In this lesson we will study the sayings of the prophet Micah whose name means ‘Who is like Yahweh’. His ministry was directed to both the northern kingdom Israel and to the southern kingdom Judah, because of their disloyalty to the covenant.  His ministry overlapped that of Isaiah, Amos and Hosea and so he witnessed under the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. 

Micah prophesied during a time of great crisis and it is precisely because his teachings were in response to what was happening in his world, that they are so relevant today, for today we struggle with the same type of sinful activities that was prevalent then.  To understand the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ of his statements, we should look at the circumstances that were occurring at that time.  

It was then that the prophet Isaiah had his famous encounter with King Ahaz and exhorted Ahaz to trust in Jehovah for deliverance. But this ungodly King refused to listen to Isaiah and instead turned to Assyria for help against the coalition that was attacking him with a view to overthrowing the Davidic dynasty. (16:7-9). Judah then became a vassal state to the Assyrians, Ahaz worshiped their gods in Damascus and forced the priests to sacrifice to pagan gods in Jerusalem.

The Assyrians did help Ahaz invade Israel and Israel's King Hosea went into retreat and paid tribute to the Assyrians to save his throne.  The traitorous King very soon rebelled and tried to get the Pharaoh of Egypt to help free him from Assyrian bondage.  His efforts were in vain and Tiglath-pileser’s successor attacked Israel. The capital city of Samaria was besieged for three years before being captured and destroyed and the people taken into exile and scattered among other nations. 

The reason for the destruction of Israel and their exile is described in 2 Kings 17:7-19, which after outlining the sins which lead to the destruction of the northern kingdom, said that Judah was guilty of the same offences against God.  

Before we read this, let us prepare ourselves to examine whether or not the present nations including our own are guilty of the same long list of offences against God that brought on the destruction of Israel and later the destruction of Judah.  Is it then possible that if we are similarly guilty, our end will be the same?  So we read:

“For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods,

And walked in the statues of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made.

And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the Lord their God, and they built high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.

And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree:

And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the Lord carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger:

For they served idols, where of the Lord had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing.

Yet the Lord testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statues, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.

Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the Lord their God.

And they rejected his statues, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were found round about them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them, that they should not do like them.

And they left or the Commandments of the Lord their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshiped all the host of Heaven, and served Baal.

And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold to themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.

Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them out to his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.

Also Judah kept not the Commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the statues of Israel which they made.”

Strangely enough when Hezekiah came to the throne of Judah, he joined an uprising along with Egypt, Edom and Moab against the Assyrians. Sennacherib attacked and captured much of Judah and Hezekiah paid tribute.  It was only the intervention of God that saved Judah from complete destruction. It was in this invasion during which Sennacherib captured forty-six of Judah’s strong cities and walled forts, as well as countless villages, that Micah’s hometown of Moresheth, which was about twenty-five miles southwest of Jerusalem was destroyed and his people killed or deported.  So this prophet experienced deep pain first hand. 

Micah showed the people of both kingdoms that they were failing to live up to the covenant which were designed for them to receive blessings for obedience.  This meant that they would experience the ‘cursings’ recorded in Deuteronomy 28: 15-68.  He warned Israel of impending judgment because of their disloyalty to the covenant and he warned Judah that since they were just as guilty as Israel, God would judge them just as he did Israel. 

So here we have a prophet who knew that God was sovereign and mighty, strong, jealous, powerful, holy, kind, patient, tender and merciful to his chosen people. He knew that God had long protected his people and wanted them to continue in an intimate relationship. But now Micah had to show Israel and Judah that this same God who allowed them to be victorious over their enemies, expected them to follow the terms of the covenant. 

We can learn from Micah that God does understand the chaos that is steadily increasing in this world and which result from the activities of the evil leaders in the world.  He sees all the dreadful things that happen, the deaths, the torture, the injustices, the unrighteousness, the bribery, the oppression, the covetousness, the indiscipline, the terrible behaviour of judges, prophets, priests, Kings and rulers.  He sees and he will act in his own time. 

So let us learn from Micah's prophetic book that there are three characteristics of God that we ignore at our peril.  The first is:

-God is a God of justice and judgment,

-God is a God of mercy, hope, and grace

-God will take the initiative in saving the remnant of his people, for he is a God who dispenses undeserved grace. 

We note that God is a God of terror, but He is also a most caring and loving God which is described in Micah 7:18,

“Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage?  He retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy.

He will turn again, and he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” 

The incredible teaching here however is that if we are the covenant people of God we ought to reflect his character and be loving, steadfast, loyal to God and to our fellow men.  We are to live for all men and do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with our God. 

