Dwelling in a largely agricultural part of the country, Micah lived outside the governmental centers of power in his nation, leading to his strong concern for the lowly and less fortunate of society—the lame, the outcasts, and the afflicted Micah Therefore, Micah directed much of his prophecy toward the powerful leaders of Samaria and Jerusalem, the capital cities of Israel and Judah, respectively As a contemporary of Isaiah and Hosea, Micah prophesied during the momentous years surrounding the tragic fall of Israel to the Assyrian Empire BC , an event he also predicted Micah Micah stated in his introduction to the book that he prophesied during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah in Judah, failing to mention the simultaneous string of dishonorable kings that closed out the northern kingdom of Israel.
During this period, while Israel was imploding from the effects of evil and unfaithful leadership, Judah seemed on a roller-coaster ride—ascending to the heights of its destiny in one generation, only to fall into the doldrums in another.
In Judah at this time, good kings and evil kings alternated with each other, a pattern seen in the reigns of Jotham good, 2 Kings —34 ; Ahaz evil, 2 Kings —4 ; and Hezekiah good, 2 Kings —7. This future kingdom, which scholars call the millennial kingdom, will be characterized by the presence of many nations living with one another in peace and security —4 and coming to Jerusalem to worship the reigning king, that is, Jesus Himself Because these events have not yet occurred, we look forward to the millennial kingdom at some undetermined time in the future.
In this sequence, God reminds the people of His good works on their behalf, how He cared for them while they cared only for themselves. He states God requirements: 1 to treat all people fairly and just, 2 to be kind and loving toward others, and 3 to completely surrender your will to Him. Israel and Judah refused to listen; they gave God only one option. Don't worry. We'll walk you through the entire process. Apply now for free and then schedule a campus visit to experience something that pictures just can't capture.
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Other religious groups also emerged during the intertestamental period, each claiming the exclusive right to interpret the scriptures.
The Pharisees were an independent religious group that came into being soon after the Maccabean War. They became very influential in Jewish society by introducing a narrow focus on food laws and on ritual purity, aspects that were rooted primarily in their oral traditions, not scripture. In their homes, they tried to behave as if they were living in the temple. The Sadducees, on the other hand, whose origins remain unknown, rejected any appeal to oral tradition and held strictly to the five books of Moses, turning their backs on the writings of other prophets.
This group consisted mostly of the elite in Jerusalem society. By the time Jesus was born, they had expanded their power by asserting control over the Jerusalem temple. Each of these religious groups preserved traditions and doctrines that they believed were essential to lives of devotion.
But because they lacked the guidance of a true prophet, they were left to their own interpretations. Regardless of their religious persuasion, righteous men and women still looked forward to the coming of the Messiah during the intertestamental period. Poets sang psalms, and the common people prayed, talked, and dreamed of His arrival—a Davidic King who was destined to save His people. One group waiting for the Messiah was the Essenes, which formed during the Maccabean conflict.
The Essenes believed that the temple priests in Jerusalem were corrupt and the temple was in need of serious reform. In their view, the coming of the Messiah was near. They believed He would join with them to throw off the oppressive yoke of Rome, whose rulers had conquered Palestine some 60 years before the birth of Jesus.
Like the Reformation that preceded the Restoration, the intertestamental period also witnessed events that prepared the world for the coming of Jesus Christ. This time had a remarkable production of religious literature, including the translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek and the beginning of the creation of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Apocrypha.
During this time the ideas about angels, resurrection, and the concepts of heaven and hell became developed and refined. However, without a prophet to guide them, the Jews debated the meaning of the scriptures and about who the Messiah would be.
While most people waited for a Davidic Messiah one descended from King David , others championed a Messiah who was the son of Aaron—a priestly Messiah. Still others did not expect the Messiah to come. So many expectations had built up among the different groups during the intertestamental period that the groups did not know how to recognize the true Messiah when He came to them. Some members of these groups became the primary adversaries of John and Jesus during their ministries see Matthew —
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