As Micah the prophet
continued to write concerning the overpowering influence of the
“remnant” in Israel over “many nations”, he
told how Israel's “hand shall be lifted up upon” their
“adversaries”, “and all” their “enemies
shall be cut off”. In chapter five and verse ten, Micah shares
the LORD's words concerning the horses and chariots upon which Israel
had put their trust where we read:
And it shall come to
pass in that day, says the LORD, that I will cut off your horses out
of the midst of you, and I will destroy your chariots:
The
verse begins, “And it shall come to pass in that day, says the
LORD, that I will cut off your horses out of the midst of you,” Let
us note that Micah begins with the word, “And” which shows
a continuation of thought. He wrote, “it shall come to pass in
that day” which means in that “time period, day or year”
“says the LORD” which refers to “Yehovah or Jehovah”
who is speaking, “that I will cut off” or “cut down,
eliminate, and sever like a body part” “your horses”
which refers to “horses used for military purposes” “out of
the midst of you” or “from the middle or inner part of you”.
This may seem like a strange work of the LORD upon first glance,
however the book of Deuteronomy chapter seventeen and verse sixteen
commands the following if a man is made king in Israel:
But he shall not
multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt,
to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD has
said unto you, You shall henceforth return no more that way.
The
children of Israel were not to have their trust in horses, but as
Psalm chapter twenty and verse seven says:
Israel
was to have their trust in the LORD, so Micah wrote that the LORD
would eliminate the horses.
The
verse continues, “and I will destroy your chariots:”
Not only were
“horses”, particularly
military horses, creature comforts upon which Israel relied, Micah
said the LORD “will destroy” or
“perish, make vanish or go astray” “your chariots”
which were “military carriages with wheels which were drawn by
horses”. Once again, the LORD was going to “eliminate” a devise
upon which the people would have greater dependence upon than Him.
The prophet Zechariah echoed this idea in chapter nine and verse ten
of his prophesy where he wrote:
And
I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from
Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak
peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea
even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of
the earth.
Rather
than having their trust in the weapons of war, the “remnant”
of Israel was to trust in the only would who could provide true
peace, “Yehovah or Jehovah” God.
As we
meditate upon these words of Micah, we may be inclined to wonder how
the “remnant” of Israel was to defend
themselves if their weapons of war were eliminated. The whole idea
was to for them to see that the LORD is more powerful than any
weapon, and when they put their trust in Him, He would take care of
them. We too may have “creature comforts” upon which we depend,
and we may think we cannot not make it without them. So we will gain
an idea of what these words must have meant to those who heard them,
let us imagine if the LORD were to eliminate those things upon which
we depend. Would removing our “horses and chariots” help us to
fully rely upon Him? May the LORD help us to trust in Him at all
times whether we possess or do not possess our armaments.
Next
time Micah writes concerning the cities of Israel,
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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