Micah's prophetic career spanned the time when the northern
kingdom of Israel/Samaria fell to the Assyrians and the ten tribes that
comprised that kingdom were exiled and assimilated into the nations surrounding
them. Some of the exiles found their way
to Judah, their brothers, and became charity cases during this same time. As I write, there are refugees from Iraq who
are going to Syria and displaced persons always present a problem to the host
country. In our day we have the United
Nations and other human rights organizations that assist with relief but in
Micah's day there was nothing like that.
In Israel's case, while the kingdoms were divided in an earthly sense,
in God's mind the nation was made up of twelve tribes, these people were part
of the covenant community if they repented and returned to him with their whole
hearts. Micah refers to the nation as
Jacob and Israel in a way that unites these two kingdoms and says that their
sins are quite similar and the northern kingdom should serve as a warning to
the southern, Judah, as to God's judgment.
They are going the same direction, have turned Jerusalem itself into a
high place, a place of the worship of other gods. We should never look on the fall of others
for sin as anything other than a warning to get our own house in order, as a
nation, a church or individually.
The people encourage Jesus to heal the centurion's son even
though the man isn't a Jew because he loved the nation and built the synagogue
in Capernaum for them. At the end of the
story we hear Jesus say, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such
faith.” His faith was such that he likened Jesus' authority over illness to his
own authority, based not on presence but position. Jesus' authority was such that all He had to
do was speak the word only and healing would occur, His command was enough to
carry the weight. Sounds like creation
doesn't it? The raising of the son of
the widow in Nain by word convinced the mourners that God had visited His
people. Word began to spread. Would they believe the word?
Anger and hatred can make you do stupid things. More than forty people took an oath to taste
no food until they had killed Paul and the chief priests and scribes blessed
this conspiracy. These forty either
eventually forsook their oath or died of starvation because Paul lived quite a
long while after this. Hatred for Paul's
message to the Gentiles of salvation by faith rather than circumcision and the
Law had consumed these people. Why in
the world would the priests get involved in such things? Fortunately, word of this plot got to Paul's
nephew who warned him and the tribune believed what he heard. It was quite a retinue that accompanied Paul
in the night to Felix wasn't it? Two
hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen. We don't like it when people gore our sacred
cows. The Gospel, properly preached, exposes
our self-righteousness for what it is, pious humbug, and we don't always
appreciate it.
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