Advent Devotional Day 2

Day

2

“But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,

from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.

Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth;

then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel.

And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the

name of the Lord his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth.

And he shall be their peace. When the Assyrian comes into our land and treads in our palaces,

then we will raise against him seven shepherds and eight princes of men;

they shall shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod at its entrances; and he shall deliver us from the Assyrian when he comes into our land and treads within our border.”

Micah 5:2-6

I was a kid in the late 80s through the 90s, when insults were words of affection. It’s just how we talked to each other back then. You’re probably thinking, “That must have been traumatic.” Not really. Trauma hadn’t been invented yet. Back then if you cried, your parents told you to stop or they’d “give you something to cry about.” Phrases like, “My house, my rules,” “Your mom…,”and “I know you are, but what am I?” were commonplace. A day seldom went by without getting called, “dill weed,” “doofus,” or usually worse (those words are cancelled now and can’t be included here).

My childhood was great. We played outside and rode our bikes all over the neighborhood. My parents had no idea where I was, and they wouldn’t be concerned unless I didn’t return at dark. We were good kids, wearing the best Kohl's had to offer, and saying things that would earn a mouthful of Irish Spring if mom ever caught us. And the best part? Nobody took it seriously. It was perfect. Consequently, no one from my generation knows how to take a compliment, but that’s a small price to pay.

Knowing when or where someone grew up tells you a lot about a person. Knowing when and where the biblical authors are writing tells you a lot too. “Context is king” as they say. This is especially true when reading the Old Testament prophets. We tend to think of them as predicting the future, but their primary job was to inform the king what God thinks about their current circumstances. Some prophets were close to the king, like Nathan who confronted David about Bathsheba. Some were outsiders, like Amos who was just a farmer that saw the

Babylonian army as God’s judgment for Israel’s idolatry. Then there were the false prophets who were typically the only ones with “good” things to say because they just told the king what he wanted to hear.

Micah wrote at a time when Assyria had conquered Israel and begun to set their sights on Judah. Much of his writing is centered on Judah’s impending doom, but sandwiched in the middle is a message of hope.

Micah 5:2-6