Cf. Micah 1:1) His description of it bears the vivid stamp of eyewitness testimony. It is as though his eyes smarted from the dust of falling buildings and the stench of death after battle burned his nostrils. He would live to experience the same terrible desolation again in reality. The land would be overrun in 734 B.C. and the city itself wiped out in 721 B.C. by the armies of Shalmaneser and Sargon II.

Micah's God is not a petty national deity committed unconditionally to support the nation of Israel. He is the transcendent God who has called a man and through him created a people to bless all men. He will not brook flagrant disobedience and turning to strange gods. Indeed He cannot, if His eternal grand design for man is to be redeemed in the Seed of Abraham and fulfilled in a called-out family with Him as head.
Nor is He simply a petulant overlord who is in a rage because He has not had His own way. His wrath springs from much deeper wells. His wrath is His love reacting to that which threatens to thwart His blessing all the nations of the world. If He is to bring this redemption about, what He is about to do to Israel, must be done to preserve the covenant by which the blessing is to come to all.
Samaria, capital of the northern nation and center of her religion has become also the capital of her sin and the center of guilt. So Samaria will become as a heap of the field. as places for planting vineyards.

In the rock-strewn fields of Palestine, such a heap is a common sight, as the farmer gathers the stones into a heap in preparation for planting. The stones of which the once proud city of Samaria was built will be cast into the valley below and piled in heaps. This prophecy of desolation was fulfilled so completely that even these heaps of stones have all but vanished today.

Before the building of Samaria by Omri, the three hundred foot hill on which it stood was a vineyard. Because the city had turned to strange gods and led its people into sin, the site would be returned to its original use.

The hill is surrounded today by terraces, one a narrow wooded mound of earth raised slightly from the hillside. Above it are the marks of smaller terraces which may well be the vestiges of the streets of the city, In place of streets the terraces now support terraced fields,
God will discover the foundations of the city. The foundations are the unseen part of any structure, To find or discover them, it is necessary first to destroy the buildings which rest upon them. One who has walked among the ruins of ancient civilizations knows the familiar sight of such foundations. they are the last remaining ruin of any overthrown city. God will discover them in Samaria by wiping out this capital of idolatry,
All her graven images are to be beaten to pieces. To borrow a phrase from Abraham Lincoln, we have come to the nub of the matter. It is Israel's unfaithfulness to her covenant vow with Jehovah in worshipping these images which was to bring about the ruination of Samaria.

The word hires (Micah 1:7) refers to all that the worshippers of Baal sought to gain from worshipping him, along with the gifts offered to him as acts of worship. The motive in false worship is always personal gain of one type or another, just as true worship is always the abandonment of self to the purpose and service of God.

In laying waste the idols of Israel, God will be destroying the hires of a harlot. In her overthrow, her wealth, gained from spiritual fornication with idols, would go to another harlot. the Assyrian capital of Nineveh.
Micah is not the first to call false religion harlotry, especially when indulged in by the covenant people. (False worship is called harlotry throughout the Bible from its inception in old Babylon.) The allegory is an apt one. The covenant with Israel is treated as a marriage vow; Israel's incessant affairs with Baal as adultery.

Hosea 2:2-13 develops this allegory in the actual marital stress of the prophet's own life. Ezekiel 16 contains two separate versions of the allegory.

In the first, the foundling child becomes the faithless wife of her benefactor. There the emphasis is upon Judah, but the principle is the same, since all of the people flirted with idolatry. The girlchild is left exposed to die. Jehovah passes by and bids her live and flourish. Later, in womanhood, He solemnly marries her and provides her with wealth and status far above her neighbors. She owes all to Him.

In return His bride plays the harlot (Ezekiel 16:15) by offering her children, the children of Jehovah, to idols!

Ezekiel 16'S second allegory centers in Jerusalem. Her sin is said to be worse than Sodom or Samaria, since after all, they were not wives of Jehovah as was she. (Micah, however, does not hesitate to use the same allegory against Samaria since the people in the north as well as those in the south stood under the same divine covenant.)

Similar accusations of unfaithfulness are directed against the covenant people in such passages as Hosea 4:13-14, Amos 2:7-8, Isaiah 30:6, Jeremiah 2:3, etc.

