1. Micah 1:10. Why not “tell it in Gath”?

These were David’s very words when lamenting over Saul and Jonathan. The idea is that this is such bad news that we have no desire for our enemies (Gath was a Philistine city) to know that we have been so awfully defeated.

2. Micah 2:6-7. Try to explain this difficult pair of verses.

It looks like he is saying that the political leaders of the day are trying to quench the preaching of truth, a familiar circumstance. However, God is not restricted, we will prophesy as we need to. Israel, you got yourself into this mess, it was not God’s fault. Deal with it.

3. Micah 2:12-13, 4:1-8 [see Isaiah 4:1-8], 7:11-20. Clues, clues! List the proofs of Micah’s vision of the Millennium.

• I will gather the remnant of Israel… put them together like sheep of the fold.
• Their king will pass before them, with the Lord at their head. [David, Jesus]
• In the latter days…
• The mountain of the Lord’s house will be established on the top of the mountains.
• Many nations… will come to the mountain of the Lord.
• He will teach [the nations] his ways.
• They shall beat their swords into plowshares. Neither shall they learn war any more.
• No one shall make them afraid.
• The Lord will reign over them in Mt Zion.
• The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might.
• They [the nations] shall be afraid of the Lord our God.
• You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.

25.

4. Micah 5:3. What woman and what labor is referenced here?

Revelation 12 seems to be the best place to find an answer for this question. In one verse here, and in one chapter of Revelation there is talk of one who gives birth, and then talk of a group of people.

Israel gives birth, not only to Messiah, but to a remnant of Jews, the 144,000, who return to God and return to the land and promises given to Israel. He, the one prophesied in the verse prior, “gave them up” for awhile, but calls them back now.

5. Micah 5:4-9. Why is this “Assyrian” mentioned in an end time prophecy?

First we must determine that the passage is “end time.”

• He shall feed His flock.
• He shall be great to the ends of the earth.
• This One shall be peace.
• The remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples.

Looks like end time to me. What do you think?

So, this Assyrian, and the laying waste of the Assyrian Empire. Did that not already happen? Did God not already deliver the Jews from this threat? Is not Assyria considered a friend in the end of time, with Egypt?

Some have suggested that this “Assyrian” connection has to do with Antichrist himself. There are several candidates in the Bible itself for a resurrected world leader to assert himself as god in the latter days of our history. One such man is Sennacherib, killed with a sword by his own family. Will this Assyrian visit planet Earth again?

Or, is Micah jumping back and forth in the text, one moment talking end time, the next speaking of local matters?

This one I cannot answer, though it has an answer, I am sure.

6. Micah 6:8. A simple formula. Is it for us in the church too?

Addressed to “man”, I still think there is a way we as Christians should take this simple teaching to heart. It will help us keep focus. We may have to define the words as we understand them in Christ.

Justice. Doing the right thing in every circumstance. For this we need the filling of the Holy Spirit. It covers a lot of ground, and maybe isn’t so simple after all?

Mercy. Love. The greatest thing, says Paul. Why, this is sounding more and more like our New Covenant!

Walking with God. Yes. The way to get all of the above done, the doing, the loving. Walk with God, walk – says Paul – in the Spirit, and the life of Jesus will be manifested.

Micah was saying that God’s demands are not what we thought. Not called to be great, to be rich, to be accepted and happy, even. Those are heavy burdens. Jesus’ burden is light. Walk with Him, learn of Him, and soon you will be doing justly and loving everyone. And that’s all He wants.

7. Micah 6:9. Hear the Rod?