Plague of Idolatry

Micah 1:3-16

Last week Carl set the stage for our study of Micah, putting this prophet in his historical context of the good and evil kings of Israel and Judah, the unfaithfulness of the Hebrew people in following the Lord, and the looming menace of foreign invaders. Carl noted that Micah was a contemporary of Isaiah and Hosea, with a special focus on the southern kingdom of Judah – though he began his ministry before the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel in 722-721 BC. In fact, he prophesies the destruction of Samaria in the section that we will be looking at today.

In the Biblical record, the book of Micah comes right after Jonah, which we looked at earlier this year. The main threat against Israel was the Assyrian empire, and you will recall that Jonah was sent by God to speak out against the sin of Nineveh, the Assyrian capital, which led to the temporary repentance of the king and the people there. However, that didn’t last, and by the time of Micah, the Assyrians were back to their former ways and the brutal conquest of the nations around them. God intended to use them bring his judgment on the apostasy of Israel, and he provides a warning of this through his prophets.

Carl mentioned that this book of Micah starts out with an image of God entering a courtroom to bring charges against his people. What is his case against Israel and Judah? This book focuses on two main areas of sin: 1) the perversion of worship, namely idolatry, which we will look at today, and 2) the corruption of justice, people mistreating each other, which is the focus of subsequent chapters. These sins are the flipside of the two great commands that we looked at repeatedly in 1 John: love for God and love for each other. As our love for God erodes, we turn to idolatry, allowing something else to take the place of God in our lives. Similarly, the opposite of love for other people is selfish corruption and unjust practices. Isn’t it amazing how consistent this theme is, throughout the Bible. What is the will of God, what is basis of the abundant life that he desires for us? It is for us to truly love Him, which means worshiping Him alone, and to truly love other people, which means treating them fairly, justly, and unselfishly.

One of the key verses in Micah, which we will come to in a few weeks, is chapter 6, verse 8:

⁸He has told you, O man, what is good;

    and what does the Lord require of you

but to do justice, and to love kindness,

    and to walk humbly with your God? (ESV)  ~Micah 6:8

This captures these two themes: treating others with justice and kindness and walking humbly with God, recognizing Him as Lord and refusing to replace Him on the throne of our lives with ourselves or anything else. One of the Messianic prophesies in Isaiah (chapter 11) uses similar concepts to describe the ministry of the new Branch to grow out of the stump of David:

⁴He will give justice to the poor

and make fair decisions for the exploited.

The earth will shake at the force of his word,

and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked. (NLT)  ~Isaiah 11:4

We clearly see God’s concern for justice for the poor of the world, who are so easily exploited.

This week I was talking with Emma about careers that she might consider as she grows up, given her passion for issues and debate, and she was really drawn to the idea of advocacy for the poor of the world, being a voice for the voiceless. I told her that looking for a career focused on justice for the exploited would certainly have a strong Biblical basis. She might not make much money, but she would be involved in something close to God’s heart.

All right, with that as introduction, let’s home in on the balance of Micah chapter 1, which is the focus of time together today. Starting with verse 3:

³Look! The Lord is coming from His dwelling place;
    He comes down and treads on the heights of the earth.
⁴The mountains melt beneath Him
    and the valleys split apart,
like wax before the fire,
    like water rushing down a slope.  ~Micah 1:3-4

Verse 2 last week told us to listen, as the Lord comes to bear witness against us, all the peoples of the earth. Verse 3 tells us to look, as the Lord reveals His awesome power and authority as He comes to judge the sin of his people. The Lord is not going to stay aloof and distant. He is coming down and getting involved in the situation. He treads on the heights of the earth. You probably recall how high places were frequently places of worship in the Old Testament, often for idol worship, but also for worshiping the Lord. God told Abraham to offer Isaac on Mount Moriah. Moses, of course, met with God on top of Mount Sinai and received the Ten Commandments. In 1 Kings 19, Elijah traveled 40 days and 40 nights to reach Horeb, “the mountain of God.” And that was where the Lord appeared to him – not in the earthquake, wind, and fire, but in the still, small voice.

