John Mark Hicks

Since the beginning of Hosea 4, the prophet’s oracles have alerted and warned the northern kingdom of Israel of their approaching devastation and exile. The Assyrian empire is predatorial and expansionistic. They will occupy and annex the territory of Israel, and God will permit this due to Israel’s sin. While Hosea 4-10 has identified the […]

This is the climax of Hosea’s series of oracles identifying the reason for Israel’s exile before offering hope in the next chapter. Again and again Hosea attempts to shock, persuade, and confront Israel with its unfaithfulness in hopes of their repentance and renewal. But Israel’s leaders—whether prophets, priests, or kings—were not listening. They are living […]

The Feast of Tabernacles (Booths)—in Hebrew, Sukkoth—was one of great and festive celebrations of God’s grace. Israel lived in tents (booths) for seven days to reenact and remember God’s grace in the wilderness for forty years. They also celebrated the ingathering of grapes and olives as they planted grain in anticipation of the Spring harvest […]

Hosea is redundant as he returns to the themes of idolatry and political alliances. This is more than literary style; it speaks to the stopped ears of his audience, their stubbornness, and the need to hear again—as a kind of last measure appeal—the deep corruption in their society. Apparently, the message is not penetrating their […]

Yahweh yearns to restore the fortunes of Israel, but Israel would not. Their evil, corruption, pride, rebellion, and political alliances hardened their hearts so that they did not seek God’s face. None called on Yahweh. Consequently, their self-destructive cycle, stoked like a hot oven by their greed and pride, played itself out on the world […]

Hosea, as Yahweh’s prophet, takes on the role of a prosecutor. He serves the indictment against Israel in Hosea 4:1. There is no faithfulness, love, or intimacy with God in the land. The next message from Hosea (5:1-15) renders a verdict. Verdict Announced Hosea delivers the verdict to the leaders of Israel and reminds them […]

Israel’s spiritual adulteries and lack of faithfulness to Yahweh as their God has led to their destruction. Through an abundance of metaphors (stripped and humiliated before the nations, killed by thirst in the wilderness, devoured by wild beasts, etc.), Israel’s future is shaped by their disloyalty to Yahweh and their religious syncretism. They loved the […]

Judah’s wound is incurable; it is fatal. There are consequences when a nation practices idolatry, injustice, and trust in political alliances more than God. The fate of Samaria is reason enough to weep (Micah 1:6-7), but Micah’s symbolic act of lament is because Samaria’s incurable wound has come to Judah, even to the gate of Jerusalem […]

The small-town prophet receives a big-time message from Yahweh. Micah announces that Yahweh is coming to Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom Israel. This, however, is about more than Israel. It is  Yahweh’s witness against the nations even though it is the nations who devastate Israel. It is also a warning to Judah who […]

An Outline of Micah Introduction to Micah What does a prophet say to a people immersed in the geopolitics of war, imperial invasions, and constant fear of Assyrian retribution? Indeed, 200,000 people will be taken from Judah to Assyria in 701 BCE (according to Sennacherib records in Nineveh). The political leaders are unjust, self-absorbed, and […]