Micah addresses the serious sins of the nation of Israel in the north, as expressed in the capital city of Samaria. God promises judgment on all of Israel because of the sin of “Samaria.” Incorporated into the worship of Baal and Molech were every imaginable sexual perversion, as well as child sacrifice. These were normal practices of the Canaanite tribes that surrounded Israel. Ahab, the King of the Northern Kingdome, and his wife Jezebel had incorporated Baal worship into the practices of Jews. It was detestable to God! Sexual perversion and abortion are not unknown in the world today and are a major battlefront for the hearts of the people. This is true as we live it out in 2023 in the United States. All sexual perversions are being applauded, and our children are offered up to the gods of prosperity, appearance, and convenience. It makes God weep! Micah expressed God’s emotions over this grievous sin in Chapter 1, verses 8 and 9. He says, “For this, I will lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will make lamentation like the jackals and mourning like the ostriches. For her wound is incurable, and it has come to Judah; it has reached to the gate of my people, to Jerusalem.” This horrible worship and practices of the pagan nations around the Northern kingdom had spread south to the very heart of Israel’s worship of the true God. Ahab and Jezebel’s son, Jehoram, became the king of the southern kingdom of Judah and reigned in Jerusalem. He brought his parent’s sins to the Temple and the sacred city of God.
It will do no good. It has advanced to the stage that is not curable. Furthermore, the contamination has spread to the very heart of the people. In their rejection of the morality of God expressed in the Scriptures, the nations have adopted the secular values of the nations around them. The abhorrent practices have become so acceptable in Israel and then Judah, that it became their religion. Commenting on the sins of Samaria, Charlie Dyer says, “This could refer to their deviate sexual aberrations (cf. Gen. 19:4–5). The sin of Samaria, though not specifically stated, was her idolatry. But Jerusalem’s sins were so vile that, in comparison, the sins of both Sodom and Samaria seemed almost like righteous deeds!”[1]
That Micah uses the phrase “incurable” leads us naturally to think of some kind of sickness. Leprosy was a disease that was incurable in the ancient world. It’s interesting that the Bible compares sin with leprosy often. The sin of Samaria had become so ingrained in the lives of the people that it had become incurable. It was also very contagious. It spread all the way from Samaria in the north to Jerusalem in the south. Like leprosy, sin destroys the whole man. Both are corrosive in their effect, working slowly and surely, until finally, they break out in an angry display that eventuates in death. No man ever went wrong overnight. Leprosy does not kill in a day—it is not like a heart attack. The leper’s life was a walking death. Just so, the sinner is also dead even while he lives. McGee says, “Leprosy does not produce sharp and unbearable pain as some other diseases. Leprosy keeps the man sad and restless. Likewise, sin produces restlessness and sadness in man, which is evident in our culture. Folks want to be amused and want to be made to laugh because they are sad. Crowds flock to places of amusement, to nightclubs, to be entertained. Look at the sad faces with vacant stares. Watch the cars filled with restless folk going nowhere fast. We have a generation with itchy feet. It is leprosy. They lapse into a state of sad contentment. They can reach the state of having a “… conscience seared with a hot iron” (1 Tim. 4:2).”[2] Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:19 that consciences seared by sin will eliminate all feeling. He said, “Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.” But Paul also says, “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world …”
[1] Dyer, Charles H. 1985. “Ezekiel.” In The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, edited by J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, 1:1258. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[2] McGee, J. Vernon. 1991. Thru the Bible Commentary: The Law (Leviticus 1-14). Electronic ed. Vol. 6. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.