The high places, however, were a real snare when the people of Israel turned to idolatry. King Solomon was instrumental in leading the people astray in this regard. In 1 Kings 11 it says:

⁷On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. ⁸He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.  

~I Kings 11:7-8

What Solomon started spread throughout the land. And worship at these high places was a hard habit to break. The brief record that we have of King Jotham’s life in 2 Kings 15 (recall that he was the first of the kings mentioned in Micah chapter 1) indicates that although he was a good king, the high places in Israel were still places for idolatry.

³²In the second year of Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel, Jotham son of Uzziah king of Judah began to reign. ³³He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. His mother’s name was Jerusha daughter of Zadok. ³⁴He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Uzziah had done. ³⁵The high places, however, were not removed; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there.  ~2 Kings 15:32-35

The king himself did what was right, but he refused to confront the idolatry of the people that he was supposed to be leading. We shouldn’t be too hard on poor Jotham, though – many of the “good” kings mentioned also failed in this regard. The high places were not removed. As followers of the true God, we can’t just be concerned about our own walk. We need to recognize our responsibility to do what we can to remove the stumbling blocks, the snares, the temptations that keep others from doing the right thing. This is part of the love that we need to have for others.

The high places were not removed. I see this also as a metaphor for compromise in our own lives. We might have a heart for God. We might be doing all the right things in our day-to-day lives in the bustle of the city and at the temple. But out there on the mountaintop, in a place that is perhaps a little more tucked away, there is a high place that has not been removed. I don’t know what that might be for you. God keeps pointing out the high places in my life, areas that are not completely yielded to him, areas of pride or self-sufficiency or self-indulgence. Ask him to show you what high places need to be removed in your walk with Him.

Jotham did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but he did not remove the high places. Ahaz, king number two, was a bad king. Not only did he fail to remove the high places, he himself “offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places, on the hilltops and under every spreading tree.” Hezekiah, however, king number three in Micah 1:1, did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and “he removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles.” This was probably not a popular move with the people, but he was wholehearted in his commitment to following God.

The tendency of people to go to the top of mountains to engage with God is so universal, it seems almost genetic. Here is a picture of a Hindu high place in Nepal that we visited last November. It is on top of a mountain near Kathmandu called Champadevi, shown in the inset. People climb to the top of this mountain (it’s a pretty big uphill) to place offerings and burn incense to the goddess Champadevi. Here you can see sacred stones and poles, probably not too different from the Asherah poles that Hezekiah cut down. People associate gods with the tops of mountains. The entire Himalayan mountain range is known as the Abode of the Gods in both the Hindu and the Tibetan Buddhist cultures. The higher the mountain, the more mystical this association with deity.

Therefore, it is very significant that the Lord comes down and treads on the high places of the earth. He is supreme; He is sovereign. He is greater than any other god. He not only treads on the high places, firmly placing them under His dominion, He melts the mountains like wax before the fire. Imagine a huge mountain melting like wax and flowing like water, valleys splitting apart. The Lord’s power and majesty are awesome. Micah’s name means, “Who is the Lord?” and he starts right away here with a vivid description of who the Lord is, creator and ruler of the universe.

Why is the Lord coming down? It is because of the sin of his people. In the next verse of our chapter it says:

⁵All this is because of Jacob’s transgression,

    because of the sins of the people of Israel.

What is Jacob’s transgression?

    Is it not Samaria?

What is Judah’s high place?

    Is it not Jerusalem?  ~Micah 1:5

As I mentioned in my last message, in school we have been reading Philip Yancey’s The Bible that Jesus Read. Yancey talks about how the prophets in the Old Testament characterize God:

On the one hand, the prophets describe the majestic power of a God who creates solar systems with a word and tosses empires like kindling sticks. On the other hand, they proclaim God’s intimate, personal involvement with his chosen people and with individual human beings. Abraham Heschel, one the best Jewish interpreters of the prophets, say, “God is raging in the prophet’s words... It is a thought staggering and hardly compatible with any rational approach to the understanding of God, that the Creator of heaven and earth should care about how an obscure individual man behaves toward poor widows and orphans.” Yet God does, and the prophets bear out that concern.

