Intro: Welcome to the Spoken Gospel Podcast. Spoken Gospel is a ministry that's dedicated to speaking the gospel out of every corner of scripture. In Luke 24, Jesus told his disciples that every part of the Bible was about him. So each week, hosts David and Seth work through a passage of scripture to see how it's all about Jesus and his good news. Let's jump in.
David: Well, welcome everyone to the Spoken Gospel Podcast.
Seth: Happy New Year! Happy New Year! Brand new year, January 13th.
David: Yeah, welcome back from the break. We missed you.
Seth: We did.
David: And we're going to start a new book today, right?
Seth: That's right.
David: The book of Micah.
Seth: Uh, yeah, it's another minor prophet. We've done so far, we've already done Amos, Amos, Joel, Obadiah, Joel. So this is Jonah.
David: Jonah.
Seth: Yeah, yeah, we just said Jonah. Yeah, so we're continuing through the minor prophets.
David: Yes, the 12.
Seth: The 12.
David: Yeah, all 12 of them. Okay, so what is unique about Micah? Why should everyone listening continue to listen? Why is Micah for them?
Seth: Micah is about how the inevitable restoration on the other side of judgment. Oh, so that— and that's kind of like the— you— I don't—
David: I—
Seth: as far as you can say the Bible has something unique to say in one book versus the other.
David: Yeah.
Seth: It's like there is a promise of guaranteed hope and restoration on the other side of judgment. Israel will be judged. Micah will be judged. Yeah. God's people will be judged. But on the other side, there is restoration and hope and mercy.
David: Well, that's good news.
Seth: That's good news.
David: So you should care about it because of that. There's also like a lot of one-hit wonders in Micah. There are. It's like, uh, what does the Lord require of you but to love justice and to do mercy and to walk humbly with your Lord. Uh, there's the prophecy that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem.
Seth: Yeah. There's good Christmas prophecy.
David: Jesus is our shepherd is in here.
Seth: Yes. Like the idea of a shepherd king is, I think, first developed really clearly here in Micah. You get a hint of it in David's, uh, narrative, but this is the first time it's really explored as a theological idea.
David: So lots of cool stuff.
Seth: Yes.
David: So, okay. So help me get my head in Micah. I think the hardest thing for me with especially the minor prophets, and I think for a lot of people, is like, what is the— what's going on in history around this moment? You know, because if you just read the book, it's like, where on earth am I? When in earth am I? And so I think learning to position ourselves within the larger biblical story is really helpful.
Seth: Yeah. And so really helpfully, verse 1, the word of the Lord came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
David: Hey, I wish every minor prophet book had a superscription like this.
Seth: This is a very helpful one. This is very helpful. It's literally 2 Kings 14 to 20. So you can go back and read those 6 chapters and all those events happened during Micah's lifetime or while Micah was acting as a court prophet.
David: A court prophet.
Seth: Yeah. He was a professional prophet. The book of Jeremiah, um, Jeremiah 28, I think.
David: Um, oh yeah, he mentions him.
Seth: Yes. He mentions, uh, Micah prophesying during the days of Hezekiah.
David: Okay.
Seth: And so if you read those stories, those are the stories that are happening in the background of the book of Micah. Okay.
David: I have two questions.
Seth: Yes.
David: One, what's a professional prophet?
Seth: Yeah. What?
David: And are there any job openings?
Seth: Are there any job openings? Well, apparently one of the job requirements of being a prophet is to be able to write poetry. So, hey, you've got that under your belt.
David: Does that have to be good poetry or just poetry in general?
Seth: I mean, all the poetry that we have has lasted several thousand years. Oh, okay. So that's your standard.
David: So mine haven't lasted that long yet.
Seth: That's your standard. Okay. It always surprises me whenever I hear prophecy, like, talked about in churches today. Yeah. It's always like this spontaneous thing that happens on stage.
David: Oh yeah.
Seth: But if you read the prophecies of Micah, these are these intricately woven pieces of poetry that he clearly didn't just write, just get up and start speaking. He spent hours and hours choosing and crafting words to deliver a message of doom to a king in poetry. Right. It's like, it's a very different type of prophet.
David: Oh man.
Seth: Right?
David: Yeah.
Seth: Have you ever thought about that?
David: No.
Seth: Cause whenever I think about like charismatic churches, the churches that I grew up in, and I hear words of prophecy, I'm like, okay.
David: Yeah.
Seth: The biblical pattern for that is like this really detailed, thought-out, meticulous type of poetry.
David: Yeah.
Seth: That has a cadence, that has meter, that has rhyme, that has puns, that has irony. Yeah. That has like Hebrew parallelism running throughout it.
David: Yeah.
David: I wonder. I mean, I wonder if, you know, if it's like they— I never pictured Micah going into his study and crafting his message and then taking that to the king. Be like, King Hezekiah, here's a new slam poem prophecy for you.
Seth: Well, maybe. Yeah, because so let's go back to what a professional prophet is.
David: Okay.
Seth: So a king would have prophets surrounding him and they would act as advisors to him about what God was doing in the nation.
David: Yeah.
Seth: And in his own kingdom. Yeah.
David: Really important role. And like, I think all throughout the Old Testament, you'll hear stories about a king gathering together the prophets. And a lot of times they're false prophets and they tell them what the king wants to hear. And then one true prophet will be like, but God's actually saying this, right?
Seth: And there's normally dozens.
David: Yeah.
Seth: So the ability to construct well a piece of like prophecy and to be heard over the voice of dozens of other prophets would actually be a skill a lot of prophets would need to have. But to your point, by the time they got written down here, this is a collection edited over time, right? And like made to make one point over many years rather than extemporaneous, perhaps. However, I think the ability to articulate well when there's a whole bunch of other false prophets around would have been a skill set Micah needed to have.
David: Yeah, that's pretty cool. So, okay, he's a— so he's a professional prophet in the court of the king amongst other prophets, but he is definitely a true prophet of God. And then you said that he's reigning during the time of these three kings— or reigning— he's prophesying during the time of these three kings: Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah.
Seth: Yeah.
David: In Judah, the southern kingdom, which is where the temple was, Jerusalem was. What is going on in those— that reign, that time of their reign.
Seth: So Jotham is the first king mentioned. And so he was a good king.
David: Oh, good.
David: All right.
