THE BOOK OF MICAH
LESSON 4: CHAPTERS 6-7
III. THE PLEA FOR REPENTANCE (6:1-7:20)
Israelites, hear what Yahweh says,
for Yahweh indicts [brings a riv against] the citizens of the country: there is no loyalty, no
faithful love [hesed], no knowledge of God in the country, only perjury and
lying, murder, theft, adultery and violence, bloodshed after bloodshed.
Hosea 4:1-2
The Hebrew word riv/rib refers to a covenant lawsuit. "Hesed" [chesed] is a unique kind of love, referring to God's spiritual love and mercy for humanity in the context of a covenant union and His people's devotional piety and love for Him.
Yahweh has risen to accuse [issue a
riv], is standing to pass judgment on the people. Yahweh is about to try the
elders and princes of his people ...
Isaiah 3:13-14a
This lesson is the third part of the Book of Micah. Micah's oracles have oscillated between God's reproaches, judgments, and messages of encouragement and forgiveness. As we delve into this third part, we see a continuation of the reproaches, but verse 7:7 encourages the covenant people to trust God and His divine plan. In the final verses (7:8-20), we see fulfilled all the hopes placed in the future.
Answers to the questions are at the end of the lesson.
The First Plea of Yahweh (6:1-8)
Micah 6:1-3 ~Yahweh's Covenant Lawsuit
Now listen to what Yahweh says: "Stand up, state your case [riv/rib] to the mountains and let the hills hear what you have to say!" 2 Listen, mountains, to the case [riv/rib] as Yahweh puts it, give ear, you foundations of the earth, for Yahweh has a case [riv/rib] against his people and he will argue it with Israel. 3 "My people, what have I done to you, how have I made you tired of me? Answer me!
Yahweh brings a "riv/rib," a covenant lawsuit, against His chosen people for violating the covenant He made with them at Mount Sinai. After receiving the Ten Commandments in Exodus Chapter 23, Moses went and told the people all Yahweh's words and all the laws, and all the people answered with one voice, "All the words Yahweh has spoken we will carry out!" (Ex 24:3). They swore a covenant oath to fulfill all Yahweh asked of them, repeating the oath a second time in Exodus 24:7. Their sworn oath was sealed in a blood sacrifice and a sacred meal in the presence of God (Ex 24:8-11). Obedience to God's covenant results in covenant blessings (Dt 28:1-14); however, disobedience results in self-inflicted covenant curses (Dt 27:15-26; 28:15, 45-46; Ps 107:17-18; Is 43:22-28; Is 9:11-14, 24-25; Hosea 6:7-9; 8:1-7; etc.). See the list of God's covenants in the handout.
Question #1: God established His covenant with Israel at Mount Sinai with a sworn covenant oath,
a sacrifice, and a sacred meal. As Christians, what is our sworn covenant
oath, and what is our blood sacrifice and sacred meal? Hint: see
Revelation 5:6, and the word "sacrament" means "oath."
check your answer
This passage begins a legal arraignment against the covenant people in which God and Israel both speak. The legal indictment of a riv appears frequently in the books of the prophets (cf., Is 3:13-15; 5:3-7; 34:8; Hos 4:1-3; etc.), where it depicts a public trial or debate in the Court of Heaven, in which the Lord God is the plaintiff (Mic 6:2) and the world (hills, mountains, etc.) is His witness (verses 1-2). Yahweh demands an answer as to why His covenant people have abandoned Him and the Law He established to train them in just and righteous behavior to give them a path of life (Dt 30:15-20). In verse 3, He asks what has caused them to withdraw from His protection (verse 3; Dt 29:24-28).
Micah 6:4-8 ~ Yahweh's Plea for Israel to do What is Right and Just
4 For I brought you up from Egypt, I ransomed you from the place of slave-labor
and sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to lead you. 5 My people, please remember:
what was Balak king of Moab's plan and how did Balaam son of Beor answer him? ...
from Shittim to Gilgal, for you know Yahweh's saving justice. 6 "With what
shall I enter Yahweh's presence and bow down before God All-high? Shall I enter
with burnt offerings, with calves one-year-old? 7 Will he be pleased with rams
by the thousand, with ten thousand streams of oil? Shall I offer my eldest son
for my wrong-doing, the child of my own body for my sin?" 8 "You have already
been told what is right and what Yahweh wants of you. Only this, to do what is
right, to love loyalty, and to walk humbly with your God."
