Loading summary
Transcript58 lines
- [00:00]
A
Hey Bible nerds. This is Dr. Manny Arango and I'm your host for the Bible Department podcast. Powered by Arma. This podcast follows a Bible reading plan we created to help you read the entire Bible in a year.
- [00:13]
B
You can head to the show notes.
- [00:14]
A
Or thebibledepartment.com to download our reading plan and join the journey. Let's be honest, a lot of us are still treating digital ministry like it's a backup plan from 2020. But discipleship isn't just happening on Sundays anymore. People need gospel centered connection every day of the week. And if you're stuck juggling five different platforms, one for giving, another for sermons, something else for events, it's no wonder engagement feels off. That's not ministry. That's a mess. Subsplash changes that one platform. Everything you need. Media, giving, events, messaging, your app, your website built specifically for churches. No hacks, no workarounds, just clarity and simplicity. Because every day you wait, families scroll past your sermons, new guests click away from clunky sites, and real people miss real moments with Jesus. Don't waste another summer stuck in digital survival mode. Use it to get ahead, simplify, upgrade, get back to what matters. Head to subsplash.combible-dept and schedule a free no pressure demo. And let this be the summer your church gets focused and fully equipped family. Welcome to Day 1 90.
- [01:51]
B
We are in the Book of Micah today and tomorrow. Today we've got Micah chapters one, two and three. And then tomorrow we've got Micah chapters four through seven. So it'll take us two days to get through the Book of Micah. I'm super, super excited and I've gotten a lot out of reading and studying the Book of Micah. I hope you will as well. If you've already done the reading, then everything that I'm going to say is going to make perfect sense because you have context because you've done the reading. If you haven't done the reading, then stop the video, stop the audio, go do the reading. You don't want to hear what I've got to say about God's word. You want to read the word of the Lord for yourself. And so read Micah chapters 1, 2 and 3 and then you'll have tons of context for what I'm going to say. Like always, I'm going to give you context clues. I'm going to give you some nerdy nuggets, some stuff that's just good to know, fun to know, and then I'll always leave off with a timeless truth. All right, so first context, clue, Micah is our first southern prophet.
- [03:01]
C
Okay?
- [03:01]
B
Up until this point, as we have been on our journey through the prophets, we've been looking at prophets who are prophesying to the northern tribe of Israel. But now we've got our first prophet who's prophesying to the southern tribe of Judah.
- [03:19]
C
Okay?
- [03:19]
B
The Southern kingdom, the Northern kingdom versus Southern kingdom. So all of our prophets thus far has been. Have been prophets prophesying to the Northern kingdom. And now we've got Micah, who's our first prophet, prophesying to the Southern kingdom. So there's a little verse right here. The word of the Lord that came to Micah of More Sheth, okay? More Sheth is in the south. And so we get exactly where he's from. And then it says, during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, Kings of Judah. Okay, Kings of Judah. So we've got context for who Mike is talking to, where he's from and who he's prophesying about against and all that. Okay, Last little, little piece of context is that actually in our reading, Micah refers to himself. Okay, so in Micah chapter three, verse eight, we get this verse, and we'll dive deeper into this verse a little later. But Micah, chapter three, verse eight, it says, but as for me, okay, I am filled with power, with the spirit of the Lord, and with justice and might. That word justice is going to be really important for the book of Micah. I'm filled with justice and might to declare to Jacob, okay? Jacob is another way of talking about the people of God, the descendants of Jacob, okay, Jacob. Or the descendants of Jacob, to declare to Jacob his transgressions to Israel his sin. Hear this, you leaders of the house of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel, who despise justice and distort all that is right, who build Zion on bloodshed and Jerusalem on wickedness. Her leaders judge for a bribe.
- [05:18]
C
So.
- [05:19]
B
So we got rulers that are going to get spoken against. Then we've got judges that are going to get spoken against, okay? Her leaders judge for a bribe. Her priests teach for a price.
- [05:30]
C
Okay?