Seth: One of the— in this point of Israel, at this point in Israel and Judah's history, there's not a lot of good kings left. So he's like this bright spot in Israel's history. And but the only kind of knock against his reign is that he does not tear the idols down.
David: Oh, okay.
Seth: But Jotham also is interesting because as he's ruling in Judah, Israel to the north loses a ton of territories to this growing superpower, Assyria.
David: Okay. Yeah.
Seth: So even though there's a little bit of faithfulness left in Judah, Israel to the north is suffering like this moral rot.
David: Uh-huh.
Seth: And Assyria as a superpower just swallowing up land and exiling people back to, um, Assyria.
David: Okay. So their neighbors to the north, the 10 tribes of Israel, in the north where the majority of Israel was. They're going through a moral rot, worshiping false gods, oppressing the poor, that kind of stuff.
Seth: Yeah.
David: And God is judging them, as some of the other prophets had prophesied, with the Assyrian army eating up their towns.
Seth: Yes.
David: And now this prophet Micah is talking to the kings of his day and what, like warning them the same is coming for you?
Seth: Well, so that's King Jotham. Okay. King Ahaz is an evil king. So I'm just going to—
David: right.
Seth: So, yeah, yeah. Okay. He's an evil king, and he's the first in decades for Israel in the south to do evil in the Lord's eyes. So like what I kind of want to say, like we have a good king at first, and then there's just kind of like, it gets worse from then. So you have this first king, and he's the first king in the south to sacrifice his own son to pagan gods.
David: Right.
David: Yeah.
Seth: He strips God's temple bare of all the gold to pay off the Assyrian merchant. To pay off Assyrian mercenaries to help them attack Syria. And he also meets with the king of Assyria, sees his temple in Damascus and makes a copy of that altar and brings it to Israel and replaces the altar in Israel with the false altar of Assyria.
David: It's like an opposite of Sinai. Yes. Yes.
Seth: It's not a great moment. In Israel's history. Okay.
David: Bu-ahaz.
Seth: And then when Hezekiah takes over after him, he's actually the first king to do almost the exact opposite. He tears down Israel's altars for the first time in centuries.
David: They're bad altars.
Seth: The bad altars. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jotham was a good king, but he left the altars up.
David: Yep.
Seth: Hezekiah is a good king, but he actually tears them down.
David: Right. Does more. He does more. It's really, really good.
Seth: And even rebels against the king of Assyria and doesn't offer him allegiance the way that he is.
David: His faithfulness leads to a massive, like, move of God to kill like 185,000 Assyrians.
Seth: So yeah, so that's happening.
David: Okay.
Seth: 6 years from Israel's exile. So when Hezekiah takes the throne, Israel is 6 years from its total exile into Assyria.
David: Northern Israel.
Seth: Northern.
David: Yeah.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Okay.
Seth: This is a lot of history, but I think it's really helpful because I think Sennacherib, the king, the Assyrian general. Yeah. Who comes up against Judah during Hezekiah's time is when a lot of Micah might have been written.
David: Okay, just because of the stuff he's saying.
Seth: Yeah, there's even quotes from Micah, like there's quotes from that time in the book of Micah. Okay, there. So Sennacherib, Sennacherib, yeah, comes to Israel after having— or to Judah after having swallowed up Israel and boasts that they're taking down all this, these, these nations, these territories.
David: Totally.
Seth: And Judah Hezekiah is basically trying— they're trying to force the surrender.
David: Yeah.
Seth: Yes.
David: Sennacherib has basically conquered all of Israel, has come to the heart of Judah in Jerusalem and says, you're next, man.
Seth: Yeah.
David: And Hezekiah is in there trying to figure out what to do.
Seth: Right.
David: And he prays, right?
Seth: Well, not yet.
David: Okay. Not yet.
Seth: So Sennacherib takes over 46 cities.
David: That's a lot of cities.
Seth: And a lot of them are mentioned here in Micah chapter 1. Okay. And more than likely, a lot of those cities would have had refugees, asylum seekers rushing to Jerusalem.
David: Oh, I see.
Seth: So Micah chapter 2 talks about the nation or the people rushing to Jerusalem.
David: Yeah.
Seth: So Jerusalem is filled with people. They're at capacity. Their nation, their army is kind of in ruins. They've been impoverished by previous kings. And this Assyrian general comes and says, okay, it's time for me to take down your doors.
David: Mm-hmm.
Seth: And the first thing he does is he reverses his rebellion and he robs the temple again and pays off Sennacherib.
David: Okay, so first, yeah, so he repeats the sins of Ahaz.
Seth: Yep.
David: Okay.
Seth: Yep. And then he said, Sennacherib comes back and says, well, we're gonna destroy Jerusalem now because it wasn't enough, the money ran out. But that's when Hezekiah finally prays.
David: I see.
Seth: And then God overnight massacres 185,000 Assyrians. And what's really fascinating about this time period too, I— there's all sorts of fascinating things about the book of Micah. And I can't tell if they're interesting to anybody besides me, but there's actually something called the Taylor Cylinder, and it's a six-sided piece of clay that documents the battle with Hezekiah from Sennacherib's perspective.
David: Oh, so we have like other, other facts of history explaining this other than the Bible.
Seth: Other than the Bible.
David: Okay.
Seth: Which is fascinating.
David: Fascinating.
Seth: And then Hezekiah interacts and then he's saved and then Isaiah comes in. So Micah and Isaiah are prophesying at the same time. Anyway, I've said a lot of history. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That is what's happening. Behind the scenes.
David: Okay. Okay.
Seth: Israel to the north has already been in exile.
David: Yep. Uh, Sennacherib is coming for them.
Seth: Judah in the south is on the verge of exile. You've had a decent king, a terrible king, and a somewhat half-hearted king who can't seem to make up his mind whether he's serving the Lord, right, or he's going to pay off Assyria by robbing the temple again. And that's where Israel is in this time. Okay.
David: Got it.
Seth: Got it.
David: I got it.
Seth: Okay.
David: So that's what's happening. And what then, if you could sum up Micah's— can you sum up Micah's message to these kings?
Seth: Yeah.
David: Like, what is the heart of his message to these kings? Because, you know, there's, there's some prophets like Joel. It's like the day of the Lord is coming, you know, like, right, right, right. What's Micah's message?
