 Okay, good morning, those of you who are here and also good morning to those who are online. We will begin. So we are going through the last few prophetic books. We have, we are kind of done with the entire whole testament and now we are looking at the minor prophets. So last week we stopped with Amos. So today we will try to cover Obadiah, Jonah and Micah, all right? So we'll begin with the book of Obadiah and before we begin the book of Obadiah, hopefully at least by the end of this week I will put up the final assessment. So again, just like the midterm assessment, this would be 50 multiple choice questions following the very same pattern, all right? So coming to the book of Obadiah, now Obadiah was basically from the Southern Kingdom. He stayed in the, he was born in the Southern Kingdom of Judah and he was not from any prophetic school. He was not the son of a priest or prophet. So he didn't have any high status, but he was an ordinary person chosen by the Lord to prophesy regarding the judgment against Edom, all right? So the book of Obadiah mainly focuses on the judgment which is going to come against the Edomites. Maybe we can look at about three verses which talk about the main crime that God accuses Edom of. So if we could have someone read out for us, Obadiah verses 11 to 13. Obadiah has only one chapter. So it's Obadiah verses 11 to 13 if someone could read out for us. In the day that you stood on the other side in the day that strangers carried captive his forces, when foreigners enter his gate and cast lot for Jerusalem, even you were as one of them. But you should not have gazed on the day of your brother in the day of his captivity, nor should you have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor should you have spoken proudly in the day of distress. You should not have entered the gate of my people in the day of their calamity. Indeed, you should not have gazed on their affliction in the day of their calamity nor need hence on their substance in the day of their calamity. Yeah, so here the main allegation that God is making against these Edomite people is that you were so happy when the people of Judah were invaded when they were attacked. In fact, you tried to help the enemy and the Lord says, because of your attitude, because of the way you chose to take a stand against the people of Judah when they were being attacked, rather than helping them, you are happy that they were being attacked because of this attitude of yours. You will be judged is what God is basically saying in the short book of Obadiah. So now some people, it says in verse 12, is where it says that these Edomites rejoiced over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction. So what is this day of destruction that is being talked about over here? Which day of destruction happened when the Edomites rejoiced to see the people of Judah being invaded. So some people say, obviously this must be the Babylonian invasion. So when the Babylonian invasion took place, the Edomites probably rejoiced and they must have come and carried off the wealth of the people and all of that. But if we look at all of the historical records, we don't see anywhere, even in the secular writings, we don't see anywhere that when Babylon came and attacked Judah, they took the assistance of Edom or that Edom was involved in any way in the invasion. We don't see any such facts being mentioned anywhere. So most probably this day of destruction of Judah, which is being talked about over here, is probably not the Babylonian invasion. It was probably another kind of attack which must have happened at an earlier date. And so some commentaries will say that this is probably referring to the attack against Jerusalem, which was done by the Philistines and the Arabs in the 9th century BC. This is mentioned in 2 Chronicles chapter 21 verses 16 and 17. So in 2 Chronicles 21 16 to 17, it talks about how God allows the Philistines and Arabs to come and attack this city of Jerusalem. And so most probably the Edomites rejoiced at that time and the Edomites actually took advantage of the situation at that time. So maybe we can actually have someone read out for us 2 Chronicles chapter 21 verses 16 to 17 to see which invasion it was during which time the Edomites rejoiced and actually worked against the people of God. 2 Chronicles 21 16 to 17. So over the Lord stood up against Jehoram, the spirit of the Philistines and the Arabians who were near the Ethiopians. And they came up into Judah and invaded it and carried away all the positions that were found at the king's house and also his son and his wife so that there was not a son left to him except Jehoiah, the youngest of his sons. So here in 2 Chronicles 21 16 to 17, we learn that God was very angry with Jehoram and therefore he allowed the Philistines and the Arabs to attack Jerusalem. And in fact they are able to carry away a lot of the wealth and even in fact they're able to take away even his sons and wives as prisoners. So God allows this attack of the Arabs and Philistines to happen because he is angry with Jehoram. Why was God angry with Jehoram? It is because of the evil deed which he does. Now Jehoram was the son of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat is, I mean if you know your Old Testament, Jehoshaphat is one of those examples of faith which is talked about in the Old Testament. Would any of you know who Jehoshaphat is and what great act of faith he did in Old Testament times? Something