Micah’s prophecy begins with an advent, a theophany, of Yahweh.  Yahweh rises from His palace-temple (1:2) to tread down the heights of the earth (1:3).  At His coming, this too too solid world melts and turns watery, formless and void (1:4).  Mountains represent highly-placed people who are going to be brought low.  Alternatively, mountains may represent Israel and Judah, the high places where the Israel lives and worships.  At Yahweh’s coming, the mountains that make up Israel and Judah are going to melt like wax, and flow away like water, away into the Gentile sea.

Yahweh marches from His throne in the North to thrown down Samaria (1:6), and then moves on to Jerusalem (1:5, 9, 12). Micah lists a series of towns that Yahweh passes through on his procession and puns on each name in the list (1:10-15). In the “house of dust,” Israel will return to dust and roll in the dust.  Shaphir means “pleasantness,” but the pleasantness of the city will be turned to shame and nakedness.  Zaanan means “go out,” but they will not go out.  At the “house of removal” the Lord will remove the supports of Israel.

Micah takes up a funeral lament for the dead nation of Judah (vv. 8, 16). Yahweh’s advent brings death to a rebellious nation.

In the pastoral epistles, Paul gives several requirements regarding the children of elders. These are both discussed and disregarded with great regularity in the church.

At issue is whether the children of ministers and elders must be faithful Christians. In Titus, Paul says of elders that they should be “blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly” (Titus 1:6). In 1 Timothy, he requires that an elder must be one that “ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity” (1 Tim. 3:4). He goes on to add that if a man does not know how to rule in his own house, then he will not take good care of the church of God (v. 5).

When this particular discussion erupts, it is usually in the midst of a particular crisis “the

unmarried daughter of the pastor is pregnant, the son of one of the ruling elders is in jail, etc. In that context, feelings usually run high and sometimes careful distinctions can be lost. So although these truths must be applied at some point, it would probably be best if we sought to work through them on the chalkboard first.