After God's indictment against the covenant people in verses 3-5, He recalls His goodness to them when delivering them from bondage in Egypt, giving them the leadership of Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, and saving them from King Balak of Moab's plan using the prophet Balaam (Num 22-24).
... from Shittim to Gilgal, for you know Yahweh's saving justice.
There is a gap in t e Hebrew text that probably referred to crossing the Jordan River into Canaan (Josh 3:1-4:24). Shittim, sittim in Hebrew, and always with the definite article, ha sittim, the shittim, meaning "the acacias" (trees), refers to the site of the Israelite camp east of the Jordan River and northeast of the Dead Sea before crossing the Jordan (Josh 2:1; 3:1), where the episode of the cult of Baal Peor occurred (Num 25:1). The place is called Abel Shittim in Numbers 33:49, "field of the acacias." Gilgal in Hebrew means "circle" (of stones). Gilgal was the base camp for Joshua and the Israelites on the west side of the Jordan River, just east of Jericho. There, Joshua set up a circle of twelve commemorative stones for the Twelve Tribes of Israel, and the Israelites who were born during the journey to Canaan were circumcised, with the new generation of Israel making their covenant oath of obedience to Yahweh (Josh 4:19-5:9; Gen 17:9-14).
for you know Yahweh's saving justice.
"Yahweh's saving justice" are those events in salvation history by which God demonstrated His loyalty to His covenant promises and His blessings of "hesed" (covenant love) for His people. Since the covenant with Yahweh resulted from divine initiative, God's "saving justice" is freely given and not in any sense deserved.
In answer to Yahweh's complaint against His people, Israel then inquires what God demands of them in verses 6-7a, listing what was required in the old covenant liturgy of worship. Then, in verse 7b, there is a reference to the Canaanite practice of sacrificing children to the God Molock and the Baals and Abraham offering Isaac in sacrifice in Genesis Chapter 22. God punished the Canaanites for the horrific practice of murdering children, and in Abraham's case, He rejected human sacrifice. The sins of the Northern Kingdom were practiced in Judah (cf. 2 Kng 16:3; Jer 19:4-5).
8 "You have already been told what is right and what Yahweh wants of you. Only
this, to do what is right, to love loyalty, and to walk humbly with your God."
In verse 8, God replies. Doing what is right is more than rituals of formal
religious worship; it involves obedience to God, which also means practicing
justice and charity toward one's neighbor. This advice is as true today as it
was in Micah's time.
The Second Plea of Yahweh (6:9-7:6)
Micah 6:9-16 ~ Yahweh Threatens Those of Cheaters and Liars
9 Yahweh's voice! He thunders to the city, "Listen, tribe of assembled citizens!"
10 Can I overlook the false measure, that abomination, the short bushel? 11 Can
I connive at rigged scales and at the bag of fraudulent weights? 12 For the
rich, they are steeped in violence, and the citizens there are habitual liars.
13 I myself have therefore begun to strike you down, to bring you to ruin for
your sins. 14 You will eat but not be satisfied; you will store up but never
keep safe; what you do keep safe I shall hand over to the sword; 15 you will
sow but will not reap, press the olive but will not rub yourself with oil.
Tread the grape but will not drink the wine."16 "For you keep the laws of Omri;
what the House of Ahab did, you have done; by modeling yourselves on their
standards, you force me to make an appalling example of you and reduce your
citizens to a laughing stock; hence, you will endure the scorn of other
peoples."
God lists the sins that the citizens of Jerusalem committed that have infected all levels of society.
Question #2: What are the sins listed in God's reply?
check your answer
Just as the examples of virtue and justice result in more right behavior, sin breeds sin. Yahweh spells out the just penalty for sinful behavior that produces no fruit of Godly blessings (verses 13-15). Jerusalem's sins are like those of the Northern Kingdom in the time of Israel's kings Omri (885-874 BC) and Ahab (874-853 BC), who were well known for their transgressions against Mosaic Law (cf. 1 Kng 16:23-24). As a result, Jerusalem's fate will be like that of the Northern Kingdom of Israel: destruction, desolation, deportation into exile, and a people ridiculed by their neighbors.
