Micah 1: God's Grief and Places that Don't Exist

This past week, I had the privilege of teaching bible at an arts camp up in the Niagara area.

Every year since it started, I have gone as a camper. Dancing, learning, and trusting God to speak to me. Every year He has.

My first thought, when I was asked if I would be interested in teaching, was that if I have learned one thing from the leaders at dance camp, it's that the secret to success is hearing from Jesus.

Every year they impressed on me that they had asked God what He wanted to speak, and then they waited for an answer. Sometimes He gave an answer the night before the first day of camp, and they had the faith to just wait for it. That is the kind of faith I want to have, and since I already know He has been faithful to speak every year at this camp, I thought it would be a good time to start cultivating that sort of faith in myself.

"Lord," I prayed, "Please tell me what you want me to teach on." And just like that, I felt a gust of wind, and my bible fell off of the shelf into my lap, opened on John 3.

Just kidding.

I prayed, and I got nothin. Which was cool, that's what I expected at first. I have been around prayer long enough to know sometimes you have to wait.

After a few days of waiting, I realized that I had had the book of Micah in the back of my head every day. I decided to start reading through it, and if I got some inspiration, take that as my answer. So I did, and Micah it was! I had such a fun time reading Micah and then teaching about Micah, that I decided to write a blog post (or maybe a few) about it! So here we go. :)

So, Micah was given a message to bring to Israel, and his message was this, "Hear, all you peoples! Thus says the Lord: Behold, against this family I am devising disaster, from which you cannot remove your necks. (but) He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy."

That's a really short paraphrase of his message, taken from several parts of Micah.

Alright, so Chapter 1.

The vibe of this whole chapter is, "I am coming to destroy you because of your sin."

But then there is a really interesting section which says,

For this I will lament and wail;
    I will go stripped and naked;
I will make lamentation like the jackals,
    and mourning like the ostriches.
9 For her wound is incurable,
    and it has come to Judah;
it has reached to the gate of my people,
    to Jerusalem. (Micah 1:8-9)

I had to explain to my bible study class of 8-12 years that "I will go stripped and naked," is not necessarily literal, but is representative of grief. It's similar to the many times the bible says that people tore their clothes in mourning, it was a physical representation of the inner turmoil the person was experiencing.

That being understood...is God grieving?

This puts into a different perspective how God feels about sin. We always talk about how God hates sin, which is true, but in His own words, "I will make lamentation like the jackals." His sobs are loud, His grief is audible.

But wait. He said "For this," referring back to what He just said about judgment. He is not saying He's grieving over sin, He's saying He's grieving over the punishment He's bringing on Israel.

"For her wound is incurable."

Now we discover how He feels about their sin. Their "wound." I don't think I need to elaborate on that. God sees sin as a wound, a detriment both to the one sinned against and the one who committed it.

God hates every part of this. He doesn't enjoy punishment, but he can't continue to watch the people He loves suffer.

But isn't God powerful enough to heal any sickness? Why is punishment the only option? 

Because there is a difference between finding an antidote for a poison you drank once, and a poison you keep drinking every time you get the chance. No matter how much medicine you take for it, if you keep drinking the poison, it's going to be fatal.

There is lots more to this chapter than what I am getting into, but there were two parts that I found the most interesting, and spent the most time teaching on. The second one is a few verses later, where Micah gives a list of cities.

Pass on your way,
    inhabitants of Shaphir,
    in nakedness and shame;
the inhabitants of Zaanan
    do not come out;
the lamentation of Beth-ezel
    shall take away from you its standing place. (Micah 1:11)

What?

I love doing that. :D So often I read the bible, and if things are a little confusing, or I don't have enough context, I'll just be like, "Yeah, I get it." But I really don't. Since I was going to be teaching this book to a bunch of smart kids, I had to actually look into things like this.

I thought, at first, that this was probably what this meant: 

Shaphir is probably a place in Israel, and Micah is saying that the inhabitants of it are going to be disgraced by the punishment of God. Zaanan, (another place in Israel) is going to be so desolate, there will be no more inhabitants to come out. Beth-ezel, (another place in Israel) will lament the ruin of everything she knows, and...the people will have no more place to stand?

The first thing I tried to find out about this verse, is where these places are, and if they have any significance. What I discovered was that none of them actually exist! Shaphir, Zaanan, and Beth-ezel are not places in Israel.

