Over The Brook Kidron

In Psalm 25, David pleads with God for help in keeping his ways and maintaining a right standing before the Most High: Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day (vv.4-5). And again Good and upright is the LORD: therefore will he teach sinners in the way. The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way (vv.8-9).   God’s promises of obedience are intrinsically linked to the ability of one to keep his testimonies and statues. All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies (v.10). But the question is, how does one keep the covenant and testimonies in truth, if keeping the covenant is predicated upon mercy and truth, which we do not possess in ourselves (otherwise, why would David be petitioning the Lord in these verses for obedience)? When we look closer, we find that repentance and obedience go hand in hand...

And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel; Is it not for you to know judgment? Who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones; Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them; and they break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron. At the end of chapter 2, we were given a brief but refreshing respite from the trail of destruction and judgement God promised on his people in the preceding verses. In verse 12, God promised to mercifully assemble the house of Jacob together as a shepherd gathers his sheep. The Christological significance cannot be overlooked here, for it is easy to see in these words Christ the good Shepherd, who gathers his people, his church, into his arms, carries them all their days, and rescues them from danger. In verse 13, Christ as deliverer is further indicated by the breaker who plun...

O thou that art named the house of Jacob, is the spirit of the LORD straitened? Are these his doings? Do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly? It was with great privilege that the covenant nation of God in Old Testament times was called the house of Jacob. For its patriarch Jacob had earned the title for his resilience and determination in seeking the living God. And [God] said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed (Genesis 32:27-28). Jacob’s offspring were those who should have had that same zeal and love for God, but instead had none of it. To call Israel the house of Jacob is to give a great insult and to point out their lack of faith. We spoke last time about the meaning of verse seven. God asks his covenant people, Do you believe that the Holy Spirit is limited? Does he not have any power over men’s hearts? Is the Word o...

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. Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast a cord by lot in the congregation of the LORD. We were left in verse 3 with a terrible conclusion to the people’s sins and indeed our own sins. As God summed it up, It is an evil time (some translations have it will be a bad time , and we will soon see why). Verses 1-3 are meant to have an effect on the people. How shall they respond? How do you expect them to respond to such convicting accusations? In verses 4-6, God gives us a picture, not necessarily of how they should respond, but rather how they will respond. How should the people respond? How should we respond? For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death (2 Corinthians 7...

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. And they covet fields, 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. 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. God’s rebuke of the Israelites continues full force in chapter 2. Recall that at the end of chapter 1, we are given an image of the spoiled Israelites, bereaved of their children who are taken into captivity.   We ask, to what captivity does Micah address? The Assyrian captivity of the northern kingdom of Samaria? The Babylonian captivity of the southern kingdom of Judah? Micah was prophesying until the days of Hezekiah king of Judah (1:1), and in Hezekiah’s sixth year as king, the Assyrians under Shalmaneser over...