Micah & Nahum
Judgment & Restoration
© John Stevenson, 2010
Maps by David P. Barrett, used by permission
Micah 1:1
The word of the LORD which
came to Micah of Moresheth in the
days of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah,
kings of Judah, which he saw
concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
Jehoash
Jonah
Jeroboam II
Amos (793-753 B.C.)
Hosea
4th Dynasty
(798-782 B.C.)
Zechariah Shallum
Menahem
Amaziah
(796-767 B.C.)
Azariah
(Uzziah)
(790-740 B.C.)
Pekhaiah
Isaiah
Micah
Pekah
Jotham
(742-732 B.C.)
(750-731 B.C.)
Hoshea
(732-721 B.C.)
Ahaz
(735-715 B.C.)
Hezekiah
Micah 1-2
Micah 3-5
Micah 6-7
First
Oracle
Second
Oracle
Third
Oracle
Judgment
of idolatry
Promise of
eventual
regathering
Judgment
against
rulers
Promise of
future glory
Judgment
against
disloyalty
Promise of
future
restoration
Micah 1:2-3
Hear, O peoples, all of you;
Listen, O earth and all it contains,
And let the Lord God be a witness against
you,
The Lord from His holy temple.
3 For behold, the LORD is coming forth
from His place.
He will come down and tread on the high
places of the earth.
Micah 1:4
The mountains will melt under Him,
And the valleys will be split,
Like wax before the fire,
Like water poured down a steep place
Micah 1:5
All this is for the rebellion of Jacob
And for the sins of the house of Israel.
What is the rebellion of Jacob? Is it not
Samaria?
What is the high place of Judah? Is it not
Jerusalem?
Micah 1:6
For I will make Samaria a heap of ruins in
the open country,
Planting places for a vineyard.
I will pour her stones down into the valley,
And will lay bare her foundations.
Micah 1:7
All of her idols will be smashed,
All of her earnings will be burned with fire,
And all of her images I will make desolate,
For she collected them from a harlot's
earnings,
And to the earnings of a harlot they will
return.
“Tell it not in Gath”
Tell it not in Gath,
Weep not at all
(Micah 1:10a).
Your beauty, O Israel, is
slain on your high places!
How have the mighty fallen!
20 Tell it not in Gath,
Proclaim it not in the
streets of Ashkelon;
Lest the daughters of the
Philistines rejoice,
Lest the daughters of the
uncircumcised exult.
(2 Samuel 1:19-20).
19
Micah 1:10
Tell it not in Gath,
Weep not at all.
At Beth-le-aphrah roll yourself in the
dust.
“House of Dust”
Micah 1:11
Go on your way, inhabitant of
Shaphir, in shameful nakedness.
The inhabitant of Zaanan does not
escape.
The lamentation of Beth-ezel:
“He will take from you its support.”
“Beauty”
Micah 1:11
Go on your way, inhabitant of
Shaphir, in shameful nakedness.
The inhabitant of Zaanan does not
escape.
The lamentation of Beth-ezel:
“He will take from you its support.”
ha'c.y"al
!n"a]c;
Micah 1:11
Go on your way, inhabitant of
Shaphir, in shameful nakedness.
The inhabitant of Zaanan does not
escape.
The lamentation of Beth-ezel:
“He will take from you its support.”
“House of joining”
Micah 1:12
For the inhabitant of Maroth
Becomes weak waiting for good,
Because a calamity has come down
from the LORD
To the gate of Jerusalem.
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“Bitterness”
Micah 1:12
For the inhabitant of Maroth
Becomes weak waiting for good,
Because a calamity has come down
from the LORD
To the gate of Jerusalem.
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ry>r[;v;l .
Micah 1:13
Harness the chariot to the team of
horses,
O inhabitant of Lachish–
She was the beginning of sin
To the daughter of Zion–
Because in you were found
The rebellious acts of Israel.
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vykil '
Micah 1:14
Therefore you will give parting gifts
On behalf of Moresheth-gath;
The houses of Achzib will become a
deception
To the kings of Israel.
“Possession of Gath”
Micah 1:14
Therefore you will give parting gifts
On behalf of Moresheth-gath;
The houses of Achzib will become a
deception
To the kings of Israel.
15 Moreover, I will bring on you
The one who takes possession,
O inhabitant of Mareshah.
The glory of Israel will enter Adullam.
Micah 1:14
Therefore you will give parting gifts
On behalf of Moresheth-gath;
The houses of Achzib will become a
deception
To the kings of Israel.
15 Moreover, I will bring on you
The one who takes possession,
O inhabitant of Mareshah.
The glory of Israel will enter Adullam.
byzIk.a;
bz"k.a;
Tell it not in Tellington!
Wail not in Wailing!
Dust Manor will eat dirt,
Dressy Town will flee naked.
Safefold will not save,
Allchester's walls are down,
A bitter dose drinks Bitterton.