to do with 2 Chronicles chapter 20 which is regarded as very famous. So you guys really don't know your Old Testament at all. You need to maybe start meditating upon the Old Testament during your personal devotions so that you become more familiar because it says in the New Testament that the reason God put down the entire Old Testament for us is so that we would learn from it and you cannot learn from it if you have not even read it. So in 2 Chronicles chapter 20 we see that Jehoshaphat goes out to fight against the Ammonites and the Moabites not with a bunch of soldiers. The people leading the army is a bunch of singers who are going in front and praising the Lord and the battle is won just through praise and worship. So that is the great famous incident which we read about in the Old Testament regarding Jehoshaphat. A man of faith, a man of might, his son is Jehoram and Jehoshaphat willingly, gladly gives the throne to Jehoram. So after Jehoshaphat's death, it is Jehoram who comes to the throne. Nobody is trying to steal the throne from him. The throne is his but Jehoram thinks in his heart, in his evil heart he thinks, what if one of my brothers tries to take the throne from me? What if there is a threat to my power? The man is so greedy and so desperate for power that he decides to kill all, murder all of his brothers so that not even one is left so that he can sit on the throne forever. That is his attitude and so God brings judgment upon him. He allows these Philistines and Arabs to attack and they in fact have a great victory. They are able to take away a lot of wealth and at that time when God's judgment is coming upon Jehoram, the Edomites instead of feeling sorry for the people, instead of trying to support them and help them, they rejoice. In fact, they take advantage of the situation. They also come, they also steal some of the wealth. In fact, they try to help the enemy, they try to help the Philistines and Arabs by, okay maybe we'll look at that a little later, other things which they do which makes the Lord very very angry with them. So yes, the Lord judges Jehoram for his evil but the Lord is not pleased with the way the Edomites behave when this judgment is going on, all right, so which is what we see over here. Now Jehoram, he in fact goes on to die a very very horrible death. We will not get into the details of that but if you really want to know how he died, how terribly he died, he died so dishonorably that when people saw God's hand of judgment upon him, they did not have the guts to even give him a royal funeral. So in fact, he's just buried in some, you know, ordinary tomb. He's not even given a royal funeral because the people can see that God's hand of judgment is upon this evil man. So Jehoram dies in that way. So this book of Obadiah is talking about God's anger and his displeasure at the way these Edomites behaved while God was judging Jerusalem at that point of time. And why is God so upset with Edom for behaving in this way? It's basically because the Edomites and the Israelites are supposed to be brother nations. So God is basically upset because one brother nation did not show kindness to the other brother nation when the attack was going on. Rather than trying to help them, rather than showing kindness and mercy, the Edomites take advantage of their brothers and the Lord is displeased with that. And this is what God says regarding these Edomites. So the structure of this little book in verses one to nine, God talks about how they are so proud. They think that nothing can ever defeat them. Nothing can ever overcome them. Maybe we can look at a couple of verses which describe their great pride. So if someone could read out for us verses three and four, we will look at how proud these Edomite people were. Verses three and four. The pride of your heart has deceived you. You who dwell in the collapse of the rock, whose habitation is high, you who say in your heart, who will bring me down to the ground. Though you ascend as high as the eagle, and though you set your nest among the stars from there, I will bring you down says the Lord. So the Edomites basically stay at a higher level in the mountains. They don't live in the valley. Their Edomite kingdom is in the mountainous regions. So any enemy which wants to attack the Edomites will have to go through the mountain passes, travel upward, climb upward to reach the Edomite cities. So which means long before the enemy actually reaches their gates, the Edomites can see the enemy approaching. So it gives them a great advantage. They can come and attack. They can prepare themselves for the attack which is coming. So you can't have a surprise attack on the Edomites. The Edomites are on top and they can see the enemy coming towards them from below. So this was a great advantage which the Edomites had. And in fact, at certain points where the enemy is trying to pass through a narrow ridges and trying to move upward, they can stand on top and throw large rocks and boulders on them and crush them. So the Edomites had this advantage and so they felt we are living on the heights. Nothing can touch us. And God says even if you were like an eagle, even if you were like the eagles which make their nests on the heights of the mountain cliffs, I will bring you down is what the Lord declares in this book of Judgment. So in verses one to nine, God talks about the pride of these Edomites. And in verses 10 to 14, God describes in what way they behaved against