The Nuclear Attack on Israel
A WARNING TO THE WORLD
The Book of Micah deals primarily with the end time period, and primarily with the Jews living in Israel today. But the messages revealed by Micah are to be heeded by 'all nations ... all who live on earth.
Micah Chapter 1
The Lord revealed to Micah all these things about Samaria and Jerusalem. 2Hear this, all you nations; listen to this, all who live on earth! The Sovereign Lord will testify against you. Listen! He speaks from his heavenly temple. 3The Lord is coming from his holy place; he will come down and walk on the tops of the mountains. 4Then the mountains will melt under him like wax in a fire; they will pour down into the valleys like water pouring down a hill.
The message that God gave Micah is a warning to the world. While the message involves two cities, Samaria and Jerusalem, it is directed at 'all you nations -- all who live on earth.' The message is this: 'the Sovereign Lord will testify against you,' against all people living on earth, and the fate of these two cities is to serve as an example, and as a warning. The Day of the Lord is at hand and the Lord is calling all nations and all people to account. The message warns of great upheavals, mountains melting like wax in a fire and melted rocks flowing 'like water pouring down a hill.'
5All this will happen because the people of Israel have sinned and rebelled against God. Who is to blame for Israel's rebellion? Samaria, the capital city itself! Who is guilty of idolatry in Judah? Jerusalem itself! 6So the Lord says, "I will make Samaria a pile of ruins in the open country, a place for planting grapevines.
The reason for the punishment is that people have rejected God and have become secular. From God's perspective they are guilty of idolatry: valuing and honoring "things." Their possessions have become their idols because they value them more highly than they value God.
Samaria was the name of the city and its surrounding region in ancient Palestine. The city was located some forty miles north of Jerusalem. It fell to Alexander the Great in 331 BC; and again to Hyrcanus when he attacked and destroyed the city in 120 BC, thereby fulfilling the prophecy in verse 6. The prophecy was intended as a warning to future generations.
I will pour the rubble of the city down into the valley, and lay bare the city's foundations. 7"All her idols will be broken to pieces; all her temple gifts will be burned with fire; I will destroy all her images. Since she gathered her gifts from the wages of prostitutes, as the wages of prostitutes they will again be used."
The prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel, and others, predict that Jerusalem will suffer a nuclear attack (three and a half years after the attack on New York City). The bomb will explode in the gorge below the city so that the main force of the blast will be directed against the walls of the gorge and upward. Thus the blast 'will lay bare the city's foundations,' and a portion of the city will become 'the rubble of the city' when it pours down into the gorge. Israel will then be attacked and looted by the Antichrist and his forces.
Prostitution (v7) is often an Old Testament symbol for idolatry and spiritual unfaithfulness. The nation's wealth will be looted and its possessions (and weapons, including her nuclear weapons) that Israel has gained from her worldly pursuits will be seized by the attackers and used again the worship of their own "idols" -- they will be used by the Antichrist to threaten other nations and destroy a city in any nation that is slow to respond.
8Then Micah said, "Because of this I will mourn and lament. To show my sorrow, I will walk about barefoot and naked. I will howl like a jackal and wail like an ostrich. 9Samaria's wounds cannot be healed, and Judah is about to suffer in the same way; destruction has reached the gates of Jerusalem itself, where my people live."
The city of Samaria was punished for her rebellion against God, punishment that was to serve as a example, punishment that was meted out over a number of centuries. (The Scriptures frequently take no notice of time. "Time" does not exist in the spiritual realm.) But 'Samaria's wounds cannot be healed,' her "wounds" are incurable and they have spread to Jerusalem. In other words, her destruction has lost its intended effect! Therefore, both the northern and southern kingdoms, thus the entire nation will be punished again. 'Destruction has reached the gates of Jerusalem' -- the city will be struck by a nuclear blast and then the nation will be invaded, defeated, looted and much of it destroyed.
All these things were revealed to Micah and the effect was dramatic. He was determined to warn 'all you nations, all who live on earth' of what is to come. The prophet is warning us, today, warning all nations on earth today of the coming horror: the destruction of the entire planet, beginning with the attack on Israel!
To show his sorrow for all the people who will experience this horror, to gain our attention and to emphasize the importance of his warning, he will keep repeating the message while symbolically walking about stripped to a loin cloth, barefoot and howling like a jackal and wailing like an ostrich. Obviously we are to have this warning indelibly impressed on our minds!
10Don't tell our enemies in Gath about our defeat; don't let them see you weeping. People of Beth Leaphrah, show your despair by rolling in the dust! 11You people of Shaphir, go into exile, naked and ashamed. Those who live in Zaanan dare not come out of their city. When you hear the people of Bethezel mourn, you will know that there is no refuge there. 12Those who live in Maroth writhe in pain, waiting for relief, because disaster has come from the Lord, even to the gate of Jerusalem. 13You that live in Lachish, hitch the horses to the chariots. You imitated the sins of Israel and so caused Jerusalem to sin. 14And now, people of Judah, say goodbye to the town of Moresheth Gath. The kings of Israel will get no help from the town of Achzib. 15People of Mareshah, the Lord will hand you over to an enemy, who is going to capture your town. The glorious leaders of Israel will go and hide in the cave at Adullam. 16People of Judah, cut off your hair in mourning for the children you love. Make yourselves as bald as vultures, because your children will be taken away from you into exile.
As noted, we know from both Isaiah and Ezekiel that Jerusalem will suffer a nuclear attack. Micah reveals that this disaster 'has reached the gate of Jerusalem.' While only a portion of the city may cease to exist, nonetheless the entire city, in fact the entire country, will feel the effects of the blast in a very painful way. The attack will be followed by an invasion that will result in 'our defeat,' an invasion launched by the Antichrist and his ten-nation alliance.
The towns mentioned in these verses lie in the foothills between the Mediterranean coastal plain and the Judean Hills in southern Israel. Gath was one of the five chief cities of the Philistines, today's Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip. The prophet warns the Israeli people that when the initial attack occurs they are to do nothing that will alert their enemies in Gaza -- obviously learning of the attack would please them immensely and would undoubtedly lead to an insurgency from that quarter. However, their fellow Jews in Beth Leaphrah will show their despair by rolling in the dust as a sign of anguish ... likely all expect to be killed. The people of Shaphir will be captured and taken into exile, naked and ashamed. Those who live in Zaanan know they are doomed but don't dare leave the city. The attack on Bethezel is imminent and there is no refuge there for others who are fleeing. The people of Maroth near Jerusalem are suffering from burns and radiation and wait anxiously for relief. The people in Lachish, an important city about 30 miles southwest of Jerusalem that guarded the city from that quarter in ancient times are told to hitch the horses to the chariots. Since horses and chariots in prophetice scripture were instruments of war equivalent to today's armaments, we can conclude that the people there today are to prepare to engage the enemy. The town of Moresheth Gath is destined for destruction. The leaders of Israel will get no help from the town of Achzib, north of Jerusalem ... likely it is suffering from the effects of radiation. The town of Mareshah will be attacked and the people captured by the enemy. The religious leaders will flee and hide in the cave at Adullam.
All the people of Israel are to go into mourning because their children will be seized and taken away into exile (v16).
The 'sins of Israel' are her 'rebellion' and rejection of God ... her secularism. That is the reason why this beleaguered nation will once again be punished. And that is also why all nations on earth will be similarly punished. Micah gives us a clue of what they should expect to suffer.