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<h2><a onclick="return mV('Mic',2,'all');">Mic 2</a> - God’s Sinful People</h2>
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<p>A. The sins of covetousness and pride.</p>
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<p class="c1">1. (<a onclick="return mV('Mic',2,'1-2');">1-2</a>) Covetousness among God’s people.</p>
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<p class="c2">Woe to those who devise iniquity, and work out evil on their beds! At morning light they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand. They covet fields and take <i>them</i> by violence, also houses, and seize <i>them.</i> So they oppress a man and his house, a man and his inheritance.</p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">Woe to those who devise iniquity</span></b>: All sin is bad before God, but <i>premeditated</i> sin is worse. Here Micah speaks plainly to those who <b><span class="c3">devise iniquity</span></b> - in this case - those who oppress others through their greed and covetousness.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">At morning light</span></b> is ironic. Typically thieves practice their work at night, under the cover of darkness. In the ancient world, law courts opened for business <b><span class="c3">at morning light</span></b> because the rising sun demonstrated light dispelling darkness. Micah sees the corruption of Israel’s law courts and shows that they practice their theft and evil <b><span class="c3">at morning light</span></b>, when the courts open.</p>
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<p class="c4">c. <b><span class="c3">Because it is in the power of their hand</span></b>: There are some sins we never commit because we are never put in a place where we can commit them. The real test comes when <b><span class="c3">it is in the power of</span></b> our <b><span class="c3">hand</span></b> to sin and we keep faithful to the <span class="c6">Lord</span>.</p>
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<p class="c1">2. (<a onclick="return mV('Mic',2,'3-5');">3-5</a>) God’s proud people brought low.</p>
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<p class="c2">Therefore thus says the <span class="c6">Lord</span>: “Behold, against this family I am devising disaster, from which you cannot remove your necks; nor shall you walk haughtily, for this <i>is</i> an evil time. In that day <i>one</i> shall take up a proverb against you, and lament with a bitter lamentation, saying: ‘We are utterly destroyed! He has changed the heritage of my people; how He has removed <i>it</i> from me! To a turncoat He has divided our fields.’” Therefore you will have no one to determine boundaries by lot in the assembly of the <span class="c6">Lord</span>.</p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">Against this family I am devising disaster</span></b>: The people devised iniquity; God devised disaster upon them. In His justice, He gave them what they gave others.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">Nor shall you walk haughtily, for this is an evil time</span></b>: Micah rebukes the pride among God’s people and announces that in the <b><span class="c3">evil time</span></b> to come - the time of judgment coming on God’s people - they will be brought low and will no longer <b><span class="c3">walk haughtily</span></b>.</p>
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<p class="c4">c. <b><span class="c3">To a turncoat He has divided our fields</span></b>: In the coming judgment - in particular, the judgment coming on Israel by the conquering Assyrian Empire - will leave their land in the possession of strangers.</p>
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<p>B. Though they sin against His Word, God promises restoration to His people.</p>
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<p class="c1">1. (<a onclick="return mV('Mic',2,'6-9');">6-9</a>) God’s people reject the word of His prophets.</p>
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<p class="c2">“Do not prattle,” <i>you say to those</i> who prophesy. So they shall not prophesy to you; they shall not return insult for insult. <i>You who are</i> named the house of Jacob: “Is the Spirit of the <span class="c6">Lord</span> restricted? <i>Are</i> these His doings? Do not My words do good to him who walks uprightly? Lately My people have risen up as an enemy; you pull off the robe with the garment from those who trust <i>you,</i> as they pass by, like men returned from war. The women of My people you cast out from their pleasant houses; from their children you have taken away My glory forever.”</p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">Do not prattle</span></b>: When God’s prophets came to His people, they didn’t receive it. They disregarded God’s Word as mere <b><span class="c3">prattle</span></b>. As a result, God stopped sending prophets (<b><span class="c3">so they shall not prophesy to you</span></b>). Fortunately, God’s people responded to Micah’s warning before God stopped sending him - but it took a while.