Translation & Sermon by
Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church of Manhattan, KS, 20 Oct.
2024
Omitting greyed-out text should bring
presentation down to about 45 minutes.
In the last sermon, we looked at the the dual role of the church in verses 7-8 to be bold as a lion in winning souls for Christ and beneficial as dew in bringing the peace of Christ to bless all the nations.
Then we saw Micah in v.9 respond to this vision of the church’s mission by praying for God to “cut off/destroy” all His enemies (or predicting that He would do so, as many English versions word v.9).
Now, in verses 10-15, God answers, “I will cut off [my enemies],” listing four enemies to the worship of God in particular that He intends to destroy, and that’s what we’re going to be looking at in this sermon.
Read my translation starting at v.9: Let Your hand rise up against Your adversaries and let all Your enemies be cut off. Therefore it will happen during that time, declares Yahweh, that I will cause to cut off your horses from your midst, and I will cause to destroy your chariots. I will also cause to cut off the cities of your land, and I will demolish all your fortifications. Furthermore, I will cause to cut off witchcrafts from your hand and fortune-tellers will not exist for you. And I will cause to cut off your carved images and your monuments from your midst so you will not bow any more to the work of your hands. Indeed, I will uproot your Asherim from your midst when I cause to destroy your cities. Thus will I execute vengeance in anger and in fury with respect to the nations which have not heeded.
Israel and Judah are the first of the “nations” to feel God’s “vengeance,”
Micah is making that clear, and so did Isaiah 1:24 “Therefore, declares the Lord Yahweh Commander of armies, the Mighty One of Israel, ‘Oh, I will be relieved from my enemies and be avenged from my foes.’ … Isaiah 65:12 “I will yet destine y'all for the sword, and all of you will bend down for the slaughter, because I called and you did not answer; I spoke and you did not heed, but you did the evil in my eyes, and you chose that in which I did not delight.” ” (NAW)
But if you look at the rest of the books of the prophets, it’s clear that this judgment of God would also fall on Egypt, Assyria, Phoenicia, Moab, Edom, Babylon, and, in the end, all the nations of the earth, because God is consistent with justice.
As the Apostle Paul put it in 2 Thessalonians 1:6-8 “...it is a righteous thing with God to repay... when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey1 the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (NKJV)
But precisely because God will bring just punishment on evil, we need to repent of the evil in our lives that is upsetting to God, and in Micah 5:9-14 we see four things in particular to repent of.
In v.9, God says, “I will cut off my enemies,” and then He proceeds to say, “I will cut off your Chariots... your cities... your fortune-tellers... and your idols,” enumerating these four things as His “enemies.”
God, being a “jealous” god, likes to cut off competition because He alone is worthy of our worship.
Not only that, but God knows how damaging false-worship is to human souls that He loves, so it is also love for us which motivates Him to cut harmful things out of the lives of His people2, as He is promising to do here at the end of Micah 5.
Let me also note in passing that when God says He will “cut off” these four classes of “enemies,” He uses a unique feature of Hebrew grammar that we don’t have in English, and that is the Hiphil/causative stem each time He says, “I will cut off…” It technically means that He will “cause” these things to be destroyed, implying that, while the destruction would be the direct action of foreign armies, God was still the indirect cause behind the losses which the Jews would sustain in His plan to discipline them.
The phrase, “In that day/during that time” which opens v.10, connects back to the same phrase3
at the beginning of chapter 2: “Woe to those who plan iniquity and who work out evil while upon their beds. At the light of morning they act it out, because their hand is against God. For instance, they covet fields, so they steal them – houses too, and they take them away. Thus they extort a man and his house – both a man and his inheritance. Therefore, thus says Yahweh, ‘Look, I am planning against this clan something terrible – that is, something from which you’re not going to remove your necks; indeed, y’all aren’t going to walk arrogantly because it’s going to be a terrible time. During that day, a … lamentation of what has been done will say, ‘We have been utterly devastated; the inheritance of my people is retracted. How He removes from my possession! Instead of returning our fields, He disposes the inheritance!’” (Micah 2:1-4, NAW) “In that day,” when God “cuts off” these “enemies” to His relationship with His people, it’s going to feel pretty “devastating” to them.
On the positive side, the phrase “in that day” in v.10 also connects to the same phrase in chapter 4, when God spoke of how good it would be for His people when He restored them and they didn’t have all these idols and sins weighing them down: “‘During that day,’ declares Yahweh, ‘I will gather-in the one who is limping, and I will bring the outcast into the assembly – even the one to whom I had brought something terrible, and I will position the one who is limping to be the one that remains and the one who was far off to become a strong nation, and Yahweh will reign over them at Mt. Zion from now even to forever!’” (Micah 4:6-7, NAW)
So let’s consider the four categories of enemies which God would cut off from Israel in the day of His judgment, to remove competitors to worship and to bring blessing to His people.
Now wait; what’s wrong with horses??
We know from Genesis 1 that God “created” horses, and He called them “good,” then He told men and women to “take dominion” over them, so why is God now threatening to destroy these poor animals? Because these aren’t just horses; they are “enemies” of God.
They became enemies of God, not through anything wrong the horses did but, because of the wrong ways the Jews were using them. This is all about God acting to reconcile His relationship with His people.
Although the Jewish Aramaic Targums tried to deny it, these horses and chariots belong to the “Daughter of Zion” whom Micah is addressing; they are “your horses among you and… your chariots.” These possessions are interfering with God’s relationship with His people.
