The Minor Prophets: Micah

In 1939 the fortifications of Belgium and France proved to be a forlorn hope and the defeated and dispirited armies soon gave up the contest. Ancient Sparta knew something that modern nations have too often forgotten – it is the raw material being molded into fighting units that is more important than the piling up of stones and timbers for protection. We might also add, the more essential lesson that the providence of the Almighty Creator God counts even more importantly in these matters. That is a lesson that must be learned by the Judean people in the time of Micah & Isaiah.

Chapter Three of Micah aims towards one preaching point: the fortress of Zion must fall and the “City of God” must be destroyed. But it is the reasons for this disaster which matter most. Very much like every worldly fortress that has fallen in history – the defenders, usually in having offended the God of heaven must be defeated at every level of character and ability. And yet, if the same people deserving destruction will repent of their wickedness – God will take them under His Almighty wings of protection and guarantee them eventual salvation, no matter what must providentially transpire in the course of working out His Story.

However – before any message of hope may be realized, the ongoing habits and character of princes, prophets and people must be challenged to repent of their evil ways. And in this short chapter we may outline the prophetic message to all three classes in ancient Judah. Verses one to four, describe the princes of the city and those who give legal judgment. Verses five through eight, aim at the prophetic role of the Old Covenant Churchmen. And verses nine to twelve concerns the wealthy worldly who are able to own the courts and church to attain their nefarious control of the riches of the realm.

Development: There is nothing really new in this sordid history of Judah. From time to time, every nation has been afflicted by just such a country club atmosphere in the halls of justice and congregation. The widespread corruption of the papal authorities just prior to the Reformation spoke volumes about the necessity to challenge the spiritual status quo which allowed such travesties to be administered in the Name of Christ. The current alignment of Liberal Churches with the leftist political socialism of the politicians, educators and like minded justices is just as bad and without the Church being able to speak with one voice – abortion and all manner of perversity and income transfer must prevail by default.

Micah perceives the true mind of the Lord God and presents the ultimatum for revival before the princes, prophets and people of Judah. The essential question must be: will any repent from that wickedness and go on to restore the centrality of the Word of God to their culture before the culture must be destroyed? The ethical challenge of the prophet’s message is centered in the word “justice.” James Montgomery Boice tells us that “Justice has departed from Judah. That accusation dominates the chapter.”

We begin with Micah’s polemic against the princes of the realm. Isaiah’s observation on the morality of the culture are important to help us realize what Micah is preaching against. “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight! Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, and valiant men in mixing strong drink, who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of his right!” (Isaiah 5: 20-23)

There is in this frightening scene a sense of moral cannibalism whereby many, many of the weak and poor must be consumed for the sustenance of the politically correct. We have only to consider the contemporary moral blight of abortion and the related perversions supported and encouraged by the social agencies who raid the treasury to promote and sustain the ongoing genocide being tolerated in our once fair land.

One principle that many people do not understand is that in order for graft, corruption and immorality to flourish, the insidious industries and organizations that benefit from such social disorder must be allowed and even encouraged by the princes of the population. Historically, graft and corruption are only carefully tolerated if monies pass through certain hands. “Is it not for you to know justice? – you who hate the good and love the evil,” Micah pointedly asks in verses one and two. The “knowing” here “designates not merely intellectual appreciation of the law or of legal exigencies, but also personal knowledge of it so that out of sympathy for the afflicted one punishes the wrongdoer and re-establishes the outcast of fortune in his right.” (Waltke)

There is a certain speculation that the reigning princes were supposed to copy out in their own hand, their own personal copy of the Torah, so that during their education process at least – thus, they might be familiar with the godly counsel and requirements. However, the charges being made against the princes of the city is that not only do they not know the law and apply it, but that in their personal perversity they would rather establish anything but the truth. “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil” echoes Isaiah’s poetic prose down through the long ages of political abuse in the promotion of this all too human perspective.

Well does the prophet Micah use the grotesque figure of political cannibalism here to graphically gain the attention of the wrong doers. And furthermore, he promises the guilty - that the Lord will have no regard for their cry when in their own turn they are the helpless victims of the satanic figure they would rather serve. Mel Gibson once starred in a grisly film of a victim who worked his way up the sadistic food chain of those gangsters who lived off the corruption of every one below them. Those criminals who worked on each level of corruption were willingly sacrificed for the safety and welfare of everyone higher up. Judgment, God’s final justice must come upon all and sundry at long last – even if the finality of it must be postponed to the great and awesome last day – when every knew shall bow before His ultimate and most high authority!

Our second scene here demonstrates the Lord’s antipathy towards every false prophet, priest and pastor who would trade the things of the Lord for his own preference and whim. The first charge in verse five is against “the prophets who lead my people astray.” This is ever and always worse than the mere toying with people for their wealth. Here indeed the indiscrete power broker is dealing with human souls. There must be a special place in hell for such false prophets who will not concede that God is God, Lord of Lords and clear and concise in all His revelations. I remember one class in Seminary where I was laughed at because I observed on one passage of scripture that we must all be accountable for the teaching we gave in Christ’s Name. A neutral observer would have thought I had recently landed from another planet and stumbled into an enlightened realm of higher intelligence.