The law required that an unfaithful wife and her lover be put to death. (Deuteronomy 22:22) Israel's unfaithfulness is worse than that of a common prostitute who is paid for her services. She invites her lovers and pays them. (Isaiah 30:6, etc.) Therefore God, Who is righteous in that He always conducts Himself by the same standards which He sets for His people, will punish His faithless wife. (Ezekiel 16:35-43)

The punishment will not be by death. He will expose her to the world and give her over to her lovers, but He will do it to stop her harlotry and save the marriage, i.e. the covenant. This is carefully spelled out by the prophets. The forthcoming downfall of Israel and the captivity of Judah will be followed by a reconciliation. The covenant will once again become the basis of a happy marriage. The temple will be rebuilt, following the captivity, and the remnant of Israel will yet be the means of blessing all the nations of the world through the Seed of Abraham.

THE HUSBAND'S LAMENT. Micah 1:8

God does not enjoy punishing His people. Even though He has no choice but to cast off His faithless bride for a time in order to preserve the marriage, He now says, in effect, this is going to hurt me worse than it does you! Such lamentation ought to put the lie to the theology current in some modern circles which separates the God of the Old Testament from the God of the New Testament on the ridiculous assumption that the God of the Old Testament was not a God of love. There is no pain equal to the pain suffered when love punishes to preserve!

The deep anguish of God over the state of Israel and the necessity to punish her so violently is spelled out in terms of the public mourning customary at the time. In time of deep distress, the bereaved stripped off his sandals (the Septuagint so translates stripped here) and his upper garments (the meaning of naked in these verses). Such barefoot, naked condition was a common sign of mourning. (2 Samuel 15:30)

To lament was to beat the breast in despair to the accompaniment of a loud mournful howl. The sound is here compared to that of the jackals, (rather wild dogs) which howl when deserted like a human cub when left alone and unloved. It is also compared here with the sound of the ostrich which in distress utters a long shrill sighing cry as though in deep hurt. Another similitude may also be intended by the reference to the ostrich: an ostrich hen will occasionally forget her nest, leaving her eggs to be trampled. So has Israel deserted Jehovah. (Cf. Hebrews 10:29 where unfaithfulness to Christ is pictured as trampling under foot the Son of God.)

Micah pictures Jehovah as utterly tormented by the plight of His people and with grief for having to punish them so severely. Although He has been deeply wounded by the unfaithfulness of His bride, He still loves her very much. Yet the purpose for which the marriage had been contracted demands her faithfulness to Him and to bring this about she must be punished. He does not glory in her impending suffering. He is more torn by it than she!
It would be difficult to find a more vivid example of what it means to hate sin and love sinners. The old cliche of the wife deserting her husband for his best friend is exceeded here when Israel deserts God for His worst enemy. Baal. Yet he does not hate her. He despises her sin. Even in the punishment there are overtones of forgiveness!
How much more we would appreciate our relationship to God if we could but understand how very much He loves us! How much more we would be like Him. and worthy to be called His children. if we could learn to so love in spite of sin.

THE PURPOSE OF THE PUNISHMENT. Micah 1:9

Leaving the allegory of the faithless wife and the injured husband, the Lord, through Micah, now reveals His ultimate concern. The infection of Samaria is spreading like a deadly contagion to Judah. to the Chosen City itself. If the Covenant of Promise is to be redeemed, the infection must be stopped. Since it is already incurable, it must be destroyed.
Moral decay resulting from false religion bears the seed of its own destruction. In the case of Samaria it was time for surgery. The northern kingdom was wiped out, its people scattered, and there was never to be a return.

There is the hope that, seeing the destruction of Samaria, Judah would repent. As the infection, so the therapeutic destruction reached as far as the capital gates when the armies of Sennacherib camped outside the walls. (Isaiah 36:1; Isaiah 37:33-37) God's punishment came step by step, leaving time for repentance. The defeat of Samaria and the scattering of her people, the halting of Sennacharib short of a conquest of Jerusalem were designed to call Jerusalem to her knees in contrition, to turn her away from the idolatry and insuing abandonment of morality which had become uncurable in the north.

But Jerusalem would not repent. She was taken captive to Babylon so that God, through suffering, might force the remnant back to Himself that the covenant might be fulfilled through them.

PUNISHMENT EXTENDED TO GATE OF JERUSALEM. Micah 1:10-12

The punishment of God against the northern kingdom is not to stop at Samaria. It will rather roll like a relentless tide until it dashes against the very walls of Jerusalem. This is depicted dramatically by Micah as he lists one village after another, each one slightly nearer Jerusalem.
He begins with Gath, one of the five cities of the Philistines, on the northern borders of Judah and proceeds through Bethle-aphrah, Shaphir, Zaanan, Bethezel and Maroth. The coming invasion by Sennacharib is presented in all its terror as one village after another falls before him, the refugees from one finding no succor in the next.