Unbelievable as it seems, God cares about what people are doing on this speck of dust floating through the universe. What is He reacting to here? His people have turned away from Him and are worshiping other gods. The capital cities of Samaria and Jerusalem are mentioned here to represent that idolatry. Samaria had a temple to Baal, the Canaanite fertility god. Jerusalem had its high places, originally set up by Solomon, for the worship of other gods. These places of political authority had led all of the people into sin. Therefore, God’s judgment is specifically aimed at them.

⁶ “Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of rubble,
    a place for planting vineyards.
I will pour her stones into the valley
    and lay bare her foundations.
⁷ All her idols will be broken to pieces;
    all her temple gifts will be burned with fire;
    I will destroy all her images.
Since she gathered her gifts from the wages of prostitutes,
    as the wages of prostitutes they will again be used.”  ~Micah 1:6-7

Micah prophesies the complete destruction of Samaria, which came about by the invading Assyrians. As a famous city on a hill, Samaria had been built up and beautified, especially by the evil king Ahab, who constructed there a luxurious palace for himself. It was actually renowned for its workmanship in dressed stone. Now all of these beautiful stones would be poured down into the valley. The embarrassment and humiliation is hinted at in her foundations being “laid bare.” Her idols, which the people worshiped and trusted in, would be shattered and destroyed, and the wealth of her temple would be either burned or carried off to Assyria.

The worship of Baal involved ritual prostitution in the temple. The agricultural productivity of the land was believed to come about through the union of a male and female god, so this was enacted in the temple by paying for the services of male or female prostitutes. The gifts and income received paid for the operation of the temple. There would have been a similar system in the temples of Assyria. Therefore the wealth accumulated in Samaria would be, in effect, transferred to the cult prostitutes of Assyria. Prostitution is also used throughout the Old Testament as symbol for unfaithfulness to the Lord. Therefore, symbolically as well, the idolatry in Samaria is carried on in the idolatry of Assyria.

⁸Because of this I will weep and wail;
    I will go about barefoot and naked.
I will howl like a jackal
    and moan like an owl.
⁹For Samaria’s plague is incurable;
    it has spread to Judah.
It has reached the very gate of my people,
    even to Jerusalem itself.  ~Micah 1:8-9

Micah is feeling here the emotion of his message. He was not making some pronouncement from afar – he is distraught that it has come to this. The coming destruction is so real to him that he begins mourning before it happens. He humbles himself by removing his shoes and clothes and associating himself with unclean animals like the jackal and owl. He bares himself to act out the “laying bare” of Samaria’s foundations. And as he makes the sounds of the jackal and owl, it symbolizes how desolate the remains of Samaria will be. It is too late for anything to be done. Samaria’s disease of idolatry is terminal. It is also contagious: it has infected Jerusalem, and the result there will be the same. Micah is weeping and wailing because he knows that all the earlier warnings to the people have not been heeded. They could have repented and been saved, but now judgment is inevitable.

Next we come to an intriguing and complex section of Micah’s message. He mentions many different places and in the Hebrew language weaves in a pun with many of their names. You probably have these in a series of footnotes in your Bible. I’ve put them in line with the text here, so that we can see them together.

¹⁰Tell it not in Gath [sounds like to tell];
    weep not at all. [may actually be weep not in Acco, where Acco sounds like weep]
In Beth Ophrah [the house of dust]
    roll in the dust.
¹¹Pass by naked and in shame,
    you who live in Shaphir [pleasant].
Those who live in Zaanan [sounds like come out]
    will not come out.
Beth Ezel is in mourning;
    it no longer protects you.
¹²Those who live in Maroth [sounds like bitter] writhe in pain,
    waiting for relief,
because disaster has come from the Lord,
    even to the gate of Jerusalem.
¹³You who live in Lachish [sounds like team],
    harness fast horses to the chariot.
You are where the sin of Daughter Zion began,
    for the transgressions of Israel were found in you.
¹⁴Therefore you will give parting gifts
    to Moresheth Gath.
The town of Akzib [deception] will prove deceptive
    to the kings of Israel.
¹⁵I will bring a conqueror against you
    who live in Mareshah [sounds like conqueror].
The nobles of Israel
    will flee to Adullam.  ~Micah 1:10-15

