Micah 5:10-14

‘Destroy’ in the *Hebrew language here has a special meaning. It means to remove something. And it means to make *spiritually clean (holy) the place where it was. To destroy here means to remove by punishment. It means to remove what is unholy. In that way, God will save the nation and he will preserve it. The people in *Israel put their confidence in their military carts and horses. They put their confidence in their strong cities and castles. God’s *covenant with *Israel’s people was that they should trust him. The nation should not trust in other helps (Psalms 20:7). There is a great danger here for us all. We still trust in cities and buildings. We trust in our own powers and strength. The result can be a belief that God is unnecessary. We think that we do not need him. That is the danger.

God’s *covenant with *Israel’s people did not allow certain practices. People used magic. They tried to find information about what would happen to them. They asked their gods about the future. But God’s law said that the punishment for those acts was death (Exodus 22:18; Leviticus 19:26). The people from the nations near *Israel practised those things. Those people requested such help from their own false gods. But God did not allow his people to do that. Neither does he allow his church (the people that belong to him) to do that today (Galatians 5:19-20; Revelation 21:8). God wants his people always to ask him for help. Our confidence and security should come only from our belief in God.

*Israel’s people did not need to trust other gods. But that is what the people in the nations near *Israel did. And *Israel’s people imitated. They made their gods with their own hands. For that, they used gold, silver or other materials. They created images in wood. They made tall columns of stone. It was wrong to bend their bodies to those gods. It was wrong to pray to them. Religions use images in their ceremonies. And they sell similar images. In that way, they make large sums of money. So they build large businesses from that. Later, Paul noticed that it was happening in Ephesus (Acts 19:11-41). God does not allow such practices. The second commandment deals with this (Exodus 20:4). (A commandment means a law that God gave to Moses on the mountain called *Sinai.)

The tall columns of stone and the poles (or special trees) called Asherah were male and female gods. The people in the nations near *Israel *worshipped these two gods. These were called Baal and Asherah. And the people in *Israel copied this evil religion. This religion included practices with sex. These happened between men and women. (They also happened between men and men. And they happened between women and women.) The people thought that these gods would give them large families and successful farms. But there was no moral goodness in the way that the people lived. A bad moral state will ruin a nation. For that reason the *LORD said that he would destroy their cities.

All the evil things that the people near *Israel did, the people in *Israel did too.

v15 Some people will not listen to me. The nations do not obey me. So I will show my anger. With great anger I will hurt them.