Seth: So you have three kings living on the verge of Judah to the south's fall to Assyria. Right. And that's, that's the political reality that they're living in. And Micah's message to each one of them is that after Assyria comes and wipes you out, there will be restoration. God will judge Israel for your halfheartedness, for your sin. But after judgment, there will be restoration. That's the, that's the message of the Book of Micah.
David: Okay.
David: And is he looking mainly toward like Babylon coming? Because Assyria ultimately isn't the one that wipes out Judah.
Seth: That's right.
David: So he's like, he's like looking at everything that has happened in Israel.
Seth: Yeah.
David: And he's like, I mean, I mean, they're living in a war-torn territory.
Seth: They are. Assyria will take over a lot of land, right? In Israel, the land in Judah, and then Babylon will come and usurp Assyria and then finish the exile.
David: They're the ones who just— they take Jerusalem.
Seth: Yeah.
David: That was like the last, you know, fortress Assyria couldn't crack.
Seth: That's right.
David: And so, okay, so he's saying your destruction is sure.
Seth: Mm-hmm. It's coming.
David: It's coming. I think you use the word inevitable at some point. But after that happens, there will be what? Redemption? What's the word?
Seth: I keep using the word restoration.
David: Restoration.
Seth: Because the promises are really about the restoration of Jerusalem as a city, of God's people as a people, of a king to rule again, like Israel back to the way it was supposed to be as God's people and God's nation. Okay.
David: So that's a lot.
Seth: That's a lot.
David: That's a lot.
Seth: Okay.
David: So you've got, you've got a professional prophet bringing warnings of destruction to three kings, but promising that on the other side, there will be restoration.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Okay. I'm following that.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Okay, so I have a question for you. Um, as we look at the overall—
Seth: like, full of questions.
David: I'm full of questions today. I feel like, I feel like you, you got to go a little deeper on this book than I did, and so I just—
Seth: I also wrote all the commentary stuff that we did for Kings, and so I was like, let me look up all my old Kings notes and get a chance to talk about the history of Israel because everyone's so excited by it.
David: You're the resident expert, and so I'm full of questions today. Because I didn't get to do as much reading as you. And so I want to like talk about the overall scope of the book, because I think you said earlier that there are 3 sections in this book that talk about the destruction and redemption.
Seth: I haven't said that yet.
David: Oh, you haven't?
Seth: I thought you—
David: that's what we set up at the beginning.
Seth: We haven't. But that's so— okay. All the history is there. And then the book of Micah itself is structured around 3 cycles of restoration and hope.
David: Okay. So, yeah. So my question then is, is that a mirror of the three kings that he served under?
Seth: Oh, I didn't even think about that.
David: It's like you got Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, and then three cycles of prophecies.
Seth: It would be interesting if you could prove that cycle one was about Jotham, cycle two was about Ahab, Ahaz, and cycle through that Hezekiah. But I don't know if that's true. All I do know is that it's a collection of prophetic sayings from those several decades. That had been compiled into 3 cycles.
David: Got it. Fair.
Seth: Judgment and then coming restoration on the other side of that.
David: Okay.
Seth: So let's land there for maybe just a second.
David: Okay.
Seth: I've already named it. So as you go to read the book of Micah, which you should do, which you should do first, go read 2 Kings 14 to 20. Okay. And get that in your head. And then when you come, know that you're about to read 3 cycles of judgment against Israel and its people for its sin. But on the backside of that judgment is inevitable restoration. And each one of those prophecies begins the same way and ends the same way. Each one of those cycles begins and ends the same way.
David: How do they begin and end?
Seth: Each one begins with the word "hear." Okay. Hear, O people. Hear, O leaders. Hear, O mountains. And those are the three. And then they all end with the promise of a kingly shepherd who will either beat back the enemies or guide God's flock to a new home.
David: Okay.
Seth: That's— and that's, that's the structure of the Book of Micah.
David: Okay. So he calls people or leaders or mountains to hear about the judgment that's coming.
Seth: Yes.
David: But then says that restoration will be accomplished by a shepherd.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Why a shepherd?
Seth: Well, you're getting into— so whenever God gives the covenant to David in 2 Samuel 7.
David: Yes.
Seth: There's a whole bunch of shepherd metaphors there.
David: Okay.
Seth: And he's the first king of Israel.
David: Right.
Seth: Who—
Seth: well, not the first king, but he's the—
David: he's the— he's the Davidic king, the eternal king, the God—
Seth: the one God promised the eternal dynasty will come. Yes. There's hints within the Old Testament. So story so far that a shepherd king will be the eternal king.
David: So is that like a king like David?
Seth: A king like David?
David: Because David was a shepherd king. He was an actual shepherd, a physical shepherd and a physical king. Yeah, I think that's helpful for me because I think when I think of shepherd king, I think of shepherd is a characteristic and king is an office.
Seth: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
David: And I was like, well, actually that might be true, right? But it's just reflecting on David being the first king who was at first a shepherd.
Seth: The king after God's heart.
David: Yeah.
Seth: Too. And think about the three kings that Micah is a prophet under. Jotham, who is a good king but doesn't tear down the idols. Ahaz, who's purely evil and replaces Israel's temple with a false one. And then Hezekiah, who's good, who he's called good, but makes so many concessions to Babylon and Assyria that eventually the nation is destroyed after his leadership.
David: Yeah.
Seth: So none of them are the good king that we hoped for in David.
David: I see. So, okay, so what Mike is pulling on then is a latent hope in Israel's collective mind That is, one day God promised that we were going to have a king like David.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Who would shepherd our people and like bring about our good fortune.
Seth: That's right.
David: And that day hasn't happened yet because Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, none of them did it. And so we're still waiting.
Seth: Mm-hmm.
David: But the— so the reason, the reason why I think I'm tracking here, the reason why judgment is necessary is because all the evil we'll talk about that was going on. But the reason why restoration is inevitable is because of the promise God made to David.
Seth: Yes.
David: That there will be a shepherd king.
Seth: Mm-hmm.
David: No matter what kind of judgment has to take place, God's word, God's promise is going to happen.
Seth: Yeah, he makes— he makes a couple like pokes at the idea of a coming king who will be born. That's why the Bethlehem prophecy is in here. There's a coming leader who will be born to restore people. But at the very end of the book, Micah 7, it's just not— it's not grounded in a prophecy, but in God's character. He said, who is like God? Which, by the way, is what Micah's name means. Ah, the very last little stanza of the book of Micah begins with, who is a God like you? And the name Micah means in Hebrew is, who is like God? He ends with a reflection on his own name about God pardoning iniquity, passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance. He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in steadfast love.