Micah 7:1-6 ~ Universal Injustice
1 How wretched I am, a harvester in summer time, like a gleaner at the vintage;
not a single cluster to eat, none of those early figs I love! 2 The faithful
have vanished from the land: there is no one honest left. All of them are on
the alert for blood, every man hunting his brother with a net. 3 Their hands
are adept at wrong-doing: the official makes his demands, the judge gives
judgment for a bribe, the man in power pronounces as he pleases. 4 The best of
them is like a briar, the most honest of them like a thorn-hedge. Now from the
north, their punishment approaches! That will be when they are confounded! 5
Trust no neighbor, put no confidence in a friend; do not open your mouth to the
wife who shares your bed. 6 For son insults father, daughter rebels against
mother, daughter-in-law against mother-in-law; a person's enemies come from
within the household itself.
Because of the sins listed in the previous passage, Micah sees a day of punishment falling upon the covenant people of Judah (verse 4). "Now from the north" probably refers to the Babylonians since Judah's repentance during the reign of good King Hezekiah spared them from the Assyrians who destroyed the Northern Kingdom. Distrust will reach such an intensity that even family members will feel they cannot trust each other. Jesus will quote verse 6 in Matthew 10:35 as a sign of the confusion associated with His identity and ministry: "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth: it is not peace I have come to bring, but a sword. For I have come to set son against father, daughter against mother, daughter-in-law against mother-in-law; a person's enemies will be the members of his own household" (also see Lk 12:53).
The Promise of Salvation (7:7-20)
Micah 7:7-10 ~ Zion Insulted by Her Enemies
7 But I shall look to Yahweh, my hope is in the God who will save me; my God will
hear me. 8 Do not gloat over me, my enemy: though I have fallen, I shall rise;
though I live in darkness, Yahweh is my light. 9 I must endure Yahweh's anger,
for I have sinned against him, until he takes up my cause and rights my wrongs;
he will bring me out into the light, and then I shall contemplate his saving
justice. 10 When my enemy sees this, she will be covered with shame, having
sneered, "Where is Yahweh your God?" This time, I shall be watching as she is
trampled underfoot like mud in the streets.
While Micah's oracles contain denunciations and threats because of sinful behavior, they also reveal promises of salvation above all. Micah offers repentance for his sins and trusts God's mercy. The identity of the "enemy" in verse 8 is not clear. However, the enemy is either Satan, who tempts humans to sin or Israel's neighbor Edom, often condemned in Scripture for gloating over and taking advantage of Israel/Judah's misfortunes (Ps 137:7-9; Is 34:5-8; Ezek 25:12-14, 35; Obad 10-15).
The announcements of judgment end with verses 7-9, which not only express the prophet's devout faith in God and hopeful view of the future but also attest to his conviction that Yahweh, his "light," listens to his prayers and petitions and forgives his sins. In verse 10, Micah contemplates Jerusalem's fall because of sin in the knowledge that God will raise her again when those sins have been atoned for and purged. Yahweh will not forever overlook the plight of His chosen covenant people. He will always be merciful and just.
10 When my enemy sees this, she will be covered with shame, having sneered, "Where
is Yahweh your God?" This time, I shall be watching as she is trampled
underfoot like mud in the streets.
Micah's vengeful view of his enemies appears contrary to Christ's teachings in the New
Testament. However, the New Testament calls the devil and death enemies of
humanity (cf. 1 Cor 15:26); therefore, this oracle can be read as symbolic of
Christ's triumph over the enemies of the devil, sin, and death. St. Ambrose (AD
339-397) wrote: "Although he died at our hands, he rose from the dead, routed
the enemy, stole their victory, and removed forever the sting of death. We are
heavily weighed down in this world, and the enemy rejoices at our sorrow and
bitterness of heart; on the day of resurrection, however, we will destroy his
joy, as Micah says: Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall
rise. The resurrection will break the chains of the enemy, and his triumph
will encompass the whole world"
(St. Ambrose, Enarrationes in xii psalmos, 40, 34, 2).