Back in Deuteronomy 17:16 God had commanded, “But he [the king] shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for the LORD has said to you, ‘You shall not return that way again.’” (NKJV)
But David’s sons, Absalom and Solomon, disregarded God’s law and began importing horses and chariots from Egypt, collecting them, and even making a business of it.
1 Kings 10:28-29 “Also Solomon had horses imported from Egypt and Keveh; the king's merchants bought them in Keveh at the current price. Now a chariot that was imported from Egypt cost six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse one hundred and fifty; and thus, through their agents, they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Syria.” ~NKJV
2 Chronicles 9:25 “Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen whom he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem.” (NKJV)
And the kings that followed Solomon followed his bad example.
Around the time of Micah, Isaiah 22 mentions a royal official named Shebna4 who considered his chariots to be his “glory.” This was a direct insult to God; God wants to be His people’s glory (Psa. 96:7, Isa. 28:5, 60:19, Jer. 2:11, Luke 2:32).
Isaiah 2:5-12 “...you [LORD] have rejected your people, the house of Jacob, because they took their fill from the East and fortune-tellers like the Philistines, and they fulfill the children of foreigners. Their land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures; their land is filled with horses, and there is no end to their chariots. Their land is filled with idols; they bow themselves down to the work of their hands, to what their fingers have made. So mankind is bowed down and each man becomes low ... the lofty pride of men shall be humbled, and Yahweh alone will be exalted in that day. For Yahweh Commander of armies has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up-- and it shall be brought low” (NAW)
Horses and chariots imply an army (cavalry), so one clear application of this is military.
Now, of course, it’s good to defend your country, and if you’re in a war, it’s probably good to have a cavalry!
But Hosea, another prophet around the time of Micah, noted that this cavalry was displacing God’s role as savior, in the minds of God’s people, as they depended on their horses and military for their safety and forgot about God, so Hosea confessed this sin to God, saying, “Assyria shall not save us, We will not ride on horses, Nor will we say anymore to the work of our hands, ‘You are our gods.’ For in You the fatherless finds mercy.” (Hosea 14:3, NKJV)
Not only did horses and chariots represent the military, they are also fundamentally a means of transportation, like our modern-day automobiles and airplanes.
Absalom’s and Jehu’s charioteering seems to have been more along that line. Horses and chariots made for a fast, fancy, and impressive ride back in those days, and that’s what those guys loved, and whatever we love, that’s what our hearts will follow.
If we’re not careful, our own vehicles can lead us away from God.
Are your wheels (or your wings) a tool to get you where God wants you to be, or have they become a source of existential experiences that lead your heart away from God?
Do you drive for God’s glory, or do you drive to impress other people?
Or, coming from the other direction, is your car a “beater” and such an embarrassment to you that, every time you see it, you complain that God has not been a good provider for you? Self-pity can distance your heart from God just as effectively as luxury and fame!
What can be done about this problem of idolizing military security and luxury transportation?
There was a spiritual awakening in Judah about 100 years after Micah’s prophecy, and during that revival, King Josiah realized that horses and chariots were turning people’s hearts away from God, so “...he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of the LORD... and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire.” (2 Kings 23:11, NKJV)
I would like to think that, if your car is a stumbling block, you could just sell it instead of having to burn it, but I suppose Josiah could afford it, and his zeal was admirable.
Nevertheless, his revival was short-lived, and the Jews turned away from God again, so the later prophets speak of foreign armies with horses and chariots who would destroy Israel thoroughly (cf. Jer. 4:13; Joel 2:5; Nah. 3:2; Hab. 3:8; Hag. 2:22, Zech. 9:10).
But, God, being a just God, promised to then turn around and destroy those foreign nations5 for the same problem of relying on their horses and chariots:
Haggai 2:22 “I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms; I will destroy the strength of the Gentile kingdoms. I will overthrow the chariots And those who ride in them; The horses and their riders shall come down, Every one by the sword of his brother.” (NKJV)
But remember, v.15 tells us that these kinds of punishments are for not “listening” to God’s commands and not “obeying” Him. If we repent of our sin of depending more on our army than on God to save us, and repent of the sin of using transportation for our own selfish purposes, and instead start heeding and obeying God and using our transportation for God’s purposes, God will delight in our worship of Him – He will have mercy, and there will be one less enemy for Him to destroy because you have already destroyed its power to control your heart!
“[I]s it not a singular favor in God when he suffers us not to be thus separated from him, but prepares a way for himself to be connected with us...?” ~J. Calvin, 1559 AD
Now, just like with the horses, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with cities either.
Some of you folks who love the country might chafe at that a little, but the book of Revelation does portray heaven as a “city”6, so cities can’t be all-bad!
But remember, Micah said in chapter 1 v.13 that the fortified city of Lachich was “the fountainhead of sin for the daughter of Zion, because in her were found the transgressions of Israel.” (NAW)
Once again, it is cities as “enemies” of God and “fountainheads of sin” that we are talking about, not cities per se.
How do cities become enemies of God?7
They easily become substitutes for the community of God and His people.
In the “city of man,” people get so busy working and shopping and socializing and doing projects and making improvements that God gets squeezed out of their lives.
We must be careful not to let community become a substitute for God in our lives!
The parallel word for “cities” Micah uses in v.11 is “fortifications/strongholds,” which gets back to the idea of safety and security, like the chariots and horses of a military cavalry.