his people. So maybe we can read out verses 13 and 14. Here we know we can look at a little detail about what they did in that day, how the Edomites behaved when the Arabs and Philistines were attacking Jerusalem versus 13 and 14, please. Can I read, sister? Please go ahead. You should not have entered the gate of my people. In the day of their calamity, indeed, you should not have gazed on their affliction. In the day of their calamity, now laid hands on their substance. In the day of their calamity, you should not have stood at the crossroads to cut off those among them who escaped. Nor should you have delivered up those among them who remained in the days of distress. Thank you. So it says over here that these people, the Edomites, marched through the gates when the attack was going on by the Philistines and Arabs. They didn't just march through the gates to help them. They marched through the gates to take advantage of them. It says they gloated over them. They felt so happy. They were rejoicing that their brother nation is suffering. And it says they seized their wealth. So taking advantage of the helpless situation of the people in that day, they began to grab their wealth and steal from different houses. That is what these Edomites did. And then they go a step further, which I think was rather cruel. They wait near the crossroads. So all the people, the Israelites, who were escaping from Jerusalem and trying to run away from the surrounding areas, they are standing over there near the crossroads to capture them and then turn them over to the Arabs and Philistines, which is really very sad. I mean, these people are running for their lives. They have left behind their homes, everything. There's nothing in their hands. They're just refugees running. And here the Edomites are standing near the crossroads to grab hold of them and go and give them over to the enemy. That was the attitude of this brother, this brother nation, and therefore the Lord is highly displeased with them. In fact, Joel also goes on to mention this later. We could have someone read out for us. Joel chapter 3 verse 19. Yeah, Joel 3 19. So Joel also gives a prophecy and he says, one day Edom will be like a desert waste. Why? Because of the violence they have done to the people of Judah because they have shed innocent blood. So you have two, three prophets talking about what Edom has done and how God is going to judge them for their conduct. And then in the last portion of Obadiah verses 15 to 21, God goes on to say, not only am I going to judge Edom, I'm going to judge all the nations who have the same attitude of pride. Just like Edom, people who are thinking, oh, we live in the heights. Nobody can touch us. Nobody can bring us down. The Lord says, in the same way, I'm going to bring down Edom, I'm going to bring down all the nations which think that they are above me, that I know that I cannot touch them. So God speaks judgment against all of the nations in this last portion. And he says he will take action against them. There's something interesting that the Lord says in verse 18, if someone could read out for us, verse 18. The house of Jacob shall be a fire and the house of Joseph a flame, but the house of Esha shall be a struggle. They sell, kindle them and deliver them, and no server shall remain of the house of Esha for the Lord has spoken. So here, the Lord says in that day of judgment, Israel, or here he just uses the word Jacob and Joseph. Jacob and Joseph are basically implying that he's talking about the nation of Israel. He says Jacob and Joseph are going to be like fire. On the other hand, what is Esau going to be like? Or in this case, he's using the term Esau to refer to the Edomites, the descendants of Esau. So he says, what will the nation of Esau be like? They will be like stubble, that's the word for dry hay. If you bring fire near dry hay, what will happen? That very dry hay will immediately catch fire. It will be burnt up, not even a little bit of that hay would be left. So that is the imagery that God is using over here and is saying, you know what, I'm going to make my people like fire and when I bring them near the Edomites, they'll just be wiped out. They will be finished. So that's the judgment that God speaks against the people of Edom. So what actually happens to these Edomites? Later, when you have the Babylonians coming and attacking Jerusalem and taking away all the people of Judah as slaves, at that time, around that time in the 6th century BC, you also have them attacking Edom. So Edom is also attacked. In the same way, the people of Judah are taken away as slaves to Babylon. What is done to these people who are living in Edom, in the mountainous regions, they are taken as exiles and they are in fact relocated in southern Judah near the Mount Hermon. If you remember, we talked about this in our previous classes, the policy which they had, the Babylonian policy, they're going to take the people from their land and then put them as exiles in some other place so that people will lose their national identity and they'll all start thinking of themselves as Babylonian citizens. So that's the idea. So the people of Judah are taken away to Babylon. On the other hand, the people of Edom once they are defeated, they are brought and they are placed over here in southern Judah near Mount Hermon. So the Edomites who used to consider themselves an independent nation are now reduced to living in the place which they had looked