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July 5, 2015

ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON

NO REST FOR THE WICKED

MINISTRY INVOCATION

“O God: We give thanks to You for the manifold blessings to us. You did not

have to bless us but You did. We shall remain eternally grateful. Amen.”

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW AND UNDERSTAND

Micah prophesied that God would give no rest to those who practice evil

against the faithful.

THE APPLIED FULL GOSPEL DISTINCTIVE

We believe in the indwelling of the Holy Ghost for all believers and that the

Holy Ghost verifies and validates the Believer as part of the Body of Christ.

TEXT:

Background Scripture – Micah 2

Key Verse – Micah 2:7

Lesson Scripture – Micah 2:4-11 (NKJV) 4 In that day one shall take up a proverb against you,

And lament with a bitter lamentation, saying:

‘We are utterly destroyed!

He has changed the heritage of my people;

How He has removed it from me!

To a turncoat He has divided our fields.’ ”

5 Therefore you will have no one to determine boundaries by lot

In the assembly of the LORD.

6 “Do not prattle,” you say to those who prophesy.

So they shall not prophesy to you;

They shall not return insult for insult. 7 You who are named the house of Jacob:

“Is the Spirit of the LORD restricted?

Are these His doings?

Do not My words do good

To him who walks uprightly?

8 “Lately My people have risen up as an enemy—

You pull off the robe with the garment

From those who trust you, as they pass by,

Like men returned from war. 9 The women of My people you cast out

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From their pleasant houses;

From their children

You have taken away My glory forever.

10 “Arise and depart,

For this is not your rest;

Because it is defiled, it shall destroy,

Yes, with utter destruction. 11

If a man should walk in a false spirit

And speak a lie, saying,

‘I will prophesy to you of wine and drink,’

Even he would be the prattler of this people.

COMMENTARY

Verse 4.—In that day. The evil time mentioned in verse 3. A parable probably

“a taunting song.” The enemy shall use the words in which Israel laments her

calamity as a taunt against her. And lament with a doleful lamentation. The

words mean, “Lament with the lamentation;” “It is done,” they shall say; “we are

utterly spoiled.” The lamentation begins with “It is done,” and continues to the

end of the verse. It is plain that the Jews shall utter the given dirge, which in turn

shall be repeated as a taunt by the enemy. We are utterly spoiled. According to

the second of the explanations of the preceding clause, these words expand and

define the despairing cry, “It is done!” The complaint is twofold. First, the once

flourishing condition of Israel is changed to ruin and desolation. Secondly, He

hath changed (changeth) the portion of my people. This is the second calamity:

he, Jehovah, passes our inheritance over to the hands of others; the land of

Canaan, pledged to us, is transferred to our enemies. How hath he removed it

[the portion] from me? Turning away he hath divided our fields; rather, to an

apostate he divideth our fields. The apostate is the King of Assyria or Chaldea; and

he is so named as being a rebel against Jehovah, whom he might have known by

the light of natural religion. This was fulfilled later by the colonization of

Samaria by a mixed population.

Verse 5.—Therefore thou. Because thou, the tyrannical, oppressive grandee

hast dealt with thy neighbor’s land unjustly, therefore thou shalt have none that

shall cast a cord (the line) by lot (for a lot); i.e. thou shalt have no more inheritance

in Israel. The “line” is the measuring-line used in dividing land, as Amos 7:17.

The reference is to the original distribution of the land by lot in Joshua’s time. In

the congregation of the Lord. The Lord’s own people, whose polity was now

about to be dissolved. suppose that this verse contains a threat against Micah

himself on the part of the ungodly Jews, intimating that they will punish him for

presuming to prophesy against them, and that he shall die

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Verse 6.—Prophesy ye not; literally, drop ye not, as Amos 7:16. The speakers

are generally supposed to be the false prophets who wish to stop the mouths of

Micah and those who are like-minded with him. This is probably correct; but

these are not the only speakers; the people themselves, the oppressing grandees,

who side with the popularity-hunting seers, are also included. Say they to them

that prophesy; rather, thus they prophesy (drop). Micah uses their own word

sarcastically, “Do not be always rebuking;” “Thus they rebuke.” “They shall not

prophesy of these things; reproaches never cease.” The great men and the false

prophets complain of the true prophets that they are always proclaiming

misfortune and rebuking the people, and they bid them leave such denunciations

alone for the future.