David: So the reason why redemption or restoration is also inevitable is because the character of God. Yes. Because no other God is like God. That like the God of Israel is a God who forgives iniquities and passes over our transgressions. Okay. Yeah, I get that. So it's like the Book of Micah is also just like a reflection on who is like God that like no other God would love a nation like Israel knowing everything that they've done. Yeah.
Seth: Yes, that's— yeah, I think that's right. Yeah.
David: No other God would watch all the horrors that have happened under the reign of Ahaz, for example, and been like, you know what, I'm going to still love these people. You know who? Micah.
Seth: My—
David: who else is like God? Okay, I follow that.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Okay.
Seth: Any more questions, David? Oh, man.
David: No, I think I'm— I think I'm good. So you have 3 cycles of judgment and restoration that end in a promise of a kingly shepherd.
Seth: Um, it all began with the word "hear." Okay.
David: Yeah. Is there, is there like a particular reason?
Seth: Like, well, you were talking about this before we came on air, but so Micah, a prophet, we was like, what is a, what is a professional prophet? Someone who like advised the king, but really who was supposed to interpret God's law to the king and help him understand it for during his rule and reign. So Micah, as somebody who's supposed to be someone who carries the law in them and reports how a king is doing in accordance, like, in comparison to the law. He's bringing basically a court suit against the king.
David: I see.
Seth: Saying, here's what the law says, here's what the Bible says, here's what your scriptures say, and here's the way that you failed to, uh, live up to the command that you're supposed to, to live out.
David: Gotcha. Okay, so I mean, he's like offering three new Shemas.
Seth: Yes, that's exactly right.
David: So for those who are like, what did you just say? The Shema is the famous prayer of Israel. Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And so it's like that here is a call to Israel to attend themselves to the law of God and to God himself, to love the Lord your God. Like, I was— that's all like Micah's thing is, what does the Lord require of you? You know, like, love him.
Seth: Yeah.
David: You know, love the things he loves. And so he's, he's enacting that, that prophetic call for Israel to attend themselves to God's law, because Micah's whole thing is God bringing a court case against Israel. He's saying, like, I gave you laws, and you broke them. In fact, I was, I was saying to you off air, it's like, it broke them from top to bottom. So yeah, yeah. So like, the first law is about not, not making any other images, you know, or like having no other gods before me is the first, the first law. And then the 10th law is don't be covetous.
Seth: Yeah.
David: And in, in chapter 1, verse 5, they're condemned for having other gods before him. Idolatry, which is the first and second law. And then in chapter 2, verse 2, they're condemned for being covetous.
Seth: So there you go.
David: They've broken the Ten Commandments from top to bottom, top to bottom. And so God is saying, you've broken the law. Hear this, Israel. Micah is saying, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Micah is saying in God's where— yeah, hear this. And the commandment is, since you've broken my law, judgment must come. That's what the law said. Yeah.
Seth: Okay.
David: I mean, that's pretty straightforward.
Seth: It's pretty straightforward.
David: And the law that they're breaking, I mean, a lot of it has to do with idolatry, but and then it also has to do with oppression, which is, I mean, idolatry and covetousness. I mean, those are like the things he's dealing with.
Seth: Yeah. And links together to the extent to which Israel is idolatrous is the extent to which they oppress the poor.
David: And yeah, insofar as they are not loving God, they're not loving their neighbor. I mean, that makes sense.
Seth: That's right.
David: Those, those two hang together in the law: love God, love neighbor.
Seth: When you don't love God, you will begin to hate your neighbor, right?
David: So if you love false gods, you will show false love or hate to your neighbor. Okay, I get that.
Seth: Yeah.
David: And the interesting thing about Micah, the way he describes the sin in Israel, is he, he talks kind of— he talks about it like a like an infectious disease, like there's this incurable wound up in Israel, you know, and like it's led to their death. Assyria has been rocking their world because of all their idolatry. And he says now that infectious disease has spread south to Judah and with it, its accompanying punishment.
Seth: Yep. Yeah. And that's also the— if you go back and read the book of 1 and 2 Kings, that's the way the narrative tracks as well. You have the moral rot in the north spread slowly to the south. Israel goes to exile first. Judah in the south goes next. Yes.
David: Interesting to think about idolatry as an infectious disease.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Yeah. Okay.
Seth: Yeah.
David: So, okay, so idolatry is going on. Corruption, covetousness. Is he, is he talking about the people of Israel? Is he talking about the king? Is he talking about priests? Who is Micah talking against here? Who's to blame for this?
Seth: Yeah. So Micah, as a professional prophet, just as a general rule will be speaking to the leaders of the nation. Okay. There would be obviously times when you talk about them. You're the people of Israel like this, but you're a faithful king. That's not generally the pattern the Bible goes through, but like generally talking to the leaders, like that's his audience generally. But really specifically, he names over and over and over again the leaders of Israel as the ones who have caused or are perpetuating injustice, violence or militarism within Israel. And he condemns them for it. The people are implicated in that, insofar as they support the systems and structures that the leader set up. A leader, King Ahaz, sets up cult prostitutes. And what do people do?
David: Use them.
Seth: I guess I'll go to the cult prostitute now. So like, they're implicated in it. But the leaders of the nation carry a unique burden of responsibility for the way they've led the nation astray. And so Micah is speaking to them, I think more often than not, but obviously the people are implicated in the judgments that he describes.
David: I mean, that makes sense then why the hope of Micah is of a shepherd king. It's like if all these condemnations are coming against their leaders, their kings, their would-be shepherds, the only hope would be somebody to take their place and do a good job.
Seth: Yeah. Okay. And think about the story that I just told, the long history that I like recounted. The judges and the leaders were supposed to enact justice for all the people. But what is one of the things that King Ahaz and King Hezekiah do? They pay off Assyria to remain safe for a period of time. One way they do that is by robbing the temple itself. Yeah, robbing people of the way in which they were supposed to like worship God. But another way they do that is by levying massive taxes against the people. And so the judges are actually robbing the people in order to I'm trying to say this the right way, but they're robbing the people to further their own idolatries. They believe that if they have enough money to pay off the nations or to pay another nation— at one point, um, Hezekiah pays Babylon to protect them from Assyria, right? That that's what will rescue them. They're trusting in other nations. They're trusting in horses. There's like 3 mentions of horses in Micah because they're trusting in military might. Yeah, rather than in trust in God alone.