There was a spiritual crisis in Judah and Israel.  Some think that there is such a crisis in our world today.  One writer notes:

“The spiritual crisis that Micah faced in Judah is matched today in our churches, our communities, and our political system.  He won't just speak generally, collectively.  He will challenge us personally to focus on the spiritual transformation of our desires and our actions.

Micah expects that this reformation will affect every relationship that we are involved in: at home, at church, at work, at play, and in community. 

Loving mercy, acting justly, and walking humbly with God are not just suggestions

or possible options.

Remember, Micah said it is the heart and soul of what is pleasing to God, who wants our lives to reflect his character.” 

If we are to be serious about doing what God wants, we should note that we are faced with the challenge of examining ourselves, to see whether or not we are broken-hearted and grieve like Micah over the sins of our people. Do the things happening around us bother us to the extent that we are willing to personally try to do something about them?

Do we lament over the sins of our people, or are we comfortably willing to compromise with sin and to deny our responsibility to act? 

Do we lament over the lost people of the world and for the people who will suffer the punishment of eternal death and separation from God? 

Do we have a burden of sorrow and grief for those going to Hell and do we act from a great concern for a lost world who do not know Jesus Christ and his gospel? 

What is our attitude toward the evil doers in the world, the rebellious, the terrorists, on whom we know the legitimate judgment of God will come? 

Do we lament and mourn over them? 

Or do we long for God to act against them and say good riddance? 

Do we pray against the ungodly, or pray that God will show mercy, love and grace toward them?

Is it our attitude to just put up with them and wait for God to deal with them, or do we cry out to God and intercede for their very souls?

Do we so often soften our belief in God's justice? 

As we read Micah let us be reminded that we are expected to grieve over those that are lost in their trespasses and sins. God does not expect us to lose our sense of compassion over people headed for death and the wrath of God. Micah’s messages should really bother us, for it deals with what we are called on by God to do in this world, our work in a world spinning out of control and into deepening chaos. 

As we read Micah let us remember that much of Micah contains great promises of the Messianic kingdom and the ultimate blessing for the people of God.  Micah certainly hoped that his message would motivate people to turn from their sins, repent and follow the covenant.  Maybe as we read Micah we will turn from all our sins and again live as we should under the covenant of God.

THE TEXT

Our text in chapter three forces us to think seriously about how we consider the poor and those that are disadvantaged. 

Micah now begins to indict the national leaders who operate in the civil area, those in the justice system and as well the religious leaders.  He will accuse them of not worshiping God in truth and not behaving as the Lord God who is righteous, kind and just.

Verse 1.  Micah literally demands that the people of Judah give him their attention, for he has an urgent message from God. He first addresses the heads of the nation, those with political and civil responsibility. 

We should note that in every age the powerful have often treated people unfairly, as if forgetting that there is a difference between right and wrong.  Many average folks, the less powerful, have often suffered injustice, for those in leadership have tended to be selfish.  They often do not make decisions based on concern for the common good and they often ignore the rules of ethics. That is why in Scripture we often see God as the one who fights on behalf of widows and the fatherless, who always judges iniquity and fights for justice.  What was true then is true now because men have not changed.  The wealthy, the educated and the powerful use their privileged positions and their advantages to oppress those that are helpless, selectively interpreting the law of God for their own financial advantage and to maintain their power. 

Exodus Eighteen describes the kind of leadership that would ensure justice.  Moses selected capable men from the people, men who feared God, had proven themselves to be trustworthy, who hated to get money dishonestly and who were prepared to be servants, serving all the people, all the time and maintaining the common good.   

These remain the qualifications for leadership and service in the New Testament and fit perfectly with apostolic instruction.  We ignore them at our peril.  The Church has often ignored the Mosaic and apostolic instruction and has suffered for it. 

There are three different sections in this chapter where we see God summoned the people, accused them, indicted each group of leadership separately and then pronounced judgment on them. 

Micah first addressed the tribal elders who served the nation and who acted as local judges, as well as those in administrative offices who were judges at criminal and civil trials, under the authority of the King in Jerusalem. 

Micah asked them this rhetorical and hard-hitting question, Are you not placed as leaders to be impartial in discharging your responsibilities, to be fair and not partial?  Isn’t to be expected that leaders know and accept the rules of justice and are not foolish and ignorant, in order that they avoid the awful consequences of sinning despite knowledge? 

Obviously, if they know the rules of justice as they should and are not ignorant, they were committing the grievous sin of transgressing the laws which they knew would be a serious provocation for God.

