Deeper Commentary
Micah Chapter 6
Micah 6:1 Listen now to what Yahweh says: Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear what you have to say- As often in the prophets, the analogy of a courtroom meeting is used. God invites His people to answer the case He makes against them through Micah. The case is to be made very public- shouted wide and loud enough for the mountains to hear it. Or pleading before the mountains could be a reference to the fact that the "high places" were literally on the uplands. It is the spirit of Gideon's father, "let Baal plead" for himself, and Elijah asking Israel to witness a legal standoff between Yahweh and the false gods.
Micah 6:2 Hear, you mountains, Yahweh’s controversy- Remember
that Isaiah was contemporary with Micah (Mic. 1:1); and Isaiah likewise
invites God's people to reason or enter into judgment together with God
(Is. 1:18). The whole idea of course begs the obvious conclusion from the
start- God is right, and He will be proven right. Any thought of entering
into judgment with God should of itself provoke our immediate capitulation
and casting of ourselves upon His grace.
And you enduring foundations of the earth- The LXX suggests "the valleys". But the allusion may be to the myth that the eretz / land of promise was upheld by foundations (Gen. 49:26; Dt. 33:15). As with the usage of the language of demons, God in His word does at times go along with wrong understandings, and reasons for a moment as if they are correct, in order to engage with people in their own terms of reference and understanding.
For Yahweh has a controversy with His people, and He will contend with Israel- This continues the courtroom analogy. God is taking out a case against His people. And He is also the judge of all the earth, although He invites them to be the judges. He humbles Himself to simply present the evidence of His case. Man stands self-condemned before God, and the quicker we personally realize that, the better. The judgment of the last day is for those who have not condemned themselves in this life; see on 1 Cor. 11:31,32. God is moving toward us too in judgment, and the only thing to do is to repent and totally capitulate; see on Lk. 14:31.
Micah 6:3 My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened
you?- Some time later, in Ezekiel's time, the people complained that
they were suffering unjustly for the sins of their ancestors. This sense
that God was somehow unfair was around in Micah's time. Hence the usage of
the courtroom analogy. To answer before God is an awesome idea; to reply
to Him, the God of all grace, against the accusation that He has treated
us unreasonably is a terrifying idea. As noted above, Yahweh is presented
not as the judge but as the complainant, and we are left to judge. By
implication, they were claiming God had sinned against man (Jer. 2:5) and
burdened them with commandments (Is. 43:23); and in those passages, God in
the dock asks Israel to give evidence. Romans uses the same idea, of God
in the dock accused by men. And we are left as the judges to immediately
conclude that this is deeply wrong. God did not burden His people with
legal requirements, because even in the period of the old covenant, He
often states that He asks not for ritualistic obedience but for humble,
faithful hearts. See on :6.
The truth was that Israel had burdened / wearied God by their insincere rituals (s.w. Is. 1:14; 7:3). Their attitudes implied that they considered that relationship with Him was a burden and wearisome (Mal. 1:13). But this was a false accusation; God has not wearied man, but the other way around.
Answer me!- "Answer me!" is literally, testify, provide evidence (Num. 35:30). And the most hardened atheist and cynic cannot do so when actually in court with God. The bravado of words said over the coffee tables and tapped on social media will soon collapse.
Micah 6:4 For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed
you out of the house of bondage. I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and
Miriam- This is cited as the parade example of the fact God loves His
people and has poured grace upon them. With us too, the fact we were
called out of this world, God intervening in our lives to engage us with
the Gospel's call, is really a parade example of His grace. This means we
should never accuse God of being unfair. His grace in calling us is
enough. Historically, God's bringing up of His people from Egypt was all
of Divine grace. The phrase is used of Abraham being brought up from Egypt
after his deceit regarding his wife, which would usually have resulted in
death (Gen. 13:1); Joseph's family were likewise brought up out of Egypt
after having been released by the grace of Joseph-Jesus (Gen. 45:25). And
the bringing up of the nation from Egypt when they were still worshipping
the idols of Egypt was likewise of pure grace. The redemption of Israel
from the house of bondage is the very phrase used in Dt. 7:8, as the
exemplification of the simple fact that "Yahweh loved you" and kept His
side of the covenant when Israel broke it. Because of this redemption from
bondage, Israel were to be obedient to the covenant (Dt. 15:15; 24:18).
And not to complain that such a duty was in any sense an unreasonable
burden.
Micah 6:5 My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, and
what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim to Gilgal, that you
may know the righteous acts of Yahweh- This again is an example of
grace which should answer any complaint that God has been unreasonable or
harsh toward Israel. Israel at Balaam's time were still worshipping the
idols of Egypt which they had taken with them out of Egypt. They were
weak. But God's answer to Balak was to inspire Balaam to reveal how God
imputed righteousness to Israel. He had not seen any iniquity in them, and
beheld them in their encampments as beautiful and without spot (Num.
23:21; 24:5,6). They passed from Shittim to Gilgal, from the wilderness
journey over the Jordan into the promised land, by absolute grace.