Verse 7.—The prophet answers the interdict of the speakers in the preceding

verse by showing that God’s attributes are unchanged, but that the sins of the

people constrain him to punish. O thou that art named the house of Jacob. We

must consider that Micah addresses those who gloried in their privilege as the

family of Jacob, though they had ceased to be what he was, believing and

obedient. “O ye who are only in name and title the chosen nation.” “Shall it be

said, O house of Jacob, Is the ear of the Lord shortened?” etc. Should Jehovah be

impatient (as these threats declare him to be)? or were these his doings? The

following clause is Jehovah’s answer to the objection. Is the Spirit of the Lord

straitened? or, shortened. Is He less long-suffering than Jehovah of heretofore?

Will you accuse Jehovah of impatience? Are these his doings? Are these

judgments and chastisements His usual doings—that which He delights in? Is

the cause of them in Him? Is it not in you? Do not my words do good, etc.? This

may be Jehovah’s answer to the previous questions, or Micah’s refutation of the

complaint. The Lord’s word is good, His action is a blessing, but only to him who

does His commandments.

Verse 8.—Even of late; but of late; literally, yesterday, implying an action recent

and repeated. The prophet exemplifies the iniquity which has led God to punish.

They are not old offences, which the Lord is visiting, but sins of recent and daily

occurrence. My people is risen up as an enemy. “They set up my people as an

enemy,” i.e. the grandees treat the Lord’s people as enemies, robbing and

plundering them. This translation obviates the difficulty of referring the words,

“my people,” in this verse to the oppressor, and in verse 7 to the oppressed.

According to the usual view, and retaining the authorized rendering, the

meaning is that the princes exhibit themselves as enemies of the Lord by their

acts of violence and oppression, which the prophet proceeds to particularize.

“My people withstood as an enemy.” Ye pull off the robe with the garment; ye

violently strip off the robe away from the garment. The “robe” is the wide cloak, the

mantle sufficient to wrap the whole person, and which was often of very costly

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material. The “garment” is the principal inner garment, or tunic. There may be an

allusion to the enactment which forbade a creditor retaining the pledged

garment during the night “Against his peace they stripped off his skin.” From

them that pass by securely as men averse from war. This is probably the correct

translation. The grandees rob those who are peaceably disposed, perhaps strip

their debtors of their cloaks as they pass quietly along the road. Ye treat them as

if they were prisoners of war. These treated the refugees harshly.

Verse 9—The women of my people. The prophet refers to the widows, who

ought to have been protected and cared for.” Have ye cast out. The word

expresses a violent expulsion. Their pleasant houses; literally, the house of their

delights. The house which was very dear to them, the scene of all their joys. My

glory. All the privileges which they enjoyed as God’s people and His peculiar

care are called “the ornament” of the Lord. The “glory” is by some

commentators, but not so appositely, referred to vesture exclusively. These

fatherless children had been ruthlessly stripped of their blessings, either by being

forced to grow up in want and ignorance, or by being sold into slavery and

carried away from their old religious associations. Forever. The oppressors never

repented or tried to make restitution; and so they incurred the special woe of

those who injure the poor, the fatherless, and the widow. “They were rejected

because of their evil practices.”

Verse 10.—Arise ye, and depart. The prophet pronounces the oppressors’

punishment—they shall be banished from their land, even as they have torn

others from their home. This is not your rest. Canaan had been given as a

resting-place to Israel, but it should be so no longer. Because it is polluted. The

land is regarded as polluted by the sins of its inhabitants. It shall destroy you,

even with a sore destruction. The land is said to destroy when it ejects its

inhabitants, as though the inanimate creation rose in judgment against the

sinners.

Verse 11.—Such prophets as speak unwelcome truths are not popular with

the grandees; they like only those who pander to their vices and prophesy lies.

This was their crowning sin. If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood do lie.

If a man walking after (conversant with) the wind and falsehood do lie. Wind is

symbolical of add that is vain and worthless. These are the words of a false

prophet. “Prophesy,” “drop.” Of wine and of strong drink. Concerning

temporal blessings, dwelling on God’s promises of material prosperity in order

to encourage the grandees in self-indulgence. He shall even be the prophet of

this people. Such a one is the only prophet to whom the great men, the

representatives of “this people” will listen.

RELATED DISCUSSION TOPICS

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CLOSING PRAYER

My God: I am grateful to have found You and kept You in the forefront of my

being. Bless us continually with Your grace and mercy. They represent

bountiful blessings for all of us. Amen.