Micah 7:11-13 ~ A Prophecy of Restoration
11 That will be the day for rebuilding your walls! The day for expanding your
frontiers! 12 The day when others come to you all the way from Assyria, from
Egypt, from Tyre, and all the way from the Euphrates, from sea to sea, from the
mountains to the mountains! 13 The earth will become a desert by reason of its
inhabitants, in return for what they have done.
This oracle probably refers to the end of the Babylonian exile after 538 BC, when the Persians defeated Babylon (539 BC) and allowed the exiled covenant people to return to Judah and rebuild Jerusalem (2 Chron 36:22-23; Ezra 1:1-4).
Question #3: What four things does the promised restoration of Israel/Judahl bring?
check your answer
The fulfillment of verse 12 happened with the victorious Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the spread of Christianity across the face of the earth, with pilgrims coming to the holy city to see where Christ defeated sin and death.
Micah 7:14-17 ~ A Prayer for the Confusion of Zion's Enemies
14 With the shepherd's crook lead your people to pasture, the flock that is your
heritage, living confined in a forest with meadow land all round. Let them
graze in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old! 15 As in the days when you
came out of Egypt, grant us to see wonders! 16 The nations will see and be
confounded in spite of all their power; they will put their hands over their
mouths, their ears will be deafened. 17 They will lick the dust like snakes,
like reptiles that crawl on the earth. They will creep trembling out of their
lairs, in terror before you.
Verses 14-17 also address a future hope of restoration, expressed as a prayer to the Lord, and recalling Ezekiel 34:11-16, where Yahweh promised: I myself shall pasture my sheep, I myself shall give them rest, declares the Lord Yahweh. I shall look for the lost one, bring back the stray, bandage the injured and make the sick strong. I shall watch over the fat and healthy. I shall be a true shepherd to them (Ezek 34:15-16).
Question #4: What Psalm and
New Testament passage from the Gospel of John does Micha's prayer in verse 14 recall?
check your answer
Let them graze in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old! 15 As in the days when
you came out of Egypt, grant us to see wonders!
Bashan was the northernmost region of the Transjordan and is situated today in Syria. Its
western part is known as the Golan Heights. Bashan is mentioned 59 times in the
Old Testament. Along with half of Gilead, Joshua allotted it to the half-tribe
of Manasseh (Josh 13:29-3).1
Gilead is a geographical designation of the territory east of the Jordan River and west of Ammon, bouned by Heshbon to the south and the Yarmuk River to the north, and is today in the state of Jordan. The land is a rolling plateau watered by many streams with good annual rainfall, giving it fertile soil. The first mention of Gilead appears in the account of the last meeting between Jacob and Laban (Gen 31:21-22). Gilead is also referred to by the Aramaic name Yegar-Sahadutha, which has the same meaning as the Hebrew Gilead, meaning "heap (of the stones) of testimony" (Gen 31:47-48). From ancient times, it was regarded as excellent pasture land (Num 32:1; Jer 22:6). That feature is emphasized in the Messianic restoration of Israel in Micah 7:14 (also see Jer 50:19; Zech 10:10) but is a prophecy yet to be fulfilled.2
15 As in the days when you came out of Egypt, grant us to see wonders! 16 The
nations will see and be confounded in spite of all their power; they will put
their hands over their mouths, their ears will be deafened. 17 They will lick
the dust like snakes, like reptiles that crawl on the earth. They will creep
trembling out of their lairs, in terror before you.
Micah asked the Lord for a return to the way things were in the early years of the covenant
people, with the repetition of wondrous works that would astonish the Gentiles
and convince them of the powers of Israel's God.
Micah 7:18-20 ~ A Plea for God's Forgiveness
18 What God can compare with you for pardoning guilt and for overlooking crime? He
does not harbor anger forever, since he delights in showing faithful love
[hesed]. 19 Once more have pity on us, tread down our faults; throw all our
sins to the bottom of the sea. 20 Grant Jacob your faithfulness, and Abraham
your faithful love [hesed], as you swore to our ancestors from the days of long ago.
The last part of Micah's prayer celebrates Yahweh's steadfast covenant love (hesed) demonstrated by His pardoning of sins for those who repent and seek renewed fellowship. Micah asks that Yahweh remain faithful to His covenant promises to Abraham and Jacob, inherited by their descendants, the divinely elected covenant people.