Toward Jerusalem, City of Peace,
The Lord sends war.
Harness the war-steeds,
O men of Barstead!
Zion's beginning of sinning,
Equal to Israel's crimes.
To Welfare a last farewell!
For Trapping trapped Israel's kings
Dade is browbeaten by Broward County
But the wise avoid Miami’s Vice
And the homeless stay in Homestead
Instead of Fort Lauderdale’s louder fails
to judgment’s hails.
Wilton Manors have guilty manners
And Davie’s workers call for lazy shirkers
When the sun sets in Sunrise.
Verse 1
Woe to those who
scheme [be
v.x]oiniquity,
Who work out evil [[r']
on their beds!
Verse 3
I am planning [bve
]
xo
against this family a
calamity [h['r ']
Micah 2:2
They covet fields and then seize them,
And houses, and take them away.
They rob a man and his house,
A man and his inheritance.
Micah 2:8-9
“Recently My people have arisen as
an enemy–
You strip the robe off the garment
From unsuspecting passers-by,
From those returned from war.
9 The women of My people you evict,
Each one from her pleasant house.
From her children you take My
splendor forever.”
Micah 2:12
“I will surely assemble all of you,
Jacob,
I will surely gather the remnant of
Israel.
I will put them together like sheep in
the fold;
Like a flock in the midst of its pasture
They will be noisy with men.”
Micah 2:13
“The breaker goes up before them;
They break out, pass through the
gate and go out by it.
So their king goes on before them,
And the LORD at their head.”
Micah 3:1-2
And I said, “Hear now, heads of Jacob
And rulers of the house of Israel.
Is it not for you to know justice?
2 You who hate good and love evil,
Who tear off their skin from them
And their flesh from their bones,
Micah 3:3
Strip off their skin from them,
Break their bones,
And chop them up as for the pot
And as meat in a kettle.
Micah 3:5
Thus says the LORD
concerning the prophets
who lead my people
astray;
When they have something
to bite with their teeth,
They cry, "Peace,"
But against him who puts
nothing in their mouths
They declare holy war.
Micah 3:6
Therefore it will be night for
you-- without vision,
And darkness for you-without divination.
The sun will go down on
the prophets,
And the day will become
dark over them.
Micah 3:7
The seers will be ashamed
And the diviners will be
embarrassed.
Indeed, they will all cover
their mouths
Because there is no
answer from God.
Micah 3:8
On the other hand I am
filled with power–
With the Spirit of the
LORD–
And with justice and
courage
To make known to Jacob
his rebellious act,
Even to Israel his sin.
Micah 3:9-10
Now hear this, heads of the house of
Jacob
And rulers of the house of Israel,
Who abhor justice
And twist everything that is straight,
10 Who build Zion with bloodshed
And Jerusalem with violent injustice.
Micah 3:11
Her leaders pronounce judgment for a
bribe,
Her priests instruct for a price,
And her prophets divine for money.
Yet they lean on the LORD saying,
“Is not the LORD in our midst?
Calamity will not come upon us.”
Micah 3:12
Therefore, on account of you,
Zion will be plowed as a field,
Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins,
And the mountain of the temple will
become high places of a forest.
Micah 4:1
And it will come about in the last days
That the mountain of the house of the
LORD
Will be established as the chief of the
mountains.
It will be raised above the hills,
And the peoples will stream to it.
The Mountain Theme
• “The Mountain of God” (Exodus 3:1).
• The Song of Moses.
You wilt bring them and plant them in the
mountain of Your inheritance,
The place, O Lord, which You have made
for Your dwelling,
The sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands
have established. (Exodus 15:17).
The Mountain Theme
• “The Mountain of God” (Exodus 3:1).
• The Song of Moses.
• The Mountain of God and the Covering
Cherub (Ezekiel 28:14-16).
Micah 4:2
And many nations will come and say,
“Come and let us go up to the mountain
of the LORD
And to the house of the God of Jacob,
That He may teach us about His ways
And that we may walk in His paths.”
For from Zion will go forth the law,
Even the word of the LORD from
Jerusalem.
Micah 4:3
And He will judge between many peoples
And render decisions for mighty, distant
nations.
Then they will hammer their swords into
plowshares
And their spears into pruning hooks;
Nation will not lift up sword against
nation,
And never again will they train for war.
Past Blessing
So Judah and Israel
lived in safety, every
man under his vine
and his fig tree, from
Dan even to
Beersheba, all the
days of Solomon. (1
Kings 4:25).
The Prophecy
And each of them will sit
under his vine
And under his fig tree,
With no one to make
them afraid,
For the mouth of the
LORD of hosts has
spoken. (Micah 4:4).
Micah 4:6-7
“In that day,” declares the LORD,
“I will assemble the lame
And gather the outcasts,
Even those whom I have afflicted.
