Monday, May 18, 2015

More Judgment Upon Samaria Micah 1:7


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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