In the second instance, these false prophets are those “who cry ‘Peace” when they have something to eat.” I remember a worldly book that advised anyone who really liked to read, to seek out a position as a pastor since most of the week they could devote to their favorite habit and then must only share the wisdom of their delight for an hour or so a week. Commentator Bruce Waltke goes further in the sense of the prophet’s accusation: “Micah again censures the gluttonous prophets after the greedy rulers.” He agrees with the prophet that “the religious and judicial systems were in cahoots to protect the criminal and leave the victim at his mercy. It was an open secret, as they say.”

I am reminded of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn;s graphic portrayal of the use of the criminal element to persecute the honest citizens who wound up in the Gulag Archipelago for a multitude of minor and minimal charges. The poor were harassed continually so that the criminals might prosper and portray the injustice of the Soviet masters and system. In that upside down socialist society that afflicted the Russians for upwards of seventy long years – the truth was always perverted into lies of every manageable sort. Even the religious authorities were co-opted to participate in the ruination of the soul of Russia.

I have seen written records that indicate when the Soviet’s were plotting the overthrow of the liberal presidency of Russia – that the Russian Orthodox prelates were engaged in a great debate about the clothes and garments to be worn in worship. Prison garb it turned out suited more than many might ever have supposed – and those were the fortunate ones who did not receive an ounce of lead in the back of their brains.

In the American churches, I am reminded of the conservatives in the denomination of my youth, who were promised that if they did not spring to the defense of the younger men who might sympathize with them, they could keep their retirement and positions. Given all of the persecution that proceeded in the seminaries and pulpits – those men received their worldly rewards. And every time, the younger generation needed a word of support – there was nothing but silence!

“The sun shall do down on the prophets, and the day shall be black over them; the seers shall be disgraced, and the diviners put to shame; they shall all cover their lips, for there is no answer from God.” This is the word of the Lord and not just the opinion of Micah. False prophets, priests and pastors in every age have been united in their ignorance and total misunderstanding of the truths of God.

Application: By contrast we see the calling of God’s own men highlighted in verse eight: “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.” Ever and anew – this is the work of the servants of God to proclaim to the people. And this is exactly the address conveyed in the sacred Name of the Most High in our third section of this chapter.

And in this section we come full circle back to our introduction. Why have all the mighty fortresses fallen, why have the cities of the ages been despoiled. You have to ask – isn’t it always that in the process of building a civilization – the people so engaged begin to take themselves too seriously and just like the ancient Sumerians they would build towers to heaven to celebrate their own wisdom, might and power. “Hear this,” the prophet Micah proclaims widely throughout the long years of his ministry. “Hear this,” you sinners and rebels – this is what you have done, and it is not a tower of pride that you have raised up, but instead a mountain of refuse putrid to the Name and Person of God.

And his generation of sinners, like every other – even our own would dare to claim: “Is not the LORD in the midst of us? No disaster shall come upon us.” In the aftermath of 9/11 any pastor who pointed out that the disaster was well deserved in the Big Apple that demonstrated the ill health of the entire republic – they were put down in words more severe than reported here in the biblical record. How dare any modern pastors even consider their prophetic office to declare the words of the Lord God of heaven and earth. How dare any modern scoundrels trumpet a different mantra than that which is politically correct. After all, everything is fine – the sodomite, the adulterer, the morally degenerate are welcome in the public square: how dare a handful of anachronistic die hard religionists attempt to foist their antiquated beliefs on the most successful societies in the history of the world. After all gross is simply now a term that applies to the most productive national product ever to be achieved. We are no longer under the diatribe of Jewish prophets, Catholic monks and Protestant ministers.

Ripe for judgment the prophet proclaims the city, state and precincts of Zion. And so is every body politic and religion that ignores the very word of the Lord God of heaven and earth. “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.” Go into almost any historic church building where the simple word of God has been ignored for a generation or more – you will find handfuls of sheep serving corrupt stewards and shepherds who little realize that the spiritual foundation of their denominations and congregations has become a satanic cesspool instead. Ruined because of unfaithfulness – the prophet would admonish us in our turn! Let us heed the warning like the princes, prophets and people of Micah’s age and let the Lord allow a vibrant revival and reformation to renew His own church in our day. Will you pray for that renewal? Martin Lloyd Jones prayed for such a revival in his land his whole life – but we can still hope even as the man made darkness closes in. The Beatles sang joyfully of the dawning of their Age of Aquarius, and yet – there has always been something dark and sinister about that worldly view that leads us down and out rather than up and into the Kingdom of God! May the Lord God do a mighty work in our day, and just as the Supreme Soviet fell apart over night – may the same forces of darkness in our own land also be destroyed for all time, according to the sovereign pleasure of our Lord and Savior. “Come quickly Lord Jesus, come quickly, Amen.”

PREACHING RESOURCES
Bentley, Michael.  Balancing the Books: Micah & Nahum.
Boice, James Montgomery.  The Minor Prophets: An Expositional Commentary 2.
Waltke, Bruce.  Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries:  Micah
The Holy Bible:  English Standard Version.
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