Micah: Chapter Analysis

In the first chapter of Micah we read, “Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of rubble, a place for planting vineyards. I will pour her stones into the valley and lay bare her foundations. All her idols will be broken to pieces; all her temple gifts will be burned with fire;I will destroy all her images. (Micah 1:6-7)” We see that God is promising judgment against Samaria and Jerusalem because of their sinful ways. Hays talks about how there were certain people who were, “…defrauding people of their land and houses. (Hays pg. 312)” This was seen as evil because the land was a gift from God to His people, not something to be used to hold over their hands and abused. While the promise of judgement is evident in these chapters, there is hope. In the end of chapter two we see the promise of deliverance, “I will surely gather all of you, Jacob; I will surely bring …show more content…
The rituals start on a smaller scale, and continue all the way the offering of our first born, but is that what Yahweh wants? In Micah 6:8 we find the answer, “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). Simply put God wants true relationship with Him and that will spill over into their actions. All of the judgement that will be poured out came from a broken relationship/covenant, and the solution is being looked to in the future sense and completed in Christ. Even after all that is broken and dysfunctional and deserving of judgement we see still the hope, “Who is a God like you,who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance?You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy” (Micah 7:18). Even here after all the talk of judgment and anger towards the actions of their behavior, we see the declaration that Yahweh is forgiving and shows mercy and