Micah & Nahum- “The Lord Shall Reign”

Micah prophesies what will happen to Israel and Samaria

Micah 1:1-9

Micah prophesies the downfall of Samaria and Jerusalem.

1 The word of the Lord that came to ^aMicah the Morasthite in the days of ^bJotham, ^cAhaz, and ^dHezekiah,

kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

2 Hear, all ye people; hearken, O earth, and all that therein is:

and let the Lord God be witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.

3 For, behold, the ^aLord ^bcometh forth out of his place, and will come down,

and tread upon the high places of the earth.

4 And the ^amountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft,

as ^bwax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a steep place.

5 For the ^atransgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel.

What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not Samaria?

and what are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem?

6 Therefore I will make ^aSamaria as an heap of the field, and as plantings of a vineyard:

and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will ^bdiscover the foundations thereof.

7 And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces,

and all the hires thereof shall be burned with the fire, and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate:

for she gathered it of the hire of an harlot, and they shall return to the hire of an harlot.

8 Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked:

I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls.

9 For her wound is incurable; for it is come unto Judah;

he is come unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.

Micah 2:1–11

The destruction of Israel is lamented—The Lord will gather the remnant of Israel.

1 Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light,

they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand.

2 And they ^acovet ^bfields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away:

so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.

3 Therefore thus saith the Lord; Behold, against this family do I devise an evil,

from which ye shall not remove your necks; neither shall ye go haughtily: for this time is evil.

4 ¶In that day shall one take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, and say,

We be utterly spoiled: he hath changed the portion of my people: how hath he removed it from me!

turning away he hath divided our fields.

5 Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast a cord by lot in the congregation of the Lord.

6 Prophesy ye not, say they to them that prophesy:

they shall not prophesy to them, that they shall not take shame.

7 ¶O thou that art named the house of Jacob, is the spirit of the Lord straitened? 

are these his doings? do not my ^awords do good to him that walketh uprightly?

8 Even of late my people is risen up as an enemy:

ye pull off the robe with the garment from them that pass by securely as men ^aaverse from war.

9 The women of my people have ye cast out from their pleasant houses;

from their children have ye taken away my ^aglory for ever.

10 Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your ^arest: because it is polluted,

it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction.

11 If a man walking in the spirit and ^afalsehood do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee

of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the ^bprophet of this people.

The lord will come down and tread upon the high places (Jerusalem) of the earth.

The mountains will flow down and the valleys will part and shall melt in the fire.

Jerusalem and Samaria will be destroyed. Stones will be poured down into the valley.

There will be wailing and howling. Fields and houses will be taken by violence and man will be oppressed.

Why these things happened

Micah 3:4–12

4 Then shall they ^acry unto the Lord, but he will not hear them:

he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings.

5 ¶Thus saith the Lord concerning the ^aprophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, ^bPeace; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare ^cwar against him.

6 Therefore ^anight shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not ^bdivine; and the ^csun shall go down over the ^dprophets, and the day shall be dark over them.

7 Then shall the seers be ^aashamed, and the ^bdiviners confounded: yea, they shall all cover their lips; for there is ^cno answer of God.

8 ¶But truly I am full of ^apower by the ^bspirit of the Lord, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his ^ctransgression, and to Israel his sin.

9 Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity.

10 They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.

11 The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the ^aprophets thereof divine for ^bmoney: yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say, Is not the Lord among us? none evil can come upon us.

12 Therefore shall Zion for your ^asake be ^bplowed as a field, and ^cJerusalem shall become ^dheaps, and the mountain of ^ethe house as the high places of the forest.

They have been ill behaved. They war against the prophet, abhor judgment, and pervert all equity. They build up Zion with blood and iniquity. They judge and preach for reward and money.

Israel’s future reasons for hope

Micah 4:1–3

In the last days, the temple will be built, Israel will gather to it,

the millennial era will commence, and the Lord will reign in Zion.

