As Micah the prophet began
to address the false prophets who not only made God's “people
err”, but also bit “with their teeth” and cried
“Peace” whenever people attended to and fed them and “war”
whenever they didn't. Micah prophesied it was the LORD who was
paying attention to these false prophets, and though they prophesied,
they lead the people of Samaria and Jerusalem to believe that
everything was perfectly fine when in reality the LORD was going to
judge them for their apostasy and sin. In chapter three and verse six
of Micah's prophecy, we discover the judgment that will fall upon
these false prophets because of their actions where we read:
Therefore
night shall be unto you, that you shall not have a vision;
and it shall be dark unto you, that you shall not divine; and the sun
shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them.
The verse begins, “Therefore night shall be unto
you, that you shall not have a vision;” The first word employed
by Micah in this verse is “Therefore” and we know this is
a word denoting a “conclusion”. In this case, Micah is writing
the LORD's judgment for their making the people to “err”.
He continued, “night shall be unto you” which means “gloom
or a protective shadow will be what you see”, and also “that
you shall not have a vision” or “divine vision, revelation or
oracle”. Because these false teachers have lead the people astray,
they will no longer have dreams in the night nor visions and
revelations from the LORD.
The
verse continues, “and it shall be dark unto you, that you
shall not divine;” Micah goes
on to add, “and it shall be dark unto you” which
means “become dark, grow dim, be darkened, be black, be
hidden, obscure, concealed and confused”. Micah also tells them,
“that you shall not divine” which means “practice
divination, determine by lot or magical scroll” and was prohibited
by the LORD for the children of Israel as found in the book of
Deuteronomy chapter eighteen and verses ten and eleven:
There shall not be
found among you any one that makes his son or his
daughter to pass through the fire, or that uses
divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter,
or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar
spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
Finally
the verse says, “and the sun shall go down over the prophets,
and the day shall be dark over them.” Not only would it be as
“night”, without “a vision”, “dark”
and not able to “divine” for these false prophets, but
Micah also wrote “and the sun shall go down” which means
“the sun shall set or fall” “and the day shall be dark over
them” or “during the daytime darkness shall come upon them”.
Though these false prophets seemed to be in the light, the darkness
would overtake them, and they would not be able to see or divine at
all.
When we
pause to think about this judgment of the LORD as written by Micah,
we may think it ominous to be one of these false prophets. They were
at one time leaders of the people of Samaria and Jerusalem because of
their ability to “divine”, and they were destined to be in
the “dark” because of their false prophecies. One of the
greatest reasons to stay in the word of God, the Bible, is to know
what the LORD has to say. People, sometimes even well meaning people,
will present teachings and ideas that have no Biblical basis
whatsoever, and sometimes, as was the case with these false prophets,
they do so to take advantage of others. Let us allow God the Father,
Jesus Christ His son, and the Holy Spirit of God to keep us in the
“light” of His word, and may we never know the darkness of
these prophets from Micah's day.
Next
time Micah tells how the judgment will affect the prophets,
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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