down upon and now they are living as exiles literally over there near Mount Hermon in Judah territory which they had looked down upon once upon a time. And so as the generations go by at the time of the Maccabeans, one small time in Israelite history when the Israelites are able to regain the throne for a short temporary period of time. So during that time, the Maccabean king, an Israelite king named Hirkenus, when he comes to the throne, he forcibly makes all these Edomite people who are living around Mount Hermon, he forcibly makes them convert to Judaism. So they're not really true followers of Yahweh but under force they are forcibly converted to Judaism and basically it's from that lineage that you have Herod coming out so later on when you have the Romans coming and taking over this entire region, they appoint Herod as the king in this region to govern Israel and the people of Jewish people are not very happy to have Herod because Herod's background is Edom. His background is not Israelite background, he's an Edomite. So they never really like him and so basically to get their favor to win their favor, he says, I'm going to build you a grand temple. If you remember when we were covering the Book of Ezra, the people were a little sad when the foundation of the temple was laid because the old people among them still remembered the glory of Solomon's temple and how grand that used to look compared to that the second temple which they have now rebuilt, doesn't look very impressive and so they are very sad about that and so Herod, he says, I'm going to build a grand temple for you. So of course the main temple complex, the main temple as such is left alone because that is the holy place in the most holy place but all around it he builds these large marble buildings and he makes it so beautiful and it was considered like one of the wonders of the ancient world and of course in 7080 the Romans of course destroy all of that and today all we have is that platform which has left this huge platform on which you have a mosque resting right now. So all of this happens. So the Edomites who thought that they would never be defeated were reduced to a bunch of exiles and they were forced to live near Mount Hermon. That is what happens to them because of the judgment which God brings upon these people. Now even as we are looking at the Edomites, maybe we should look a little bit at Esau as well because after all the Edomites come from Esau. Now we know there was a lot of rivalry between Jacob and Esau in the book of Genesis and if you look at that story and if you were to simply ask someone who doesn't really know the Bible stories much and you were to ask them in this entire story who is the villain, Jacob or Esau. I'm pretty sure someone would, I mean anyone who would straightforwardly say the villain is definitely Jacob. Jacob is the one who does the deceiving, he's the one who cheats, he's the one who lies, he's the one who does all the wrong things. Esau is the innocent party, he's the one who's been exploited. So Jacob was this really unpleasant evil person. It's one thing to steal the birthright from your brother but to go and deceive your own father who can't see. I mean you know old Jacob is now too old to be able to see properly and he's sitting over there aged. I mean would we do that to our aged parents? You know a person who can't even see properly and he trusts his children and this Jacob goes to him and says oh I'm Esau. I mean a very crooked person and God judges him nicely later on. When he goes and starts living with Laban, Laban gives him full treatment, the kind of treatment that he gave Esau, he gets triple that from Laban. You know God really knows how to make people reap what they sow. So Jacob is living over there with Laban and Laban is fully exploiting him. Yeah I know Jacob exploited his brother Esau a little bit but now Laban is fully exploiting Jacob and now he knows what it feels like to be exploited and now Jacob can't bear it anymore and he wants to come back to his home land. But if he comes back Esau is going to be waiting for him and what had Esau decided in his heart? He decided I don't want to hurt my parents but once they are dead I'm going to kill this Jacob for what he has done to me. So Jacob is scared to come back but he can't continue living over there because Laban has become a full torturer. He can't handle that. So he's forced to come back and when he comes back you know the Lord says gives him permission, the Lord says go back and I will be with you. So with that assurance he comes back and the way Esau behaves it's marvelous, it's amazing. You know a man who had been ill treated so much by Jacob, what does he do? You know in Genesis I think that was chapter 32 or chapter 33, I can't remember when that encounter happens between Jacob and Esau. You know Jacob is standing over there really scared, he's bowing down seven times to the ground trying to hope that you know maybe Esau will not hurt him and what does Esau do? He literally comes running to Jacob, hugs him, kisses him. He does not hold any grudgeness heart anymore. So Esau is actually you know portrayed in the Bible as a good person, as somebody who had learnt forgiveness, who showed kindness to someone who had ill treated him and we know we see more details of this later. I mean if you were to go into chapters 33, chapter 36 we get to know that Esau even though he had purchased some land in Seir, he continues to hold territory even