Sermon Micah 6

Yahweh’s complaint, condemnation, and call to change (Micah 6)

Note: Shaded text can be omitted if time pressured

Introduction: Has anyone ever been to Court?

Probably no-one’s going to own up here! Though I trained to appear in Court, and present arguments, and did all kinds of moots and mock trials for 6 years, I never fired a shot in anger, as it were. I never appeared in Court. And when I visited public hearings of the the magistrates, district, or supreme courts, it was pretty boring. It wasn’t like the courtroom dramas on TV or in the movies. Often a courtroom scene spices up a movie. You might find the odd one in a Poirot or Marple mystery, As well as classics like ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ or ’12 Angry Men’ or ‘A Few Good Men’. Even the ‘Bee Movie’ has a court scene.

And the bible has court scenes as well. Because in the Old Testament, God takes his Old Testament people to court

1. God’s complaint against his people (6:1-8)

In Micah chapter 6, God institutes legal proceedings against his city, Jerusalem. Through the mouth of his prophet, Yahweh will reason with his people. He hasn’t cast them off. But he has taken their rejection of him personally.

We can go outside and sort this out (vv 1-2)

So Yahweh bids his people to get up and contend with him. Read Micah 6 verses 1 and 2.[1]

In this court case, God is the plaintiff. The defendant is his people, Israel, and particularly the city of Jerusalem (cf 6:9). And the witnesses are the mountains. They are experienced, unbiased witnesses. The mountains of Judah have seen everything that has happened on the hill of Jerusalem. So Mount Zion is brought before a jury of it’s peers, the mountains. Yahweh bids his people Israel to get up and present their case[2]. And He presents his own case, through Micah.

God’s past righteousnesses for Israel (vv3-5)

As an innocent spouse wronged by the adultery of his marriage partner, so Yahweh pleads his case. Yahweh begins by recalling his early romance with his people. Their courtship and marriage. Read verses 3 to 5.[3]

Despite their sins, Yahweh twice calls Israel ‘my people’. He speaks with tenderness and compassion. He reminds them that they were slaves in Egypt, and that he saved them, and brought them to a good land. He calls that rescue a redemption, buying a slave freedom. And Yahweh reminds them of Moses the prophet who gave them God’s law and Aaron the Priest who made propitiation for their sins and Miriam the songleader by the seaside. Three siblings from Levi who represented God to the people and the people to God. Micah reminds Israel of the hostility she faced in the early days.

The reference to Balaam and Balaak is to Numbers chapters 22 to 24. Balak was the king of Moab. And Balaam was a pagan prophet and sorcerer. And Balak tried to pay Balaam to curse Israel. And Balaam it seems wanted the handsome fee for cursing Israel. But God made Balaam bless Israel instead of curse her. This is what Moses said later of that whole affair:

However, the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loves you. (Deuteronomy 23:5 NIV; also Joshua 24:9-10; Nehemiah 13:2; 2 Peter 2:15; Revelation 2:14).

Likewise, Joshua makes the same point:

⁹ When Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, prepared to fight against Israel, he sent for Balaam son of Beor to put a curse on you. ¹⁰ But I would not listen to Balaam, so he blessed you again and again, and I delivered you out of his hand. (Joshua 24:9-10 NIV)

So the mention of Balaam is meant to show Yahweh’s love for his people. God’s righteous acts are his mighty acts of salvation, like the Exodus. Or that Yahweh can turn cursing into blessing, if he wants. And Yahweh did want, because of his saving righteousness.

God’s past righteousness for us

Now, we by grace are God’s New Testament people. And we can ask two similar questions. First, when has God turned a curse into a blessing for us? Where do we see cursing become blessing? And second, what Exodus event can we look back to? What event is our redemption? How does God show his love for us in human history? And the answer to all these questions is the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

First, at the cross we see curses we face become a blessing. Galatians 3:8-14 (NIV), on your outline. In verse 8, Paul quotes the promises to Abraham:

⁸ The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: "All nations will be blessed through you." ⁹ So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

So if we have faith, we are blessed. But it is not that way for everyone. Verse 10 tells us that…

¹⁰ All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law."

