micah 1 and 2

Read Micah 1 and 2 at Bible Gateway.

The Hebrew paragraph divisions:

Mic 1:1-16 {s} YHVH is coming out of His place: the prophecy against Samaria + Jerusalem
Mic 2:1-2 {p} Woe to those who devise iniquity, who covet + take by violence to oppress a man + his house
Mic 2:3-13 {p} Against this family I am devising disaster, who have rejected My words + My Spirit, but I will restore them

In chapter 1, the place names are all cities allotted to Judah and in the lowlands of Judah, in which there is a play on their name as part of the prophecy:

Gath: “winepress,” one of the 5 royal cities of the Philistines (allotted to Judah);
Beth Aphrah: “house of dust,” a town of Judah;
Shaphir: “beautiful,” a town in Judah;
Zaanan: “a place of flocks” a town in Judah (a play on the verb, to go forth);
Beth Ezel: “house of fixed seat, or firm root;”
Maroth: “bitterness,” a town of Judah, the lowland (Philistine plain);
Lachish: “invincible,” a strongly fortified city south of Jerusalem, formerly a royal city of the Canaanities, a town of Judah on the border with Simeon;
Moresheth Gath: “possession of Gath,” a town nearby Gath, the birthplace of the prophet Micah;
Achzib: “deceitful,” a town in the lowland of west Judah;
Mareshah: “crest of a hill,” a town in the lowland of Judah;
Adullam: “justice of the people,” a town of the Canaanites allotted to Judah in her lowlands.

The reverse parallelism:

introduction) Mic 1:1, The word of the LORD that came to Micah of Moresheth;

1a) Mic 1:2-4, The LORD God is a witness against the peoples of the earth: He is coming down out of His place + will tread on the high places of the earth; the mountains will melt + valleys split before Him;

1b) Mic 1:5, This is for the transgression of Jacob + Israel: that is, Samaria + Jerusalem;

1c) Mic 1:6-16 {s} Prophecy against Samaria + Jerusalem/ glory of Israel shall come + your children shall go into captivity;

1) Mic 1:6-9a, The prophecy against Samaria, for her wounds are incurable;
2) Mic 1:9b-14, The prophecy against Jerusalem + Judah, for disaster came down from the LORD to her gates;
3) Mic 1:15-16 {s} The glory of Israel shall come to the justice of the people/ your children shall go into captivity;

1d) Mic 2:1-2 {p} Woe to those who devise iniquity/ they covet fields and take them by violence;

1) Mic 2:1, Woe to those who devise iniquity;
2) Mic 2:2 {p} They covet fields + houses, take them by violence/ they oppress a man + his inheritance;

2d) Mic 2:3-5, Thus says YHVH: against this family I am devising disaster/ he will lament that his fields are divided;

1) Mic 2:3, Thus says YHVH: Against this family I am devising disaster;
2) Mic 2:4-5, One will bitterly lament: he has changed the heritage of my people/he has divided our fields;

2c) Mic 2:6-11, Do not prattle, they say to the prophets, but the Spirit is not restricted by you/ He will arise + depart;

1a) Mic 2:6, “Do not prattle,” you say to those who prophesy, so they shall not/ they shall not return insult for insult;
1b) Mic 2:7, You who are named the house of Jacob: Is the Spirit of YHVH restricted?;
central axis) Mic 2:8-9a, You have taken the robe + garment; cast women out of their houses + taken away My glory from the children;
2b) Mic 2:10, Arise + depart, for this is not your rest/ because it is defiled, it shall destroy with utter destruction;
2a) Mic 2:11, If a man should walk in a false spirit + speak a lie, even he would be the prattler of this people;

2b) Mic 2:12-13a, The restoration of all of Jacob, the remnant of Israel like the sheep of the fold;

2a) Mic 2:13b {p} Their king will pass before them, with the LORD at their head.

Notice an interesting grammatical construction in chapter 2:

You who are named the house of Jacob: “Is the Spirit of the Lord restricted? Are these His doings? Do not My words do good to him who walks uprightly?” Mic 2:7

The LORD is prophesying to, and speaking to, those who are named the house of Jacob – not those who are the house of Jacob. What does that mean? I think it means, that those who are called the seed of Jacob, but who covet, oppress, take by violence, fill cities with idolatry, and other abominations, are Jacob in name only. For,

This is Jacob: the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Your face. Psa 24:6

The seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Their seed are spiritual seed as well as biological seed. And there are those who are biological seed, who are only named by the house of Jacob, but who are not the seed of Jacob in truth.

Therefore, “Against this family I am devising disaster.” Which family? Not the true family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but the family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, so-called, who do not worship YHVH or walk in His ways.