Tell it not in Gath! Gath, the city of the Philistines. how the Philistines would delight to hear of the destruction of the Hebrews. The prophet's words are an echo of David's lament over the death of Saul and Jonathan. (2 Samuel 1:20) Weep not at all. Do not reveal to the enemies of God's people your inner feelings. lest they rejoice!

From Gath the invaders would sweep south. At Bethle-aphrah have I rolled myself in the dust. This is the only mention of Bethleaphrah in the Bible. Its name is a play on words. meaning literally city of dust. (An appropriate name for many Judean villages!) Rolling in the dust was one of many customary forms of mourning, similar to another such practice. that of sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

From Bethle-aphrah the disaster mounts to Shaphir, a village of Judah which lay between Eleutheropolis and Ashkelon. The name means fair. Pass away, O inhabitants of Shaphir, in nakedness and shame. Nakedness again is to be understood as the removal of the upper garment as a sign of mourning. That which was once fair would stand naked and ashamed in the judgement of the Lord!

The inhabitant of Zaanan is not come forth. Zaanan has not been definitely identified by archeologists. It is probably the same as Zenan, located east of Ashkelon. (Joshua 18:22) Its people cannot come forth to console the refugees from the north because they are themselves in the path of Sennacharib. This is reminiscent of Jeremiah's warning, Thus saith Jehovah, Behold a people cometh from the north country; and a great nation shall be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth. They lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea, and they ride upon horses, every one set in array, as a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Zion. We have heard the report thereof; our hands wax feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, and pangs as of a woman in travail. Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy, and terror, are on every side. O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; for the destroyer shall suddenly come upon us. (Jeremiah 6:22-26)

The wailing of Bethezel shall take from you the stay thereof, Bethezel may be the same as Azal. (Zechariah 14:5) The stay thereof is taken away. That is to say, Bethezel, itself smitten, cannot sustain those who flee from the destruction on the plains. There is no more security near Jerusalem. The rout is complete.

WARNINGS TO JUDAH. Micah 1:12(b)-16

RV. For the inhabitant of Maroth waiteth anxiously for good, because evil is come down from Jehovah unto the gate of Jerusalem. Bind the chariot to the swift steed, O inhabitant of Lachish: she was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion: for the transgressions of Israel were found in thee. Therefore shalt thou give a parting gift to Moreshethgath; the houses of Achzib shall be a deceitful thing unto the kings of Israel. I will yet bring unto thee, O inhabitant of Mareshah, him that shall possess thee: the glory of Israel shall come even unto Adullam. Make thee bold, and cut off thy hair for the children of thy delight: enlarge thy baldness as the eagle; for they are gone into captivity from thee.
LXX. Who has begun to act for good to her that dwells in sorrow? for calamities have come down from the Lord upon the gates of Jerusalem, even a sound of chariots and horsemen: the inhabitants of Lachis, she is the leader of sin to the daughter of Sion: for in thee were found the transgressions of Israel. Therefore shall he cause men to he sent forth as far as the inheritance of Geth, even vain houses; they are become vanity to the kings of Israel; until they bring the heirs, O inhabitants of Lachis: the inheritance shall reach to Odollam, even the glory of the daughter of Israel. Shave thine hair, and make thyself bald for thy delicate children; increase thy widowhood as an eagle; for thy people are gone into captivity from thee.

COMMENTS

The warning of Micah to Judah, concerning the fall of Samaria and the northern kingdom, is that the punishment from the north is to extend through the Philistine plain to the gates of Jerusalem. In Micah 1:6-11 we saw the encroachment from Samaria's viewpoint. In Micah 1:12-15 we see the invasion of the northern kingdom from the vantage point of several Judean towns which are so situated as to be in the path of Sargon. We might have expected the overthrow of the north to end at the boundary between Israel and Judah, but the conqueror was not so neat in his concerns. Certain towns which lay south of the border would, largely for reasons of topography, be taken along with the northern kingdom. Whatever the attitude of the southern kingdom toward this violation of its territory, it was in no position to do much about it.

