Micah 1-2
Today was a very busy day, as we were packing to leave our dormitory home tomorrow. Mostly it was “throw and go”, but it was still quite stressful. What to take, what to leave behind, who could use this or that? But now we’re mostly ahead of it and will be driving to Mark Bruner’s house with his car, then on to Bratislava for a few more days. But mostly, the stress is behind us.
I’m not going to comment on Micah’s text today, but I thought it might be helpful for me to bring you up on some geography and history. We’re looking only at the first verse: The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. David and Solomon ruled over a unified kingdom – the twelve tribes all paid homage to them. Sadly, when Solomon named his son Rehoboam to succeed him, that kingdom split, north and south. Judah (and later Benjamin) stayed faithful to the Lord and worshiped in the Temple at Jerusalem The ”Northern Kingdom” (ten tribes) had Samaria as their central worship location. So when you see any mention of “Samaria and Jerusalem”, we’re referring to the split kingdom – ten tribes to the north and two tribes to the south. The other item worthy of note in that first verse is the listing of three kings (Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah), all Southern Kingdom kings (kings of Judah), So right away we see that Micah will be focusing on the Southern Kingdom – but he will also have much to say about the Northern Kingdom.
Again, it’s been a rough day, but I’m glad that I took the time to send you these few words!