Daily Devotional Sunday 18th December 2022
by William Moody
Micah 2
Woe to the Oppressors
2:1 Woe to those who devise wickedness
and work evil on their beds!
When the morning dawns, they perform it,
because it is in the power of their hand.
2 They covet fields and seize them,
and houses, and take them away;
they oppress a man and his house,
a man and his inheritance.
3 Therefore thus says the LORD:
behold, against this family I am devising disaster,1
from which you cannot remove your necks,
and you shall not walk haughtily,
for it will be a time of disaster.
4 In that day they shall take up a taunt song against you
and moan bitterly,
and say, “We are utterly ruined;
he changes the portion of my people;
how he removes it from me!
To an apostate he allots our fields.”
5 Therefore you will have none to cast the line by lot
in the assembly of the LORD.
6 “Do not preach”—thus they preach—
“one should not preach of such things;
disgrace will not overtake us.”
7 Should this be said, O house of Jacob?
Has the LORD grown impatient?2
Are these his deeds?
Do not my words do good
to him who walks uprightly?
8 But lately my people have risen up as an enemy;
you strip the rich robe from those who pass by trustingly
with no thought of war.3
9 The women of my people you drive out
from their delightful houses;
from their young children you take away
my splendor forever.
10 Arise and go,
for this is no place to rest,
because of uncleanness that destroys
with a grievous destruction.
11 If a man should go about and utter wind and lies,
saying, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,”
he would be the preacher for this people!
12 I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob;
I will gather the remnant of Israel;
I will set them together
like sheep in a fold,
like a flock in its pasture,
a noisy multitude of men.
13 He who opens the breach goes up before them;
they break through and pass the gate,
going out by it.
Their king passes on before them,
the LORD at their head.Footnotes
[1] 2:3
The same Hebrew word can mean evil or disaster, depending on the context
[2] 2:7Hebrew Has the spirit of the Lord grown short?
[3] 2:8Or returning from war (ESV)
This chapter is about evil’s comeuppance. It begins warning those who devise evil (v1-2). The picture is of someone who spends the night thinking of evil as they lie in bed (v1) Their oppression and thieving comes from coveting (v2). Controlling our thinking is an important part of Christian discipleship.
Against the wicked God is devising disaster (v3-5). God brings disaster in response to their oppression and pride (v3). The evidence that justifies God’s actions is the cry of the people against the wicked (v4). Allotting fields to an apostate was giving land which was given by God to His people to another. It was overriding the fairness and protection of God. God’s judgment on the wicked was to disinherit them (v5).
Micah warns about those who seek to direct preaching (v6-11). The wicked don’t want to hear the likes of Micah condemning them in their preaching (v6). They prefer a preaching that would please them (v11). We need to pray for preaching that is faithful to God’s Word, even when it is uncomfortable.
Each of the sections on judgment in Micah end in a message of hope and this section of chapters one to two is no different. There is the promise that in the midst of judgment a remnant will be assembled (v12). The picture here is of a king leading them to deliverance (v13). God is just but also merciful.
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