The cities mentioned are in the Philistine plain of Shephelah in northwestern Judah, and are the home territory of the prophet Micah. Moresheth-gath was Micah's home town. One can imagine the anguish of heart that came to the prophet as, in a vision, he saw the destruction of people and places filled with personal nostalgia and memories.
The first of the cities of the Philistine plain mentioned is Maroth. The name means bitterness. The city is known in modern times as Unman. It is located in the hill country bordering the plain of Sephelah near Beth-anoth and Eltekon. (Cf. Joshua 15:59)

As with each of the cities and towns named here, there is a play on the literal meaning of the name Morath. The people of Morath (bitterness) are anxiously waiting for the good. There is no bitterness like that felt by those who wait in the path of an invading army, hoping against hope for the intervention of a delivering force. Since this is apparently the first city below the border and on Judean territory to be invaded, the citizenry would no doubt hope for the army of the southern kingdom to intervene on their behalf. In bitterness they waited eagerly for help (goodness). but none came.
To those who stood in the path of the invader, it would seem that Sargon was the originator of their woes. The prophet sees otherwise. That which is to happen, which he has seen already happening in his vision, is come down from Jehovah. It is punishment, first for sin, and secondly for failing to heed the prophets.
The anxiety of the citizens of Morath over their own plight would be eclipsed by their awareness that Jerusalem itself was threatened.?
The next mentioned city in the line of march is Lachish. The literal meaning of Lachish is swift beast. Again there is a play on words in the original text. The inhabitants of Lachish (swift beast) are warned to hitch their swift steed to the chariot. There would be need for speed if any were to successfully flee before the invading host.

Lachish is located at the site of today's Tel-el-Hesey, about sixteen miles east of Gaza and slightly north. (Cf. Joshua 15:39 and Jeremiah 34:7) Her punishment is just, in that she was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion.

We are not sure in what sense Lachish was the beginning of sin. Some have thought this was one of Solomon's chariot towns. (1 Kings 9:19; 1 Kings 10:26) If so, the people of Lachish would have been among the first in Israel to be introduced to the false sense of security which comes from the dependance upon military arms rather than upon the might of Jehovah.

It seems more likely that Lachish was the beginning of sin in that she had been among the first cities of the southern kingdom to participate in the newly minted idolatry of Jeroboam. (1 Kings 12:16-29)

Whatever the reason, Micah makes Lachish responsible as the beginning of corruption and idolatry in Judah. The term daughter of Zion is a personification of all the people of Judah and of Jerusalem in particular. The implication is that Judah has been infected with Israel's sin and that Lachish is the carrier.

Even though Lachish is a fortified city, Reoboam having made it so by surrounding it with double walls, battlements and towers, it would not escape the judgment of God at the hands of Sargon.

Micah's home town, Moresheth-gath, is next on the list of cities receiving the prophetic warning. It is difficult to know just who is being addressed in Micah 1:14(a). There is apparently no historic connection between Lachish and Moresheth-gath and so no reason apparent why such a statement should be directed to Lachish. It seems more likely that you must give parting gifts is directed to Judah who must watch another Judean town overrun in the downfall of the northern kingdom.

It was (and still is) customary in that part of the world for members of the family to bring goodbye gifts to a daughter who has been given in marriage, and especially to one whose marriage will take her to a far away place never to be seen again by her family. The goodbye to Moresheth-gath will be like that. permanent.
The literal meaning of Moresheth is possession, and again, in the giving of gifts, there is the play on words which is typical of this passage.

Achzib is mentioned, along with Mareshah, in Joshua 15:44. It may be the Chezeb of Genesis 38:5 and also the Cozeba of 1 Chronicles 4:42. It is probably to be identified with modern Aen-Kezbah, situated eight miles north and east of Beit Jibrin in the Philistine plain.

The plural houses of Achzib, is taken by some to indicate two Achzibs. If so it would be translated the two Beth-Achzib. If this is true, the second Achzib is probably the one mentioned in Joshua 21:29 and Judges 1:13. It is located in Asher and situated at or near the present site of Ez-zib on the coast between Acco and Tyre.

As with the other locations mentioned here, the name Achzib is a play on words. The Hebrew form of the word is akhzabh, meaning a deceitful thing. It is applied in Jeremiah 15:18 to a stream which seasonally dries up and which would deceive a weary traveler who expected to refresh himself. (Compare Job 6:15)

So Achzib shall be a deceitful thing to the king of Israel. The members of the royal family, fleeing to the town or towns of Beth Ach-achzib will not find a way of escape or refreshment.
It might be well to recall just here, that Sargon claims to have carried off only some 27,000 people from the northern kingdom. If so, it was the members of the royal family along with the social, political and cultural leaders. In this way the conquered people would be leaderless and unlikely to rebel. The flavor of fleeing royalty is found throughout the prophecies of the downfall of Israel.

In Micah 1:15 we again find the usual play on words; this time found in the use of yoresh, him that shall possess, with Mareshah, a possession. Joshua 15:44 pictures Moreshah as located near Achzib. Archeologists identify it with a ruin called Merash near Beit-Jibrin. about one mile to the south.