- [05:31]
B
So priests are going to get judged, and our prophets tell fortunes for money. So. So Micah is setting up a juxtaposition between himself and unjust prophets, prophets who are prophesying what people want to hear, okay? And her prophets tell fortunes. And this is going to get into. You know, prophets are not designed to be fortune tellers. Prophets are designed to be to. For. Tell, not foretell. When you force tell, your forthright means, you tell the truth as opposed to telling the future. Okay, now, obviously, there's going to be an element of biblical prophecy that is also about the future. There's some messianic prophecies here in the book of Micah, but Micah has an issue with the fact that these prophets are not telling the truth. So they are trying to tell the future. They're trying to tell fortunes without telling the truth. Yet they lean upon the Lord and say, is not the Lord among us? No disaster will come upon us. Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field. Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, the Temple hill a mound overgrown with thickets. So Micah is prophesying the fall of Jerusalem. He's predicting the fall of Jerusalem. He's saying, you guys are telling about good fortune. And unlike you, go back to verse eight. But as for me, I'm filled with power, with this, with the spirit of the Lord, and with justice and might. So we're going to get a massive theme right there. A massive theme of this book is going to be justice. Micah has an issue with leaders that lead for money, that rob the poor, that are full of greed. This is gonna be a massive theme throughout the book. Next, just thing that you need to know for context. Micah and Isaiah prophesying during the same time. The kings, the book of Kings mentioned that he was prophesying at the same time of Isaiah. Though Isaiah was a court prophet speaking to the rulers of Judah at the court, Micah is more of a country prophet. Okay, so Micah's not necessarily in the royal court prophesying to these kings. Micah is. Is a little bit like a John the Baptist kind of figure out in the rural areas. He's a country. He's a country prophet. So Micah and Isaiah, contemporaries of each other, prophesying during the same time. But Isaiah is literally in a relationship with political leaders. And it doesn't seem like Micah has that same level of access, but still nonetheless a prophet. Just to give a little bit of context, you know, I'm giving you context clues, but just to help us orient ourselves, Micah has three main oracles. And you can actually see these oracles just by looking at some repeated words. So we're going to get this in chapter one, verse two, you're going to get the word here, okay, Here. And then if you go to. If you go to chapter three, verse one, you're going to get the word listen. Okay, Listen.
- [08:54]
C
So.
- [08:54]
B
So you got here and you got listen. And then if you go to chapter six, verse one, you're going to get that word again. Listen okay, so you can see Micah's oracles are actually prompted by the word listen, by the word hear.
- [09:14]
C
Okay?
- [09:15]
B
So he's going to start prophesying, and he's going to trigger us to listen to these prophecies just with a simple word hear, listen. Okay, so that's context. There's three. Most scholars would agree that there's three main oracles that are found in this book. And we can just read a little bit of it from the very, very first oracle, chapter two, verse one. Woe to those who plan iniquity, to those who plot evil on their beds at morning's light. They carry it out because it is in their power to do it. Okay, so Micah is going to prophesy against those who are in power. It's in their power to do it. They covet fields and seize them and houses and take them. They defraud a man of his house, a fellow man of his inheritance. Now, it is deeply, deeply, deeply prohibited for the Jewish people to move boundary stones, right? Your boundary stones marked off your property as it related to another person's property. Now, this is a callback to Ahab taking Naboth's field way back in the Book of Kings. And Micah is going to bring it.
- [10:34]
A
Up and say stuff like this keeps happening.
- [10:37]
B
The powerful are taking land, are taking homes from those who are vulnerable. This is a problem. Injustice, political injustice, financial injustice. The power of the wealthy or the wealthy abusing their power against the poor is gonna be a massive theme all throughout the Book of Micah. Actually, there are a lot of scholars who will call Micah the Amos of the South. Remember, Amos is prophesying to the northern kingdom of Israel. And the theme all throughout Amos's book is injustice.
- [11:13]
C
Okay?
