The Minor Prophets: Micah

We begin with an unusual word from poetic literature and even contemporary music. The word in question is: “anacrusis.” An online literary dictionary gives this definition: “One or more unaccented syllables at the beginning of a line of verse that are regarded as preliminary to and not part of the metrical pattern.” We can be satisfied with the knowledge that this preliminary phrase establishes Micah’s declaration concerning the true source of this poetic revelation.

Verse 1a: the passage in question, states simply for all and sundry to: “Hear what the Lord says.” This information is by no means divorced from the material to follow, but is simply a statement to inform the reader of what is to come afterwards. Commentator Bruce Waltke simply observes: “The anacrusis calls Israel to hear this third division of the book with a validation of its divine source.”

Now, we have to remember the historic context of these days. The wicked Assyrians were at work destroying the countryside and any of the population who could find refuge, were either in Jerusalem or hiding in the remoter districts of the land. In colonial times little children in the Ohio territory were warned that Simon Girty and his band of cutthroats and Indian allies were at loose and meant to do them vile harm. The Assyrians were, however – far, far worse in every and any respect: to the accomplishments of bloody slaughter and destruction during the Indian Wars for the Old Northwest. In polite society, we cannot even enumerate the terrible and gross torture reserved for the captive warriors and slaves of conquered countries. Any possible urban legends of “snuff” films in our time would only be the tip of the iceberg for the common practices of the Assyrian “artists in torture.”

Development: In that context we can certainly understand the consternation within the population, and perhaps because of the extremely grave threat – the general population is all the more willing and able to hear the words of the prophet. But his words are not what they would commonly expect from the paid prophets who in every age tell people only what they want to hear. Instead, we move on in the next section to a short description of a scene in court, where the Creator God of the universe confronts His Covenant people with serious charges of sin against those already in grave danger. Again Waltke outlines the obvious information before us: “The trial scene includes the Plaintiff (the Lord), the messenger on behalf of the Plaintiff (Micah), and the witnesses (the mountains), and the defendant (Israel).”

“Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice,” the Lord God instructs Micah. And in these words is the courtroom setting established for a case against the Lord’s people. While mankind’s time on earth is extremely short, the seeming everlasting hills have seen it all: the initial conquest by the people of Israel, the settlements, the falling away time after time into sin of every conceivable kind. And to the concept of that timeless memory, the prophet spreads forth the indictment of the Lord against His own people, who have broken faith and covenant with Him.

I wonder how amazed the people were at this indictment. After all, their earnest turning to the Temple and faith of their fathers was fearfully given in the hope of national salvation and preservation. Instead of promises of hope in their darkest hour, Micah opens a court of inquest amidst fearful threats and charges. Now, please note in the last lines of verse two that not only will the Lord indict, but He will also contend with the tribes of His covenant. I would think that this contention with their spirits ought to be taken in the larger context of God’s wrestling match with Jacob of old. By this, I simply mean that God will not only bring the charges of sin against His people, but He will also prepare their hearts to face the music and to go on and repent as He allows and plans the unfolding of history.

Isn’t this the way of the Lord in every place and time: judgment and preparation of His people to respond in repentance? Has it only been a little over 911 days since the twin towers were knocked down? In the immediate aftermath, there were many evangelicals who promised a vast repentance and turning of our people to the Lord God of heaven and earth. Hardly, has this been the case over all.

In fact, the worldly leftists of every stripe have demanded that society run further and further away from the foundational laws and institutions of the Lord’s revelation. Hardly much evidence for any form of revival! Yet, still those same atheistic liberals are arguing louder and shriller to usher their own New Age in and they intend to ram it down the throats of any and all who would oppose their plans. Hopefully, as their sins and desires become more public in knowledge and forceful in their intention – a greater majority will recoil and turn to the Lord of all the earth?

Our next division of verses three to five outline the summary accusation which the Lord brings against the people of Judah. There are two questions here in verse three and then two verses reminding them of His great love for them, which should obviously be known through their remembrance of His might acts on their behalf down through the ages. There are two questions here in verse three and then two verses reminding them of His great love for them, which should obviously be known through their remembrance of His mighty acts on their behalf down through the ages.

The first question is this: “O my people what have I done to you?” Waltke tells us that “this is a defensive question to protect his own innocence.” Comedy shows use this biblical technique in the mouths of Jewish mothers, whenever their seemingly faithless progeny have not given the proper love and respect. And yet, behind that comedy, there is a certain unaccountable pathos that silences those thereby intimidated. Grocho Marx was a master in this regard, often asking his game show contestants “When did you stop beating your wife?” If we can rise above the common humor of the American media to the real substance of what is going on here: Obviously no one in their right mind could or would accuse the Lord of all the earth of any wrong doing.

