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Micah, the Prophet of Unchanging Love, part 10

We come now to God’s lawsuit against Israel. Micah 6:1 begins,

¹ “Hear now what the Lord is saying. Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice.”

This case in the divine court is opened with the words: “Hear now!” It is followed by an admonition to hear and obey the word of the Lord in court. The Judge then turns to Micah, who is called to present God’s case against Israel, and instructs him, “Stand up! Plead your case” (against Israel). God calls the mountains and hills to bear witness. Perhaps these can be thought of as the jury.

Prophetically speaking, we know that mountains represent kingdoms, and hills are smaller kingdoms. So this may indicate that God’s indictment of Israel was done in a public courtroom in the sight of all nations.

Micah 6:2 continues,

² “Listen, you mountains, to the indictment of the Lord, and you enduring foundations of the earth, because the Lord has a case against His people, even with Israel He will dispute.”

Mountains were thought of as “enduring foundations of the earth.”

God’s First Complaint

Micah 6:3-5 says,

³ “My people, what have I done to you, and how have I wearied you? Answer Me. ⁴ “Indeed, I brought you up from the land of Egypt and ransomed you from the house of slavery, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron and Miriam. ⁵ My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab counseled and what Balaam son of Beor answered him, and from Shittim to Gilgal so that you might know the righteous acts of the Lord.”

The fact that God ransomed Israel from Egypt implies that Israel was obligated to serve God (Leviticus 25:53). God has the right to be served by those that He has purchased. Yet Israel had failed to be obedient.

God reminds them of the counsel that Balaam gave Balak, king of Moab. He counseled Balak to induce the Israelites into joining themselves to Baal Peor through their feasts and orgies (Numbers 31:16). Later, Balaam was executed in a war with Midian and Moab.

Israel should have remembered the lessons from their own history. Those historical events also served as a warning to Israel not to repeat the same mistakes. Israel was thus without excuse.

Israel’s Response

Israel’s first response comes in Micah 6:6, 7,

⁶ “With what shall I come to the Lord and bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, with yearling calves? ⁷ Does the Lord take delight in thousands of rams, in ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”

Part of the duty of judges was to instruct sinners in the way of righteousness. In most cases, judge would explain why the sinner was being condemned, and this is seen in Isaiah 26:9, “when the earth experiences Your judgments the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.” The main purpose of divine judgment is to cause the sinner to repent and to instruct him in the ways of righteousness.

So Israel—the sinner—is seen asking God about the path to justification. Burnt offerings (Leviticus 1:3), yearling sacrifices (Leviticus 9:3), and offerings of oil (Exodus 25:6) were commanded in the law, but, as we will see from God’s response through the prophet, none of these are truly effective. Hebrews 10:11 says,

¹¹ Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

Divine law, of course, forbids presenting one’s firstborn “for the sin of my soul.” Such a practice was common among the Canaanites, but Leviticus 18:21 says,

²¹ You shall not give any of your offspring to offer them to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God. I am the Lord.

The Court’s Instruction

The prophet turns to the sinner and acts as the mouthpiece of the court. Micah 6:8 says,

⁸ He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness [mercy], and to walk humbly with your God?

Coming from an Old Testament prophet, this revelation is remarkable. What? No animal sacrifices? Yet he is far from alone. Hosea 6:6 KJV says,

⁶ For I desired mercy and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

Isaiah 1:13, 14 says,

¹³ Bring your worthless offerings no longer, incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies—I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. ¹⁴ I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, they have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them.

These were early foreshadowings of the New Covenant.

Micah specifically mentioned justice, mercy, and humility, a remarkable summary of God’s requirement. Justice is how the laws of God are to be implemented when a man’s rights have been violated. Mercy is not the prerogative of the judge. Once the judge has pronounced his judgment, the victim of crime may choose to forgive part or all of the restitution payment that is due to him.

As for humility, we read in Proverbs 15:25,

²⁵ The Lord will tear down the house of the proud, but He will establish the boundary of the widow.

Again, we read in Proverbs 16:19,

¹⁹ It is better to be humble in spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud.

In Deuteronomy 8:16 we learn why God fed the Israelites with manna in the wilderness:

¹⁶ In the wilderness He fed you manna which your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and that He might test you, to do good for you in the end.

In other words, the “manna” (revelation of the word) was not designed to make us think we are righteous but to make a contrast between God’s nature and human nature. When we compare ourselves to Christ, we can only remain humble while the Holy Spirit works in our hearts to change our nature little by little.

Humility should also be distinguished from low self-esteem. The two may go together, but God also wants us to know who we are in Christ. By faith we are imputed righteous, God calling what is not as though it were (Romans 4:17). Things come into existence through the word of God, and so when God declares us to be righteous, it is so by the power of His word. To comprehend this is the antidote to low self-esteem, without eroding one’s humility.