Day 196-11

2Ki 18:4  He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.

Nehushtan - H5180 - From H5178; something made of copper, that is, the copper serpent of the Desert.

• H5178 - For H5154; copper; hence, something made of that metal, that is, coin, a fetter; figuratively base (as compared with gold or silver).
• H5154 - Feminine of H5153; copper.
• H5153 - Apparently passive participle of H5172 (perhaps in the sense of ringing, that is, bell metal; or from the red color of the throat of a serpent (H5175, as denominative) when hissing); coppery, that is, (figuratively) hard.

Intriguing, H5180 is only used 1x in all of Scripture (well, in Hebrew = Old Testament).

Mic 3:1  And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel; Is it not for you to know judgment? 

Interestingly this was in the *Judah* column, and I misread Jacob as Judah and was pondering that Micah spoke to both kingdoms...then realized it said Jacob and Israel.  So now my question becomes...to whom was Micah sent?  The northern or southern kingdom or both?

Backtracking...

Mic 1:1  The word of the LORD that came to Micah the Morasthite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. 

Samaria was in Israel (northern kingdom) and Jerusalem was in Judah (southern kingdom).

Mic 1:5  For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem? 

Jacob is considered Israel, so does that equal out to just the northern kingdom?

Micah seems to be prophesying against both:

Therefore I will make Samaria as an heap of the field, and as plantings of a vineyard: and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations thereof.  And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces, and all the hires thereof shall be burned with the fire, and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate: for she gathered it of the hire of an harlot, and they shall return to the hire of an harlot.  Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls.   (Micah 1:6-8)

Mic 1:9  For her wound is incurable; for it is come unto Judah; he is come unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem. 

I went to my Word Study Book to see if it had an intro into Micah which would give me information one way or another.  It holds that Micah was contemporary with Isaiah, prophesying about the same time to the southern kingdom (Judah).  It also compared him to Amos, both speaking out strongly against immorality, social injustices and the oppression of the poor by the rich.

Tried another resource I had, Through the Bible Book by Book, authored by Myer Peralman and enjoyed the information he had on Micah...and lo and behold, it is available online!  So for those who would like a little more information (all of his overviews are brief), check out this link.

I particularly liked this:

(a) Universal administration. "The mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains."

(b) Universal visitation. "The people shall flow into it."

(c) Universal education. "He will teach us of His ways."

(d) Universal legislation. "The law shall go forth from Zion."

(e) Universal evangelization. "The word of the Lord from Jerusalem."

(f) Universal pacification. "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation.

(g) Universal adoration. "We will walk in the name of our God."

(h) Universal restoration. "And I will make her that halted a remnant; and her that was cast off a strong nation."

(i) Universal coronation. "And the Lord shall reign over them."

I find that comforting and encouraging.  The reminder is that no matter what is going on in whatever land Father has providentially placed us, we are to continually look for HIS coming and return as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Which put me in mind of this verse:

Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.  (Hebrews 10:25)