Bloodshed And Bribes

Micah 3:9-11 - Hear this, you leaders of the house of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel, who despise justice and distort all that is right; who build Zion with bloodshed, and Jerusalem with wickedness. Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets tell fortunes for money. Yet they lean upon the LORD and say, "Is not the LORD among us? No disaster will come upon us."

Habakkuk 2:12 - "Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by crime!

Exodus 23:8 - "Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the righteous.

Ezekiel 13:19 - You have profaned me among my people for a few handfuls of barley and scraps of bread. By lying to my people, who listen to lies, you have killed those who should not have died and have spared those who should not live.

Hosea 4:8 - They feed on the sins of my people and relish their wickedness.

Jeremiah 7:4 - Do not trust in deceptive words and say, "This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!"

Ezekiel 34:2 - "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock?

Conclusions:

• Babylonian injustice is condemned in Habakkuk 2:12
• Samuel exemplified faithful stewardship with regard to bribes, while his sons did not
• Involvement in religious matters of any kind for mere gain is consistently condemned in the Bible
• Priests devoured the sacrifices, profiting from the continuation of the sin rather than helping to cure it
• The idea that God would not destroy Jerusalem simply because His dwelling, the temple, was located there was a delusion, fostered in part by the miraculous deliverance of the city during the reign of Hezekiah
• Shepherds of Israel are those responsible for providing leadership, especially the kings and their officials, but also the prophets and priests
• The Israelites in Jeremiah's time thought the temple was the buildings that constituted the entire temple complex

Application:

• Are you unjust?
• Do you exemplify faithful stewardship?
• Are you involved in religious matters for mere gain?
• Do you profit from sin or seek to cure it?
• Do you trust in deceptive words?
• Do you only take care of yourself and not your flock?

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

He Will Not Answer Them

Micah 3:4-5 - Then they will cry out to the LORD, but he will not answer them. At that time he will hide his face from them because of the evil they have done. This is what the LORD says: "As for the prophets who lead my people astray, if one feeds them, they proclaim 'peace'; if he does not, they prepare to wage war against him.

Isaiah 58:4 - Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.

Isaiah 53:6 - We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Conclusions:

• "They" are the leaders.
• Disobedience leads to separation from God
• Hypocritical religious activity is a hindrance to prayer
• The false prophets predicted peace for Judah while Micah predicted destruction and captivity
• Our iniquities are laid on Jesus just as the priest laid his hands on the scapegoat and symbolically put Israel's sins on it

Application:

• Are you disobedient? Are you separated from God?
• Is your religious activity hypocritical?
• Have you gone astray? Have you turned to your own way?

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

Leaders And Prophets Rebuked

Micah 2:11-3:4 - If a liar and deceiver comes and says, 'I will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer,' he would be just the prophet for this people! "I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob; I will surely bring together the remnant of Israel. I will bring them together like sheep in a pen, like a flock in its pasture; the place will throng with people. One who breaks open the way will go up before them; they will break through the gate and go out. Their king will pass through before them, the LORD at their head." Then I said, "Listen, you leaders of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel. Should you not know justice, you who hate good and love evil; who tear the skin from my people and the flesh from their bones; who eat my people's flesh, strip off their skin and break their bones in pieces; who chop them up like meat for the pan, like flesh for the pot?" Then they will cry out to the LORD, but he will not answer them. At that time he will hide his face from them because of the evil they have done.

Romans 12:9 - Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.

Psalm 14:4 - Will evildoers never learn—those who devour my people as men eat bread and who do not call on the LORD ?

Conclusions:

• If I am not just, if I hate good and love evil, God will not answer when I cry out
• My love must be sincere
• If I do not call on the Lord, I am an evildoer.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

The Lord Is Coming

Micah 1:1-5 - The word of the LORD that came to Micah of Moresheth during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah—the vision he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. Hear, O peoples, all of you, listen, O earth and all who are in it, that the Sovereign LORD may witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple. Look! The LORD is coming from his dwelling place; he comes down and treads the high places of the earth. The mountains melt beneath him and the valleys split apart, like wax before the fire, like water rushing down a slope. All this is because of Jacob's transgression, because of the sins of the house of Israel. What is Jacob's transgression? Is it not Samaria? What is Judah's high place? Is it not Jerusalem?