over here in Canaan and so for a little while in fact it looks like Jacob and Esau stay together, you know they coexist together for a little while until of course in Genesis 36, you know Esau says we have both become such large families and our property is now so large we can't stay together anymore so I'll give up my you know my property over here and I'll move permanently to Seir. So he goes away. But the thing is you see Esau sets a good example for his children about how they should treat their cousins. Esau wanted friendly relations to continue between the Edomites and the Israelites. However the people of the descendants of Esau do not follow this practice. They choose to start behaving like enemies towards Israel that was never Esau's intention. Esau wanted to continue maintaining friendly relations but his sons and his grandsons and their descendants choose to take a very anti-Israel you know policy. So this is probably because Esau had one main failing which is pointed out in Hebrews 12. So Esau was a good man, he understood forgiveness, he showed kindness, they even stayed together probably for one or two years but when it came to spiritual matters Esau had absolutely no interest in spiritual matters you know I mean he gives away his birthright for a bowl of soup. For him spiritual things don't matter at all. In fact when he's getting ready to get married whom does he marry? He does not marry someone who is a follower of Yahweh. He goes and marries hittite women and in fact his mother is so hurt that you know he marries those women and he says she says to Jacob she says oh how much trouble those women have cost us. So when it came to spiritual matters he was simply not interested in spiritual matters. So no wonder his sons and his grandsons and his you know descendants became so hostile towards the Israelites because they had no godliness inside them. So look at the lesson that we can carry away from this. Esau was a good man, a man that you can praise, a man that you can appreciate but when it comes to spiritual things he had no interest. Of what use was all his niceness and kindness when he lacked the spiritual principles which could have kept him in a relationship with Yahweh. So you see we know people like this right all around us and in our neighborhood. Good people you can't say anything bad about them but when it comes to spiritual matters they have no interest in the living god even when we share the gospel with them they're like oh you know all the requirements of Jesus are too high it's difficult. So they just reject Jesus and down the line it actually harms them you know. So we need to think about this it's good to be good but goodness alone is not enough. The godliness which only Yahweh can put inside a person when you have a personal relationship with him that is what makes a difference. So Jacob in spite of all his rottenness God brings him down to his knees to a position where he finally starts relying upon Yahweh and then God is able to bring a change in his life. So look at that there was one man Esau who was good but he had no interest in spiritual things and his you know future was just hell. On the other hand you have a rotten person like Jacob whom God you know reduces to such a level where he finally comes to the Lord and because he now trusts in the Lord God does great things in his life. So in the end it's the spiritual matters which really you know make a difference where we end up how our descendants will be what our own future will be like in the end it's the spiritual things which matter just being a good kind person is not really going to cut you know it's just not going to make much of a difference. So we see this about Esau and his descendants so even though he was a good person because he could not you know did not have a walk with Yahweh and because he did not teach that walk with Yahweh to his descendants they turn into enemies of the nation of Israel and God speaks judgment against them. So the book of Obadiah is basically the judgment which God speaks against the Edomites. So even after so many generations I'm sure these two nations don't even look at each other as brother nations anymore there's so much enmity between them but in the eyes of God he still thinks of them as brothers and he says how could one brother nation behave like that against another brother nation. So in God's eyes relationships are very important you know we don't think about these things too seriously we think okay I know we're both attending the same church that man and I but you know he's somebody he has his own life I'm I have my own life but in God's eyes you and he are brothers so in case you do not have a right heart attitude towards that other person in the church in God's eyes that is serious in our eyes we may think of what is there I have my life that man has his life and he's treating me badly so I hate him we can't go around hating people like that from the family of God because in God's eyes he sees us as his family and we are brothers and sisters whether we like it or not so when when we have you know brothers and sisters who are very unpleasant not very nice to get along with we have an obligation to continue showing love and forgiveness towards them because in God's eyes these things are serious relationships are important to him so imagine after so many generations he's looking at Edom and is thinking look how this brother has behaved towards his you know other brother nation so the