Shaphir means "Pleasantness," or "Splendid."

Zaanan means "Going out."

Beth-ezel means "House of nearness."

The "standing place," as I looked into the meaning, could mean a stage, standing place, or state of being. "Take away from you," could mean "take from you, as in "follow your example."

A couple disclaimers, I don't claim that this is definitely what Micah meant by this list, but this is what I noticed emerge when I looked at all three of them together. Also, if you read other translations of the last part, there are a bunch of different meanings this could take on.

"Pass on your way, inhabitants of Splendor, in nakedness and shame; (The ones that were splendid are now disgraced) The inhabitants of Going Out do not come out; (The ones who went out do not go out anymore) The lamentation of the House of Nearness shall take away from you its standing place. (the House of Nearness will do the same.)"

What is Beth-ezel, the House of Nearness?

Since what is being said is that they have fallen away from God, and thus, will be punished by God, I think the House of Nearness may refer to the temple, or even a metaphor for their relationship with God as a nation.

Shaphir and Zaanan have brought backwardness on themselves. They did the opposite of what they should have done, inviting the consequence, that splendour would become shame, and going out would become staying in. If their modus operandi was backwardness, then the House of Nearness would also fall in line, and nearness to God would become separation from Him.

I guess I will be writing a sequel to this, since I only got through one chapter today. Anyway, I'd love to hear your thoughts on my insights, and any additional insights you have! Thanks for reading!

When Slaves of Righteousness Leave

Hey friends! I have compiled a list of 101 books to read, so that I might not be so uneducated compared to Jane Fairfax.

(Kudos if you got the quote.)

I just finished #6 on my list, which was Eight Keys to Lasting Success, and it was actually written by my father, (Jay Thomson) who is very wise, and the book is very good.

I think my favorite chapter was the second last, in which he talks about slavery in the old testament, among other things, and it sparked a cool thought, so I decided to write about it.

In the old testament law, slavery was not what you and I think of in regards to the slave trade, or anything akin to it. Slavery had very specific guidelines set up by God, really for the betterment of everyone involved. It was a way of paying a debt, but in the process of this payment through servitude, the slave was to be mentored by his master, and equipped to be better able to provide for himself in the future.

The reason he would need to learn this at all was because as a part of the system, God had declared every 7th year to be a rest year, in which (among other things) every slave was to be set free.

And when you send him away free from you, you shall not let him go away empty-handed; you shall supply him liberally from your flock, from your threshing floor, and from your winepress. From what the Lord your God has blessed you with, you shall give to him. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this thing today. (Deuteronomy 15:13-15)

Okay, so the first thing that is cool about this setup is that it is a picture of a picture. The exodus from Egypt, we as Christians can clearly see was both a physical deliverance and a prophetic picture of what God intended to do through Jesus Christ.

The blood over the doors of the Hebrews from an undefiled lamb delivered their children from death, God brought them out of the captivity of Egypt into the Promised Land, just like He brings us out of the captivity of sin into the Promised Life, through the blood of His undefiled Son.

So the exodus itself was a picture of the gospel, and then God when He sets up the society of His people as an individual nation, says to mirror that picture, because God treated them well when they were slaves in Egypt, so they must treat their slaves well.

Beyond that, there is more to this slave/owner relationship. If the slave had gone into servitude married, in the 7th year he would come out just as he had been before. However, if he was given a wife by his master, his wife and any children would remain slaves when he was set free.

Now before you go thinking that this is so unfair, realize that the slave would have perfect understanding of this before going into it. He didn't have to get married, it was a choice he would've made while being fully aware of the consequences.

However, sometimes people did make that choice, and when it came time to be set free, he wouldn't want to leave his wife and children, so he would tell his master he wanted to stay. God's provision for this was that when he told his master he wanted to stay, he would become a permanant slave of the household.

If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years; and in the seventh he shall go out free and pay nothing. If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself. But if the servant plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ then his master shall bring him to the judges. He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever. (Exodus 21:2-6)

Here is what struck me about this. If the picture of the slave/owner relationship is supposed to be another picture of the gospel, (shown even further in the New Testament, as Jesus said that he who wishes to be first among you must become a slave of all, and then taught His disciples how to be HIS servants, by serving them.) what significance does the issue of leaving have?

Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. (Romans 6:16-18)

It's cool because God makes the mirror work in two ways that are opposite eachother. On the one hand, the setting free of the slave on the Sabbath year is a picture of salvation. God brought the people out of the land of Egypt into "His rest," and He brings us out of bondage into "rest."

On the other hand, when we are set free from the bondage of sin, we naturally become slaves of righteousness. This is the slave relationship that I want to examine for a minute. God, in His picture, set up specific rules for the slave leaving. What is mirrored here about the way interacts with us?

If we choose to leave our Master's household, He will not hold us back. In fact, the principles we learned as Christians will benefit us in our life, in a way, He has "not let (us) depart empty-handed."

This success we will achieve as a result is of course, not lasting. At the very best it will carry up through to the end of our lives, and then every benefit we received in our lives on earth will be worth nothing in the face of eternal judgment.

But our Master does not just send us away willingly. He wants us to stay, so He provides incentive for us. If we choose to leave His house, we must leave our "wife and children" behind.

This is going to sound super weird for a minute, but hopefully you can get what I mean. Also, bear in mind that all of this was birthed out of my love for allegory in every possible scenario, so none of this is strictly biblical. God didn't speak to me from heaven to tell me that these were the reasons for these rules, but these are the pictures I see.

I'll start with the children. The bible sometimes refers to children as "fruit."

Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. (Genesis 1:28)

In another way, the bible compares the results of your actions to both fruit and children.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness... (Galatians 5:22)

But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. (James 1:14-15)

If we think of the word children in this way, that is what we leave behind when we leave our Master. Actually in both senses, if we are leaving the master of sin, James 1 describes the children we leave behind, if we leave God as our master, Galatians 5 describes the children we leave behind.

Now for the wife. When God instituted marriage, He said a man would leave his father and mother, cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.

God calls those who respond to the gospel, those who become His slaves, as His bride. As the Bride of Christ, we get to own that which He owns, we get to have a deep and personal relationship with Him, and we get treated with the respect and love that is due the Bride of Christ. (Not that we deserve it, but that by "marrying" us, He has elevated us to that place of honor.)

Okay. So if the servant of God becomes one flesh with the bride, then they are the same person. The slave is both slave and bride. If that slave chooses to leave, he must leave the bride behind.

If you choose to leave salvation behind, you are not just walking away from a master that you have to submit to, you are walking away from the opportunity to grow in character, (the fruit, or children) and you are walking away from an identity of honor.

Anyway, I thought that was cool. Let me know what you thought of my observations, or share any additional ones you had!

His Beautiful Picture

Good afternoon y'all! Or Good Whatever-time-of-day-it-happens-to-be-when-you-read-this, I am sure it can be just as fabulous as any other time of day. :)

I am thinking of actually changing this blog to a Bible insights/God sightings blog, because that is what the majority of my posts seem to be about...what do you think? Please comment and let me know.

Anyways, so, I don't have a specific passage or anything to talk about, I just had a really cool mental image the other day that I wanted to share.

For anyone who has not read my earlier post, Reading Genesis Again, I am going through the old testament with a new perspective. The new perspective is that, instead of just reading it for face value, I am searching for prophecies about Jesus, places it mentions Jesus, or just things that resemble the character of God, that I would not have noticed before. I am still in Genesis, but a lot further along than I was when I wrote that.

So the other day I was reading, and I came across a place that prophesied about Jesus.

Thinking about this, I thought about life as a story. God is the Author, and we are His characters. He is writing the story, and He is in every page, holding it all together.

This brought on a new train of thought, thinking of life as a tapestry. God is the Weaver, and we are His threads. From our perspective, all we see is a mess of thread, because we are part of it, we do not have the point of view to see what He is weaving.

Then I thought, He is weaving a picture of Himself. He is throughout the picture, in every part of it, He IS the picture, He IS the life.

That brought on a new thought, I thought about war. The holocaust. How death and pain are also throughout history, how can that make a beautiful picture?

Again, we are too near sighted. We don't see it from the Weaver's perspective.

Every time there is war, every time there is hurt, the blood stains the thread.

In the end, when the picture is finished, it will be a picture of Him, the stained threads His wounds that He endured for our sake.

It won't JUST be a picture of Him, I realized, it will be a picture of what He did. It will show that the mistakes we made that stained the tapestry, He made them stain Him, so that the picture would be perfect.

 So remember that whatever you are going through at any time in your life, you don't see the bigger picture. You may just see a mess of thread, but God can use it to weave His beautiful picture.