Last Sabbath we began to study the Book of Micah. Christians approach the study of the Bible in many different ways. One way that I find enriching and useful to is place the message in its historical context. Many times understanding the historical context enriches and clarifies the original message and helps me translate the message into the 21st century. If you wish to learn more about the historical period that Micah lived and preached in, I suggest exploring the Wikipedia entries on the history of Israel.
Last Sabbath we started our discussion by thinking about what we bring to the text, such as the questions we bring to the text and our biases and expectations. What questions do we want/hope the text to answer? A couple of questions we came up with were "What does this book tells us about God?" and "What does this book tells us about the relationship between God and humans?" We have to be careful not to force the text into answering questions the text never intended to answer, but we also must be aware of underlying questions and biases we have. As we reflect on the message of Micah to Judah and Israel, we then should ask how his message is applicable to the 21st century. Unfortunately, we ran out of time and did not have time to reflect on this question. I encourage you to post any questions or thoughts on Micah that you may have in the comments section.
We continued our study by trying to grasp the message presented in chapters 1 and 2. We noted that there were four separate oracles or messages in the two chapters and that they dealt with God's right to judge everyone for transgressing the law of God. One of the specific transgressions that Micah identified was greed and theft of land by the wealthy in Judah.
We will continue our study of Micah this coming Sabbath and will cover chapters 3 and 4. I encourage you to read those two chapters. As you read through them, try to find the message(s) of Micah and ask yourself how they might be applicable to the 21st century.
God Bless in your study.
Scott
Monday, April 14, 2008
The Message of Micah of Moresheth
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1 comments:
there were a few people at our march 1 planning Sabbath School who expressed interest in pursuing engaged biblical discussion. I would like to echo that sentiment. I hope that you will catch that vision and read along with us before Sabbath School and process your thoughts. It will greatly enhance our discussion. Looking forward to a great discussion.
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