David: They're robbing. Are you saying you can't serve God and money? That might be one of the points that you could make from the book of Micah.
Seth: And yeah, and the one thing they do here is they— the wealthy, the elite, the leaders rob those that own land for themselves to gain more wealth, to give more away, to purchase more military, uh, stockpiles. Yeah, wage war better to protect them for Longer, but does it? No, it doesn't. So anyway, let's, um, I think we've given you guys, our podcast audience, yeah, most of the information you need to start reading the book of Micah.
David: Okay, yeah, well, hey, that's good.
Seth: I think, I think we've— maybe it was not done in the most helpful format, but I think the information is there.
David: I feel like I just got to like read a couple intros to a commentary. Yeah, I feel, I feel helped.
Seth: Well, I'm so glad you learn through reading commentaries like most people do. Oh yeah, yeah, totally right. Um, let me just summarize real quickly and then let's meditate on what we think is the main point of the book.
David: Okay, that would be helpful.
Seth: Yes. Okay, so this is a series of three covenant lawsuits against Israel. Israel was supposed to be a nation with a king that blessed the world, right, because they worship God alone. Mm-hmm. Micah is prophesying against three kings who have broken that mandate. They have failed to love God and love neighbor and are becoming a curse to the world around them. And there are— the nation as a result is being destroyed inevitably. If you fail to be God's people and God's leaders and God's kings, God will do away with that nation because that's what That's not the plan. You can't have a broken kingdom of God. Yeah, we're going to do away with the broken kingdom. But on the other side of those three cycles of judgment, there's also restoration. God will build a new kingdom. He will build a new— a new shepherd king will be born to lead God's people away from oppression, away from corruption, and to become the nation that blesses the world finally.
David: Okay.
Seth: Yes. That's the story of my—
David: that's helpful. It made me remember one of my favorite pictures throughout the book that I feel like highlights that simple message really clearly. And it's throughout the book. There's the mountain of Zion, which is the hill of the Lord, the hill where the temple is, like where God dwells with his people. And it's high. It's like metaphorically this very high hill when in fact it wasn't that tall, but like when it comes to like the fact that the God of the whole universe dwells there.
Seth: It's a big hill.
David: It's a big hill.
Seth: Yeah.
David: And he talks about leveling that hill or coming down to judge Israel and that hill melting like wax. And he is the flame on the wick, or that he's going to come and plow the mountain, even if that was— as if that was even possible to plow a mountain. But he's going to do it, plow a mountain to where you could plant stuff there. It doesn't even matter. He's just going to level it. But then throughout the book, the mountain pops back up. And in fact, it's going to be higher than ever. So like, listen to this between the last verse of chapter 3 and the first verse of chapter 4.
Seth: Okay.
David: Therefore, because of you, right, all of your sin, Zion, the mountain shall be plowed as a field. Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins and the mountain of the house a wooded height. By the way. Yeah.
Seth: This Jeremiah quotes this. Oh, and says that Micah delivered this during the reign of King Hezekiah.
David: Interesting.
Seth: More than likely, probably while he was like flirting with delegates from Babylon to try to curry their military power to overthrow Assyria.
David: I see. Anyway, so Mountain of Zion going to be plowed as a field. Next verse. It shall come to pass in latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and it shall be lifted up above the hills, and people shall flow to it from many nations. And so it's just this like What I love about this book— here's what I love about it. And I think this is a great segue into meditating on this central theme— is as you and I were reading some of, some of these, these critical scholars thinking about the book, is so many people have trouble believing that Micah as one person wrote this book, because how can one person talk about a mountain being plowed down by God and then that same God raising it up.
Seth: Yeah.
David: How can God be that just and like bring that much judgment? Yeah. Bring that much judgment, but then also bring that much mercy.
Seth: Yeah.
David: And I was like, our God, right? Our God can.
Seth: Who is like our God? Ah, right.
David: Who is like our God?
Seth: Which blows my mind because like when I read that, so again, like I don't, we said that already. Like people come to Micah thinking two people wrote it. That's a very common scholarly view of the book of Micah because it seems The bipolar almost. Yeah. Judgment comes and then on the other side, there's always restoration. Yeah. It feels like two different people.
David: Must be two different people talking about two different versions of God.
Seth: Micah ends, who is like our God, forgiving transgressions, right? And passing them over.
David: The whole point that you think no God could be like this proves Micah's name, right? Who is like our God?
Seth: No one.
David: No one. And that is consummately proved in Jesus. That Jesus revealed himself in such a way that I can say with full confidence, who is like Jesus?
Seth: Mm-hmm.
David: Like Jesus subverted every expectation. Like people thought the Messiah, the coming shepherd king, was going to look a certain way, and he did not.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Who is like our Jesus? You know, he came in such a way that it just— I mean, it left people baffled. They thought that God was the prince of demons, you know, like that was the accusation against him. They accused him of blasphemy. He just didn't fit the category.
Seth: Yeah. He was also thinking like he says, woe to you, Bethsaida and Chorazin, you'll be like Sodom and Gomorrah. Remember that? Yeah.
David: Like, yeah. Why are you thinking that?
Seth: Because a couple of verses later he's inviting children onto his lap.
David: Oh yeah.
Seth: What's—
David: Yeah. Or like even sooner than that. He says like, woe, woe to you, you would be like Sodom and Gomorrah. And then just a few verses later he says, come to me all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, for it's easy and light.
Seth: Clearly Jesus is bipolar according to these scholars.
David: Yeah.
Seth: Like, who is like our God able to exercise justice? That's our friend.
David: That's our friend, the train.
Seth: That's our friend, the train. Who is able to exercise justice like God, but on the backside of it still bring restoration and mercy to people who are suffering and tired.
David: Yeah. Oh, yeah. And then there's this— I don't— I hope we're not being offensive saying the word bipolar so much. I have a bipolar friend and I'm just like, I hope that's not being offensive. Yeah, but anyway, but it's like that, that like combination of judgment and mercy comes to a head on the cross. Right.
Seth: And restoration. I think, I think restoration is stronger here. I think when I think, I think they're, they're connected. Yeah, obviously. But judgment, like we've been saying, is a leveling.