We don’t know where all of these places are, but some of them we can find on a map: Gath, Lachish, Moresheth Gath (Micah’s hometown – not far from Gath), Mareshah, and Adullam. Micah comes from a rural perspective. Isaiah was prophesying in the big city of Jerusalem. Micah was focused on how sin and judgment would affect these smaller towns of his area. This passage gives the sense of town after town falling to the invading army as it sweeps across the land.

Gath was actually a major city of the Philistines, traditional enemies of the Hebrew people. Hence the “tell it not in Gath.” Don’t give our enemies a chance to exult over our downfall. These are actually the same words used by David in 2 Samuel 1 when he was mourning over the death of Saul and Jonathan. Beth Ophrah is an unknown place. Here it is used as a symbol of the shame and humiliation of defeat: rolling in the dust. The shame is carried over to Shaphir as well, with an image of captives being led away naked. The people of Zaanan are not coming out to help anyone, and Beth Ezel is not protecting anyone – not that that would do much good. The pain of Maroth is related to labor pain. The people there writhe and wait for relief, which will not come. This judgment is from the Lord and no one can stand against him.

Lachish was a major fortified town in the area. The harnessing of fast horses to the chariot implies that the troops are fleeing from the invaders. This relatively new technology will not be of benefit. One commentator that I read suggested that the sin of Zion referred to here was self-sufficiency, trusting in chariot technology rather than in the Lord. This overconfidence and pride led to other sins and the pursuit of other gods.

Micah’s hometown of Moresheth Gath is about to be carried away – give it parting gifts. Relying on the prosperity of Akzib will be deceptive – it will be no help. Mareshah will be conquered. The leaders of Israel will flee to the cave of Adullam to hide from the invaders. This is actually another reference to David, who hid in the cave of Adullam when he was running away from Saul. He escaped from Gath and went there. So memories of David and two major low points in his life add a note of irony to this list of towns now on the verge of destruction. And thus Micah concludes this passage of judgment:

¹⁶Shave your head in mourning

    for the children in whom you delight;

make yourself as bald as the vulture,

    for they will go from you into exile.  ~Micah 1:16

The Babylonians took many young people into captivity when they conquered Judah in 586 BC. We know of Daniel and his friends who were among them. Imagine the parents watching their kids being led away, without any hope of seeing them again. No wonder it was a time of abject mourning.

Rather a somber place for us to end here. Fortunately we will come across some words of hope and deliverance later on in Micah. The same God who melts the mountains sends a baby to Bethlehem in chapter 5 to be a new ruler over Israel. “He will stand and shepherd His flock…and they will live securely…and He will be their peace.” Because of what Jesus has done we don’t need to fear God’s judgment. However, we still need to heed the prophets’ warnings. God is still serious about sin, especially idolatry.

What does idolatry mean to us nowadays? In America are unlikely to be tempted to climb to the tops of mountains to sacrifice animals or bow down to stones. But idolatry involves anything that takes the place of God in our lives or which we make more important than God. It might be sin or it might be good things that take on an unnatural importance: money, sex, our job, our reputation, our family, some kind of achievement – so many things can easily nudge God out of his rightful place in our thoughts and affections. We might think that they are harmless enough, but they can lead to a slow erosion of our faith and intimacy with God. I have come back again and again to that verse in Jonah (2:8) that John Farmer quoted one Sunday:

⁸Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.  ~Jonah 2:8

Grace is God’s undeserved favor and blessing. He always offers it, but if we are focused on something other than Him and His glory we can easily miss it. God is a jealous God. He will not give His glory to another or His praise to idols, as it says in Isaiah. Ask God to show you what your little idols might be. Ultimately it is between you and Him – and for your benefit.

²³Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:

²⁴And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (KJV)  

~Psalm 139: 23-24