Nowadays we do that with locks and alarms on our houses and cars, but we also use our communities to provide security for us through insurance policies, bank financing, and government aid.
While not wrong in themselves, they can become sinful when we get so preoccupied with protecting ourselves that we forget our ultimate dependence on God to keep us safe.
There is a balance between a faithful amount of security-measures and an unfaithful amount of security-measures, and it takes wisdom to hit that balance right.
Jesus told His disciples to buy swords if they didn’t already have one, but, once two swords had been acquired, He said that should be enough (Luke 22:36-38).
It is possible to implement reasonable security measures without it being a sin, but it is easy to cross the line into trusting your own security measures instead of God.
Now, because cities and fortifications had turned the hearts of Micah’s people away from God, God pledged to demolish their cities and fortifications8, and scripture bears out that God did what He pledged.
Many small towns and walled cities were demolished late in Micah’s life when the Assyrian army swept through Judea. Isaiah describes this in Isaiah 49:17 “Your children hurried in; your demolishers and your desolators will go out from you.” (NAW)
Then, a century or so later, the Chaldean army successfully conquered all the fortified cities of Judea.
Ethan the Ezrahite lamented it after-the-fact in Psalm 89:39-40 “...You have renounced the covenant of Your servant; You have profaned his crown by casting it to the ground. You have broken down all his hedges; You have brought his strongholds to ruin.” (NKJV)
So did the Prophet Jeremiah in Lamentations 2:1-2 “How the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion With a cloud in His anger! He cast down from heaven to the earth The beauty of Israel, And did not remember His footstool In the day of His anger. The Lord has swallowed up and has not pitied All the dwelling places of Jacob. He has thrown down in His wrath The strongholds of the daughter of Judah; He has brought them down to the ground; He has profaned the kingdom and its princes… 17 The LORD has done what He purposed; He has fulfilled His word Which He commanded in days of old. He has thrown down and has not pitied, And He has caused an enemy to rejoice over you; He has exalted the horn of your adversaries.” (NKJV, cf. Jeremiah 31:28, 42:10-11)
But it was part of God’s plan to refine His people and bring a purified remnant back from Babylonian exile and set up the New Covenant and the community in which the Messiah would grow up.
And, in our time, we are that “remnant” which is being sanctified and purified by Jesus the Messiah. Part of that purifying process is repenting of reliance on safety-measures and human community to keep us safe – and growing in obedience to Jesus’ command not to fear but to put our trust in Him and to worship Him alone.
Deuteronomy 18:9-15 "When you come into the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer9, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD your God drives them out from before you. You shall be blameless before the LORD your God. For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the LORD your God has not appointed such for you. The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. [Listen to] Him…” (NKJV)
It is clear that sorcery/witchcraft was practiced in the nations surrounding Israel10, but was witchcraft really practiced in Judea? Sadly, the answer is Yes.
2 Chronicles 33:1-6 “Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. But he did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel. For he... raised up altars for the Baals, and made wooden images... he practiced soothsaying, used witchcraft and sorcery, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger.” (NKJV) Manassah became king near the end of Micah’s life, late in the 7th century BC.
Later, in the early 7th century BC, just before Jerusalem was conquered by Babylon, Jeremiah 27:9 tells us that the people of Judah were still listening to these “sorcerers,” and “fortune-tellers,” along along with “diviners” and false “prophets.11”
Still later, in the 5th century BC, the Prophet Malachi indicates that there was “witchcraft” going on even among the exiles who returned with Nehemiah!12
Why did they do it?
The main motivation for witchcraft seems to be in finding a spiritual source of power outside of the one true God.
That’s the reason for the prepositional phrase “from your hand” in Micah: the “hand” symbolizes what is in your “power” – under your “control.”
Witchcraft is about gaining “power/control” by connecting with Satan and his unclean spirits, and deep down in our flesh, we want more power and control.
Witchcraft provides some power beyond what is natural to us, which can give the illusion of controlling what you want to control, but demonic power is far inferior to God’s power, and tapping into their power always comes at the price of losing a good relationship with God, and that is the ultimate disaster.
The Greek translation of Micah’s Hebrew word for “sorcery” is found in the N.T.
among the “works of the flesh” in opposition to the “fruit of the Spirit” in Gal. 5:20,
as well as in the descriptions of the world’s rebellion against God, in the book of Revelation (9:21; 18:23; 21:8; 22:15), where God makes it clear that those who practice “sorcery/witchcraft” will be punished eternally in the “lake of fire.”
So, witchcraft is not a sin to take lightly, nor is it a subject to be experimented with or joked about. During the Halloween season, our culture pays it far too much attention, and it’s playing with fire.
The parallel word for “witchcrafts” v.12 is me’oh-ne-niym, which is translated “fortune-tellers/spell-casters/soothsayers.”
