Samaria a Heap

[Read Micah 1:2-7]

This week I found myself thinking about a farm kid's favorite chore—not really. Picking rocks. Anyone who has farmed or grown up on a farm in the midwest has had the pleasure of picking rocks in a field. My dad would complain every year about the fact that our ancestors had left the beautiful, fertile land of Nebraska to move to the middle of Minnesota to farm land that was full of clay and full of rocks. So you would spend quite a bit of time every spring, wandering through the field, throwing rocks in the bucket of a skid loader. Sometimes you would even find a rock that was so big that you needed the skid loader to pick the rock up and haul it out of the field. What made the job so seemingly pointless was, no matter how many rocks you picked the year before, the frost would end up pushing more rocks up into your field the next year, and you’d have to do it all over again and again and again and again. Of course, once I graduated from high school, my dad bought one of those fancy rock-picking buckets that mounted on the skid loader and made the job quite a bit easier. 

I’ve found it quite interesting that as I’ve read a lot about history throughout my lives, and warfare throughout history, I’ve been made aware of one of the ancient military tactics. I’m sure many of you have heard of a scorched earth military policy, where they go through areas torching everything so that it is completely unusable. Well, one of the things they used to do in ancient times was to not only torch fields, but they would also fill the fields with stones to ruin the fields and make them unusable. You’ll read stories about armies filling fields with stones after a battle. They did it so that the field would no longer produce fruit. 

This has been on my mind a lot this week because our passage talks a lot about stones, but not necessarily in this way. However, the image that kept coming to my mind as I read this judgment against Samaria is the image of a field that no longer produced fruit—a field that had slowly over time been filled with rock after rock after rock to the point that it no longer bore fruit and had become useless. And it’s not like other people were coming in and placing rocks in this field. The foolishness of this image is that it was the people of Samaria who were bringing rocks into the field and making it useless. Instead of diligently working to remove rocks from the field to increase fruitfulness, they were bringing more rocks in, making the field more worthless over time. 

So God comes to them with an announcement: “Hear, you peoples, all of you; pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it…(Micah 1:2, ESV). Notice that God is not simply making an announcement to Samaria, or even all of Israel, but he’s making this announcement to the entire earth. There are a couple reasons for this. First, God is making an announcement to the whole earth to remind the earth—and those in Samaria—that he is sovereign over all of creation. He’s not just the God of Samaria and Jerusalem, but he is God over the universe. It’s also a reminder that as the God of the Universe, he’s paying attention to what is going on throughout all of the earth. So, when he speaks, everyone should be paying attention. 

But, this announcement also connects back to something we talked about in our last series. Remember God’s promise to Abraham? God promised him that he would be blessed and as a result would be a blessing to the nations. This imagery was picked up and was often given the imagery that God’s people were to be a light to the nations. That is happening now, but in a negative way. God wants the entire earth to pay attention to Samaria—not because they are doing something good, but because he wants the earth to see what happens to those who rebel against him. So he says, “I want the earth to pay attention to what is about to happen in Samaria. I want them to see clearly what happens when peoples and nations turn away from me in rebellion. This is a warning.” 

After getting the attention of the earth, God explains what’s about to happen. He says, “…let the Lord GOD be a witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.” (Micah 1:2, ESV). When God speaks of being a witness here, he’s giving imagery from a court room. He’s saying that he has been watching what has been happening in Samaria—he hasn’t missed a thing—and when he comes, his witness will not be in favor of them, but will be against them. He will begin laying out every evil deed they have done in Samaria, bringing every single charge before them. 

Notice also where God is coming from. He says that he is coming from his holy temple. This is here as a contrast and reminder to them. God is a holy God, who comes from a holy temple. The contrast is that he is coming as a holy witness against an unholy people. 

