Micah 1:10

Micah is thinking about the army from Assyria. It would soon come to Jerusalem. The towns that he mentions are close to Micah’s home town, Moresheth Gath (verse 14). Without those towns, Jerusalem would not be a capital any longer. The *Hebrew word for each town becomes a message about the future. Gath sounds like the *Hebrew word for ‘tell’. In the *Hebrew language, ‘in Acco’ sounds like ‘weep’. Beth Aphrah means ‘House of Dust’. The message might be, ‘Do not tell it in Tell town. Do not weep in Weep town. Roll yourself in the House of Dust.’ The army from Assyria will defeat the people in those towns. Then Jerusalem’s rulers will ‘roll themselves in the dust’. This was a custom that showed complete despair.

In 701 *BC, King Sennacherib advanced towards Jerusalem. He attacked 46 towns and cities, and he took control of them. These included the ones that Micah mentions here. We can understand why Micah felt so much pain. Earlier, David wept and he spoke these same words. David said ‘Do not tell it in Gath’ after Saul and Jonathan died (2 Samuel 1:20).

Gath was a town where people called Philistines lived. Earlier, David did not want the Philistines to be happy about their success. It is the same for Micah. He does not want the enemies (the *Assyrians) to be happy about their success. *Israel is like God’s light to the nations. When the light becomes dark, the nations have no light and no hope.

v11 You people that live in Shaphir, pass on your way. Be naked and ashamed. People that live in Zaanan will not come out. The people in Bethezel will cry. They will take away their support (help) from you (that is, from Judah).