Getting right with God by the works of the law depends on doing the works of the law. All of them, not just the ones we like. And Paul says that this is just not going to happen. Verse 11 and 12

¹¹ Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, "The righteous will live by faith." {11 Hab. 2:4} ¹² The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, "The man who does these things will live by them."

Thus the one who trusts in the law is under a curse. But that is where Christ steps in. Verse 13:

¹³ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."

Jesus in dying on the cross stood in the place of an accursed people. We deserve to be cursed because we’ve not done everything written in the book of the law. But Jesus became our curse. The Old Testament clearly said that the one who is hung on a tree bears the curse of God (Deut 21:23). And that was Jesus. He bore our curse so he might redeem us and bless us. Verse 14:

¹⁴ He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus…

So just as YHWH turned cursing into blessing for the people of Israel in the time of Balaam and Balaak, so God again turned cursing into blessing for us who put their trust in Jesus Christ, through his death on the cross and resurrection.

At the cross, we also see our loving redemption. At the cross, we see the righteousness of God. For the Christian…

²² The righteousness of God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus, whom God presented as a propitiation, through faith in his blood (Romans 3:22-25 NIV)

If we were to whinge at God and say, How have you shown your love for us? Where is your saving righteousness? How have you turned blessing into cursing for us? Couldn’t God say, ‘Go and take a look at the cross of Jesus Christ’? ‘How have I burdened you?’ Is the cross a burden to you? The cross is where you leave your burdens, not pick them up! And Christ says my yoke is easy and my burden is light. So we need to take him at his word. He has demonstrated his love for us in his death of Jesus Christ. That is where blessing is turned to cursing. That was our redemption.

What good thing should I do?

So the question is, what should I do? What should I take with me to meet God? We know when we visit somebody we take a gift. Get some after dinner mints, or sparkling apple juice. Maybe a small present, a box of chocolates or flowers.

Now, we know that generally speaking, the law demanded people come to Jerusalem with gifts and sacrificial offerings. There were sacrificial offerings for sin. During the thee feasts, no-one was to appear before Yahweh empty-handed (eg Ex 23:15; 34:20; Deut 16:16; cf 1 Sa 6:3). All children born had to be redeemed, and that occurred with an offering. Approaches to the temple generally required bloody animal sacrifice. And so it is surprising what we read in verses 6 and 7:

⁶ With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? ⁷ Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil?

What does Yahweh want his Old Testament people to offer him? Not costly sacrifices. He doesn’t want sacrifice.

Now, I hope you are surprised at that, at least a little bit? I hope you want to know, ‘Hey, why not?’ After all, doesn’t Yahweh command sacrifices in Exodus and Leviticus? How does Yahweh want, and not want, sacrifice?

Well, it’s the same as me wanting my car at the Mechanic. Or me taking my computer to the technician? Do I want my car or computer always being fixed? Well, no. It is inconvenient and expensive, a pain to take it in and more painful to the back pocket to get it back again. But when something stops working, I’m prepared to endure the inconvenience and expense so my car or computer is restored.

Did Yahweh want animals sacrificed to him? Well, not because sacrifices are God’s food. God wouldn’t go hungry if sacrifices ceased[4]. Nor is it because God likes people disobeying him. God would much rather his people to obey him in the first place. And sacrifices don’t fool God. He knows when people’s hearts are far from him. God is not impressed by outward show when inwardly people resent it.

