As Micah the prophet
continued to share the word of the Lord to both Samaria and
Jerusalem, he wrote about the results of the Lord coming down in
judgment. The people of Samaria and Jerusalem had forsaken the Lord
and built “high places” where they worshipped gods other
than the Most High Creator God. The first place Micah spoke of
specifically concerning their judgment was Samaria where the Lord
told them he would make them as “an heap of the field” and
“as plantings of a vineyard”, and that he would “pour
down the stones thereof into the valley” and “discover the
foundations thereof”. In chapter one and verse seven of this
prophesy Micah continued to share concerning the judgment of Samaria
where he wrote:
And all the graven
images thereof shall be beaten to pieces, and all the hires thereof
shall be burned with the fire, and all the idols thereof will I lay
desolate: for she gathered it of the hire of an harlot, and
they shall return to the hire of an harlot.
The
verse begins, “And all the graven images thereof shall be
beaten to pieces, and all the hires thereof shall be burned with the
fire,” We can almost envision
the wrath of the Lord as Micah states, “And all the
graven images” which were
“idols” “thereof shall be beaten to pieces”
or “crushed by beating, crushed to pieces, crushed fine and
shattered”. Micah added, “and all the hires” which
literally means “hire of a prostitute or price” and refers to the
gains such as produce from a harvest, “thereof shall be burned
with the fire” or “flames”. Not only were the idols to be
“shattered” but also any benefit that seem to be coming from them
was to be destroyed.
The
verse goes on to say, “and all the idols thereof will I
lay desolate:” Micah added,
“and all the idols”
or “images of idols” “thereof will I lay desolate”
which means “will set a place for devastation, waste,
desolation”. Not only was the Lord to deal with the “graven
images” which were worshipped throughout Samaria, but he was to
deal with the “idols” and anything to do with them through
devastation, waste and desolation throughout their land.
Finally
the verse says, “for she gathered it of
the hire of an harlot, and they shall return to the hire of an
harlot.” Evidently there was a
temporary benefit to having these idols in Samaria because Micah
wrote, “for she gathered”
which means “profited from, assembled and collected” “it
of the hire of an harlot” or
“from fornication, as a harlot or playing the harlot”. The
idea is the people collected these “prices or hires” from
“spiritual fornication” whereby they sought other gods and
worshipped them. Micah said, “and they shall return” or
“turn or go back” “to the hire of an harlot” which
means “they shall return to the place from which they were gained”.
As we meditate upon these
words of Micah, we might be able to image how the Lord felt as His
people turned from Him to worship false idols and graven images. The
people must have thought they were doing right as they benefitted
from the gain during the time of their worship of false gods, however
they were not anticipating Almighty God's patience and long-suffering
with them as they profited from their apostasy. He was not ignoring
them, apathetic towards them, or even worse, approving of their
spiritual practices. Judgment was to fall upon Samaria for their
worship of false gods, and the Bible tells us that it did. Do we have
any “idols” or “graven images” in our lives
which the Lord would destroy should He come to visit us? We should
know that any area of interest which takes precedence over, is
worshipped, supported, gained from or takes a preponderance of our
time should be examined, and if we find they have become idols, may
we destroy them before the Lord God Almighty comes to judge them by
Jesus Christ.
Next
time we will see Micah's interesting response to the judgment that
was to fall, so read ahead, and
we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
Look
for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From
Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be
Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the
Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com
; http://www.barnesandnobles.com
; download to e-books, and find it locally at
http://www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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