1 But in the last days it shall come to pass, 

that the ^amountain of the house of the Lord shall be ^bestablished in the top of the mountains,

and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.

2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the ^amountain of the Lord,

and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will ^bwalk in his paths:

for the ^claw shall go forth of ^dZion, and the word of the Lord from ^eJerusalem.

3 ¶And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off;

and they shall beat their ^aswords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks:

nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn ^bwar any more.

In the last days, temples shall be built and the word of the Lord will be established and exalted, and people will flow unto it. All nations will seek the Lord. The government will be the Lords law and there will be no more war.

D&C 45 gives us insight to these verses in Micah

Micah 4:6–8

6 In that day, saith the Lord, will I assemble her that ^ahalteth,

and I will ^bgather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted;

7 And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation:

and the Lord shall ^areign over them in mount ^bZion from henceforth, even for ever.

8 ¶And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come,

even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.

Doctrine and Covenants 45:66–71

66 And it shall be called the ^aNew Jerusalem, a ^bland of ^cpeace, a city of ^drefuge,

a place of ^esafety for the saints of the Most High God;

67 And the ^aglory of the Lord shall be there, and the ^bterror of the Lord also shall be there,

insomuch that the wicked will not come unto it, and it shall be called Zion.

68 And it shall come to pass among the wicked, that every man that will not take his sword

against his ^aneighbor must needs flee unto ^bZion for safety.

69 And there shall be ^agathered unto it out of every ^bnation under heaven;

and it shall be the only people that shall not be at ^cwar one with another.

70 And it shall be said among the wicked: Let us not go up to battle against Zion,

for the inhabitants of Zion are ^aterrible; wherefore we cannot stand.

71 And it shall come to pass that the righteous shall be gathered out from among all nations,

and shall come to Zion, singing with ^asongs of everlasting ^bjoy.

All righteous and good people will gather together in Zion as they flee from the wicked and refuse to take up arms. They will find a place of refuge. They will have peace and safety. The Lord will rule and protect from all wickedness. The wicked will fear to come near because of the power of the Lord. The righteous will rejoice.

Thoughts on Micah 4:12

Micah 4:12

12 But they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they his counsel:

for he shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor.

Isaiah 55:8–9

8 ¶For my ^athoughts are not ^byour thoughts, neither are your ^cways my ^dways, saith the Lord.

9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ^aways ^bhigher than your ways,

and my ^cthoughts than your thoughts.

We don’t understand why God makes the choices He makes because we don’t have His perspective. He sees all and is able to do what is best for all of his children. Even at our best, we are only able to understand what is best for those within our limited sphere of influence. We need to trust the Lord to make the best overall choices for all of humanity and follow his commandments. 

What Micah said about the first and second coming of the Lord

Micah 5:1-5

The Messiah will be born in Bethlehem—

In the last days, the remnant of Jacob will triumph gloriously over the Gentiles.

1 Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: he hath laid siege against us:

they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.

2 But thou, ^aBeth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of ^bJudah, 

yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ^cruler in Israel;

whose goings forth have been from of old, from ^deverlasting.

3 Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth:

then the ^aremnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel.

4 ¶And he shall stand and ^afeed in the ^bstrength of the Lord,

in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God; and they shall abide:

for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.

5 And this man shall be the ^apeace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land:

and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds,

and eight principal men.

Micah is where we find out that Christ will be born in Bethlehem (vs2). He then goes on to describe how Christ will be the ruler, Israel will be gathered, Christ will bring peace and the enemies will be conquered with great power. These refer more to the 2^nd coming of Christ.

 The Last Days and the Second Coming

Micah 7:7–9, 18–19

7 Therefore I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will ^ahear me.

8 ¶Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise;

when I sit in ^adarkness, the Lord shall be a ^blight unto me.

9 I will ^abear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause,

and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the ^blight, and I shall behold his righteousness.

