This week, we are
looking at another echo of Christmas that is recorded for us in a section
of a letter in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Micah. Yesterday,
we looked on as the prophet Micah proclaimed the Lord’s message condemning the
wealthy, the local rulers, and false prophets, who were oppressing the common
people of the Southern Kingdom.
We looked on as, in 701 B.C., as the Assyrian army was
preparing to conquer the capital city of the Jewish people that the Lord sent
Micah to proclaim the Lord’s message to the Jewish people of the Southern
Kingdom. Micah confronted the Jewish people of his day for placing their trust
in human plans and power instead of the Lord. Micah then predicted and
proclaimed that there would be a day in the future when the Jewish people would
be conquered and led captive to Babylon.
Their selfishness and rebellion that led them to place their trust in
their own plans and power instead of the Lord would lead to them being
conquered and led into captivity.
However, as Micah continued to proclaim the Lord’s
message to the Jewish people, we see another amazing prediction and
proclamation, which we will look at today beginning in Micah 4:11-13:
"And now many nations have been assembled
against you Who say, 'Let her be polluted, And let our eyes gloat over Zion.' 12
"But they do not know the thoughts of the LORD, And they do not understand
His purpose; For He has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor. 13
"Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion, For your horn I will make iron And
your hoofs I will make bronze, That you may pulverize many peoples, That you
may devote to the LORD their unjust gain And their wealth to the Lord of all
the earth.
Here we see Micah proclaim that while King Sennacherib
and the army of the Assyrian Empire, which consisted of forces from other
nations that were in treaty with the Empire, were intent on desecrating and
destroying the city of Jerusalem, the Lord had gathered them together for a far
different purpose. Instead of desecrating and destroying the city of Jerusalem,
King Sennacherib and the Assyrian army would be desecrated and destroyed.
Just like wheat would be gathered together and be
scattered and destroyed; just like the hoofs of a charging horse would
pulverize anything in their path, the Assyrian army would be gathered together
to be pulverized and destroyed. And in a section of as letter in the Old
Testament of the Bible, called the book of 2 Kings 19, we read of an event from
history where the Lord destroyed the army of the Assyrian Empire, which led to
the subsequent assassination of King Sennacherib, that is recorded for us in 2
Kings 19:35-37:
Then it happened
that night that the angel of the LORD went out and struck 185,000 in the camp
of the Assyrians; and when men rose early in the morning, behold, all of them
were dead. 36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home, and lived at Nineveh. 37
It came about as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that
Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with the sword; and they escaped into the land
of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son became king in his place.
However, while Micah proclaimed the future deliverance
of the Jewish people by the Lord, he also proclaimed the sadness and suffering
that the Jewish people would experience at the hands of the Assyrian Empire. We
see Micah reveal this reality in Micah 5:1:
"Now muster
yourselves in troops, daughter of troops; They have laid siege against us; With
a rod they will smite the judge of Israel on the cheek.
Here we see Micah proclaim the reality that there
would be a day in the not too distant future where the Jewish people would be
forced to muster their troops in defense of the city of Jerusalem. There would
be a day in the not too distant future when the Jewish people would mourn over
the impending attack that would take place in light of the siege of the city of
Jerusalem that would occur. There would be a day in the not too distant future
when the king of the Jewish people would be humiliated by the invading Assyrian
army. A day that is recorded for us in 2 Kings 18:19-32:
Then Rabshakeh
said to them, "Say now to Hezekiah, 'Thus says the great king, the king of
Assyria, "What is this confidence that you have? 20 "You
say (but they are only empty
words), 'I have counsel and
strength for the war.' Now on whom do you rely, that you have rebelled against
me? 21 "Now behold, you rely on the staff of this crushed reed,
even on Egypt; on which if a
man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt
to all who rely on him. 22 "But if you say to me, 'We trust in
the LORD our God,' is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has
taken away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, 'You shall worship before
this altar in Jerusalem '? 23 "Now therefore, come, make a
bargain with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand
horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. 24
"How then can you repulse one official of the least of my master's
servants, and rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 25
"Have I now come up without the LORD'S approval against this place to
destroy it? The LORD said to me, 'Go up against this land and destroy
it.'"'" 26 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and
Shebnah and Joah, said to Rabshakeh, "Speak now to your servants in
Aramaic, for we understand it;
and do not speak with us in Judean in the hearing of the people who are on the
wall." 27 But Rabshakeh said to them, "Has my master sent
me only to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, doomed to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with
you?" 28 Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud
voice in Judean, saying, "Hear the word of the great king, the king of
Assyria. 29 "Thus says the king, 'Do not let Hezekiah deceive
you, for he will not be able to deliver you from my hand; 30 nor let
Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, "The LORD will surely deliver
us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria."
31 'Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria,
"Make your peace with me and come out to me, and eat each of his vine and
each of his fig tree and drink each of the waters of his own cistern, 32
until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain
and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey,
that you may live and not die." But do not listen to Hezekiah when he
misleads you, saying, "The LORD will deliver us."
However, while Micah
proclaimed a time of mourning and humiliation for the Jewish people and the
Southern Kingdom of Judea, that did not mean that the Lord was done with the
Jewish people. Instead, it is at this point that the Lord, through the prophet
Micah, made a promise that served as an echo of Christmas.
A promise that we will
look at on Friday…
No comments:
Post a Comment