And when he comes, it’s going to be rough. Just listen to the description of his coming to Samaria: “For behold, the LORD is coming out of his place, and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth. And the mountains will melt under him, and the valleys will split open, like wax before the fire, like waters poured down a steep place.” (Micah 1:3–4, ESV).  There’s a lot here to talk about, but just notice the basic point being made here. When God comes to Samaria as a holy witness against an unholy people, creation is going to fall apart. God is so big and powerful and mighty that he walks on the highest mountains like they are nothing. When God comes in judgment on his people, the mountains will melt like wax before a fire and the valleys will split open. Here’s the basic idea: Mountains are so awe inspiring because they are so massive and overwhelming—they truly take your breath away—and they are nothing to God, but something to be walked upon and melted in his presence. Mount Everest has nothing on our God. He is not a God to be trifled with AND he is coming to Samaria as a witness against them. They should be terrified. 

When God arrives in Samaria, he presents the charges against them. He says, “All this is for the transgression of Jacob and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what is the high place of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem?” (Micah 1:5, ESV). Now, notice that both Samaria and Jerusalem are mentioned here. Samaria is the capital of the northern tribe and Jerusalem the capital of the southern tribe at this point. Both are mentioned here. However, the portion that we’re focusing on this morning is directed at Samaria—Jerusalem is coming eventually. 

The charge God brings against them is transgression and sin. We often combine these two words and think they are the same thing, but they are different. Sin is often described as “missing the mark.” God has set a standard and you have missed that mark. That’s bad. But transgression is even worse. The word means “a willfully criminal infraction of covenant" (Waltke, 50). So, it’s not simply missing the mark, or not living up to the standard. A transgression is seeing the standard, understanding the standard, and willingly choosing to disobey. It’s the image of a child who has been told not to touch something, they understand they are not to touch the thing, and then they go and touch the thing. Willful rebellion. That’s what’s happening in Samaria. 

It’s interesting when you begin to dig into the history of Samaria. Things did not start out smoothly. We read this in 1 Kings, “[Omri] bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver, and he fortified the hill and called the name of the city that he built Samaria, after the name of Shemer, the owner of the hill.” (1 Kings 16:24, ESV). Omri is the founder of Samaria and he fortified the city well. Actually, Samaria was known for having impenetrable walls around it. So, he did a good job building defenses for Samaria. However, we also read this about Omri in the next verse: “Omri did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did more evil than all who were before him.” (1 Kings 16:25, ESV). So, Omri’s not a good king, he’s the worst king that has ever reigned over God’s people. Not a good way for Samaria to start, but it gets worse. Guess who Omri’s son is? Ahab—not known for being a good king. Here’s what we read about Ahab: “And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took for his wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshiped him. He erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria. And Ahab made an Asherah. Ahab did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.” (1 Kings 16:31–33, ESV). Ahab was even worse. He explicitly worshiped Baal, erected altars to Baal, erected Asherah poles for idol worship. He did more to provoke and anger the Lord than all of the other kings combined. Talk about willful rebellion. 

Idolatry got so bad in Samaria that it became known for it. Listen to this statement from God in Hosea: “I have spurned your calf, O Samaria. My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence? For it is from Israel; a craftsman made it; it is not God. The calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces.” (Hosea 8:5–6, ESV). It seems to me that they were so well known for their idolatry, they were known for The Calf of Samaria—most likely an idol of Baal. And what is really interesting is that archaeologists have actually found a gold bull, and a worship site, on a hill outside of Samaria, showing that they did truly worship Baal on the high places outside of Samaria. This was not simply falling short of God’s standard. No. Samaria was willfully breaking covenant with God, willfully walking away from Him, willfully doing all of the things that God had told them not to do. So, this holy God was coming as a witness against his unholy people, bringing the guilty charge against them for their rebellion. 

God not only gives them a guilty verdict for their crimes, he also tells them what the punishment will be. Here’s what we read: “Therefore I will make Samaria a heap in the open country, a place for planting vineyards, and I will pour down her stones into the valley and uncover her foundations.” (Micah 1:6, ESV). Remember those walls they were so proud of? Those supposedly impenetrable walls? God says that those walls will be broken down into such small pieces that they can be thrown from the top of the hill into the valley. He says that he’s going to destroy Samaria to the point that it’s no longer a city, but looks like a field that is ready to be planted.

