Rev. Don Campbell
Micah 1-7
THOUGHT FOR TODAY, July 14, 2019
“GOD HAS TOLD YOU WHAT HE WANTS”
The ministries of Amos and Micah overlapped by about 10 years. The northern kingdom fell during Micah’s ministry. The theme of both is much the same: While the Gentile nations were corrupt, the corruption of Judah and Israel was worse because they were God’s covenant people whom he had blessed. Through Amos, God had said that he despised their feasts and other acts of worship, saying, “But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24). Justice is also a theme in Micah.
God denounced both the rulers and the false prophet through Micah. He begins: “And I said: Hear, you heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel! Is it not for you to know justice? This rhetorical question demanded an answer, but justice was as foreign to them as sunlight is to cave creatures. Turning to the prophets, he said, “The seers shall be disgraced, and the diviners put to shame; they shall all cover their lips, for there is no answer from God. But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the Lord, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin (Micah 3:7-8).
He isn’t through:
“Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob
and rulers of the house of Israel,
who detest justice
and make crooked all that is straight,
who build Zion with blood
and Jerusalem with iniquity.
Its heads give judgment for a bribe;
its priests teach for a price;
its prophets practice divination for money;
yet they lean on the Lord and say,
“Is not the Lord in the midst of us?
No disaster shall come upon us.”
Therefore because of you
Zion shall be plowed as a field;
Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins,
and the mountain of the house a wooded height” (Micah 3:9-12).
In Micah 6 God recounts all that he had done for them and how they had sinned. Their response is more like a plea bargain than contrition and confession. The deal-making would go something like this:
“Okay, Amos, we admit we haven’t been perfect. Shall we bring him offerings of year-old calves?” (Micah 6)
Amos glares at them in silence.
“Okay, what if we bring thousands of rams and rivers of oil—will that satisfy him?” (Micah 7a).
Still no answer.
“Okay, okay. We’ll give our firstborn children, the fruit of our bodies as burnt offers—will that be enough?” (Micah 7b)
Micah speaks: “He has told you, O man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 8)
God’s nation today is a spiritual nation (1 Peter 2:9); however, the more blessings a nation has received from God and the more a nation claims to be a God-fearing nation, the more God demands of that nation. And what does he require of such nations? Justice, kindness, and humility.
CONNECTIONS
1. Are justice and kindness toward others required only if the others are those of our own camp, whether religious, political, or cultural? See Leviticus 19:33-34 for God’s answer.
2. Speaking on a personal rather than a national level, David acknowledged that God was not looking for burnt offerings and sacrifices, but what does he say God requires of his people? (Psalm 51:16-17).