Verse 2.  Micah explains their attitude quite plainly, for he denounces them for having a bad heart, being driven by the principle of evil and so they clearly hated the good and loved the evil. 

We learn from this the reason why leaders practice evil, for we are told that the possession of evil hearts result in evil behavior.  We often try to excuse leaders who do not behave in accordance with the common good and are self-serving in what they do, but in the eyes of God they are generally sinning against knowledge; knowing what is right, but objecting to what is right and good. 

So they inevitably will hate good in others and make sure that the good in others as well as people who are good do not influence them.  They as one writer says, “love the evil, delight in mischief”. 

This kind of prophetic teaching reminds us that God does not place people in the congregation or in the nation for the sake of leaders.  In fact leaders are there for the sake of the people. If they do not serve as servants and as God requires, but are driven by selfish motives, they fall under the predator or cannibalistic description now introduced by Micah. 

The Old Testament always described the elders of the tribe, the King, the prophet, the priest and the judge as shepherds.  They were to protect the flock, display a good conscience, instead of butchering the sheep and feeding off the flock. Micah says that the leaders of Israel and Judah, instead of being shepherds, only loved evil and so they behaved like cannibals. They were cruel, tore the skin off the people, were ravenous and ate the flesh of the people. They were definitely not protecting the people, but were mercilessly taking away what they could from the flock and fattening themselves.   

They were obviously imposing extremely heavy taxes on the people, forcefully extracting these taxes, imposing fines on them, ruining them economically, so that they had an excuse to take away their lands and possessions. 

These leaders were ripping the people off, skinning them alive and when the people cried out, they were unconcerned.  Their attitude to the people was that if they wanted justice they had to pay and pay dearly.  If they had no money, tough luck!  As the saying goes, no money, no love.

Verse 3.   This description reminds us of the leaders in the nations of the world. The only people who can win a court case, or who generally challenge excessive taxation and government regulations successfully, are those who can afford the best lawyers. 

Note carefully that these leaders who should be behaving as if they were in the covenant and who had assumed the covenant responsibilities, were literally eating the flesh of the people who God called “my people”. This is a phrase God uses to describe people in a covenant love relationship with him.  It is a loving term of endearment. 

The people did not have a lot, were quite poor and helpless and should have been able to depend on their leaders to do the best for them instead of looking out only for themselves.  God definitely did not expect that the leaders would be barbarous and cruel to the people he called “my people”, for if that was done they would be attacking those that God loved, which amounted to attacking God himself.

Verse 4.  This was such an extreme act of injustice that God could not ignore the exploitation of his people and therefore these leaders in government would suffer severe judgment from God. 

There would come a time when they would themselves face people more powerful than they were and they would be helpless and so they would cry out to God for help.  They would seek mercy and protection from God, in the same manner the poor cried to God when they were oppressed.  Just as the rulers and judges ignored the poor and were only concerned that things were going well for themselves, God would respond with silence to the cries of the corrupt leaders. 

There would be no blessing for them. God would not “make his face shine upon them” as promised to those who kept his covenant. (See Numbers 6:25).  The opposite would happen to these corrupt rulers, for God would hide his face from them when they cried to him in the terror of their helplessness.  He would refuse to answer their prayers, would not listen to them and would behave exactly as they did when they turned a deaf ear to the cry for mercy from their helpless victims.   

The punishment would fit the crime.

Verses 5-8.  It is instructive to look briefly at the sinful behavior of the false prophets and false teachers, their punishment and promised judgment. 

Again God speaks and accuses the prophets of leading his people astray, deceiving the people, flattering them, giving them false information, allowing them to make mistakes and wander aimlessly, preaching peace and giving false comfort. 

They were not delivering God's message, but were treating those who managed to give them some extra cash much better than those who had no money.  As a matter of fact, those that had no money to give to the priests and prophets got a hostile prophecy; war was declared against them and divine judgment invoked. 

Verse eleven tells us that the judges judged corruptly for money and that the priests were the same.  They taught for money, were not focused on delivering the message of God, but slanted their delivery of the word of God based on the ability of the person in front of them to give them a financial gift.  

In addition, the prophets practiced divination to obtain money and so Micah highlighted the perversion, the violence and the financial greed. 

Everyone was on the take and was in direct disobedience to the law of God.  Justice was not even.  There was intense partiality.  The priests made money off the work of God.  The prophets were a scam.  Corruption was incredible.  This was an amazing amount of duplicity. 

But notice that while this terrible sinning was going on, there was a beautiful cover of false religiosity.  The sinning leaders believed that God was in their midst and attended their worship at the temple.  They were total hypocrites, for they had rejected the justice of God, but on the other hand they wanted God to protect them. 

