Woe to Evildoers and Lying Prophets

Micah 2:1-13 

1 Woe to those who devise iniquity,
And work out evil on their beds!
At morning light they practice it,
Because it is in the power of their hand.

2 They covet fields and take them by violence,
Also houses, and seize them.
So they oppress a man and his house,
A man and his inheritance.

3 Therefore thus says the LORD:
"Behold, against this family I am devising disaster,
From which you cannot remove your necks;
Nor shall you walk haughtily,
For this is an evil time.

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
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.

Israel Restored

12 "I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob,
I will surely gather the remnant of Israel;
I will put them together like sheep of the fold,
Like a flock in the midst of their pasture;
They shall make a loud noise because of so many people.

13 The one who breaks open will come up before them;
They will break out,
Pass through the gate,
And go out by it;
Their king will pass before them,
With the LORD at their head."

Woe was pronounced on the ones who sat around thinking how to doe evil against others, staying awake until they cannot wait to rise and put their wiles into practice just because they have the means and opportunity.  Their motive is just to kill and destroy like their father the devil (John 8:44).  Because of their wealth and influence they see someone else’s property or possessions and plot to take it for themselves like modern day crooked businessmen or political bureaucrats.  Their greed says whatever they have is never enough (Isaiah 56:11).  God therefore told them He would plot against them in return, bringing down their pride in such evil times.  Even what they had would be taken away like the land they had stolen from the weak and vulnerable among their own people.  When prophets were sent to warn them to turn from sin to following Him, they berated them and told them to stop their constant dripping of words which they refused to hear and heed for their good.  God therefore promised to stop the prophets from wasting their time with them because of their stiff necks and deaf ears instead of returning insults for their insults.  This is equivalent to not throwing pearls before swine (Matthew 7:6) as Jesus told us when the gospel is vehemently rejected and mocked when heard.  We do not return insults but pray and shake the dust of rejection off as we move on to receptive ears prepared by the Lord.  God further told His people that all their outward good deeds would not change the power of His Spirit behind the words He gives unless they sincerely walk in the obedience of righteousness as they heed what they have heard.  All their rebellious acts against each other only took away from His glory meant to be displayed through them as His chosen people.  They did not willingly enter His rest according to trust in His word (Hebrews 3:18-19, 4:10-11) and so faced the consequences of destruction.  They would rather listen to drunken nonsense than the hard truth.  In spite of all this, God still promised restoration to a remnant of the faithful sheep, herding them back to His fold to follow Him again and increase their scant numbers once more for His purposed glory and honor.  The King would once more pass before them as their head.  Jesus Christ did so and will do so forever for all His called sheep as our Head because He gave us ears to hear; may we faithfully follow Him!  Woe to evildoers and lying prophets, however.  He looks for us to follow His word and speak it faithfully (Jeremiah 23:28-29).