Iyar 7
Heads and Rulers
“Hear this, please,
you heads of the house of Yaʽaqoḇ and you rulers of the house of Yisra’ĕl …” (Mic 3:9 ISR)
The prophet Micah was a contemporary of Isaiah, of
the southern kingdom of Judah, prophesying between 704 and 696 BCE
(approximately). According to the book
by his name, Micah spoke his words during the reigns of three of the kings of
Judah: Yotham
(Jotham), Aḥaz, and Ḥizqiyah (Hezekiah) (see Mic
1:1). Similar to Isaiah, Micah’s message was one that was strong, stern and
harsh, warning of the consequences of neglecting Torah, and of abandoning the
One who created them.
In our opening verse,
Micah is addressing those who were in authority. “Heads of the house of Yaʽaqoḇ”
refers to those who were the individual leaders of the twelve tribes, the
chiefs of the sons of Jacob (see Ex 6).
“Rulers of the house of Yisra’ĕl” appears to imply
one who had a governmental position, such as a judge, or a magistrate, those
who would “sit in the gate” (see Amos 5:10, 15). Both groups of people had the ability to make
decisions affecting many, regardless of whether these decisions were correct
and right, or whether they were completely wrong, and erroneous.
Yes, the prophecies found within the book of Micah
were fulfilled by the Babylonian conquest and captivity, somewhere between 598
to 586 BCE. However, those of us who
claim to belong to the Elohim of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob also believe that we
have been grafted in to the olive tree that is
Israel (see Rom 11), making us a part of the “house
of Yisra’ĕl”. With that thought in mind, would you suppose
the words of the prophet Micah may have an important message to those of us
living in the world today?
“For I am יהוה, I shall not change
…”
(Mal 3:6 ISR)
“What has been is what
shall be, what has been done is what shall be done, and there is no new matter under the sun.” (Ecc 1:9 ISR)
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