Like witchcraft, fortune-telling was also expressly forbidden in the law: Lev. 19:26 “You may not... practice divination, and you may not practice fortune-telling.” (NAW, cf. Isa 8:19)
But, the Jews also ignored that law. The Prophet Isaiah, who lived at the same time as Micah testified that God “...rejected... the house of Jacob, because they took their fill from the East and fortune-tellers like the Philistines...” (Isaiah 2:6, NAW)
Whether it’s birds or tea-leaves, or sticks, or tarot cards, or Zodiac configurations, or seeing-stones, palm readers, Ouija boards, spiritual aura readers, horoscopes, or even fortune cookies, humans throughout history have attempted to discover hidden information, especially about the future, from supernatural sources through physical objects, but God wants us to go straight to Him, rather than to the things He created, to gain wisdom for the future. James 1:5 “...if someone among y'all is lacking wisdom, let him ask from God – the one who gives to all generously without fault-finding, and it will be given to him.” (NAW)
And just like witchcraft, fortune-telling turns people away from trust and dependence on God. It is an enemy to the worship of the one true God, and it will rob you of a blessed relationship with God,
so it’s in our best interest to steer clear of power and information which doesn’t come from God,
and if we don’t tear ourselves away from it, it’s in our best interest for God to intervene and “cut” it away to stop us from destroying ourselves by connecting with the devil instead of Jesus.
Just as materialism, humanism, and the occult destroy the worship of the one true God, so also idolatry and the worship of false gods obviously interfere with worshiping Him.
God made no bones about that in His law:
Leviticus 26:1 “Y'all may not make for yourselves idols, and y'all may not erect for yourselves a carved-image or a monument, and y'all may not put an engraved stone in your land to worship before it, because I am Yahweh y'all's God.” (NAW)
Exodus 20:5 adds that it’s because He is a “jealous” god, so He will eliminate the competition for your worship!
Isaiah 42:8 “I am Yahweh; it is My name, and my glory, I will not relinquish to one who comes after, nor my praise to idols.” (NAW)
So God commanded in Deuteronomy 7:5 “...you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and chop down their Asherim and burn their carved images with fire… 25 The carved images of their gods you shall burn with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, lest you be ensnared by it, for it is an abomination to Yahweh your God.” (NAW, cf. Ex. 34:13)
He specifically forbade:
pesilim idol/images carved out of wood and overlaid with gold or silver foil,
mitzeybah sacred pillars/monuments/statues made out of stone13,
and asherim groves of carved trees or poles related to a pagan fertility goddess.
And yet, the Jews disobeyed:
In Psalm 78, Asaph recounts that God had “5 ...established a testimony in Jacob, And appointed a law in Israel, Which He commanded our fathers, That they should make them known to their children… 56 Yet they tested and provoked the Most High God, And did not keep His testimonies… 58 For they provoked Him to anger with their high places, And moved Him to jealousy with their carved images. 59 When God heard this, He was furious, And greatly abhorred Israel... 61 And delivered His strength into captivity, And His glory into the enemy's hand.” (NKJV) (This refers to the ark being captured by the Philistines before David’s reign.)
Then 1 Kings 10:22-23 reports that, after David’s reign, “Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked Him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, more than all that their fathers had done. For they also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and wooden images on every high hill and under every green tree.” (NKJV, cf. 1 Ki. 14:15)
Hosea 11 records that the problem of idolatry was still ongoing in Micah’s time: “When Israel was a child, I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son…. [But] They sacrificed to the Baals, And burned incense to carved images.” (Hosea 11:1-2, NKJV)
Micah had already warned the capitol city of the northern kingdom of Israel, in chapter 1 verse 7, that God would destroy their idols: “Therefore I will make Samaria into a pile in the field – into a place for planting a vineyard, and I will have her building-stones poured out into the ravine, and her foundations laid bare. And all her idols will be smashed, and all her income will be burned in the fire. And I will put all her images in the trash…” (NAW, cf. Hosea 3:4, 10:2)
Now he is warning the southern kingdom of Judah that a similar thing will happen to them if they don’t get rid of their idols.
King Hezekiah (2 Ch. 31) – and later King Josiah (2 Ki. 23) – responded pretty well and destroyed a bunch of idols, so God withheld His promised destruction of Judah for while.
But idolatry remained a problem, resulting in God sending Jeremiah14 and other prophets to warn His people to get rid of all their idols.
But their idolatry persisted, and eventually there came a day when God brought destruction to Jerusalem in the form of the Chaldean army. The result was that their idols got stolen or destroyed in the war and pillaging15.
In the New Testament, Revelation 9:20-21 indicates that idolatry will continue to be a problem in our time: “…the rest of mankind... did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols16 of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.” (NKJV)
While the thought of bowing down before a wood or stone statue might seem crazy to a 21st century American, the concept of worshiping the work of our hands is not so far afield.
We pay a great deal of attention to rectangular tablets made from rocks that connect to the Internet and display information.
We obsess over collecting little sheets of tree fiber, known as Federal Reserve Notes, working long hours to get more of them.
We spend vast amounts of time shopping for items to put in our mouths or to wear on our bodies, and more besides in preparing them for putting in our mouths and on our bodies.
We also get engrossed in accomplishing tasks, fantasizing over the value of that completed construction project or that completed writing project or that completed study program or that completed business deal.
Every one of these things is a potential distraction of our our attention away from God and toward the “work of our hands” – things made of wood and stone. And when they do draw our attention away from God, it makes God jealous, and it may lead Him to intervene and take some of those things away from you in order to get your attention back on the right track.
God wants us who are followers of Jesus to renounce idolatry and unbelief just as much as he wanted the Old Testament Jews to renounce idols and unbelief: Romans 11:20-22 “Because of unbelief they [the Jews] were broken off, and you [Gentile Christians] stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.”
