©Michael Player
Chapter 7:1-7 (ESV) - Woe is me! For I have become
as when the summer fruit has been gathered,
as when the grapes have been gleaned:
there is no cluster to eat,
no first-ripe fig that my soul desires.
The godly has perished from the earth,
and there is no one upright among mankind;
they all lie in wait for blood,
and each hunts the other with a net.
Their hands are on what is evil, to do it well;
the prince and the judge ask for a bribe,
and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul;
thus they weave it together.
The best of them is like a brier,
the most upright of them a thorn hedge.
The day of your watchmen, of your punishment, has come;
now their confusion is at hand.
Put no trust in a neighbor;
have no confidence in a friend;
guard the doors of your mouth
from her who lies in your arms;
for the son treats the father with contempt,
the daughter rises up against her mother,
the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
a man's enemies are the men of his own house.
But as for me, I will look to the Lord;
I will wait for the God of my salvation;
my God will hear me.
Question to consider: Who is the ‘God of my salvation’ to whom Micah looked?
The cry of Micah at the beginning of today’s passage reflects a sentiment that has been expressed by Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Job, and anyone else who has been a voice crying in the wilderness for people to repent and turn back to the LORD. The word “woe” describes someone who is under the curse of judgment. In using it of himself, it also conveys deep sorrow over this state. Micah gave the LORD’s warning over decades to no avail.
He felt completely alone and depleted like a fruit tree that had been picked over by the harvesters and gleaners to the point where it had no more fruit to give. God Himself shared in this lament at the time of Noah when “the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5)
The kings and priests had failed them, and now the day of calamity pronounced by the watchmen (prophets like himself) had come. Assyria would overtake the northern kingdom and invade into the Judean countryside, and Jerusalem was on the same path to destruction a few generations later by the Babylonians.
In addition to the evil of the ruling authorities, Micah lamented that a man’s enemies would be from among his own neighborhood and household. He could trust no one except for one. He would wait for his God to hear and save him.
While this passage was certainly applicable to Micah’s situation, it also pointed to a greater fulfillment of another to whom the world would receive God’s salvation (Yeshua). He would emphasize this with this statement in Matthew 10:34-39, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
Micah was looking forward to the day of Christ Jesus.
Dear heavenly Father, thank You for answering Micah’s prayer in his day and for all time. Please help us to look to Christ for our comfort in times when we feel alone or unable to trust those closest to us. May we experience the joy of His presence in our church gatherings and fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Amen.