18 Who is a God like unto thee, that ^apardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression

of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his ^banger for ever, because he ^cdelighteth in ^dmercy.

19 He will turn again, he will have ^acompassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities;

and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

Nahum1:1–7

Nahum speaks of the burning of the earth at the Second Coming and of the mercy and power of the Lord.

1 The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.

2 God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth; the Lord revengeth, and is furious;

the Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.

3 The Lord is ^aslow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the ^bwicked: 

the Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

4 He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers:

Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth.

5 The mountains quake at him, and the hills ^amelt, and the earth is ^bburned at his ^cpresence,

yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.

6 Who can stand before his ^aindignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger?

his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.

7 The Lord is ^agood, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that ^btrust in him.

For further study: Micah

Obadiah. Saviors “up on Mount Zion”

Obadiah 1:17, 21

17 ¶But upon mount ^aZion shall be ^bdeliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall ^cpossess their possessions.

21 And ^asaviours shall come up on ^bmount Zion to ^cjudge the mount of Esau; and the ^dkingdom shall be the Lord’s.

Doctrine and Covenants 128:5, 15

5 You may think this order of things to be very particular; but let me tell you that it is only to answer the will of God, by conforming to the ordinance and preparation that the Lord ordained and prepared before the foundation of the world, for the ^asalvation of the dead who should die without a ^bknowledge of the gospel.

15 And now, my dearly beloved brethren and sisters, let me assure you that these are principles in relation to the dead and the living that cannot be lightly passed over, as pertaining to our salvation. For their ^asalvation is necessary and essential to our salvation, as Paul says concerning the fathers—that they without us cannot be made perfect—neither can we without our dead be made ^bperfect.

Salvation of the dead is necessary for our own salvation. They without us cannot be made perfect and we cannot be made perfect without them. Elder Theodore M. Burton talks of the role we play as “saviors on Mount Zion:”

Saviors on Mount Zion

“As revealed by the scriptures, one of the characteristics of these last days is the appearance of saviors on the earth. This was prophesied in Old Testament times: [Obadiah 1:21].

“It was prophesied by Paul in New Testament times, referring to people who had lived on the earth in times of old: [Hebrews 11:39–40].

“It has also been prophesied of us who live today: [D&C 86:11].

“So the Lord himself has placed his seal of approval upon this work.

“A logical question then follows: For whom am I to be a savior? In section 127 of the Doctrine and Covenants, verse 6, the Prophet Joseph Smith used these words: ‘for your dead.’ …

“Our dead, then, are clearly our own progenitors or direct ancestors, as Joseph Smith explained:

“‘But how are they to become saviors on Mount Zion? By building their temples, erecting their baptismal fonts, and going forth and receiving all the ordinances, baptisms, confirmations, washings, anointings, ordinations, and sealing powers upon their heads, in behalf of all their progenitors who are dead, and redeem them that they may come forth in the first resurrection and be exalted to thrones of glory with them; and herein is the chain that binds the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, which fulfills the mission of Elijah.’

The practice of Baptism for the dead has received some controversy in the news. Baptism is only part of the fulfillment of this prophesy in Obadiah. All of the ordinances required to receive salvation are carried out in the temple for those who did not have a chance to receive them in this life. This gives them the opportunity to accept these ordinances after they have passed into the next life. God is just and gives everyone equal opportunity to accept and receive all that is needed for salvation. It will only be our own choices that will prevent us from receiving salvation and exaltation, not our circumstances. As we do work in the temple for those who have passed on, we are providing them those opportunities and therefore becoming their saviors. It also becomes a blessing to us as we grow in understanding of the blessings and responsibilities connected with those ordinances. We choose to apply that knowledge to our own life and it helps us become better people.

To learn more about this subject:

Saviors on Mount Zion

Daniel 7:9–27. Adam-ondi-Ahman

Daniel 7

9 I beheld till the ^athrones were ^bcast down, and the ^cAncient of days did sit, whose ^dgarment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: 

his throne was like the fiery flame, and his ^ewheels as burning fire.