He also says that he’s going to uncover the foundations. On the one hand, it’s God’s way of saying that he’s going to tear that city down to the roots—to the foundation—but there’s more to it than that. The word that is used here is not simply uncover, but to lay bare, or to make naked. It’s the idea that God is going to uncover and reveal that shame and disgrace of the city for all the world to see. 

He goes on to say describe more of the punishment: “All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces, all her wages shall be burned with fire, and all her idols I will lay waste, for from the fee of a prostitute she gathered them, and to the fee of a prostitute they shall return.” (Micah 1:7, ESV). All of the idols that filled the city and surrounded the city would be destroyed—pounded into dust. Not just to destroy them, but as a reminder to the people that these idols would not save them. These idols were nothing—which means they were no match for the one, true God. 

It also talks about a little poetic justice—or a little “what goes around comes around.” We’re told that these idols were created from money that was earned through prostitution. Now, this could be talking about literal prostitution, or it could be speaking more generally about adultery/prostitution against God—covenant unfaithfulness, which included literal prostitution. Either way, the idea is that through their unfaithfulness they earned money that was used to create these idols. Now that the idols have been destroyed, they would be melted down and used for more prostitution. They had no power. 

The image is one of total and complete destruction. All of the things they bragged about would be destroyed. All of the things they put their hope and trust in would be destroyed. One commentator says, “Nothing escapes nor remains. When this majestic God suddenly erupts with justice, puny man's proud walls and fortifications crumble and fall into the ravines. Humans feel secure as long as the long-suffering God remains in heaven, but when he marches forth in judgment, they are gripped by the stark reality and gravity that they must meet the holy God in person…” (Waltke, 57).

Now, you might be wondering, “Why? Why all this destruction? Why all this devastation? Is God simply throwing a temper tantrum because he’s angry?” Absolutely not. It’s always important to remember that God is always able to accomplish multiple things at the same time. Yes, when God comes in judgment, things are destroyed and devastated, but often there is something bigger happening. Often, God’s judgments and destructions also function as a cleansing and purification. 

We see this in a lot of places, but let’s look at one story in particular from the New Testament. “The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.”” (John 2:13–16, ESV). Now, this was a judgment on the unfaithfulness of those working in the temple, right? Yet, what do we often call this story? The Cleansing of the Temple. There are many times when something needs to be destroyed in order for something to be truly cleansed. In the same way that Jesus cleansed the temple, God is going to cleanse Samaria. 

There’s a two-fold reminder in this for us. On the one hand, we’re reminded that God could come against us with this same accusation. Each one of us in this building have not only fallen short of his standard, but have also willfully disobeyed God. We knew what he wanted us to do, or not to do, and we did it anyway. That should terrify us. This passage should be a warning for us that this is not some small, light thing to disobey and rebel against the God of the Universe. 

It’s also a reminder that Jesus was destroyed so that we would not be destroyed. Jesus was destroyed so that we could be cleansed. Jesus bore this punishment for all who look to him and trust in him alone for their salvation. So, I do hope that this message has frightened you, and shaken you to some degree. That’s the goal, but I don’t want you to stay there. That would be foolish. Instead, if this message has shaken you, and made you more fully realize the weight of your sin, run to Jesus for cleansing and forgiveness. 

Notice that I typically talk about being cleansed and forgiven. That’s intentional because the cleansing of Jesus Christ—the sanctification—is done over a period of time—where he slowly but surely changes your heart to become more like him. In many ways, it’s an image of picking rock. Much like Samaria, your life is a field that has been made worthless because it has been filled with rocks—sin and idolatry—to the point that it no longer bore good fruit and needs to be cleansed. You not only need forgiveness, but you also need those rocks picked and removed—they need to be destroyed—so that you can begin to bear good fruit in your life. Thankfully, we have the Holy Spirit working in our lives to reveal these rocks in our life so that we can destroy them and remove them from our lives. Sometimes it’s painful and it hurts, but in the long run it leads to a life that bears good fruit and brings glory and honor to the God of the Universe.