The hymn of Zechariah in the New Testament after the visit to his home by the Virgin Mary with the news of the expected birth of the Messiah and the birth of his son John, later called "the Baptist," sums up Messianic hope expressed throughout the generations in the writings of prophets like Micah. In Luke 1:67-75, filled with the Holy Spirit, the chief priest Zechariah prayed: "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited his people, he has set them free, and he has established for us a saving power in the House of his servant David, as he proclaimed, by the mouth of his holy prophets from ancient times, that he would save us from our enemies and from the hands of all those who hate us, and show faithful love (hesed) to our ancestors, and so keep in mind his holy covenant. This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham, that he would grant us, free from fear, to be delivered from the hands of our enemies, to serve him in holiness and uprightness in his presence, all our days."
Later, when Zechariah's son John the Baptist began his ministry, he testified: "Anyone who believes [pisteuo] in the Son has eternal life, but anyone who refuses [apeitheo] to believe in the Son will never see life. God's retribution hangs over him" (Jn 3:36). The question you must ask yourself is: "Do I head God's warnings to His covenant people through His prophets to be obedient to His commands? Do I believe in Him, and will I reap the reward of eternal life because of my belief in God the Son and His promises to me?"
Questions for reflection or discussion:
Are our government leaders and citizens guilty of the same sins for which Micah
condemned his generation? Their leaders were cheats, judges were unjust, the
rich were uncaring about the condition of the disadvantaged, and the ordinary
people were liars (Mic 6:9-12). The crimes of the Israelites included
sacrificing children to Molech like the Canaanites who were condemned for
sacrificing their children to Baal, not unlike those who sacrifice children by
abortion to the false gods of self-interest (Mic 6:7b). What will our divine
judgment be if we do not repent our sins and return to our obedient covenant
relationship with God? The answer to what we should do is what Micah told us in
6:8, "You have
already been told what is right and what Yahweh wants of you. Only this, to do
what is right, to love loyalty, and to walk humbly with your God."
Endnotes:
1. There are Biblical references to
Bashan's oak forests (Is 2:13; Ezek 27:6; Zech 11:2), its beautiful plains
(Amos 4:1) and oak forests (Is 2:13; Ezek 27:6; Zech 11:2), its cattle and rich
pastures (Ps 22:12; Ezek 39:81; Amos 4:1), and the beauty of its mountains
(Ps 68:15). The Bashan was conquered and pillaged by the Assyrians in 732 BC and
held as part of their empire until 610 BC. Later, it became part of the Persian Empire.
2. Amorite king Sihon possessed half of Gilead, and the other half was separated from it by the Jabbok River in territory controlled by Og, king of Bashan. After the Israelites defeated them, Moses allotted the region to the tribes of Gad, Reuben, and the eastern half of Manasseh (Dt 3:13; Num 32:40). Gilead is mentioned as the birthplace of the prophet Elijah (1 Kng 17:1). Later, King Tiglath-Pileser III of Assyria conquered the region (733 BC). Today, it is in the modern state of Jordan.
Answers to the Questions:
Answer #1: The Latin word
"sacramentum" means "oath." We renew our oath of obedience every time we
participate in the Sacraments. Our blood sacrifice is Jesus's crucifixion and
ongoing sacrifice before the throne of God in Heaven (Rev 5:6), and our sacred
meal is the Eucharist, our "thanksgiving" communion meal in the presence of God.
return to question 1
Answer #2: He lists
injustice and forms of cheating by using defective scales and weights (verses
10-11). The rich are guilty of violence, and the citizens of speaking lies (verse 12).
return to question 2
Answer #3:
1. The rebuilding of Jerusalem's walls.
2. Extending the nation's borders beyond the confines of the Kingdom of Judah, like Israel
was before the Assyrian and Babylonian conquests.
3. Glory and honor for Jerusalem, which draws the whole world to come to learn in
God's holy city.
4. Desolation for those places where the word of Yahweh is not respected.
return to question 3
Answer 4:
Psalm 23:1-2 and Jesus's Good Shepherd Discourse in John 10:1-18.
return to question 4
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