- [11:14]
B
That the poor aren't treated well. Well, Micah. The themes in the Book of Micah are a lot like Amos, a massive theme of justice and injustice. But he's prophesying to the southern kingdom of Judah instead of the northern kingdom of Israel. Let's get into some nerdy nuggets, okay? Nerdy nuggets. I feel like I've given you enough to kind of orient yourself through the Book of Micah. First, chapter one, verse two to seven, would be a form of prophecy called a lawsuit oracle, which is a prophecy in the form of a trial. In it, Samaria and Jerusalem are summoned to court. The charge of being unfaithful to the covenant is made, and the verdict is given that both cities will be destroyed. So remember, if anyone is wondering, if anybody's in exile wondering, how did this happen? What's going on? Well, Mike is going to make it very clear you were tried and found guilty. And because of your injustice, that makes you unfaithful to the Covenant.
- [12:26]
C
Okay.
- [12:26]
B
Because there's this link between unfaithful and injust or unjust family. The wait is over.
- [12:35]
A
My brand new book, Crushing Chaos, is out now and available everywhere.
- [12:41]
B
Books are sold.
- [12:42]
A
Literally today I walked into a Barnes and Noble and I signed a bunch of copies at a physical location.
- [12:49]
B
So you can grab this book at.
- [12:52]
A
A physical Barnes and Noble or you.
- [12:54]
B
Can go to a Books A Million.
- [12:55]
A
Or Amazon or anywhere books are sold.
- [12:58]
B
And grab a copy.
- [13:00]
A
If you enjoy reading the Bible from an ancient perspective, if you understand that.
- [13:06]
B
The beauty of scripture is actually knowing.
- [13:08]
A
It in context, then you'll love this book. And if there's any chaos in your personal life, I think that reading the Bible from an ancient perspective can actually help to correct. Crush the chaos in your life.
- [13:21]
B
I think this book is going to be a New York Times bestseller. I really do. I think we wrote a good one.
- [13:26]
A
I think you should get a copy today.
- [13:29]
B
All right, back to the episode. All right, this is really nerdy. This is. This is super, super nerdy, but I gotta show it to you. Okay, so if you go to chapter one and you start at verse 10 and you go down to verse 16, there's all these cities that get listed.
- [13:45]
C
Okay.
- [13:46]
B
I'm just, like, looking in my Bible right now, and it's like, there's Gath, there's Beth of Ophrah, there is Shafir, there's Zenon, there's Beth Azel.
- [13:57]
C
Okay.
- [13:57]
B
There's all these cities that get listed. Well, the. The really interesting thing if you know Hebrew, this comes to life, okay. Because the cities are all a play on words.
- [14:10]
C
Okay?
- [14:10]
B
So, so gath in Hebrew sounds like announce Bethlehra.
- [14:17]
C
Okay?
- [14:18]
B
In Hebrew means house of dust.
- [14:21]
C
Okay.
- [14:22]
B
Shafir sounds like war trumpet. Zanan is very similar to. To come out. Beth ezel sounds like to take away Maro sounds like in Hebrew, the word bitter. Lakish sounds like. Sounds like team of horses. Morosheth, where Micah's actually from, in Hebrew sounds like possession.
- [14:45]
C
Okay.
- [14:46]
B
Axib sounds in Hebrew, sounds like deceitful in Marasha in Hebrew sounds like the word to depossess. So if you just look at what the words sound like, Micah's communicating the idea of deportation, of exile.
- [15:05]
C
Okay.
- [15:06]
B
War trumpet to come out, to take away bitter team of horses showing up to besiege your city. Possession deceitful. To depossess okay, so Mike is doing something really, really, really creative. And if you don't know Hebrew, you don't really get it. So if you're wondering, why are all these town names here? That's actually why. Because the town names phonetically sound like the theme that Mike is actually communicating. Okay, so then let's kind of get to chapter three. Okay, this is another lawsuit. Oracle against the rulers of Judah. Chapter three, verses one through four are all against unjust politicians. Verses five through eight, against the prophets who have not defended the oppressed people. Verses 9 through 12, against the city of Jerusalem itself. The final section contains the first ever clear prophecy of the temple itself being destroyed. So if you wanted to know, like, when's the first time in the Bible a prophet is prophesying that the temple is going to get destroyed? It's right here in chapter three. Chapter three, we start reading in verse nine. Hear this, you leaders of the house of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel, who despise justice and distort all that is right, who build Zion on bloodshed and Jerusalem with wickedness, her leaders judge for abroad. Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field. Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, the temple hill a mound overgrown with thicket. That is a clear prophecy against the temple in Jerusalem. This word by Micah would then save Jeremiah's life a century later, as he was threatened with death for daring to prophesy the temple destruction. He was saved when it was pointed out that the prophet Micah had already done so. All right, so that's a bunch of just nerdy nuggets for you from this section of the book.