David: It's a tearing down and a leveling.
Seth: But restoration is a building back, building back up. Like mercy is like almost the attitude with which God has towards people who have been razed to the ground, right? Towards the blank field.
David: He has mercy, but he does restoration.
Seth: Yes.
David: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I mean, if, if Micah and Jeremiah are riffing on each other, Isaiah. Well, yeah, but I thought you said Jeremiah quotes Micah.
Seth: Isaiah. Oh, okay.
David: Well, then never mind.
Seth: Never mind.
David: That's my whole point is now moot. But I mean, it's a biblical theme.
Seth: Yes.
David: That Jeremiah's job as a prophet was to— like, his message was to pluck up and tear down, but also to plant and build up. Yeah, that's— that God does both. He rips up the mountains by their roots and then builds it back bigger and better than ever. And so it's like, I mean, the clearest way to see this, and I think we can get into some of the judgment and restoration in like some of the more legal sides of the cross. But the clearest way to see this in Jesus is he was judged, right, and experienced justice and punishment on our behalf on the cross, but then rose higher than he ever was, you know, like higher. And he's high and lifted up, seated at God's right hand.
Seth: Right.
David: Restored.
Seth: Well, I'm even thinking not so much as the— like the focus being on Jesus, but the focus being God. Who is like God who judges his own son and then raises him from the dead, right?
David: I mean, that's what he did to Israel.
Seth: That's what he did to Israel, right? And Jesus as the son of Israel, the ultimate son of the covenant of Abraham, who was supposed to be the shepherd king, right? He judges that king. And yet raises him from the dead, right?
David: Yeah.
Seth: Who is like that?
David: Who is like that? Yeah, that's really strong.
Seth: Now I'm just kind of lost in that one thought. I don't have a segue to anything else.
David: It's a good thought to get lost in. But I mean, even Jesus talked about restore— like he was praying before going to the cross and he said he would pray to God, restore to me the glory I had with you before. Like in the beginning, like, yeah, even Jesus saw what would happen after his death as God restore unto me, do a work of restoration, rebuild the mountain, you know, in a sense. So I just think like he probably had those categories too.
Seth: I keep thinking about what type of people want restoration, um, because there's this idea of a remnant, like a people within a people that will experience the restoration.
David: God's going to judge Judah and Jerusalem, but there will be a pocket of people, right, who will experience that judgment but will be saved on the back end.
Seth: So I'm thinking it's the people who know things should be different. It's the oppressed people that want and hope for restoration. So like, judgment is coming to Israel, like The oppressed of a nation, oppressed Germans, oppressed Jews, oppressed Uyghur Muslims, they're from nations, right? They see the oppression of their overlords. They actually want the nations to be judged, even if it means part of that affects them, because they know what's going to be built afterwards is so much better, right?
David: That's the, that's the hope anyway, right? Yes.
Seth: So I keep thinking about how the hope of restoration after the destruction of evil and corrupt powers and kings. Is good news for the oppressed, the lowly who call out for help. Does that make sense?
David: Yeah.
Seth: And how even in people who are severely oppressed by powers, the judgment coming on them as part of the judgment of the broader powers is expected and part of the good news in and of itself.
David: Hmm.
Seth: If I am a Jew in Germany, I want Germany to be judged.
David: Right. Even if I live there.
Seth: Even if I live there.
David: Right.
Seth: I want that because I know a destruction of the nation I know will be the rebuilding of a better one.
David: Yeah.
Seth: And so even Micah does this.
David: Yes.
Seth: Micah, in his last prayer, he prays a prayer of woe against himself. Yeah.
David: It's interesting. He becomes— he like lets himself become a representative of Israel in a sense.
Seth: Yes.
David: Where it's like if Israel is going to be judged and then have restoration. He then says, well, then if I'm a part of Israel, then woe is me.
Seth: Yeah. He says, I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him. We have no indication that Micah is a bad prophet or a faithless prophet.
David: He's a part of a faithless nation.
Seth: Yeah. Until or but so I will bear the indignation of the Lord and then afterwards God will plead my case and execute justice for all that I have suffered. There's a hope that even among the oppressed, that the judgment of the nation that they're a part of is actually restoration and hope for them.
David: Yeah.
Seth: And I'm like, I've been like trying to think about that. Like, why is judgment for the thing I'm a part of good news?
David: Yeah.
Seth: And because I don't want the— I don't want God's people to die. I don't want my nation to die.
David: Right.
Seth: I want what it is to die.
David: Right.
Seth: So that it could be built back into what it's supposed to be like. Right. Like God's covenant, like plans for Israel were to bless the world.
David: Yeah.
Seth: My Israel doesn't do that anymore. But if Israel is judged on the other side of that, Israel can bless the world once again.
David: Yeah. And I think I can sniff out what you're getting at because it's like in or like, I mean, I feel like every season of sanctification I go, I kind of experience this too, that God is asking me as a person to come and experience death, right? To come and be judged for the man that I am and the man that I have been. And I see the sin in me and I have to come before him, be like, you know what, God, the man that I am, the priorities I've set, the things I've built my life around, they need to die and be judged. And that's going to hurt. And everything around me is going to kind of have to fall and be leveled. Yeah, but I want that to happen because of what we built out of it.
Seth: Right?
David: Like, I know that there will be restoration and rebuilding in my life and that will be worth the death.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm just— I'm thinking like devotionally for myself. Like, I, I can, I can enter into the loving hands of God as a judge you know, who is a father who disciplines the sons that he loves, as the New Testament would say, because I know that there is inevitable restoration on the other side, that my judgment means restoration. And this is proven in the cross, right? That Jesus suffered, but because of that suffering, because of that death, he was resurrected to glory. And like, that's the same promise that extends to us. Like, I'm thinking of 1 Corinthians 15. Yeah, that we're like a little seed that is planted in the ground and it grows something better.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Yeah.
Seth: Also think about that phrase faithful unto death.
David: Yes.
Seth: Thinking about like Jesus was faithful to death, to die in the same way that Israel was faithful to die and that Micah was faithful to die and experience God's judgment. But because he was faithful to walk up to that death, that's why they're resurrected.
David: Yeah.
Seth: Like there's a faith, like faithfulness and walking towards the judgment of God rather than trying to avoid it.