Righteousness was imputed to them, as Paul would later put it in Romans.
Here again was grace; and yet it was done as a 'righteous act', which
again is a big theme with Paul. God counts the sinful as sinless without
infringing morality, ethics nor righteousness; because He held in mind the
future work of His son.
Micah 6:6 How shall I come before Yahweh, and bow myself before the
exalted God?- The high or "exalted" God is a phrase used only twice
elsewhere. God was made high or exalted by His justice / righteousness,
which was revealed above all in His redemption of His faithless people
from Egypt (Ps. 68:18; 71:19).
Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?- This is one of the many Old Testament hints that the Mosaic sacrifices of themselves couldn't reconcile sinful Israel with God. It is an answer to the complaint that God had burdened Israel with the law (see on :3). The reference to calves is an allusion to the calf worship of the ten tribes, which was presented as a form of Yahweh worship.
Micah 6:7 Will Yahweh be pleased with thousands of rams? With tens of
thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my disobedience?
The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?- This again is an
answer to the complaint that God had burdened Israel with the law (see on
:3). Micah comes to the point where he would fain make sacrifice for
Israel, even to the point of offering his firstborn son, so strongly did he
take upon himself the sins of his people; he felt their sins as the sins of
his very soul. But he tells Israel that even this
will be no good; they must repent themselves. In all this,
Micah came close to the spirit of the Father and Son. For the Father
would give His firstborn for their sin.
Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh
require of you- Instead of sacrifice and legalistic obedience (:7),
this was what God required. In this sense, it was just untrue that the law
of Moses was a burden upon Israel (see on :3). The implication is that God
had already 'shown' His people what was required of them. The same word is
used of how Micah himself was to show or "declare" God's requirements to
Israel (Mic. 3:8). Perhaps the idea was that Micah himself was the
declaration of what God required of His people at that time. The voice of
Yahweh which called to the city in :9 was that of Micah personally. As
noted throughout this commentary, Micah was the declaration of God to
Israel and yet he also totally identified with sinful Israel. This was the
basis of his appeal to them; and in these things he pointed forward to the
Lord Jesus, of human nature and yet Divine character. The parallel in
Isaiah is when again God enters the courtroom with His people: "Learn to
do well, seek justice, relieve the oppressed judge the fatherless, plead
for the widow" (Is. 1:17). "Seek" is the same word here translated
"require".
But to act justly- This is the same phrase as in Gen. 18:19; this was to be the lead characteristic of all the true seed of Abraham. And that is true of us to this day. Is. 56:1 urges Israel to do this, so that the Kingdom's re-establishment might be hastened. But there was not a man who did this in the lead up to Judah's destruction (Jer. 5:1; 7:5). Had Judah done this, the Babylonian destruction would not have come (Jer. 22:3,15), and a Messianic kingdom could have come, when Messiah would "act justly" (Jer. 23:5; 33:15). The people were being asked to act like Him in this life. And Micah, at the time of the Assyrian invasion, is saying the same; and it seems some did respond, and the planned destruction at the hands of Sennacherib didn't happen. But finally, Judah was destroyed, and that is described as God acting justly (Ez. 5:8). As noted earlier, the judgment process brings about what men ought to have done by their freewill decisions in this life. To "act justly" was to act in a way that no other nation did (Ez. 11:12,20). True justice is the unique possibility of the true people of God. To "act justly" is the lead characteristic of the righteous (Ez. 18:5,8,9,17,19,21,27; 33:16,19 and often in the prophets); and that is true of us God's people to this day. It is the behaviour of those in the new covenant (Ez. 36:27; 37:24). Micah concludes, as one who has done justly, in appealing for God to do justly for him (Mic. 7:9); and that justice is done on the basis of imputed righteousness.
To love mercy- This love of mercy, a love of being merciful, is the characteristic of God toward those in the new covenant (Jer. 31:3). And it is for us, as it was for Israel then, to reflect our experience of this in our attitudes to those who need our mercy.
And to walk humbly with your God?- Walking humbly is the essence of it all. The humility which comes from realizing our sins will empower us too to "love mercy" and be just. The only other occurrence of the Hebrew word here translated "humbly" is in Prov. 11:2: "With the humble is wisdom". And it is this wisdom which is spoken of now in :9.
It is tempting to see a parallel between these three things [justice, mercy and walking humbly with God] and Mt. 23:23, which also says that instead of legalistic obedience, God wanted "justice, mercy and faith". "Humility" here is therefore understood by the Lord Jesus as "faith". And the two are indeed connected; for to walk in humility is to walk in faith, for without humility there can be no true faith. One spiritual attribute strengthens and enables another.
Micah 6:9 Yahweh’s voice calls to the city, and wisdom sees your name- The way of wisdom was to see in all the appeals to "the city", presumably Jerusalem, the articulation of God's Name / character as declared in Ex 34:5-7. It was the wisdom which comes from the humility of :8 (Prov. 11:2). And there is another allusion to Proverbs, in that wisdom's "voice calls" to the city in Prov. 8:1-4. The 'voice that calls' is ultimately that of Messiah and His herald, appealing for Israel's repentance (Is. 40:3,6; 58:1). And yet the same 'voice that calls' was the voice that called forth the invaders to come and judge Jerusalem (Ez. 9:1).