Isaiah 1:2 - Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth! For the LORD has spoken: "I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me.

Psalm 96:13 - Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy; they will sing before the LORD, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his truth.

Genesis 32:28 - Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome."

Micah 3:8 - But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the LORD, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression, to Israel his sin.

Micah 5:2-3 - "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times." Therefore Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labor gives birth and the rest of his brothers return to join the Israelites.

Conclusions:

• Isaiah begins and ends the book of Isaiah with the condemnation of those who rebel against God
• Isaiah calls on heaven and earth to testify to the truth of God's accusation against Israel and the rightness of His judgment--since they were witnesses of His covenant
• Because God reigns over all things and is the Lord of history, Israel lived in hope of the coming of God--His future acts by which He would decisively deal with all wickedness and establish His righteousness in the earth
• The Lord is coming is an Old Testament expression describing the Lord's intervention in history

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

Marks Of Jesus

Galatians 6:17-18 - Finally, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.

Galatians 1:10 - Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Conclusions:

• In ancient times the Greek word for marks was used of the brand that identified slaves or animals
• Paul's suffering (stoning, beating, illness) marked him as a servant of Christ
• Paul once wore the yoke of slaverey but, having been set free from sin by the redemption that is in Christ, he became a slave of righteousness, a slave of God
• Amen is a word of confirmation often used at the close of a doxology or benediction

Application:

• Are you a slave of righteousness? Are you a slave of God? Have you been set free from sin by the redemption that is in Christ?

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

New Creation

Galatians 6:15-16 - Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation. Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, even to the Israel of God.

2 Corinthians 5:17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

Philippians 3:6 - For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh—though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.

Conclusions:

• In Christ man undergoes a transformation that results in an entirely new being
• Creation again takes place
• In Christ means united with Christ through faith in Him and commitment to Him
• Redemption is the restoration and fulfillment of God's purposes in creation, and this takes place in Christ, through whom all things were made and in whom all things are restored or created anew
• Israel of God is a contrast to Israel according to flesh. The New Testament church, made up of believing Jews and Gentiles, is the new seed of Abraham and the heir according to the promise--though some limit the phrase to Christian Jews
• Circumcision's true, inner meaning is realized only in believers, who worship God with genuine spiritual worship and who glory in Christ as their Savior rather than trusting in their own human effort
• Everyone is a boaster, either in Christ or in himself
• Flesh is weak human nature
• Although the term flesh in Paul's letters often refers to sinful human nature, it speaks in Philippians 3:3 of the frailty of human nature: It is not worthy of our confidence; it cannot save

Application:

• Have you been transformed into an entirely new being?
• Are you united with Christ through faith and commitment to Him?
• Do you worship God with genuine spiritual worship? Do you glory in Christ as your Savior?

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

Crucified To Me, And I To The World

Galatians 6:10-14 - Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand! Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. Not even those who are circumcised obey the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your flesh. May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Titus 2:12-14 - It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

Philippians 3:3-6 - For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh—though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.

James 4:4 - You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.

Conclusions:

• Salvation involves the double work of redeeming us from guilt and judgment and of producing moral purity and helpful service to others
• Large letters may have been for emphasis or, as some have suggested, because Paul had poor eyesight
• By advocating circumcision the Judaizers were less apt to experience opposition from the Jewish opponents of Christianity
• Judaizers were thinking only of themselves
• The true, inner meaning of circumcision is realized only in believers who worship God with genuine spiritual worship and who glory in Christ as their Savior rather than trusting in their own human effort
• Everyone is a boaster, either in Christ or in himself
• The world is all that is against God
• Adulterous people are those who are spiritually unfaithful, who love the world rather than God

Application:

• Are you eager to do what is good? (morally pure; helpful service to others?)
• Do you worship God with genuine spiritual worship? Do you glory in Christ as your Savior?
• Are you choosing to be a friend to the world?

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible