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'Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the
Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written
before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His
name. And they shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day
when I make up My jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his
own son that serveth him' (Mal. 3:16,17).
'Jewels'. This is the last of eight occurrences of the Hebrew segullah
which is elsewhere translated 'peculiar treasure', 'peculiar', 'special' and
'mine own proper good'. This great honour of becoming 'a peculiar treasure'
as the outcome of faithfulness in a day of declension, is comparable with a
similar honour held out to those who in the present perilous times 'depart
from iniquity' and become vessels 'meet for the Master's use' (2 Tim. 2:21),
and just as in chapter 3 of Malachi, this peculiar honour leads to the most
practical results, namely, 'discerning between the righteous and the wicked,
between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not' (3:18), so those
servants of the Lord who realize that in a great house there will be vessels
to honour, and vessels without honour, such, by 'purging themselves from
these' will not only be 'meet for the Master's use' but 'prepared unto every
good work' (2 Tim. 2:21).
MICAH
'From of Old'
The next prophecy that calls for consideration is the book of the
prophet Micah. There are a number of passages in Micah which are almost a
word for word replica of passages in Isaiah, and one prophecy of Micah is
found in Jeremiah (Mic. 3:12; Jer. 26:18).
A comparison of Micah 1:1 with Isaiah 1:1 will show that Micah
commenced his prophecy some seventeen or eighteen years after Isaiah had
begun in the days of Uzziah; both Isaiah and Micah continued to prophesy
until the days of Hezekiah; Isaiah's visions are 'concerning Judah and
Jerusalem', Micah's visions are 'concerning Samaria and Jerusalem'.
This prophecy falls into two main subdivisions, which can be headed,
'Prophecies of Judgment' and 'Prophecies of Restoration', these themes
alternating and arranged in the following pattern:
A
1:2 to 3:12.
judgment
'Hear'. Concluding words
'Jerusalem shall become heaps'.
B
4:1 to 5:15.
'In the last days'. 'Remnant' (4:7; 5:3,7,8).
The Messiah 'from of old' (5:2).
A
6:1 to 7:10.
judgment
'Hear'. Concluding words
'trodden down as mire'.
B
7:11 -20.
'In that day'.
'The Remnant' (7:18).
The Promise 'from the days of old' (7:20).
Micah adopts a peculiar form of speech when pronouncing judgment upon
the towns that were to suffer because of the transgression of Israel; he uses
the figure of Paronomasia, or as it is called when in vulgar use, 'the pun'.
Micah depicts the onward march of the conquering Assyrians, indicating, by