10 A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: ^athousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the ^bjudgment was set, and the ^cbooks were opened.

13 I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the ^aSon of man came with the ^bclouds of heaven,

and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.

14 And there was given him ^adominion, and glory, and a ^bkingdom, that all people, nations, and languages,

should serve him: his dominion is an ^ceverlasting dominion, which shall not pass away,

and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.

18 But the ^asaints of the most High shall take the kingdom, 

and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.

22 Until the ^aAncient of days came, and ^bjudgment was given to the ^csaints of the most High;

and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.

27 And the ^akingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven,

shall be ^bgiven to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an ^ceverlasting kingdom,

and all dominions shall serve and obey him.

Doctrine and Covenants 107:53–57

53 Three years previous to the death of Adam, he called Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, and Methuselah, who were all ^ahigh priests, with the residue of his posterity who were righteous,

into the valley of ^bAdam-ondi-Ahman, and there bestowed upon them his last blessing.

 54 And the Lord appeared unto them, and they rose up and blessed ^aAdam,

and called him Michael, the prince, the archangel.

 55 And the Lord administered comfort unto Adam, and said unto him:

I have set thee to be at the head; a multitude of nations shall come of thee,

and thou art a ^aprince over them forever.

 56 And Adam stood up in the midst of the congregation; and, notwithstanding he was bowed down with age, being full of the Holy Ghost, ^apredicted whatsoever should befall his posterity unto the latest generation.

 57 These things were all written in the book of ^aEnoch, and are to be testified of in due time.

In Daniel 7 and D&C 107 we read of two similar events. One took place in the past while Adam was still alive and the other is to take place at some time still in the future. This chart shows the similarities in these two events.

Previous to Adam’s Death (D&C 107)

Adam and Faithful Members of the Church (Daniel 7)

·         Adam gathered his righteous posterity including the high priests. ·         They were gathered at Adam-ondi-Ahman ·         He gave them his last blessing ·         The Lord appeared to them and blessed Adam and called him Michael. ·         He gave Adam authority over the multitude of nations that would come of his posterity. ·         Adam prophesied the things that would befall his posterity through all the generations.   ·         The prophecies were written in a book.

·         The ancient of days (Adam) returned to earth and sat before multitudes of the righteous. ·         The books (history of the world) were opened. ·         The Son of Man (Christ) comes and meets with Adam ·         Adam gives an accounting and turns the authority back to Christ. ·         Christ will reign as King

 In an address to the Twelve Apostles, the Prophet Joseph Smith explained the name “Ancient of Days”: “Daniel in his seventh chapter speaks of the Ancient of Days; he means the oldest man, our Father Adam, Michael, he will call his children together and hold a council with them to prepare them for the coming of the Son of Man. He (Adam) is the father of the human family, and presides over the spirits of all men, and all that have had the keys must stand before him in this grand council. This may take place before some of us leave this stage of action. The Son of Man stands before him, and there is given him glory and dominion. Adam delivers up his stewardship to Christ, that which was delivered to him as holding the keys of the universe, but retains his standing as head of the human family.” (OTSM p.305)

President Joseph Fielding Smith explained these verses in Daniel a little more. This is to be a great priesthood gathering at Adam-ondi-Ahman (the place or land of God where Adam dwelt). A council will be held. Adam will sit in judgment. The righteous who have held keys (authority) will make their reports and hand over their keys and ministry. Then Christ will come and Adam will make his report and hand over the keys to Christ. “At this council Christ will be received and acknowledged as the rightful ruler of the earth. Satan will be replaced. Following this event every government in the world … will have to become part of the government of God. Then righteous rule will be established. The earth will be cleansed; the wicked will be destroyed; and the reign of peace will be ushered in.” (OTSM p.305)