Jesus warned in Matthew 6:19-21 “Don't y'all keep treasuring for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and consumption are devaluing, and where thieves are breaking in and stealing, but keep treasuring for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor consumption are devaluing and where thieves neither break in nor steal, for where your treasure is, there also will be your heart.” (NAW)
But, praise the Lord, this is not an endless process of straying and being corrected. There will come a time, according to Micah (and the other prophets), when God’s people will be completely free from the sin of idolatry! Jesus is going to accomplish what He promises to do17:
Isaiah 17:7-8 “In that day the man will look upon his Maker, and his eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel. He will not look to the altars, the work of his hands, and he will not look at what his fingers have made, either the Asherim or the sun-images.” 2:18 “And the idols shall utterly pass away.” (NAW)
Zechariah 13:2 “It shall be in that day,” says the LORD of hosts, “that I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they shall no longer be remembered. I will also cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to depart from the land.” (NKJV)
Revelation 21 “2 Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband... 27 But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life…. 22:3 And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve [worship] Him.” (NKJV)
Just think, in heaven,
we might not need transportation if, as Isaiah 40:31 says, we will be able to “mount up with wings like eagles” and “run and not grow weary.”
We won’t need defensive structures in the heavenly city because Jesus “will be our peace.” Nobody will be stealing or murdering – all the weapons will have been turned into garden tools!
Nobody will be tempted to use magic because Jesus will be right there to ask anything you need to know and to do anything you need to get done. Jesus will be for us everything that Google ever dreamed its products would be for us – and more!
And, in heaven, everybody will be worshiping Jesus. All lies and false religions will have been exposed for what they are; the truth will be plain for all to see. We won’t need images because in the presence of God Himself we will have all the reality we can handle!
DouayB
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LXXC |
BrentonD
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KJVE |
NAW |
Masoretic
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9 Thy hand shall be lifted up over thy enemies, and all thy enemies shall be cut off. |
8 ὑψωθήσεται ἡ χείρ σου ἐπὶ τοὺς θλίβοντάς σε, καὶ πάντες οἱ ἐχθροί σου ἐξολεθρευθήσονται. |
9 Thine hand shall be lifted up against them that afflict thee, and all thine enemies shall be utterly destroyed. |
9 Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off. |
9 Let Your hand rise up against Your adversaries and let all Your enemies be cut off. |
(ח) תָּרֹם יָדְךָG עַל צָרֶיךָ וְכָל אֹיְבֶיךָ יִכָּרֵתוּ. |
10
And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, that I
will |
9 Καὶ ἔσται ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ, λέγει κύριος, ἐξολεθρεύσω τοὺς ἵππους σου ἐκ μέσου σου καὶ ἀπολῶ τὰ ἅρματά σου |
10 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, that I will utterly destroy the horses out of the midst of thee, and destroy thy chariots; |
10 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots: |
10 Therefore it will happen during that time, declares Yahweh, that I will cause to cut off your horses from your midst, and I will cause to destroy your chariots. |
(ט) וְהָיָה בַיּוֹם הַהוּא נְאֻם יְהוָה וְהִכְרַתִּי סוּסֶיךָH מִקִּרְבֶּךָ וְהַאֲבַדְתִּי מַרְכְּבֹתֶיךָI. |
11 And I will destroy the cities of thy land, and will throw down all thy strong holds, |
10 καὶ ἐξολεθρεύσω τὰς πόλεις τῆς γῆς σου καὶ ἐξαρῶ πάντα τὰ ὀχυρώματά σου· |
11 and I will utterly destroy the cities of thy land, and demolish all thy strong-holds: |
11 And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strong holds: |
11 I will also cause to cut off the cities of your land, and I will demolish all your fortifications. |
(י) וְהִכְרַתִּי עָרֵי אַרְצֶךָ וְהָרַסְתִּי כָּלJ מִבְצָרֶיךָ. |
12 And I will take away sorceries out of thy hand, and there shall be no divinations in thee. |
11
καὶ ἐξαρῶ
τὰ φάρμακά
[σου] ἐκ τῶν χειρ |
12 and I will utterly destroy [thy] sorceries out of thine hand[s]; and there shall be no soothsayers in thee. |
12 And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand; and thou shalt have no more soothsayers: |
12 Furthermore, I will cause to cut off witchcrafts from your hand and fortune-tellers will not exist for you. |
(יא) וְהִכְרַתִּי כְשָׁפִיםL מִיָּדֶךָ וּמְעוֹנְנִים לֹא יִהְיוּM לָךְ. |
13 And I will destroy thy graven things, and thy statues, out of the midst of thee: and thou shalt no more adore the works of thy hands. |
12 καὶ ἐξολεθρεύσω τὰ γλυπτά σου καὶ τὰς στήλας σου ἐκ μέσου σου, καὶ οὐκέτι μὴ προσκυνήσῃς τοῖς ἔργοις τῶν χειρῶν σου· |
13 And I will utterly destroy thy graven images, and thy statues out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt never any more worship the works of thine hands. |
13 Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands. |
13 And I will cause to cut off your carved images and your monuments from your midst so you will not bow any more to the work of your hands. |
(יב)וְהִכְרַתִּי פְסִילֶיךָ וּמַצֵּבוֹתֶיךָ מִקִּרְבֶּךָ וְלֹא תִשְׁתַּחֲוֶה עוֹד לְמַעֲשֵׂה יָדֶיךָN. |
14 And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee: and will crush thy cities. |
13 καὶ ἐκκόψω τὰ ἄλση σου ἐκ μέσου σου καὶ ἀφανιῶ τὰς πόλεις σου· |
14 And I will cut off the groves out of the midst of thee, and I will abolish thy cities. |
14 And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee: so will I destroy thy cities. |
14 Indeed, I will uproot your Asherim from your midst when I cause to destroy your cities. |
(יג)וְנָתַשְׁתִּי אֲשֵׁירֶיךָ מִקִּרְבֶּךָ וְהִשְׁמַדְתִּי OעָרֶיךָP. |
15 And I will execute vengeance in wrath, and in indignation, among [all] the nations that have not given ear. |
14 καὶ ποιήσω ἐν ὀργῇ καὶ ἐν θυμῷ ἐκδίκησιν ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, ἀνθ᾿ ὧν οὐκ εἰσήκουσαν. |
15 and I will execute vengeance on the heathen in anger and wrath, because they hearkened not. |
15 And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathen, such as they have not heard. |
15 Thus will I execute vengeance in anger and in fury with respect to the nations which have not heeded. |
(יד)וְעָשִׂיתִי בְּאַף וּבְחֵמָה נָקָםQ אֶת הַגּוֹיִם אֲשֶׁר לֹא שָׁמֵעוּ. |
1Paul used ὑπακούω here, whereas the LXX of Micah 5:14 used the closely-related word εἰσήκουω. While both have to do with “hearing,” the latter has more to do with “heeding” and the former with “obeying.”
