Daniel Lyons' Notes

Micah-03


The Text

Rulers and Prophets Denounced

v1

I said, "Please listen, you heads of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel: Isn't it for you to know justice?

v2

You who hate the good, and love the evil; who tear off their skin, and their flesh from off their bones;

v3

who also eat the flesh of my people, and peel their skin from off them, and break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as meat within the cauldron.

v4

Then they will cry to Yahweh, but he will not answer them. Yes, he will hide his face from them at that time, because they made their deeds evil."

v5

Yahweh says concerning the prophets who lead my people astray; for those who feed their teeth, they proclaim, "Peace!" and whoever doesn't provide for their mouths, they prepare war against him:

v6

"Therefore night is over you, with no vision, and it is dark to you, that you may not divine; and the sun will go down on the prophets, and the day will be black over them.

v7

The seers shall be disappointed, and the diviners confounded. Yes, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer from God."

v8

But as for me, I am full of power by Yahweh's Spirit, and of judgment, and of might, to declare to Jacob his disobedience, and to Israel his sin.

v9

Please listen to this, you heads of the house of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice, and pervert all equity.

v10

They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.

v11

Her leaders judge for bribes, and her priests teach for a price, and her prophets of it tell fortunes for money: yet they lean on Yahweh, and say, "Isn't Yahweh among us? No disaster will come on us."

v12

Therefore Zion for your sake will be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem will become heaps of rubble, and the mountain of the temple like the high places of a forest.



My Notes

"who tear off their skin, and their flesh from off their bones"

v2
Here, Micah uses a metaphor of cannibalism. He describes these rulers of Israel as if they are dismembering, cooking, and eating the people of Israel. I don't have any reason to believe this description is literal, but it sure is shocking, and it describes the way those in power exploit those below them as mere resources.

"prophets of it tell fortunes for money"

v11
To my knowledge there is not a single, true, prophet of Yahweh in the Old Testament who became rich and lived an opulent life. Rather prophets often lived lives of poverty, persecution, and great loss. Consider Jeremiah who was seized and thrown into a well and left to die. Do not trust a modern-day prophet who claims to have the word of God, and yet wears fancy new suits and flies in charter planes.


Footnotes

Micah-03
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On this page
The Text
Rulers and Prophets Denounced
v1
v2
v3
v4
v5
v6
v7
v8
v9
v10
v11
v12
My Notes
"who tear off their skin, and their flesh from off their bones"
"prophets of it tell fortunes for money"
Footnotes