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. Micah began his ministry in the reign of Jotham - but nobody listened. Then he prophesied during the reign of Ahaz - but nobody listened. Finally he prophesied during the reign of Hezekiah - and the leaders and the people repented. Micah didn’t give up, even though results were slow in coming. Micah preached for anywhere between 16 and 25 years before there was any response.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">Is the Spirit of the <span class="c6">Lord</span> restricted?</span></b> In their foolishness, the people of Israel thought that <i>God</i> was the problem. They needed to understand that there was no restriction on <b><span class="c3">the Spirit of the <span class="c6">Lord</span></span></b>; instead <i>they</i> provided all the restriction.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. “<span>Do you not think, again, that we very much act as if the Spirit of the Lord were straitened <i>when we only look for little blessing</i>s? I am very glad to see three hundred or four hundred persons in a year converted and added to this church, and this has long been the case; but if I ever imbibed the idea that this was all that might be done, I should be straitening the Spirit of God.” (Spurgeon)</span></p>
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<p class="c4">c. <b><span class="c3">Do not My words do good to him who walks uprightly?</span></b> The key to their preservation in the midst of judgment was to stick tightly to God’s <b><span class="c3">words</span></b>. When they reject God’s <b><span class="c3">words</span></b>, they are left poor and destitute - both materially and spiritually.</p>
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<p class="c1">2. (<a onclick="return mV('Mic',2,'10-11');">10-11</a>) God’s people embrace false prophets.</p>
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<p class="c2">“Arise and depart, for this <i>is</i> not <i>your</i> rest; because it is defiled, it shall destroy, yes, with utter destruction. If a man should walk in a false spirit and speak a lie, <i>saying,</i> ‘I will prophesy to you of wine and drink,’ even he would be the prattler of this people.”</p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">This is not your rest</span></b>: Micah exposes the lies of false prophets showing that they can never really give <b><span class="c3">rest</span></b>. The words of false prophets are <b><span class="c3">defiled</span></b>, and bring <b><span class="c3">utter destruction</span></b> instead of the peace, rest, and restoration of God’s Word.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">If a man should walk in a false spirit and speak a lie</span></b>: With judgment looming on the horizon - especially for the northern kingdom of Israel - there were false prophets who spoke of days of <b><span class="c3">wine and drink</span></b>, giving false comfort and hope to a deceived people. These were the real “prattlers,” not the true prophets of God, as they were falsely called by the ungodly in Micah’s day (<a onclick="return mV('Mic',2,6);">Mic 2:6</a>). The only prophet they wanted was one to tell them there would be plenty of alcohol.</p>
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<p class="c1">3. (<a onclick="return mV('Mic',2,'12-13');">12-13</a>) A promise of restoration.</p>
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<p class="c2">“I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob, I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together like sheep of the fold, like a flock in the midst of their pasture; they shall make a loud noise because of <i>so many</i> people. The one who breaks open will come up before them; they will break out, pass through the gate, and go out by it; their king will pass before them, with the <span class="c6">Lord</span> at their head.”</p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob</span></b>: Though judgment was promised because of the great sin of God’s people, they could not “out-sin” the grace and goodness of God. He still promises restoration to <b><span class="c3">the remnant of Israel</span></b>.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">They shall make a loud noise because of so many people</span></b>: The remnant will not be few; there will be <b><span class="c3">many people</span></b> brought back to the <span class="c6">Lord</span> and His ways - <b><span class="c3">with the <span class="c6">Lord</span> at their head</span></b>.</p>
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<p class="c4">c. <b><span class="c3">The one who breaks open</span></b> can be translated as a title - the King James Version has it as <i>the Breaker</i>. We can see this as a more obscure, but no less precious messianic title of Jesus - <i>The Breaker</i>. In this office, he is the captain and leader of His people, advancing in front of His flock. How we need a <i>Breaker</i>, a trailblazer in our life!</p>
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