Listen to the rod, and He who appointed it- The Assyrians were the rod of God's anger against His people, appointed by Him (Is. 10:5); the appeal was to have the wisdom of humility (Prov. 11:2) to perceive that it was God acting behind them.
Micah 6:10 Are there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the
wicked, and a short ephah that is accursed?- "Are there yet...?"
suggests the people should have repented by this stage. They needed to
urgently give away the results of their fraud, and no longer use false
weights. The fact Micah's message resulted in the Assyrian invasion being
turned back by God means that at least some responded to his desperate,
urgent appeal. "Accursed" is perhaps better "which provokes indignation"
(s.w. Zech. 1:12). God's utter indignation was against the quiet, subtle
dishonesty of those who made the ephah weigh to the slight advantage of
the wicked. I say "slight" because anything too obviously dishonest
wouldn't have been credible. Here again we have a major message from a
minor prophet. This kind of thing kindles God's deepest ire.
Micah 6:11 Shall I be pure with dishonest scales, and with a bag of
deceitful weights?- As noted on :10, this kind of thing provoked
God's deepest fury, as it does today. The connection with the contemporary
words of Isaiah is to Is. 1:16 "Make you clean [s.w. "pure"], put away the
evil of your doings". Micah is saying that response to Isaiah's opening
call to repentance isn't going to be possible if they continue with their
deceitful weights. But more than that, Micah stands as representative of
Judah: "Shall I be pure...". Perhaps it was his willing
representation of Judah which alone led to the aversion of judgment upon
Jerusalem at Sennacherib's time.
Micah 6:12 Her rich men are full of violence, her inhabitants speak
lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their speech- The rich leaders
and the ordinary inhabitants are paralleled; Judah was not to be judged
simply because of the sin of the minority who were wealthy. The ordinary
people were guilty in essence of the same sins. And speaking lies and
deceitfully is paralleled with "violence". This is typical of the
prophets- to juxtapose apparently minor, quiet sins with major ones; for
it is the quiet, subtle sins which are such abomination to God. See on
:10. Lying and deceit are likewise mentioned by Isaiah as major reasons
for Judah's judgment (Is. 32:7; 59:3,13). It was the false prophets who
spoke lies and deceit (Jer. 29:23; Zech. 13:3), but they spoke to a people
who did the same.
Micah 6:13 Therefore I also have struck you with a grievous wound. I
have made you desolate because of your sins- This paradox is also
used by the contemporary Isaiah; the wound was incurable, the people and
nation had to die. And yet they could still repent and be healed. See on
Mic. 1:9. This was the urgency of Micah's appeal; that an incurable
illness could be cured. They had already been made desolate, the word of
desolation had been spoken, in fulfilment of Lev. 26:32; but in the gap
between the pronunciation of judgment and the fulfilment of it, repentance
was possible. This was the urgency and intensity of Micah's appeal.
Micah 6:14 You shall eat, but not be satisfied- This continues
the allusions to the curses for breaking covenant with God (Lev. 26:26).
Being never satisfied is the curse of the condemned (Ps. 59:15; Prov.
27:20; Ecc. 1:8; 4:8). Yet the wicked experience this in this life; sin
never satisfies them. And this will be their final experience at the last
day. Whereas the righteous can live satisfied lives, looking back in
satisfaction at God's grace, at lives well lived. The life of endlessly
seeking satisfaction without finding it is therefore living out our own
condemnation.
Your humiliation will be in your midst- They ought to have humbled themselves (:8), but if they refused, then they would be humbled through the process of condemnation. The humbling of flesh before God must be achieved; either now, or in condemnation.
You will store up, but not save; and that which you save I will give up to the sword- This is so true of our present society. The culture of individualism, breakup of family and the care families have historically provided in old age, fear of the unknown, the need for funds to survive after we stop working... this has all led to a mentality of storing up. They saved up ["that which you save"], but in another sense they didn't ["but not save"]; because the ultimate end was decreed.
Micah 6:15 You will sow, but won’t reap- The Lord likened His preachers to men reaping a harvest. He speaks
of how they fulfilled the proverb that one sows and another reaps (Jn.
4:37,38). Yet this ‘proverb’ has no direct Biblical source. What we do
find in the Old Testament is the repeated idea that if someone sows but
another reaps, this is a sign that they are suffering God’s judgment for
their sins (Dt. 20:6; 28:30; Job 31:8; Mic. 6:15). But the Lord turns around
the ‘proverb’ concerning Israel’s condemnation; He makes it apply to the way
that the preacher / reaper who doesn’t sow is the one who harvests others in
converting them to Him. Surely His implication was that His preacher-reapers
were those who had known condemnation for their sins, but on that basis were
His humbled harvesters in the mission field.
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