way God looks at us it's very different and we need to have that perspective and we need to correct ourselves if we have wrong attitudes and be more serious about how we treat our brothers and sisters in the Lord okay so that's one lesson that actually comes out from this entire story when we look at the background now after the book of Obadiah you would basically have which book now you mean after looking at the Old Testament you should be able to say it by heart you know in Sunday school they teach you the order of the books Genesis comes first and then you have Exodus and you have Leviticus you should be able to you know know which book comes after which kind of helps because then you can turn in your Bible smoke quickly and find the particular book you know that we are referring to so when I was in Sunday school and I was trying to learn the order of the Old Testament books one one thing which helped me was that it was easy to remember the major prophetic books you know that's basically because you know you have Isaiah Jeremiah and then you have you know LED you know lamentations Ezekiel and Daniel and then after that what to do you have Hosea so Hosea fine I told myself I'll remember that after that it was very easy because you know you have J, A, O and Jonah so in India I would tell myself J, O, Jonah you know God says to God no go over there so I just kind of remember it that way so we have just now talked about Obadiah so after Obadiah you would supposed to have Jonah after that would be Micah but you know let's just change the order a little bit so we'll look at Micah first and then after that we will cover Jonah all right so let's quickly get into the book of Micah you know I mean I generally don't say anything but really thank you for all of you who you know who keep responding here online you guys are great if I could you know if you guys could be here in the class it would have been really nice but thank you so much for always responding and putting your replies in the chat it's encouraging because it tells me that behind all those rectangular squares the real people sitting over there and actually attending the lecture and listening so thanks a lot for that so coming to this book of Micah now Micah was also from the southern kingdom he was from a place called Moreshet and he is asked to prophesy against both the northern and southern kingdoms and in fact he does his work of prophesying just about 10 20 years before the northern israel falls so you know his ministries around the last few years of the northern kingdom and this is what he says about his ministry Micah chapter three verse eight if someone could read out Micah three eight but truly I am full of power by the spirit of the Lord and of justice and my particular to check off his transaction and to Israel his sin yeah you know here Micah is speaking about himself and he says truly he says I'm filled with power with the spirit of the Lord and with justice and might to declare to Jacob his transformation to Israel his sin he's saying that his ministry is being done full with filled with power and filled with the spirit of the Lord I was just looking at that wording last night and I was thinking wow if my ministry could be like that filled with the power of the Lord filled with the spirit of the Lord if you have these you know your ministry will always stay on the right track because it's the Holy Spirit who will be guiding you and taking you in the right direction you will never go off track you know you'll never do a whole bunch of things which were not meant to be done by the Lord and you will not waste your resources you will not end up you know hurting people and all of that so Micah is a prophet who can confidently say that he is walking in God because of which he's filled with the Lord's power and he's moving in the spirit of the Lord and he has the same heart as God regarding justice and because of that he is full of might and he says you know even though the judge the words of prophecy that I'm bringing to you people are painful I am going to do it because I'm strong God has made me strong enough to speak out these words so you know I'm in our current environment where there's a lot of hostility towards us believers and you know here in our nation where we are criticized and condemned if we talk about our faith and we try to share about our faith with other people we need this if we are filled with power if we have the spirit of the Lord working in us then no matter what the opposition is we will be able to share the gospel you know in a way which will touch and impact people's hearts so we need this kind of a ministry we need to be like Micah so Micah basically is talking to both the northern and southern kingdoms and so he says very shortly you know Assyria is going to come and it's going to you know take over northern Israel he also talks about Babylon he prophesies that Babylon also will one day come and conquer Jerusalem which would happen around another 140 years later so you know so he talks about both of these judgments so if you were to think about the structure of the book of Micah the first three chapters are talking about judgment against these two northern and southern kingdoms chapters four and five is where he promises you know God promises restoration to the people in the future and in chapters six and seven God says to them even now if you repent I can you know turn away the judgment so in verses in chapters six and seven God asks