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Dr. Clarence E. Mason, Jr.
Philadelphia College of Bible
1970
OLD TESTAMENT PROPHETIC
BOOKS
Dr. Clarence E. Mason, Jr.
PHILADELPHIA COLLEGE OF BIBLE
1970
OLD TESTAMENT PROPHETIC BOOKS
MICAH: Introduction and Simple Outline
MICAH NAME: Micah means "Who is like Jehovah?" (See play on words in 7:18.) DATE and CONTEMPORARIES: 735-700 BC; contemporary with Hosea and Isaiah.
PROPHESIED TO: Both kingdoms.
THEME and OUTLINE: Micah is often called "the little Isaiah." His book falls into two sections like Isaiah's:
DENUNCIATORY: Jehovah witnessing against the sinful nation 1-3
CONSOLATORY: Jehovah witnessing to His faithfulness and mercy 4-7
The second section has a great passage on the millennial kingdom of Christ (4:1-5). It foretells the place of Christ's birth (Bethlehem, 5:2) and it exalts the pardoning grace of God in a great apostrophe to God's mercy (7:7-20).
TRANSITION: The usual date for the
captivity of the Northern Kingdom is 721 BC, i.e., the sixth year of Hezekiah,
king of Judah. From that point forward the
ten tribes are prophetically considered as having been incorporated into two
tribes in the sense that the wicked part of the nation had been banished, not to
return. A godly remnant of the ten tribes seceded at various times, beginning
with a substantial group who refused to accept idolatry when Jeroboam I
disrupted the twelve-tribe kingdom and established the Northern (10-tribe)
Kingdom. This was followed by secessions on a number of revival occasions, when
kings of Judah invited individuals in the Northern Kingdom to come back to
Jehovah worship in the temple (as well as to return to the house of David
politically). Thus, all twelve tribes are included in the prophetic future of
Israel and there are no "ten lost tribes" in God's sight. Jesus offered Himself
to the whole nation (Mt. 10:6), "the house of Israel." Also compare Acts 26:7.
Following Micah's prophecy, all the other prophets spoke to Judah, the Southern
Kingdom. The Northern Kingdom was sparingly addressed in exile.
GRAPHIC: ASSYRIA / BABLYLON KINGDOM AGE
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