2“It is a great mercy to be deprived of those things in which we have reposed a confidence in competition with God.” ~Matthew Henry, 1714 AD
3Keil removed the phrase from Micah’s context and insisted that it only refers to the age of peace under the Messiah. On the other extreme, J.T. Willis connected this prophecy only to Sennacherib’s siege of Jerusalem. I agree with Waltke in affirming the initial context of 701 BC, but seeing ultimate fulfillment in the eschatological church.
4Isaiah 22:15-18 “Thus says the Lord Yahweh Commander of armies, ‘Go to this... Shebna, who is over the household… [and say] “Look, Yahweh will throw you a man's throw... into a land that's wide on both hands. There you shall die, and there the chariots of your glory will be a shame of your master's house.”’” (NAW)
5“Although thys prophecy be by many expounded of the Iewes, yet had I rather to take it, as spoken of the Hethen, and so it very wel agreeth wyth all the other prophetes, whych strayghte after the deliueraunce of Israel from amongs the heythen, doth alwayes threaten a terryble destruccion to theyr enemyes. Of whom so euer it is spoken, we muste marke for what cause it is spoken, to teach vs that syn is the cause of destruccion to al kyngdomes.” ~A. Gilby, 1551 AD
6Rev. 3:12; 11:2; 20:9; 21:2,10,14,15,16,18,19,21,23; 22:14,19.
7Matthew Henry’s commentary explained that it was referring to certain cities “dedicated to the idols.”
8We
also find prophecies with similar language in:
Hosea 10:14
“Therefore tumult shall arise among your people, And all your
fortresses shall be plundered....” (NKJV)
Amos
5:9 “He rains ruin upon the strong, So that fury comes upon
the fortress.” (NKJV)
and Isaiah 6:11 “Then I
said, ‘Unto what extent, Lord?’ And He said, ‘Until whenever
cities crash to ruin without inhabitant, and houses are
without a human and the ground is ruined – a desolation.’”
(NAW)
9“You shall not permit a sorceress to live.” (Exodus 22:18, NKJV)
10Exodus
7:11 tells us it was practiced in ancient Egypt,
Isaiah 47:9-12
and Daniel 2:2 let us know that it was also practiced in Babylon
along with “enchantments/spells,”
2 Kings 9:22 says that
the Canaanite Queen Jezebel practiced it, and the word
“adultery/harlotry” is parallel to the word “witchcraft”
there,
“Adultery/harlotry” is also mentioned alongside
“witchcraft” when Nahum describes Assyria in Nahum 3:4 (and
Isaiah 57:3 also connects “fortune-telling” to “prostitution.”
There is a connection between Satanism and sexual sin.)
11Jeremiah 27:9 “Therefore do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your soothsayers, or your sorcerers [this is the masculine form of the word which Micah uses in the feminine gender], who speak to you, saying, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon.’” (NKJV)
12Malachi
3:5 “‘And I will come near you for judgment; I will be a
swift witness Against sorcerers, Against adulterers, Against
perjurers, Against those who exploit wage earners and widows and
orphans, And against those who turn away an alien—Because they do
not fear Me,’ Says the LORD of hosts.” (NKJV)
cf. Anthony
Gilby’s commentary on Micah: “Iosephus wryteth Ant. xx. cap.
iiii.xi.xii. yt they dyd forsake the true Prophetes of God, and
sought after Sorcerers and soothe sayers.” (The numbering system
of Gilby’s copy of Josephus’ Antiquities appears to be
different from Whiston’s edition in my possession, so I could not
easily find this passage to which Gilby refers.)
13cf. Matthew Henry, who distinguished pesilim from mitzeybah in terms of the former being “movable” and the latter being “fixed.” Keil, however agreed with me that the former are “idols made of wood or metal” and the latter are “stone-images.” Waltke’s position was similar, relegating both to “representations in rock of the Canaanite mail fertitlicy god Baal, and V.13(14) to the representation in wood of his consort, Ashera…” He saw a “merism” in the “stone” and “wood” idols, comprising all idols. He insightfully added, “Idolatry and the stone pillars not only seduced Israel into pagan thinking and eroticism, but it also caused them to substitute rocks associated with demonic forces for the true Rock, even the One who made them to serve and glorify himself... The reference to idols as the works of man’s hands... shows that they belong to the same spiritual stuff of trusting in oneself...”