the people to repent so that he doesn't even have to bring the judgment upon them please if you could mute mute yourself child okay so yeah Micah chapter one verses three to four is where God speaks about the judgment which is coming upon these two nations if we can have someone read out for us Micah one verses three and four Micah one three and four for behold the Lord is coming out of his place he will come down and trade on the higher place of the earth the mountains will melt under him and the valleys will split like wax before the fire like waters pour down a steep place he's using poetic language over here and he says you know God is going to come down from his dwelling place and when he comes down the mountain will you know split apart the valley no the valleys will split apart the mountain will melt he says it will be like fire and all of that it almost sounds like the description of Mount Sinai you know when God came down upon that mountain to make a covenant with his people so at that time in Exodus he comes down to make a covenant with the people but here Micah is saying God is going to come down in the same way and when he comes down this time it's not to make a covenant it's basically to punish you for not keeping that covenant for not observing that covenant so is what he says over here Micah is basically famous for this one verse I mean I mean more than any of the other verses this is the one verse which is popular from the book of Micah if we can have someone read out for us Micah chapter five verse two Micah five two but you Bethlehem Abraham though you are little among the thousand of Judah yet out of new shell come forth to me the one to be ruler in Israel who's going for a form of old from everlasting exactly here in Micah chapter five Micah is giving a word of prophecy and he is saying that from one of the clans of Judah you know though you are small among the clans of Judah out of you Bethlehem Ephrata will come the ruler this is not going to be just a human ruler why is this not just a normal human ruler because his origins will be from of old this is not going to be a baby which has just been born at that time and is beginning to start its lifetime this is going to be someone whose origins were already from of old from everlasting so it's talking about a eternal ruler who is going to come from Bethlehem Ephrata and so whenever each time Jesus you know talked about him as I am in the New Testament he was talking about himself as the eternal Messiah the Pharisees understood what he was saying but they were not willing to accept that he is the one whom they are waiting for they always knew that the Messiah when it comes will be eternal not just a human king is going to be someone whose origins are from old from everlasting they always knew that when the Messiah comes he'll be somebody divine but each time Jesus said I am that divine one they hated it they did not want to accept him so you know in the time of Herod when those wise men have come to honor this Messiah who has been born and they are searching for him Herod hears about it and he says all these people are talking about a king where is this king from and at that time the chief priests and the scribes yeah they know they know their Old Testament by heart right I mean they sit every day by hearting the Old Testament they don't practice it but they by heart it so they know their Old Testament quite well and so they very gladly tell Herod this is what it says in Micah 5 2 you know and they explain and they say that he's actually going to be from Bethlehem Ephrata so that way they all knew who was born in Bethlehem that it was Jesus who was born over there and yet they refused to accept him as Messiah simply because he was telling them that they need to change their ways and they did not want to change their ways they were quite happy in their sinfulness so Micah 5 2 is famous because it tells the exact place from which this eternal Messiah is going to come another nice thing that we see about the book of Micah Micah actually helps Jeremiah in a way now if you remember you know Jeremiah had undergone a lot of suffering because you know he was speaking in the last days before the destruction of Jerusalem and everyone hated him and on multiple occasions they tried to kill him so in Jeremiah chapter 26 you have one such incident being mentioned where you have all these you know people who are very upset with him because he's saying that Jerusalem will definitely fall they are very upset and so they decide to kill him this would be in Jeremiah 26 verses 8 and 9 so they say why do you prophesy in the Lord's name that the house will be like Shiloh and the city will be desolate and deserted and so they say that they are going to kill him okay in verse 10 it says this man should not be okay they say they're going to kill him and then some officials in verse 10 they come and they say this man should not be sentenced to death because once upon a time Micah also gave a prophecy and when he prophesied King Hezekiah did not say I'm going to kill you rather King Hezekiah got down on his knees and he repented so when Micah's negative prophecy was received by Hezekiah in such a humble manner why are you people getting ready to kill Jeremiah because he's giving a negative prophecy and so they quote from Micah chapter 3 verse 12 now it's 10 50 so we'll go for a break but you know we'll just kind of look at a few details after we come back from a break thank you