Scripture Daily

Context No. 121 of 4322 · Micah

Context · Reflection

Micah 6:1-16: in context

1Listen now to what the LORD says: “Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear what you have to say. 2Hear, you mountains, the LORD’s indictment, and you enduring foundations of the earth; for the LORD has a case against his people, and he will contend with Israel. 3My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me! 4For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage. I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. 5My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the LORD.” 6How shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams? With tens of thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my disobedience? The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does the LORD require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? 9The LORD’s voice calls to the city— and wisdom fears your name— “Listen to the rod, and he who appointed it. 10Are there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and a short ephah that is accursed? 11Shall I tolerate dishonest scales, and a bag of deceitful weights? 12Her rich men are full of violence, her inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their speech. 13Therefore I also have struck you with a grievous wound. I have made you desolate because of your sins. 14You shall eat, but not be satisfied. Your hunger will be within you. You will store up, but not save, and that which you save I will give up to the sword. 15You will sow, but won’t reap. You will tread the olives, but won’t anoint yourself with oil; and crush grapes, but won’t drink the wine. 16For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of Ahab’s house. You walk in their counsels, that I may make you a ruin, and your inhabitants a hissing. You will bear the reproach of my people.”

Micah was a prophet from a country town in Judah in the eighth century BC, and this chapter is written as a courtroom scene. God summons the mountains and the enduring foundations of the earth to serve as the jury, and then puts his own case in the form of a question to the people: my people, what have I done to you? How have I wearied you? Answer me.

The evidence he offers is a list of rescues, not a list of laws: I brought you out of Egypt, I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, remember what happened between Shittim and Gilgal. The people answer with escalating offers. Should I come with burnt offerings, with calves a year old, with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression? They keep raising the bid, and the last offer is child sacrifice.

The answer is verse eight, and it refuses the whole framework of bidding: he has told you, O man, what is good, and what the LORD requires of you, to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God. Then the chapter goes straight back to specifics, dishonest scales and short measures in the bag. The famous line is not a summary of religion in the abstract. It sits between a courtroom and a rigged weight. What am I willing to offer God instead of the thing he actually asked for?

Sources