These were princes without justice, priests with no law and prophets with no word from God.  As a result there would be judgment and humiliation and everything they had would be wiped out and Jerusalem taken off the map.

So like the situation in those days we face the issue of the responsibility of spiritual leadership, for then as now the leaders failed to give godly leadership and people went all over the map in total confusion and headed for destruction. 

We have a responsibility to evaluate all officials; whether in government, in our schools, or in our church. For if there is no justice from these leaders, there will be far-reaching and tragic consequences, if officials in any sphere love evil and hate good. 

God, unequivocally condemns leaders who are violent, oppress people, who are selfish and self-serving, behave unjustly toward others, show partiality, do not speak the truth of God, slant Scripture or ethics to suit their own needs and who trample on the poor. 

There was more on top of  Micah’s tough message. Note that he uses himself to illustrate that the sins of the leaders did not have to be that way. Unlike them he says in verse eight, he was filled with the power and with the Spirit of the Lord and so would courageously and fearlessly tell the truth in the power of God. 

We today should demand this kind of godly justice, courage, and fearlessness for God, for God still demands that from all leaders whether they be civil leaders, leaders in the justice area, or religious leaders.

Note what God says he wants as Exodus 18: 21.

“ Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and plays such over them, to be rulers..”

CHAPTER 6:6-8

In this chapter Micah is describing a courtroom scene, where God is pictured as having a “controversy”, against his people.  The mountains, the hills and the strong foundations of the earth, are the jury. 

He has urged the people to repent so that they would escape the judgment of God. It is recorded that King Hezekiah later remembered Micah’s message of warning in chapter three and this led to national repentance and God's deliverance from the invasion of the Assyrians. That repentance obviously did not last for very long and was later shown to be superficial.  

Micah continued not only to prophesy the doom of Judah, but he also in chapters four and five gave promises that God's kingdom would eventually be established, that Israel would be changed, the nations of the world would be changed and that ‘out of Bethlehem would come a ruler in Israel, whose going forth had been from of old, from everlasting’. 

Following those two great chapters of comfort, Micah had to take God's complaint against his people into the divine court. Now as if he gives the basis for condemning Israel, he brings into the forefront God’s covenant with them and the law that He had given to them.  He told them exactly what He expected of them and why. 

It is important to note in this court scene how God phrased his indictment when he placed Israel on trial and how the people responded. The response from Israel is crucial to understanding our lesson text. 

God uses the mountains and the hills as a jury, for Israel and Judah would understand the idea that these entities had been around a long time and would have seen what God has done for Israel and what Israel had done to him. Before looking at how God was calling on Israel to trust him and return to him in covenant loyalty and love, we note this conversation between God and his people. 

God is here asking Israel to “contend” with him legally and to bring their grievance in this court where they are guaranteed fairness would rule and that there would be objective analysis of everyone’s position.  God is telling Israel and Judah that they could hit him with their accusations first and get up and state their case, so that the jury would hear. 

Apparently Israel is silent and so God speaks from verse two.  Though they were in deep sin God addressed them surprisingly as “my people”, apparently not wanting to sever them from the covenant.   

He does not even directly accuse them but ask them to tell Him where He had failed and where He had done them wrong.  He wants to know why they are bored with Him and why they have neglected Him. 

As we read this put ourselves in the position of Israel, take notice of God's “controversy” with his people, for sin always creates this controversy between God and man. God is now pleading with Israel before He acts in judgment, and as well He is now pleading with us before He acts in judgment against us. 

When God pleads, notice that He is telling us that he has never deceived us, never lied to us, never disappointed us, never did us wrong, never disgraced us and so He can challenge us to testify against him, to see if He has ever been unreasonable.

God can safely search his own heart for any evidence of unfaithfulness or unreasonably burdening His covenant people. 

His covenant people cannot answer him or testify against Him, so God in his defence reminds Israel of their history, showing that He has many times been gracious to them and redeemed them. God turns to the history of their salvation and gives them four examples of his gracious behavior. 

First, He says that He saved them out of the bondage of Pharaoh.

Second, he gave them good trustworthy leaders to lead them.

Third, when Balak king of Moab hired Balaam to curse them, every time he opened his mouth to curse, God made a blessing came out of his mouth.

Fourth, God reminded them that when they crossed the Jordan River “from Shittim to Gilgal”, Shittim being their last encampment outside Canaan, and Gilgal being their first lodging in the Promised Land, God had miraculously held back the flooding river so that they could cross. 

God had continuously revealed his love for them, His faithfulness and His righteousness.  Clearly He had kept his side of the covenant and they had no reason to complain. 