The Israelites had taken the city from the Canaanites. It will once more be possessed by a new possessor.
Adullam identified with the ruins at present day Aid-el-ma, three miles southeast of Soco and northeast eight miles from Mareshah, is, in a sense, the high water mark of the invasion at the time of the fall of Israel. Later, the entire southern kingdom would fall to Sennacharib, but for the present, the Assyrian tide stops here.

Adullam, as its location indicates, is in the lowlands of Judah (Joshua 15:55) and is characterized by an abundance of caves. It was here that David had fled from Saul. (1 Samuel 22:1 -ff)

Now, centuries later, the same caves are to provide refuge for the northern nobility as they flee before the Assyrians. If there is to be a safe hiding place it will be here. So the glory of Israel i.e. the valuables which are to be hidden from foreign plunder, are to come to the caves of Adullam.

Self-inflicted baldness was a symbol of mourning among the worshippers of Baal. (Amos 8:10, Isaiah 3:24) It is forbidden in the Law of Moses, Leviticus 19:27-28 and Deuteronomy 14:1) probably because it was associated with the surrounding paganism. The demand that those here receiving the punishment of Jehovah shear their heads and the heads of their children is repeated three times for emphasis. The punishment is essentially for worshipping pagan gods. The fitting form of mourning for such is the mourning practiced by the original worshippers of Baal.

The word eagle in the English translation is misleading. The bird referred to here is probably the Carrion Vulture which populates Egypt (where it was worshipped) and Palestine. Its head is completely bald in front, and has only a very thin covering in back. Micah's rebuke is vivid and scathing.
The terrors of war have not changed. Insert new names for the towns and villages in this passage and we have a description of Europe cringing before Atilla the Hun, or Hitler. and of the people of the East trembling before the Japanese Imperial Army as it advances down the Pacific island chain toward Australia. Or, to make the allegory more contemporary yet. here is a picture of the Czech people shuddering as the Russian tanks roll by, or of Yugoslavia and Hungary bracing for a similar invasion.
The difference is that the invasion of Sargon and later of Sennacharib had been announced in advance by the prophets of God. They had been made aware that the pillage of war was their just punishment for having been unfaithful to God. Perhaps it is only this awareness that distinguishes them from more recent victims of conflict.

Chapter VIQuestions

First Cycle

1.

What evidence does Micah give in the early verses of his book concerning God's universal concern for all men?

2.

The term the people is used frequently to designate ____________.

3.

The term the nations indicates ____________ in contrast to the people.

4.

What long precedent does Micah have for his use of earth and all that therein is to call the whole world to listen to God's indictment of His covenant people?

5.

____________, Micah's contemporary, uses the same phrase.

6.

What two reasons are apparent for God's concern that the earth and all that is in it hear His charge?

7.

Who is the star witness for the prosecution against God's unfaithful people?

8.

Show how Stephen's defense (Acts 7) seconds the accusation of Micah against the people.

9.

Discuss, in connection with Micah 1:2(c)-3(a), God is not an absentee God.

10.

What is signified by the term high places (Micah 1:3(b))?

11.

Discuss Micah's statement that the mountains shall melt and the valleys melt like wax. Micah 1:4

12.

The purifying wrath of God against the people is to be occasioned by ____________ and ____________.

13.

Trace the eight ways in which the name Israel is used historically in the Bible.

14.

What is meant by pre-exilic? by post exilic?

15.

Trace the Biblical history of the name Judah and its development into the word Jew.

16.

Describe the situation of the city of Samaria.

17.

How is Samaria the transgression of Jacob?

18.

How is Jerusalem the sin of Judah?

19.

Both Je and Baal mean ____________.

20.

Compare the sins of the northern and southern kingdoms.

21.

Why was Samaria to be first to feel God's wrath?

22.

Discuss the significance of Samaria's graven images.

23.

How is spiritual harlotry an apt allegory of idolatry?

24.

How does the lament of Micah 1:8 relate to our understanding that the God of the Old Testament is the same loving God as that of the New Testament?

25.

What is the purpose of the punishment promised by Micah?

26.

The warning of Micah to Judah is ____________.

27.

List the cities of the Philistine plains mentioned by Micah. Locate them on a map.

28.

Micah's home town was ____________.

29.

Why did Sargon carry off the social, political and cultural leaders of Israel?

30.

Self-inflicted baldness by the worshippers of Baal was a symbol of ____________.