CHAPTER 1

(750 B.C.)

INTRODUCTION

¹The Word of the LORD that came to Micah the Morasthite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. (Micah ministered at the same time as Isaiah, which was about 750 years before Christ. Of the kings mentioned here, Jotham was righteous, while Ahaz was wicked. And yet, Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, was one of the Godliest kings to grace the Throne [II Ki. 18:5; II Chron. 29:2].)

SECOND ADVENT OF MESSIAH

²Hear, all you people; hearken, O Earth, and all that therein is: and let the Lord GOD be witness against you, the LORD from His Holy Temple. (This Verse may read, Adonai Jehovah shall be a witness against you. The Lord, knowing mens hearts and acquainted with every action of our lives, is truly a most powerful witness.)

³For, behold, the LORD comes forth out of His place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the Earth. (This Verse implies Gods absolute Sovereignty over the universe, which He created.)

⁴And the mountains shall be molten under Him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a steep place. (The language is figurative and describes the Second Coming, with the Antichrist and all his armies destroyed by the mighty Power of God. The Holy Spirit likens His Power as so Almighty that mountains shall be molten [melted] under Him.)

THE SINS OF JUDAH AND ISRAEL

⁵For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the House of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem? (The transgression of Jacob was the idol worship set up at Samaria; and the sins of the high places of Judah, the idolatrous altar set up in Jerusalem. The Prophecy suddenly shifts from a portrayal of the Second Coming, which has not even yet happened, back to the sins of Judah and Israel.)

ISRAELS CAPTIVITY BY ASSYRIA

⁶Therefore I will make Samaria as an heap of the field, and as plantings of a vineyard: and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations thereof. (The terminology of this Passage tells us that this Prophecy was delivered before the destruction of Samaria in the fourth year of Hezekiah.)

⁷And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces, and all the hires thereof shall be burned with the fire, and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate: for she gathered it of the hire of an harlot, and they shall return to the hire of an harlot. (The words, The hires thereof, refer to the costly vessels donated to the idol temples. For she gathered it, speaks of the wealth gained by idolatry, which would be carried off by the Assyrian idolaters.)

LAMENTATION FOR ISRAEL

⁸Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls. (The idea of Verses 8 through 16 refers to the lamentation for Israel. At this time, Samaria was rich, prosperous, and strong! Therefore, the notion that the time was shortly coming that this city and its people would wail and howl, denoting tremendous suffering and pain, was strange to the ears of the people.

The phrase, Go stripped and naked, denotes captivity; therefore, the destruction would be total!)

⁹For her wound is incurable; for it is come unto Judah; he is come unto the gate of My P eople, even to Jerusalem. (For her wound is incurable, pertains to the terrible sin of Samaria, which was so deep that even Repentance at this late hour, although saving the soul, could not save the nation.

He is come unto the gate of My People, even to Jerusalem, predicts that Sennacherib will come to the gate of Jerusalem, but no further; for the city was delivered in answer to Hezekiahs prayer, thereby fulfilling the Prophecy of Micah [II Chron., Chpt. 32; Isa., Chpt. 37].)

¹⁰Declare you it not at Gath, weep you not at all: in the house of Aphrah roll yourself in the dust. (The destructive and triumphant march of the Assyrian host upon Jerusalem is poetically described in Verses 10 through 16, and a corresponding description appears in Isa. 10:28-32. The towns would call to each other for help, and Jerusalem would appeal to them all for assistance, but in vain.)

¹¹Pass you away, you inhabitant of Saphir, having your shame naked: the inhabitant of Zaanan came not forth in the mourning of Beth-ezel; he shall receive of you his standing. (The idea of this Verse is: if the Lord had not delivered Jerusalem from the Assyrians, it could not have been delivered!)

¹²For the inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for good: but evil came down from the LORD unto the gate of Jerusalem. (This refers, as stated, to the proposed invasion of Jerusalem by Sennacherib, and it being stopped at the very gate of Jerusalem. Even though the army of the Assyrians did not come this far, still, Rabshakeh, who headed up the Assyrian expedition, did stand before the gate at Jerusalem to deliver his haughty message, as described by Isaiah [Isa., Chpt 36].)

¹³O you inhabitant of Lachish, bind the chariot to the swift beast: she is the beginning of the sin to the daughter of Zion: for the transgressions of Israel were found in you. (In a short time, the Northern Kingdom of Samaria [Israel] would fall; however, it would be about 10 years before Sennacherib would make his foray against Jerusalem.

Lachish was about 30 miles southwest of Jerusalem. It was taken by Sennacherib, as well as most all of Judah, with the exception of Jerusalem, as predicted here by the Prophet.)

¹⁴Therefore shall you give presents to Moresheth-gath: the houses of Achzib shall be a lie to the kings of Israel. (Lachish had introduced Samarias idolatry to Zion; the Lord, accordingly, gave Lachish to Sennacherib.)

¹⁵Yet will I bring an heir unto you, O inhabitant of Mareshah: he shall come unto Adullam the glory of Israel. (The first phrase refers to Sennacherib, whom God appointed as heir to the inhabitants of the city of Mareshah. He shall come unto Adullam the glory of Israel, means that when Sennacherib would lay siege to these cities, some of its richest nobility would flee to the cave of Adullam.)

¹⁶Make you bald, and poll you for your delicate children; enlarge your baldness as the eagle; for they are gone into captivity from you. (For they are gone into captivity from you, actually has reference to the Fall of Jerusalem some 133 years after the Fall of the Northern Kingdom of Samaria.

Very few captives were taken by Sennacherib in his expedition into Judah. His plan certainly was terminated by the visitation of the Angel who killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night [II Ki. 19:35]. Therefore, the prediction would leap ahead to the Babylonian captivity, when Jerusalem would be completely destroyed, with the Temple razed to the ground and with tens of thousands taken captive to Babylonia.)