Volume 3, Issue 5

March 4, 2025

There are so many accounts in the book of Numbers. One of my favorites is the account of Balaam and his talking donkey in chapter 22. We should all be encouraged that it isn’t easy to walk a path God doesn’t want us to walk. He went to great lengths to get Balaam’s attention.

 

One of the more disturbing accounts is the story of Korah’s family in chapters 16 and 17. This account should give us pause when we think we can get away with doing things our way instead of God’s way. Once they were all dead, God provided a sign in the form of Aaron's blooming staff to remove all doubt about who His chosen one was. 

 

Another sobering account appears in chapter 20 when Moses is told he will not enter the Promised Land. I go into this one a bit in my e-book Good Grief, but the lesson is that while anger in and of itself is not bad, our anger should never dictate our actions. Because Moses allowed his anger to cloud his judgment, and as a result, he disobeyed God, he had to face the consequences.

 

And of course, we can’t miss the account of the spies going into Canaan and bringing a report back to the people of Israel. Because the people allowed their fear to be greater than their faith, they would wander the wilderness and an entire generation would die before they would be allowed to enter the Promised Land. Y’all, God doesn’t mess around.

 

But we get to see another side of God (or maybe it is an extension of the same side) in His treatment of Zelophehad’s daughters in chapter 27. Though we don’t know what sin their father committed, we do know that it resulted in his death. Since he didn’t have any sons, his inheritance was going to pass to others. When Zelophehad’s daughters approached Moses about it, and Moses took it to the Lord, God acknowledged their right to the inheritance. It is accounts like this sprinkled throughout Scripture that disprove the claim that God hates women.

Because of Solomon's sin, turning away from the Lord, God took the kingdom away from his offspring. Solomon's son, Rehoboam, took the throne after Solomon's death, but he was immature and unwise. He listened to the counsel of his peers instead of listening to the counsel of the elders. The people revolted, and the kingdom was split into two separate kingdoms: Israel and Judah. Rehoboam ruled over Judah while Jeroboam ruled over Israel.

 

From this point on in the history of Israel, we read of two nations. Most of the prophetic books are written to one nation or the other, but Micah addresses both kingdoms. In Micah 1:5, he mentions Samaria, the capital city of Israel, and Jerusalem, the capital city of Judah. Micah was a contemporary of Hosea, who prophesied in Israel, and of Isaiah, who prophesied in Judah.

 

This book of prophecy is categorized as pre-exilic because it takes place and prophesies the Babylonian exile, as do most of the other prophetic books of the Old Testament. At the beginning of the book, we are told that Micah prophesied during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, giving us a pretty precise date for this writing.

This is a book of prophecy, which means it is speaking of events in the future of those who are receiving it. One thing to keep in mind about prophecy is that, since the events had not taken place yet, it was a call to repent so the punishment did not take place.

 

Some of the promised prophecies in the book of Micah for salvation and furthering the covenant relate to their rescue from the Babylonian captivity, but others relate to the coming of the Messiah and His reign on the earth.

 

A few interesting literary features of the book of Micah include:

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