The Reason Why God Allows The Exile Of His People And Will Yet Cause More Exiles Until The Land Is Empty (Micah 5:10-15).
In another oracle (‘says YHWH') Micah now explains why all Israel's troubles must come upon her. It is in order to purify her and rid her of all the trappings of idolatry.
‘And it will come about in that day, says YHWH, that I will cut off your horses out of the midst of you, and will destroy your chariots, and I will cut off the cities of your land, and will throw down all your strongholds.'
In spite of the promises given above of the defeat of their arch enemy Assyria, they must not assume that all will be well with them. For God has the purpose in the future of rendering them totally defenceless. He will remove their horses, He will destroy their chariots, He will bring their cities to ruin, and He will throw down all their strongholds.
The warnings against depending on horses and chariots come regularly in the prophets, and in the Psalms (Psalms 20:7; Isaiah 2:7; Isaiah 30:15-17; Hosea 10:13). The whole point is that they should take heed to the warning and start looking to YHWH alone.
The picture is one of massive invasion and total annihilation. And the reason for it is now given, it is because in spite of all His warnings, and all His chastening, they continue to cling to their witchcraft, and their mediums and fortune-tellers, and their idols. They just will not let them go. And thus the only way in which He can rid them of them is to remove them from the land where they practise such things.
‘And I will cut off witchcrafts out of your hand, and you will have no more soothsayers, and I will cut off your graven images and your pillars out of the midst of you; and you will no more worship the work of your hands, and I will pluck up your Asherim out of the midst of you, and I will destroy your cities.'
Here YHWH lists the things that cause such offence and make this people only evil continually. Witchcraft is connected with the use of the occult to affect things in the world, soothsaying has to do with contact with the dead and with familiar spirits, graven images were carved figures of the forbidden gods, including the Baals, stone pillars were representations of deities regularly found in high places, and even in the Temple, the Asherim were either wooden poles or Asherah images carved out of wood representing the female consorts of the Baals. All these things were to be removed from them and out of their hands. And because of the prevalence in their cities, their cities too will be destroyed. Only thus can the land be rid of such thing.
‘And I will execute vengeance in anger and wrath upon the nations which did not listen.'
This may well be referring to Israel and Judah. But it may also indicate that YHWH's wrath will also be visited on the nations who have ill-treated His people because they too have not listened to Him. Certainly elsewhere the nations are blamed for going further than YHWH intended them to go (compare Isaiah 10:7-15).