Micah 2:4

The strong, rich people in *Israel were thieves. They had taken the fields from the poor people. Now, people that are stronger than the rich people will take those rich people’s fields. The poor people had lost everything. God owns all land everywhere (Psalms 24:1). God gave land to each family in *Israel (Joshua Chapter s 12 to 22). God intended that they should enjoy the land. There, the people could produce the food that they needed. But God still owned the land.

God gave that land to the people in *Israel. It was a part of his *covenant with them. But he gave certain rules about how to use the land. (Look at Leviticus chapter 23.) God could take the land from the people. He would do that if they did not obey his rules. He would give the land to their enemies (Leviticus 26:33; Deuteronomy 28:49-68).

The rulers will soon lose all their land. They do not recognise what God is doing. He is doing to them what they did to the poor people. Micah writes a sad song. He suggests that the *Assyrians might sing it. There is an example of a similar thing in Psalms 137:1-6. There, *Israel’s enemies would ask its people to sing a song from Zion (Jerusalem). This would be their reply. ‘We cannot sing the *LORD’s songs while we are in a foreign country!’ The *Assyrians would consider Micah’s idea to be funny. They would see it as a joke. This is the song that Micah wrote.

‘He has ruined us completely! He took away our land. He gave it to other people. Yes, he took my land away from me. The *LORD has divided our fields. He has divided them among our enemies.’

The rulers had taken land from the poor people. But the rulers did not realise that really the land belonged to the *LORD.

v5 And so you will never again own property. You will not be able to share the land with the *LORD’s people.