Micah, part 2

Last week we looked at the first two chapters of Micah. In chapter 3 God blames Israel’s leaders and in chapter 4 there are some end times prophecies.

God will establish a great earth power, a supreme kingdom, with lesser powers or nations beneath it. This will be a universal kingdom with a teacher, Jesus, who will teach us. It will be a peaceful kingdom and there will be universal prosperity.

Do you want to read about Armageddon and the Tribulation period? Here you go (my comments are in parentheses and red ink):

Micah, part 1

The next book in the Old Testament is Micah. The name means “who is like God?” The prophet Micah was a contemporary of Isaiah and he spoke out strongly against immorality, social injustices and the oppression of the poor by the rich. Let’s look first at chapter 1 verse 2:

2 Hear, you peoples, all of you,
   listen, earth and all who live in it,
that the Sovereign LORD may bear witness against you,
   the Lord from his holy temple.

So is this prophecy for you? Appears so. And it looks like the Lord is going to bear witness against us.

What did we do? Hmm, the usual . . . See here in chapter 2, verses 1-2 man’s plans:

 1 Woe to those who plan iniquity,
   to those who plot evil on their beds!
At morning’s light they carry it out
   because it is in their power to do it.
2 They covet fields and seize them,
   and houses, and take them.
They defraud people of their homes,
   they rob them of their inheritance.

The Book of Jonah

The book of Jonah was probably written by Jonah though scholars seem to be divided on this. This book is read at the afternoon service of Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year. On this day Jews fast and say prayers of penitence.

Yes, this is the book with the story about Jonah and the whale. God sent Jonah to preach to Nineveh, a great but wicked city. Nineveh stood on the eastern bank of the Tigris River. It had walls that were a hundred feet high and fifty feet thick. STOP. WHAT? 50 FEET THICK! WOW! The main wall had fifteen gates. That sounds like a lot, but that wall was over seven and a half miles long. The population of Nineveh was about 600,000 people including those who lived in the “suburb” outside the city walls. That population estimate is based on a curious verse we’ll look at last.

These residents were wicked idolaters who worshiped Asur and Ishtar, chief male and female deities. Most of the Assyrians worshiped them and since Assyria was a threat to Israel’s security (see Hosea 11:5 and Amos 5:27) this was one reason Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh. He was afraid that if the people did repent then God would not punish them and this did not sit well with his self-righteousness.

Obadiah ... WHO?

Yup, we're continuing on in 2017 with looking at the structure of Old Testament books in the Bible.

Next up is the book of OBADIAH.

Obadiah’s name means “the servant of Yahweh.”

The book is a vision recounted by Obadiah. Obadiah tells us that the vision is what the Sovereign Lord says about a place called Edom. Edom is identified with the Islamic God, Allah, and the West Bank Palestinians. This is quite relevant to today’s current events.

Point one (verse 2): God will make Israel “small among the nations.” Certainly true today as Israel is looked down on now by other nations. Recent UN sanctions show how much neighboring countries hate Israel.

Point 2 (verse 4):

Reference seems to be made to Palestine and the US with the words “eagle” (on the Palestinian emblem and a US mascot) and “stars” (on the US flag).

Point 3 (verses 6 and 7):