Now we will see how Israel would respond.  Would they accept that their behavior was intolerable?  Would they repent?  Would they bow down themselves before God?  Would they ask for forgiveness?  Would they ‘count their blessings and name them one by one’?

Verse 6.  Instead, the people were defensive, finally speaking, and really asking, “What can we do?  What do you want from us? Do you want us to come before you and bow before you? 

All these are rhetorical statements the people were making in their defence. They were countering the questions God had asked them. This was not the kind of approach one would expect in answer to a formal legal charge. They should not be asking rhetorical questions but should be explaining directly why they were doing what they were doing. They should be presenting facts to the court in their defence. This kind of defensive response indicates a hard heart, bitterness and resentment. 

Note in this interchange what they called God. God had been warm and personal in the term He had used to describe them, reminding them of the many things they had been through together, but in response they used an impersonal term for their covenant God “The God on High”. 

It has also been pointed out that the word they used for “bow” is a word which means “servile obeisance”, indicating that they felt that they were far from him. This was not the attitude to a covenant keeping God that they loved.

Verse 7.  This sounds as if the people were asking God what His price was.  It is as if they were telling God that he was asking too much from them and that it seemed that nothing was sufficient to satisfy Him. 

It reminds us of what Jacob did when he was going back to Canaan knowing that he would meet Esau his brother, the same Esau that he had robbed years ago. Jacob dealt with the situation by sending many gifts before him to soften Esau's heart. This of course meant that Esau was the one who had the problem, who was holding a grudge. 

So since Esau in Jacob's mind was the one with a grudge, Jacob reasoned that his generosity would make Esau forget the betrayal.  He would be bought off. Similarly Israel and Judah were forgetting God's unconditional love for them and his commitment to them, a commitment which came out of his character.   

Israel because of their evil heart was assuming that God's interest in them sprang from the size and value of the gifts that they could bring to him. So they asked God whether he wanted massive amounts of burnt offerings, literally massive torrents of olive oil.  What is worse and really ugly, is that they asked whether or not God wanted child sacrifice! 

The people knew what God wanted.  They knew very well that sacrifice was only acceptable if it came from a contrite heart.  They knew that the cattle on a thousand hills belonged to God and that they were only stewards. Even their breath was in the hands of God. 

When someone deliberately misunderstands that God wants an ongoing loving relationship with his people and instead thinks that bringing offerings was sufficient to placate God and to make him forget the ugliness of sins committed, this is the height of iniquity.

The people seem to believe that empty ritual was all that God demanded and they could replace heart felt worship with this kind of emptiness.

Verse 8.  God replies that there are three core requirements, with two dealing with our relationships to people around us and the third addressing our relationship with God.

Micah tells the people that there is really nothing new to what God wanted.  He had already told them what was required for being in the covenant. They already knew what was “good”.  Deuteronomy 10:12-15 had already spelled out everything. 

“And, now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, To keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statues, which I command thee this day for thy good?”. 

“For the Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward:

He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment”, (17-18). 

Micah called on them to “do justice”, not only saying that other people must be just, but they should support justice in every fashion, making sure those in authority did not use their position to take advantage of the weak.  They should defend the helpless. 

We too have to learn from this that we are to defend and serve the helpless.  We are to be concerned about the unborn that are being killed and those living below the poverty line. 

They should, says Micah, love kindness, otherwise translated “love mercy”.  The Hebrew word here means “loyal love” and it defines God's steadfast covenantal love. 

Today we know that this applies to parent- child relationships, child to parent relationship, husband to wife and wife to husband relationships and sibling to sibling relationships.  This term also covers relationships in the business area and in the community.  

Then Micah says the people of Israel were to walk humbly with God, to follow the will of God, to walk in submission to God and not to live carelessly.  They should remember who God is, as Deuteronomy stated. 

God saw deceit in Israel and Judah and Micah told them to stop that nonsense.  If they did not come and remained guilty of covenant disloyalty, trying to justify their sins, they would be made desolate. The extent of the desolation and the ravages they would experience is outlined in verses thirteen through fifteen.

CONCLUSION

Let us understand the seriousness of the words of Psalm 32:1-2 which reads: 

“How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered!

How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit!”

The famous Spurgeon advises us:

-Walk humbly when you're spiritually strong.

-Walk humbly when you have much work to do.

-Walk humbly in all your motives.

-Walk humbly when studying God's Word.

-Walk humbly with you are under trials.

-Walk humbly in your devotions.

-Walk humbly between you and your brothers in Christ.

-Walk humbly when dealing with sinners. 

The voice of the Lord is crying out.  You already know, O man, what is good!