Micah

As I write this I want you to know that I have been having a really hard time in the minor prophets. They are hard to follow. It seems like they jump all over the place and switch topics and people so quickly. In reality I realize that these oracles are probably years apart and they are not as compact and all over the place as they look to me. But they have still been difficult to follow. So my summaries for all of these are probably not the best. I'm trying to make sure I pick up on things that jump out, but I don't always do that. Anyway, just thought I'd let you know that I'm not flying through these.

The theme of Micah seems to be social injustice. The people are oppressing the poor and Yahweh's reaction to it is pretty major (1:8-9). So because of their sins (1:5,13; 3:4; 6:7,13,16; 7:9,13), Yahweh will pour out His wrath on them. The people who are singled out are the leaders and the prophets (chapter 3). And this is what I mean about the confusion. In the midst of all of this, suddenly Micah starts talking about Christ. In chapter 4, he talks about how Christ will come and many will come to Him for His teaching. He says the law and the word of Yahweh will come forth from Jerusalem (4:2). He also says that Jesus will be the one who judges the nations. The beginning of chapter 5 talks about how Jesus will be born in Bethlehem and then how Israel's adversaries will be punished. But then in chapter 6 he goes back to Yahweh's indictment of Israel, this time in the form of a courtroom scene. So then there is more destruction and more wrath. Then the last few verses are a praise of God's character (7:18-20).

Yes, I know that this didn't clear anything up for you. It didn't clear anything up for me either. Basically the only thing I got from this chapter was what it said about the coming of the Messiah. Hopefully the next few books aren't this hard to piece together. Let me know if any of you understand it any better. I may just be out of it this morning.

All for His glory,

Mitchell