7 I will make the lame a remnant
And the outcasts a strong nation,
And the LORD will reign over them in
Mount Zion
From now on and forever.”
Micah 4:9
Now, why do you cry out loudly?
Is there no king among you,
Or has your counselor perished,
That agony has gripped you like a
woman in childbirth?
Micah 4:10
Writhe and labor to give birth,
Daughter of Zion,
Like a woman in childbirth;
For now you will go out of the city,
Dwell in the field,
And go to Babylon.
There you will be rescued;
There the LORD will redeem you
From the hand of your enemies.
Micah 5:2
But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Too little to be among the clans of Judah,
From you One will go forth for Me to be
ruler in Israel.
His goings forth are from long ago,
From the days of eternity.
Micah 5:3
Therefore He will give them up until the
time
When she who is in labor has borne a
child.
Then the remainder of His brethren
Will return to the sons of Israel.
Micah 5:4
And He will arise and shepherd His flock
In the strength of the LORD,
In the majesty of the name of the LORD
His God.
And they will remain,
Because at that time He will be great
To the ends of the earth.
Micah 6:6
With what shall I come to the LORD
And bow myself before the God on high?
Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings,
With yearling calves?
Micah 6:7
Does the LORD take delight in
thousands of rams,
In ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I present my first-born for my
rebellious acts,
The fruit of my body for the sin of my
soul?
Micah 6:8
He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?
God is after a
personal
commitment to
imitation rather
than a public
display of affection
(Page 64).
What are some ways the
church can address specific
social issues found in the
Minor Prophets?
Micah 7:18
Who is a God like Thee, who pardons
iniquity
And passes over the rebellious act of the
remnant of His possession?
He does not retain His anger forever,
Because He delights in unchanging love.
Micah 7:19-20
He will again have compassion on us;
He will tread our iniquities under foot.
Yes, Thou wilt cast all their sins Into the
depths of the sea.
20 Thou wilt give truth to Jacob
And unchanging love to Abraham,
Which Thou didst swear to our forefathers
From the days of old.
The Prophet of Nineveh’s
Destruction
Nahum and Jonah
• Both Nahum and Jonah focus upon
Assyria and their capital city of Nineveh.
• Both Nahum and Jonah contain
prophecies of Nineveh's destruction.
• Both Nahum and Jonah close their books
with a question.
Nahum 1:1
The oracle of Nineveh.
The book of the vision of Nahum the
Elkoshite.
Nahum 1:2
A jealous and avenging God is the
LORD;
The LORD is avenging and wrathful.
The LORD takes vengeance on His
adversaries,
And He reserves wrath for His
enemies.
Nahum 1:3
The LORD is slow to anger and great
in power,
And the LORD will by no means leave
the guilty unpunished.
In whirlwind and storm is His way,
And clouds are the dust beneath His
feet.
Nahum means “comfort”
And it will come about that all who see
you
Will shrink from you and say,
“Nineveh is devastated!
Who will grieve for her?
Where will I seek comforters for you?”
(Nahum 3:7).
~x;n" Nacham
The Lord takes vengeance against Nineveh (1:1-9)
 His anger poured out like fire (1:6)
 Mountains quake before Him (1:5)
 He pursues His enemies into darkness (1:8)
The Lord will destroy Nineveh (1:11-15)
 Assyrians are like drunks in their drink (1:10)
 They are consumed like stubble (1:10)
 The Lord will tear off the shackles (1:13)
Vivid




description of attack on Nineveh (2:1-10)
Warriors and shields in scarlet (2:3)
Chariots rushing back and forth (2:3-4)
Appear as lightning flashes (2:4)
They stumble in their march (2:5)
Lament over fall of Nineveh, the Lion’s Den (2:11-13)
Vivid




description of attack on Nineveh (3:1-7)
A mass of corpses and dead bodies (3:3)
Bounding chariots (3:2-3)
Swords flashing, spears gleaming (3:3)
They stumble over the dead bodies (3:3)
Nineveh will be destroyed (3:8-13)
 Assyrians will become drunk (3:11)
 Fire consumes their gates (3:13)
 Her great men bound with fetters (3:10)
Nineveh consumed
 They are consumed with fire (3:15)
 They are scattered on the mountains (3:18)
 The sun rises and her armies flee (3:17)
The Lord is good,
A stronghold in
the day of trouble,
And He knows
those who take
refuge in Him.
(Nahum 1:7).
Lessons from Nahum
• God is concerned with politics
and political happenings
• God takes it seriously when
anyone hurts His people
• When God shows compassion,
He demands that compassion
is shown to others.
Lessons from Nahum
• Grace is able to reign even in
the setting of judgment.
What are the
specific sins for
which God’s
judgment is said to
come?
Micah 1-3
Nahum
Micah 4-7
The nations are also
regularly condemned
for their acts of
violence and their
idolatry… But the
crime most often
emphasized by the
prophets is the sin of
pride (Page 119).