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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.