4:12 The Israelites should prepare to meet their God because they had failed to repent (cf. Exod. 19:10-19; 2 Cor. 5:10). He would confront them with even greater punishments (cf. 3:11-15). They should prepare to meet Him, not in a face-to-face sense, as they would encounter a powerful enemy in battle. The prophet's call was a summons to judgment, not a call to repentance or an invitation to covenant renewal.45
4:13 Their enemy was the most formidable one imaginable. It was not another nation or army but sovereign Yahweh of armies. It was He who forms mountains, creates the wind, knows people's thoughts, turns dawn into darkness, and steps on the hills of Israel like a giant approaching Samaria. They could not escape His judgment, so they better prepare for it (cf. Mic. 1:3-4).
"In one bold sweep, this hymn shows the sovereignty of God--from his creation of the world to his daily summoning of the dawn, from his intervention in history to his revelation of mankind's thoughts. Every believer can take comfort in the fact that, while sometimes it seems that God does not interfere in human affairs, the world is never out of his control. His sovereignty extends to every aspect of human experience."46