Micah is saying what other Old Testament prophets say: For example, Samuel said:

"Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. (1 Samuel 15:22-23 NIV)

Or King David says:

You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. ¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.[5] (Psalm 51:16-17 NIV)

Or Hosea says:

For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings. (Hosea 6:6 NIV)

Or Isaiah says:

¹¹ "The multitude of your sacrifices-- what are they to me?" says the LORD. "I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats…. Your hands are full of blood; ¹⁶ wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, ¹⁷ learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. (Isaiah 1:10-18 NIV)

Yes, the law required sacrifices to be made. Without sacrifice, and bloodshed, which God required, there was no forgiveness. But that was not because God needed to be fed, or had a weakness for spit roast BBQ’s, or could be bought off with sacrifices. These outward acts were just play acting, and unacceptable, without the right attitude. A renewed obedience. A broken spirit, and a humble and contrite heart. Acknowledgement and love for God. And love and justice toward neighbor. Mercy for the needy, the widow, the orphan, the defenceless.

As James says to us religious people in the New Covenant:

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. (James 1:27 NIV)

Leave sacrificing the firstborn to God

The last part of verse 7 is interesting. It speaks of human sacrifice.

Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? (NIV)

Now, it is true that Yahweh once commanded a man to sacrifice his son. He told Abraham to go to Mount Moriah. Abraham had to go to the hill which later became the temple mount at Jerusalem. And there we was commanded to sacrifice Isaac, the promised son, whom he loved.

You know the story. As Abraham was about to slaughter his son, Yahweh put a stop to it. Yahweh provided a ram in the place of Isaac. And the whole thing was of course, a test, to see whether Abraham feared Yahweh.

Child sacrifice had never been commanded before. It was commanded once, but not allowed to occur. And it was thereafter prohibited as an abomination. And while the pagan nations thought it was an impressive sacrifice, to Yahweh it was appalling.

But not for himself. God reserved for himself the prerogative of sacrificing his only Son. God permits only himself to give up his own Son as a bloody sacrifice. No-one else can, and it is part of what distinguishes God from us. God’s righteousness is seen in him doing something that would be an abomination for us to do. For God, it shows his righteousness. For humans, it shows their wickedness and depravity. God himself and God alone can provide his Son as a sacrifice for sin. As it was in 33AD when our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified. We must reserve to God that unique unrepeatable sacrifice.

But there is something for us to do. Read verse 8.[6].

This is a call to individuals. Each individual is responsible before God. Each will be judged according to what he or she has done. And so each person is addressed here. justice, mercy and humble walking.

The threefold response is directed to both God and neighbor. It is in fact another way of saying ‘love God and neighbour’.

The first stipulation is literally to ‘do justice’. It involves just actions. It requires that we give every person his or her due. Fairness, honesty, equity, and justice are what is required.

The second command is to love mercy. Such mercy goes beyond strict justice, what a person deserves. It embraces justice, but goes beyond, and originates in compassion and pity. Mercy involves kindness, generosity, and love to our neighbor. It involves doing what God does, and loving the enemy, and doing good to those who hate us, and praying for those who persecute us. Of course they don’t deserve it. But God sends his sun to shine on the just and the unjust. He sends rain to the righteous and the wicked. And so we should pray with our Lord Jesus, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do”.

The phrase ‘love mercy’ could also be translated “love faithful love”. For in other places the word translated ‘mercy’ can also be translated ‘love’. In other words, the command to love might also refer loving God.

And the third reminds us of our relationship with God. Walk humbly with your God. He is the creator, we are the creation. He is the holy God, we are sinful humanity. And so our relationship with him is characterized by humility.

And it is not simply a truism to say that Jesus is our example of this. If Yahweh in the Old Testament revealed ‘act justly, love mercy and walk humbly to his people’, how much more did Jesus Christ personify it. Jesus raises the bar for us. Jesus says that whenever we provide for the least of the Lord Jesus’ brothers – Whether he be hungry and we give something to eat, Or thirsty and we give something to drink, A stranger and we invite her in, Naked, and we clothe him, Sick, and we look after her, In prison, and we visit him – Whenever we do it to the least of his brothers, we do it to Jesus (Matthew 25:35-40). And that is acting justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly.