The second question is more to the point in contention: “How have I wearied you?” In more human terms, the Lord God is simply asking them if His lawful demands have been burdensome instead of designed to relieve them from greater burdens of sin. Over the past few months, as I have driven around the county with students, a common burden for far too many is the division of time they must give to parents who live apart. Back and forth between two homes they must travel on a regular basis, living here for a while, then moving again and again because of the financial instability of maintaining two homes and the spiritual malnourishment where such divisions of church obligations is too much to condone a steady diet of any doctrinal faithfulness to the various churches (or lack there0f) and the assorted lifestyles in the different homes where their time is divided.

“How have I wearied you?” The Lord simply asks of people who have served a multitude of gods and goddesses amidst a multitudinous confusion of obligations and sacrifices. Why have they gone after other gods? “Answer me!” the Lord demands, show me where my burdens are too heavy? Waltke tells us that the second question here “is designed to take the initiative away from Israel and to put her on the defensive.” How much lighter are the laws of our God and King than all the faithless desires of our hearts that would lead to an unending amount of trouble and expense?

I can still remember a man I once knew, who encouraging many to deal positively with any mid-life crisis: fell into sin and compounded his life and problems for ever afterwards. Now that he is retired, he must continue working full time to support any number of children and step-children in their education, in addition he must share the grandchildren with several sets of extended kin – and then there is the exceptionally assorted choir of advice for the youngsters ever and forever singing off tune and in opposition one to another.

Commentator Waltke gets almost poetic in his rehearsal of the loving providence granted when people live within the Lord’s gates and obey His commandments: “With pathos and tenderness aimed straight at Israel’s heart, he twice calls them ‘my people.’ The speech (here in verse three to five), full of grace and truth, aims to reprove and to woo Israel back to her covenant obligations, not to pronounce sentence upon her with withering words. The Lord justifies his implied accusation that Israel has wronged him in not requiting his love by rehearsing his grace towards her” in a short but meaningful list of His mighty acts on behalf of His covenant people.

In our next section, verses six and seven, representative questions of the people are put forward to test the terms of their misunderstood contract. Do you catch the word there, contract? Instead of a loving Covenant cut by the Sovereign Lord to administer with all of His grace, mercy and love – the people of God seem hell bent on renegotiating the contract that will guarantee them redemption. This reminds me of a recalcitrant elder, long gone to his “eternal reward”: whose all too common question was this: “Just tell me what I have to do to get into heaven!” In the same way, the short list of questions here define the ongoing despair that a solid and proper understanding of theology can repair when hearts are humble enough to receive instruction.

“Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?”
“Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil?”
“Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”

After all, a year old calf given to be burnt whole is an expensive offering. Well I know, because I have had such animals fall over dead, just when I was anticipating a small profit and return on expenses! Thankfully, I only lost one that age out of eighty-some calves. In addition, they ask how much oil will suffice. In the last year, I have tried cooking in Olive Oil since the diet books recommend that expensive commodity. Sheep too – have I raised and in the numbers mentioned here – in both cases any worldly givers would count the cost especially dear. And the last pathetic question is related to the desperate pagan practices to motivate their false gods. What an absolute insult before the gracious throne of God – all of these questions represent!

Application: Well can I remember the frustrations of educating young people in the last years of the twentieth century. Leaving all the problems of maladministration aside, it was always absolutely amazing how few cultural and civilized concepts the students were able to understand. All too many actually thought that our Constitution could live and breathe and thereby react to their every whim and desire. Hardly one in ten understood that some concepts, rights, privileges and responsibilities transcended the generations and that they had any obligation to think and act in any predictable and specific manner. After all, they assumed themselves to be the masters of their own fate and fully capable of making godlike decisions in total ignorance of what the God of heaven demanded and desired.

Micah speaks to every generation under the sun in words that should convict the majority of their total ignorance and stupidity. “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you?” And then in the last phrases of our section today, the prophet lays out three minimal reactions to the grace and love of God. These are nothing more than the sum total of the Great Commandment given in and through Jesus Christ: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22: 37-38)

The three commands here simply are: “to do justice and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.”

We are to understand that it was the very lack of justice and mercy that underlined the social sins in and around Jerusalem and the rural suburbs and precincts. There was unfortunately a certain haughtiness and social clannishness that created many and varied inequities. In our own country, we see a large class of leaders who have no concept of what it means to work and save. And they get upset when the courts challenge their sense of living above the law. And lawlessness certainly seems to be increasing in our day and time, especially when local authorities begin to believe that they can abandon God’s laws about marriage, relationships and even property rights – as well as responsibilities to live in peace.

The final charge of the Lord God is that we as His people are “to walk humbly with [our] God.” This means that we must have an awareness of sin, as well as a responsible conscience to treat others in love and mercy just as God has treated us in and through our Lord Jesus Christ. “Forgive us our debts as we forgive others” is a very important part of the Lord’s Prayer that we pray many weeks. This is all that Micah is saying, and if we can realize our true position in relationship with the God of heaven and earth, then we are charged to treat everyone else as we have been treated. May God so order our hearts and minds so that we may thereby give Him the glory He deserves.
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.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Permission granted to redistribute unedited versions with this notice.
http://www.tulip.org/tar/mprophets/Mic09.htm
To Subscribe or Unsubscribe go to:
http://www.four.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/ccrlist/