14e.g. Jeremiah 1:16 “I will utter My judgments Against them concerning all their wickedness, Because they have forsaken Me, Burned incense to other gods, And worshiped the works of their own hands… 8:19 “Listen! The voice, The cry of the daughter of my people From a far country: ‘Is not the LORD in Zion? Is not her King in her?’ ‘Why have they provoked Me to anger With their carved images With foreign idols?’” (NKJV)
15cf. Jer. 50:38, in which God complains of Babylon’s idolatry, and Isaiah 21:9, which prophecies God’s judgment against Babylon and the destruction of its idols. Same for Egypt in Jer. 43:13 and for Tyre in Ezekiel 36:11.
16The GNT reads εἴδωλα… λίθινα καὶ τὰ ξύλινα, synonymous with the LXX words in Micah 5 for stone idol (στήλας) and wooden idol (γλυπτά).
17“The
reformation of the Jews after their return from Babylon might be
alluded to; but the purification of the Christian Church from all
antichristian corruptions of faith and worship, and all idolatry and
superstition, seems more immediately to be predicted.” ~Owen of
Thrussington, quoting Scott
“[T]he more [the Messianic
Israel, or the true people of the Lord] appropriates the spiritual
power of the Prince of peace, the more will the trust in horses and
chariots disappear…” ~C.F. Keil, 1891 AD (While this does
sometimes describe the Christian’s experience, it should be noted
– as Calvin’s commentary emphasized – that the emphasis in
this passage in Micah is not on Israel faithfully renouncing idols
but on God forcibly removing idols from Israel.)
“I
AM [is] protecting
his imperium
by purifying his realm: in the first section by purging unbelief and
attendant unholiness from among nominal Israel and so preserving it
from his final wrath, and in the second section, after Israel has
been purged, by taking punitive vindication against those nations
that rebel... The first pertains to enemies within, and the
punishment is remedial; the second pertains to enemies outside, and
the punishment is penal.” ~B.
Waltke, 2007 AD
AMy
original chart includes the following copyrighted English versions:
NASB, NIV, ESV, Bauscher’s version of the Peshitta, and Cathcart’s
version of the Targums, but I remove these columns from my public,
non-copyrighted edition of this chart so as not to infringe on their
copyrights. NAW is my translation. When a translation adds words not
in the Hebrew text, but does not indicate it has done so by the use
of italics or greyed-out text, I put the added words in [square
brackets]. When one version chooses a wording which is different
from all the other translations, I underline it. When a
version chooses a translation which, in my opinion, either departs
too far from the root meaning of the Hebrew word or departs too far
from the grammar form of the original text, I use strikeout.
And when a version omits a word which is in the original text, I
insert an X. I also place an X at the end of a word if the original
word is plural but the English translation is singular. I
occasionally use colors to help the reader see correlations between
the various editions and versions when there are more than two
different translations of a given word. The only known Dead Sea
Scrolls containing Micah 5 are 4Q81 (containing parts of verses 2-3
and dated between 175-50BC), 4Q82 (containing parts of verses 7-8
and dated between 30-1 BC), the Nahal Hever Greek scroll
(containing parts of vs. 2-7 and dated around 25BC), and the Wadi
Muraba’at Scroll (containing parts verses 1-2 & 6-13 and dated
around 135 AD). Where the DSS is legible and in agreement with the
MT, the MT is colored purple. Where the
DSS supports the LXX/Vulgate/Peshitta with omissions or text not in
the MT, I have highlighted with
yellow the LXX and its translation into English, and where I
have accepted that into my NAW translation, I have marked it with
{pointed brackets}.
BDouay Old Testament first published by the English College at Douay, A.D. 1609, Revised and Diligently Compared with the Latin Vulgate by Bishop Richard Challoner, Published in 1582, 1609, 1752. As published on E-Sword.
C“Septuagint” Greek Old Testament, edited by Alfred Rahlfs. Published in 1935. As published on E-Sword.
DEnglish translation of the Septuagint by Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton, 1851, “based upon the text of the Vaticanus” but not identical to the Vaticanus. As published electronically by E-Sword.
E1769 King James Version of the Holy Bible; public domain. As published electronically by E-Sword.
FFrom
the Wiki Hebrew Bible
https://he.wikisource.org/wiki/%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%9B%D7%94_%D7%91/%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%AA
.
DSS text comes from https://downloads.thewaytoyahuweh.com
GThe masculine gender makes God the referent rather than the feminine “remnant.” Malbim, however, said it could refer to either God or the remnant. The NIV and NET bibles (and Waltke, in his commentary) added the word “triumph,” interpreting the raised hand as a celebratory sign after a victory (cf. Cohen) rather than a threatening sign before a strike, but the parallel passages in Isaiah argue persuasively that it is the latter. Keil agreed with me, “This wish (târōm is optative) closes the promise of the attitude which Israel will assume among the nations of the world. For târōm yâd (high be the hand), compare Isa. 26:11. High is the hand which accomplishes mighty deeds, which smites and destroys the foe.”