David: Oh yes, I see what you're saying.
Seth: Is, is how we experience the restoration, right?
David: I mean, that's what repentance is, right?
Seth: Yeah.
David: Repentance isn't saying like, oh, never mind, I wasn't really that bad.
Seth: Yeah, right.
David: It's stepping into the light, being seen as you are, and like walking toward the judgment, right? And then, and then realizing that like, yes, God's going to strip that away. And there is a daily death, take up your cross and follow me.
Seth: Mm-hmm.
David: But there's life on the other side.
Seth: That's what I kept thinking about throughout this, is that normally when I think about the gospel, I think about all judgment being paid for in Jesus, right? Jesus died on the cross for my sins. Right. I don't have to worry about it anymore. Right. But the more I kept meditating, I was like, no, even now for Christians, who have been saved by Jesus, who Jesus has died for, judgment still comes first. Even after the cross, we still have to walk towards judgment. And you just said it, we have to repent of our sins. There's a stripping of the old way, putting on a new way. We have to pick up our cross daily. There's a daily judgment of our old selves so God can rebuild and restore something new in us. And then, and then I keep thinking like, One day we still die. If Jesus paid for my sins, why do I have to die physically? I thought the wages of sin was death, right?
David: If my sins are paid for, right?
Seth: Yeah, but I only get eternal life when I'm faithful unto death. Hmm, right? So there's still judgment now. Yeah, before I experience the final restoration. And so I keep— like, that was what I was wrestling with as I kept reading through Micah. It's like, why is that good news?
David: Yeah, well, let me— I want to come back to that question. Yeah, but I want to tease that out just a little bit because I think what you said is pretty heavy, maybe for a lot of listeners.
Seth: We like to get dark before we get bright.
That is like— and heavy, I mean by like theologically heavy, like, because I know you're not saying that Jesus did not perfectly, sufficiently, once for all, as Hebrews would say, die for the penalty of our sins.
Seth: Right.
David: And that his death is sufficient. It is finished.
Seth: Mm-hmm.
David: Right. Our death doesn't pay for our sins, you know, like in our sanctification, our walking into the light, walking towards judgment isn't penance for unpaid sins.
Seth: Right.
David: You know, like there's more to do. Yeah. But we live in a world that operates under this, these principles that Mike is talking about, that like when you break God's law, you know, even after you're his people, he disciplines those he loves. Like, the law has punishments tied to its breaking.
Seth: Yeah.
David: And like, we experience those. I mean, we experience those like if you have an addiction after becoming a Christian, an addiction is its own punishment.
Seth: You know what I mean?
David: Yeah. There is punishment in sin is all I'm saying. And then like, we still live in a cursed world. By which we'll have to like die, like to which we'll have to die. And we need to be faithful to Jesus until that death.
Seth: Yeah.
David: I'm just— I'm trying to met out like that.
Seth: No, I think like those are all good caveats of what I don't mean.
David: Okay. Yeah, yeah, right. That's all I was trying to—
Seth: Yeah. And it's like I cut because what all I want to do is do justice to what Micah is trying to talk.
David: Yes.
Seth: Talk us through. Yeah. There is restoration after judgment, right? And in one way, the easy way to talk about it is what happened to Jesus.
David: Yeah.
Seth: After the judgment of Jesus, there was restoration for all God's people by faith in him.
David: Right.
Seth: Done.
David: Amen.
Seth: Paid for everyone, all nations, all the time. We'll talk about that as we get into the weeds of Micah. It's over. Judgment has been done. So all that's left is restoration, right? Great news.
David: Yeah.
Seth: But that pattern of judgment first and then restoration after happens even after the cross. Mm-hmm. And like, that's— I want like, where do we find good news in that story? Like, why is that still the pattern even after Jesus? Does that make sense?
David: Oh, it does. Totally. And it's like, I mean, I mean, one thing I'm thinking of is just like the reason why we keep running toward judgment, the reason why continually dying and being judged in order to bring restoration, the reason why that's good news is because there's still sin in my body, in the way I think, in the passions of my heart, in the way I use my eyes that need to die, that need to be judged. You know what I mean? Like, the power of sin is broken on the cross, but like, that still needs to be met out in my life.
Seth: Yeah.
David: And like, that means going through 1,000 little deaths every day, taking up my cross and like dying. Yeah. And in order for there to be restoration in my life, I keep thinking of how that transforms judgment.
Seth: And when I think about judgment, it's like this harsh thing.
David: Hmm.
Seth: Oh, it's an evil thing, right? But as a Christian, I actually walk towards it in hope, right? Judgment is actually just the door.
David: Yes. God, please kill this in me.
Seth: Yeah. Yeah. And it's like, it's how God has restored Israel, right?
David: It's like you said earlier, if you are an oppressed Jew in Germany, you want Germany to be judged, even if that means your house gets devastated in the process, because at least the evil power will be done.
Seth: Yeah.
David: And it's like we walk towards judgment because we're like, it would be better to die.
Seth: Mm-hmm.
David: And have this reality, this reality, and let this sin be done away with than to continue being oppressed by it. Yeah, yeah. Okay. And then it's also good news too, because it's just like, I think this statement, who is like our God, is so strong. Because I mean, I read verse 18 of chapter 7, the closing prayer was like, who is like our God, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression? It's like, how on earth could a God know the what's the word? What's the language we use? The disease, the infectious disease, sepsis, the sepsis that had overtaken Israel and Judah. How could God know that? How could God know that he'd pillaged their temple and used it to go pay off false gods? How could they know the depravity of their hearts, like seeing their mistrust and their hate of him? How could he watch a father sacrifice his own sons to a fake God and then forgive that people. Like, what kind of God does that? Yeah, I think there's good news in that, right? Like, that God forgives us even though he sees how terrible we are.
Seth: That's— that was my meditation yesterday as I was thinking through this. It's like, perhaps the reason why it's a comfort to be judged first is because our forgiveness will never be blind that way. Like, It's only after a full account of my sin will God look at me and will be forgiven because my sin is so fully known. God will see me clearly. I like— I think I'm always afraid when somebody forgives me or gives me a compliment.
David: Oh, it's like you wouldn't say that if you really knew who I was or what was going on, right? Yeah.
Seth: And so I'm always like, I never thought that. I'm always hedging.
David: Yeah.
Seth: Like, it's not full because you don't know the full story.
