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More Micah commentaries
Micah 1:1-16
The Pronouncement of Destruction
Micah 2:1-13
The Punishment for Abuse of Power
Micah 3:1-12
Evil Rulers and Lying Prophets
Micah 4:1-8
The Tribulation and the Millennium
Micah 4:9-13
Events Preceding the Kingdom
Micah 5:1-6
Prophesies of Christ’s Coming
Micah 5:7-15
Survivors Safe and Idols Destroyed
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Evil Rulers and Lying Prophets
Micah 3:1–12
» View this passage in NIV (Bible Gateway)
In his book Fuzzy Memories, Jack Handey writes: There used to be this bully who would demand my lunch money every day. Since I was smaller, I would give it to him. Then I decided to fight back. I started taking karate lessons. But then the karate lesson guy said I had to start pa … More
In this chapter Micah denounces the leaders of Israel for their sins. First, it is the princes; second, the prophets, who were the spiritual leaders; and last, all the leaders of Jerusalem, including the princes, the prophets, and the priests. “Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob” (v. 1). He is speaking to the rulers of Israel. He says, “You have judged others for their misdeeds, but you are doing the same things." It is difficult for a judge who had been at a cocktail party the night before and had become a little tipsy himself to sentence a man the next day who has killed somebody because he was driving while drunk. In Micah’s day the leadership actually hated the good and loved the evil (vv. 2-4). Men like that are not fit to be in positions of leadership.
The false prophets were like vicious animals or like serpents with forked tongues and fangs that would poison (v. 5). Their messages were geared to the favors they received (v. 6). Micah prophesied that one day the false prophets would be shamed by their actions (v. 7). He attributed the power of his ministry to the Spirit of the Lord (v. 8).
Up to now Micah has been speaking to the northern kingdom of Israel but now he turns specifically to Jerusalem (v. 9). He accuses the leaders of making cruelty and murder a way of life in Jerusalem (v. 10). Micah severely condemned religious leaders who ministered only if they get paid for it (v. 11). The judges were judging for reward; the priests were teaching for hire; and the prophets were prophesying for money. This is Micah’s message to them and to us. This is a prediction that for their sins there will be a complete desolation of the city of Jerusalem (v. 12).Application
It has been said that the only thing we learn from history is that we have not learned anything. Lord help me to not fall for the things the world has to offer but to follow you.
Micah 3:1-12 (English Standard Version)
And I said: Hear, you heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel! Is it not for you to know justice?-- you who hate the good and love the evil, who tear the skin from off my people and their flesh from off their bones, who eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them, and break their bones in pieces and chop them up like meat in a pot, like flesh in a cauldron. Then they will cry to the LORD, but he will not answer them; he will hide his face from them at that time, because they have made their deeds evil. Thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who lead my people astray, who cry "Peace" when they have something to eat, but declare war against him who puts nothing into their mouths. Therefore it shall be night to you, without vision, and darkness to you, without divination. The sun shall go down on the prophets, and the day shall be black over them; the seers shall be disgraced, and the diviners put to shame; they shall all cover their lips, for there is no answer from God. But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the LORD, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin. Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who detest justice and make crooked all that is straight, who build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity. Its heads give judgment for a bribe; its priests teach for a price; its prophets practice divination for money; yet they lean on the LORD and say, "Is not the LORD in the midst of us? No disaster shall come upon us." Therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed as a field; Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the house a wooded height.
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