HAlthough
the Hebrew text is clear that the horses, chariots, cities,
fortresses, witches, soothsayers, carved images and stone monuments
all belonged to “you” – “Daughter of Zion,” the Targums
assiduously avoided that accusation in their translations, changing
the “you’s” to “they” and “the peoples of the
nations.”
Jerome’s overly-allegorical interpretation was
summarized by Owen of Thrussington: “horses” = lusts, “chariots”
= sins, “cities” = Cain’s city, and “strongholds” = “the
eloquence of orators and dialecticians.”
IThe first mention of chariots in the Bible describes their use in Egypt, including how the Egyptian chariots were destroyed when the Red Sea came back together. The first mention of chariots in Israel is in Josh. 11, describing Canaanites with horses and chariots who were defeated by Joshua, then in Judges 4-5 when Barak defeated another army of Canaanites which used chariots. King David’s sons, Absalom (2 Sam. 15) and Solomon (1 Ki. 10) are the first Israelites mentioned as using chariots. Solomon imported his horses and chariots from Egypt and exported them to Syria (1 Ki. 10:28-29). In 2 Ki. 23, King Josiah destroys horses and chariots which had been dedicated by previous kings of Judah to false gods. Later, the Chaldeans destroyed Israel’s army and chariots, then they, in turn, were destroyed.
JWadi Murabbaat, the only DSS legible at this point, omits this word “all,” but it’s in the Targums, Peshitta, Vulgate, LXX, and MT.
Kcf. Aq. κληδονιζομενοι (“those who call demons”?), Sym. σημειοσκοποθμενοι (“dealers in signs”? or “those who mark with cuts”?), Theodoret μαντεις (“soothsayers”), and Cyril ψευδομαντεις (“false prophets”).
LThis word is found in only 4 passages: 1) here, where it is associated with “fortune-telling,” 2) in 2 Kings 9:22 (Referring to Jezebel’s witchcraft and associated with “adultery”), 3) in Isa. 47:9-12 (referring to Babylon’s witchcraft and associated with “enchantments/spells”), and 4) Nah. 3:4 (referring to Assyria’s witchcraft and associated with “adultery”). In every case the word is plural. There are three things which go together with it. 1) Here in Micah: “your hand,” 2) “great/many” in every instance but Micah’s, and 3) sexual shame in every instance but Micah’s: 2 Ki. 9:22 (harlotry), Isa. 47:9-12 (nakedness, loss of children, widowhood), and Nah. 3:4 (harlotry, nakedness, selling of families).
MThis verb is the plural of the verb of being (“they [soothsayers] shall not be…”), but the KJV, NASB, NIV, and ESV turned the singular “you” into its subject and changed the verb to “you shall not have/cast...” Understandably, what the KJV, NASB, and ESV did makes better sense of the lamed preposition (“belonging to you”), but there are other meanings to that preposition which could be used.
NAlthough this phrase “the work of your/his/their hands” usually denotes good work in the Bible, it is used in a minority of cases to denote idols (Deut. 4:28, 27:15, 31:29, 1 Kings 16:7, 2 Kings 19:18, 22:17, 2 Chron. 32:19, 34:25, Psalm 115:3, 135:15, Isa. 2:8, 17:8, 37:19, Jer. 1:16, 10:3, 10:9, 25:6, 7, 14, 32:30, 48:8, Hos. 14:3, Hag. 2:14). Besides this one instance in Micah, Jeremiah is the only author who uses this phrase more often to describe idols than to describe good works (in fact, Jeremiah used the phrase exclusively to describe idolatry). In the GNT, the phrase from the LXX shows up only in Acts 7:41, Heb. 1:10, and Rev. 9:20.
OWhile
most versions translate the vav
as a simple conjunction “and/so,” Calvin interpreted it as a
“final particle” (“that”), but I suggest it makes better
sense as a temporal (“when”).
cf. Hosea 10:8 “Also
the high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, Shall be destroyed.”
(NKJV)
Amos 9:8 “‘Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD
are on the sinful kingdom, And I will destroy it from the
face of the earth; Yet I will not utterly destroy the house
of Jacob,’ Says the LORD.” (NKJV)
God also promised to
“destroy” foreign nations for their evil as well (Isa. 13:9,
26:14; Ezek. 14:9; 25:7; Jer. 48; Hag. 2:22; Zech. 12:9)
PCuriously, Calvin (followed by Newcomb, Owen, Cohen, Targums, Geneva Bible, and the AJV) couldn’t believe that the word “city” would be repeated, and so found another meaning for this word: “enemy.” Gilby, Henry, Keil, and Waltke rendered it “city,” following the ancient Vulgate, Septuagint, and Peshitta versions, and most modern English versions followed this tradition (KJV, NASB, NIV, ESV, and NLT). The NET Bible inexplicably translated it “idols.” Waltke’s commentary surveyed a wide range of theories on the translation of this word published between 1987 and 2007, and while he tipped his hat to J. Sasson (who found that the Hebrew word spelled “forest” in the Ugaritic language) and L. Fisher (who argued that this Hebrew word means “inner room of a temple” in 2 Ki. 10:25), he concluded that, in looking for other meanings, “no consensus has been reached” among Biblical scholars, and that the “unambiguous meaning” of “village or city” should prevail.
QPsalm 149:7 has very similar wording, but it is speaking of God’s people praising God “To execute vengeance on the nations, And punishments on the peoples” (NKJV)