David: If you knew, you would not be giving me this compliment or forgiving me right now.
Seth: But because I'm judged first fully. Yeah. Now I know that my sin is known, seen, weighed, and found less weighty than the grace of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross for me. Like, I'm known.
David: Yeah.
Seth: And I'm forgiven.
David: Yeah. I think so many people, like, go through a conversion experience where they become a Christian and they think that God just kind of, like, glossed over their life. You know, it's the, it's the, it's the chalkboard eraser metaphor where it's like you've messed up your life and scribbled all over it. And then here's the blood of Jesus and it's an eraser and it wipes out clean slate.
Seth: You had a different upbringing. I never heard that before, but I get it. I can see your pastor doing that somewhere.
David: And, and they're like, okay, cool. But he doesn't know how, like, messed up the chalkboard is, you know, like you can still see what he wrote underneath. Yeah, it's like cool, he wiped it out, but he didn't know it, you know? And so then they end up coming into some kind of like really big sin or still struggling with that addiction, or maybe a new sin crops up in their life, you know? And they're like, man, God might have saved me and loved me back when I was 12, you know, whenever I came to faith, right? But now that I'm 30 and struggling with these disgusting sins, there's no way God loves me the way he loved 12-year-old me. Yeah, you know what I mean? Like, I think people struggle with this a lot, that they—
Seth: I kept thinking—
David: don't think God sees them and loves them.
Seth: I would always still think, like, you know, like, you will give an account of every idle word you ever said.
David: Totally right.
Seth: And I've always kind of been— so it's like, I know I'm saved, but I also know there's a day when, like, my sins will be replayed like a video screen.
David: Yes.
Seth: And I've always, like, been— I still haven't, like, nailed to the ground precisely what that means. But like, one version is like, well, Jesus will just be like, well, it doesn't matter because I forgave you, right? But now I'm beginning to wonder, it's like, if I watch that— if let's say that version of reality is true, I'm gonna get to heaven and there's gonna be a video of every sin I've ever committed. Right now I kind of— I felt terrified at that moment. But what if like it'll finally feel like a relief?
David: How?
Seth: Like, God sees all my sin.
David: Yeah.
Seth: And yet he still invites me in, like, right. You know, I'm like, what if like giving an account of every idle word should— it's a warning. Don't, don't do idle words.
David: Right.
Seth: But it's also an invitation like that. God knows them all and he still invites you in.
David: Right.
Seth: Like, I'm just, it's, it's transforming for me what it means to be judged because to be judged isn't to be exiled entirely, but invited into restoration. Yeah.
David: At least for those in Jesus. I mean, I'm thinking of two things. One is imagine how that video screen would play out for the thief on the cross, where it's like his whole life is bad up to almost his dying breath. And then his dying breath is the only part of the story that is good. And it's like, well, never mind. My, my bad deeds definitely outweighed my good.
Seth: Yeah.
David: And never mind, Jesus. I'll go to the bad place now. Goodbye.
Seth: You know? Yeah.
David: He's like, no, no, no, no, no. You're missing the point. I played all that for you. So you could see how huge my grace is for you. Like, I mean, that's amazing. And then the second thing I thought of is there's a scenario I play in my head all the time.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Of that day.
Seth: Yeah.
David: And it goes something like this, that one day I'll stand before God, and when I look at him, I will feel him seeing every part of me for the first time. Like, I know cognitively that he sees my heart. And like, when I pray, I try to like open that up to him like the psalmist teaches to do, that, you know, my inward being and all that kind of stuff. But like, I will be capital K known, like, and it will be horrifying, like, like naked, you know, like just known before the eyes of God. And I will just know that he sees everything, like everything. And like stuff that I I had repressed that I didn't even know anymore. He will know. And beyond that, I will know how like heinously evil it is. Like I'll be offended by my sin, right? The way I should have been all along.
Seth: It's like whenever you watch a movie with your parents. Yeah.
David: Yeah. Why am I noticing all these swear words? This movie did not used to be that offensive. Like I'll finally be super offended by my own actions.
Seth: Yeah.
David: And then I will know beyond a shadow of a doubt two things. 2 things. One, the next words out of God's mouth will be, "Away from me, evildoer." I'll know that. And the other thing I'll know is he's so right. That's the best thing he could have said. Like, it's the only good thing you could say to someone as terrible as me. But in the moment, in that moment, you'll agree with God. I'll agree with God's like, you're totally— I saw the same video you did.
Seth: You're right.
David: You're right.
Seth: You're right.
David: I must go away for you to be good.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Like, that is right. I would send myself away. Goodbye.
Seth: Yeah.
David: But instead the words out of his mouth will be, well done, good and faithful servant. And I'll go, what? And it's only because of what came first. It's only because of my judgment that the judgment came down first and it came down on Jesus for me. Yes. Yes. And that it didn't disappear, that it wasn't like, never mind, it's okay. I was like, oh, well then that's kind of cheap. Thank you. Here we go. Well done, good and faithful servant. I bore all of that heinous evil and judgment that you deserve on myself. Come feel my hands. Like, put your fingers in the nails, like in the nail holes. Like, I paid for that.
Seth: I'm rereading verse 9. I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him. And what you're describing is the very next verse. And then he'll plead my case. Yeah. Like you're describing God pleading with your own conscience that no, it's paid for. Yeah. Like there's a day when that verse will happen.
David: Yes.
Seth: And that's really—
David: oh, it's such good news. So that is the overview of the book of Micah.
Seth: Uh, kind of all over the place, from the politics of Israel to what happens on the last day, and my own neuroses about the video that plays at the end of time. Uh, but it's great. That is it. So I think we'll spend the next 3 weeks in the book of Micah.
David: One per cycle.
Seth: One per cycle.
David: Love it.
Seth: Um, unless one ends up being really short But I think there's enough interesting things in each one of those 3 to justify 3 podcast episodes.
David: Well, I'm excited to be in Micah with you for the next 3 weeks.
Seth: It's gonna be great.
David: Okay, well, thank you all for listening, and we will see you next week.
Outro: Thank you for listening to the Spoken Gospel Podcast. Spoken Gospel creates short films, devotionals, and podcasts like this one. Everything we make is free because of generous supporters like you. To see our resources, visit SpokenGospel.com or subscribe to our YouTube channel. Thanks for listening. See you next week.
