MICAH 6:6 - 8
Micah Chapter 6 is set out as a court room. God is judge, prosecutor and plaintiff. Israel is the defendant and the mountains
(creation) are the witnesses.
A. An indictment by the Lord (6:1- 5)
6:1. the Lord
called on witnesses (the mountains) to listen to His case (“lawsuit or
litigation, accusation”) against His covenant people. He was calling for
outside witnesses to confirm that He had been just and righteous with His
people and that Israel had been wrong in its attitudes and actions before God.
The witnesses He appealed to were people everywhere, represented by “the
mountains” (cf. v. 2)
and the hills.
Lord addressed the nation as My
people (cf. v. 5).
By a question (What have I done to you?) the Lord affirmed His innocence. Though
the Israelites had often complained against God, they had no grounds for such
complaints.
God reminded the people of His
goodness in leading them out of Egypt into the Promised Land. The Exodus was a
great focal event in the life of Israel because by it God had delivered them
from foreign domination and also because it was followed by the Lord’s giving
the Law to them through Moses. The word “redeemed” reminded them of the slaying
of the Passover lambs so that the oldest son of each Israelite family would not
be killed (Ex. 12:3,
7,
12-13).
6:5.
Micah next reminded God’s people (cf. “My people” in v. 3)
of their forefathers’ experience in the wilderness when Balak... of Moab tried
to get Balaam to prophesy against the covenant people (Num.
22-24). Rather than
cursing the people, Balaam blessed them. This was another evidence of God’s
goodness to them. Another great event in the nation’s life was the journey from
Shittim, the Israelites’ last campsite east of the Jordan River, to Gilgal, the
first encampment after the miraculous crossing of the Jordan River. In all
these things God was their Protector and Defender, giving them grace over and
over.
B. The response of Micah for the
nation (6:6-8)
In these well-known verses the
prophet responded to the Lord’s indictment. Micah spoke as a righteous person
who understood his people’s guilt.
6:6.
Speaking for the nation, Micah asked what he must take before the Lord in worship to regain His good
favor. Micah asked if he should approach the Lord with burnt offerings. Should
he go with calves ready to be sacrificed? He knew that the sacrifices were
meant to be outward expressions of inner trust and dependence on God for His
grace and mercy.
6:7.
Micah then asked in hyperbole if the Lord
would want thousands of rams, or 10,000 rivers of oil, or even his own
firstborn child (the fruit of his body) to atone for his transgression and sin
(cf. 1:5;
3:8;
7:18).
He of course knew these would not appease God’s wrath on the nation. Nor was
Micah condoning the evil practice of child sacrifice, forbidden in the Law (cf.
Lev. 18:21;
20:2-5;
Deut. 12:31;
18:10).
He asked those rhetorical questions to suggest to Israel that nothing—not even
the most extreme sacrifice—could atone for what she had done. Also this
emphasized that God did not want them to “pay” Him. Instead God wanted them to
change their actions and attitudes.
6:8.
Micah then told the nation what God did desire from them. God did not want them
to be related to Him in only a ritualistic way. God wanted them to be related
inwardly—to obey Him because they desired to, not because it was a burden on
them. That relationship, which is good (beneficial), involves three things:
that individuals
(a) act justly (be fair in their
dealings with others),
(b) love mercy (ḥesed̠,
“loyal love”; i.e., carry through on their commitments to meet the needs of others),
(c) walk humbly with... God
(fellowship with Him in modesty, without arrogance).
Doing justice “is a way of loving mercy,
which in turn is a manifestation of walking humbly with God”
These verses give a sampling of the
sins in which Israel was involved. They are part of the reason for God’s
lawsuit (vv. 1-2).
This list, though not complete, is sufficient to emphasize that the nation was
guilty.
6:10-12.
Not acting justly (cf. v. 8),
the people were amassing wealth by devious means (ill-gotten treasures; cf. Prov. 10:2).
They were being dishonest in their business practices by using a short (i.e.,
small) ephah, a dry-measure standard of about six gallons. In other words they
were cheating their customers. Likewise, sellers used dishonest scales and
false weights to give less merchandise than the buyers thought they were
getting. God said He hates such unfair practices, that take advantage of others
(cf. Lev. 19:35-36;
Deut. 25:13-16;
Prov. 11:1;
16:11;
20:23;
Hosea 12:7;
Amos 8:5).
Violence by rich people and lying by almost everyone were common (v. 12). —Bible
Knowledge Commentary
ACCUSATIONS AGAINST ISRAEL
Micah states the requirement that
the people of God were NOT guilty of.
“It's quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love, And don't take yourself too seriously— take God seriously.” MSG
“but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God”
What were they guilty of? Let’s turn these ideas into NEGATIVES – the opposite of what God demanded.
1. GUILTY OF INJUSTICE
Micah states that the Lord requires
that we “do justly”
To act fairly – this is what we want
in sports – soccer games, etc. The
referee must be fair in all his decisions.
What they did in Micah’s time – guilty of social and spiritual injustice
Verses 10 – 12: "Do you expect me to overlook obscene wealth you've piled up by cheating and fraud? Do you think I'll tolerate shady deals and shifty scheming? I'm tired of the violent rich bullying their way with bluffs and lies.” MSG
They were being
dishonest in their business practices and cheating their customers by using a
short or small ephah- a dry-measure standard of about 12 litres.
Likewise, sellers used
dishonest scales and false weights to give less merchandise than the buyers
thought they were getting.
Hosea 12:6 – 7 So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God." A merchant, in whose hands are false balances, he loves to oppress.
Amos 8 : 4 – 6 Hear this, you who trample on the needy and bring the poor of the land to an end, 5 saying, "When will the new moon be over, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may offer wheat for sale, that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great and deal deceitfully with false balances, 6 that we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals and sell the chaff of the wheat?"
Who say, "When's my next pay check coming so I can go
out and live it up? How long till the weekend when I can go out and have a good
time?" Who give little and take much, and never do an honest day's work. 6 You
exploit the poor, using them— and then, when they're used up, you discard them.
MSG
Israel’s businessmen single-mindedly pursued a profit, and did not care that they were trampling the needy and doing away with the poor of the land (cf. 2:6-7; 5:11). Preoccupied with making money, the businessmen begrudged the interruptions caused by the monthly feast of the New Moon and the weekly observance of the Sabbath. They impatiently fidgeted till these days of rest and worship (Ex. 20:8-11; 23:12; 31:14-17; 34:21; Num. 28:11-15; 2 Kings 4:23; Isa. 1:13-14; Ezek. 46:1-6; Hosea 2:11) were over so that they could resume their aggressive dealings.
They cunningly found ways to add to their profits—skimping
the standard measure so that customers got less than they paid for, boosting
the price by substituting heavier shekel-weights so that customers were
overcharged, and cheating with dishonest scales by tampering with the
cross beam of the balances. Not content with these covenant violations (Lev.
19:35-36; Deut.
25:13-16; cf. Prov.
11:1; 16:11; 20:10, 23; Hosea
12:7; Micah
6:10-11), they compounded their sin by
deceptively selling an inferior product—the sweepings of soiled
and trampled grain mixed and packaged with the clean pure wheat. They
cared nothing about human suffering or the inability of the poor to pay
their prices. Instead, they forced the needy into slavery in exchange
for insignificant sums (see Amos 2:6 for comments on a pair of sandals).
What we do today – how do you behave in an unfair manner? In the way you treat others
Social injustice is a huge problem in our society and even in our churches
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