- [17:09]
C
Okay?
- [17:10]
B
But there's a little. There's a glimmer of hope.
- [17:12]
C
Okay?
- [17:13]
B
I want you to see this. Consistent themes of the prophets, the that there's all this. There's lawsuit oracles and there's words against God's people and God's rulers and God's prophets and God's priests and political rulers.
- [17:25]
C
Okay?
- [17:26]
B
But then right here, snuck in the middle, in chapter two, verses 12 to 13, we get this glimmer of hope. It says this. I will surely gather all of you. Oh, Jacob. I will surely bring together the remnant of Israel. This idea of remnant is going to continue to be accosting through the prophets. I will bring them together like sheep in a pen, like a flock in its pasture. The place will throng with people. One who breaks open the way will go up before them. They will break through the gate and go out. Their king will pass through before Them the Lord at their hand, head. So I, I would say this is a prophecy of the good shepherd of Jesus. This is a messianic prophecy that we have snuck right in the middle of oracles of destruction, oracles of, of judgment and timeless truth. Again, I think we're living in a culture that just doesn't want to accept this. But I think that's the beauty of reading through the whole Bible, is you get the whole counsel of God, and when you get the whole counsel of God, you realize, oh, man. Yeah. Like there is this theme through the Bible and here's the timeless truth that I got written down today. God is on the side of the oppressed. Religious leaders and politicians on his side who oppress and do not protect the people are judged harshly. Now, that doesn't mean I'm not making some Marxist claim, okay? I can't stand Marxism, right? So Marxism says that there's always a party, a group that's oppressed, and it's always an oppressor. These are permanent groups. I'm not saying any of that. So I don't want you to hear that with those ears. I want you to hear it with, with. Just imagine you just are not aware of all the, the noise in our culture. From a biblical perspective, this book is dealing with religious leaders who have a financial incentive to not protect the poor and to not defend the poor, to not love for the poor. And God says that when the poor are neglected and when those who are on God's side who do have means, God has no problem with people being wealthy. The issue is that when we put in just systems in place in order to capitalize on the plight of the poor, God, God has an issue with that. And I think we can see God's heart clearly reflected that he wants people who are in poverty to be empowered, not just cared for forever, not just reliant on a welfare state, but to genuinely find healing and find systems. And this is why land is supposed to get inherited. It's why land isn't supposed to move from family to family or from tribe to tribe. That God says, no, I portioned out the land. And I have set this up so that every tribe like, has a system as far as the land is concerned and property is concerned, where we are minimizing vulnerability. And so I think God's heart for, for the poor is clearly reflected in the book of Micah. And I think that's true for us today. I think we've got to apply it in ways that are wise. But that is a timeless truth. All right, I'll be right here tomorrow. Today to finish out the book. We're gonna look at Micah, chapter four, five, six, and seven. We got four chapters tomorrow. And I'll see you right here for day 191 as we continue our trek through the book of Micah. What a gem. What a good book. I can't wait to see you. If you're on a streak, don't break it. I'll see you right here tomorrow. Love you.
- [21:32]
C
Peace.
- [21:35]
A
Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department podcast. You can find us online and learn more about the show at the Bible Department and on Instagram. Hebibledepartment. If you enjoyed this episode and want to dive deeper into the Bible, you can get free access to our library of courses@thebibledepartment.com we'll see you back here tomorrow.