We are called to do good to all people, especially to the household of faith (Galatians 6:10). To be zealous for good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. They aren’t the instrument of salvation, but the evidence and purpose of our salvation. We are not saved by our good works, but for them. And this is what God is calling his old Testament people to, when he says, ‘act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God’.

So my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in view of God’s radical sacrifice of his Son, what are you called to do? What does he require of you?

What can you do to justly and mercifully serving God and neighbour, starting with the household of faith, and then moving out into all the world? It will be different for each of you, depending on how you have been gifted. But let me read out an important passage where Paul considers this question:

Romans 12:6-8 NIV ⁶ We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. ⁷ If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; ⁸ if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

Each one of us has an abundant capacity for doing good. And If God takes our property, we can still serve. If God takes our health and mobility, maybe we can still talk. If God takes our tongue, we can still listen. If God takes our ears, we can still write or pray. And if God takes our life, we’ll just call it our ‘retirement’. We’ve entered our rest from our labours.

My desire is to inspire us to be zealous for good works. I would like to see these sort of good works springing up everywhere amongst us. God has redeemed us to make us hungry for good works. And it is my job according to Ephesians 4:12, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, so that the body of Christ is built up, till we reach unity in the faith and knowledge of the Son of God. So off you go… there is your life’s work… And mine too.

2. God’s condemnation on his city (Micah 6:9-16)

Jerusalem’s continuing sins (verses 9-12)

We have an opportunity as long as there is life and strength. And so did Jerusalem. But time was fasting running out for them, as it is for us. For judgment was coming, as it still is for us. Let me read verses 9 to 12.

⁹ Listen! The LORD is calling to the city-- and to fear your name is wisdom-- "Heed the rod and the One who appointed it[7]. ¹⁰ Am I still to forget, O wicked house, your ill-gotten treasures and the short ephah, which is accursed? ¹¹ Shall I acquit a man with dishonest scales, with a bag of false weights? ¹² Her rich men[8] are violent; her people are liars and their tongues speak deceitfully.

God is making a last call to the city. A last plea to be wise, and to avoid suicide. Yahweh is inviting Jerusalem to fear his name. That is a wise response to the impending disaster. And fearing Yahweh means repenting. Jerusalem must change their practices. And so God asks a series of searching questions. Are people still engaged in unjust practices?

Dishonest weights

Verse 10, he asks, literally, Perhaps there are still treasures of wickedness [in] the house of the wicked… And if there is the solution is clear. Make restitution. Do what Zaccheus did when he met Jesus.

"Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount." ⁹ And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. (Luke 19:8-9 NIV)

That is the solution if we have unjust riches. If you’ve got stolen something or permanently borrowed it, return it. If you’ve got cds or games or mp3 files or DVDs in breach of copyright, go and buy the just ones and chuck out or delete the unjust one. Repent. We need to happily pay the right amount of taxes and HECS repayments and loans and mortgages. And if you need to give something back to someone, return it and say sorry. And be generous instead. As Paul says:

²⁸ He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need. (Ephesians 4:28 NIV)

Violent rich

The violent rich needed to learn this too. It sounded like Jerusalem had a sort of mafia, who would put people in cement shoes and bully people. And we need to make sure we are not bullies.

Deception

And we need to make sure we speak the truth in love. Deception is more than just telling lies, or half truths. It is keeping the truth from people who have a right to know. And we need to make sure we speak the truth in love, and give honest answers. As Proverbs says:

An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips (Proverbs 24:26)

Jerusalem’s Punishment (verses 13-16)

Covenant curses and their cause

But because of Jerusalem’s sins, YHWH will bring terrible curses on his people. In fact, he has already started. Read verses 13 to 16.[9]

We see here the influence of the North on the South. When Micah wrote, Omri was long dead and his Son Ahab had lain in the grave over a hundred years[10]. We see the consequences of the intermarriage with those who didn’t serve Yahweh. The otherwise righteous king Jehoshaphat had his son intermarry with the house of Omri. And so Jerusalem became infected with the sins of Ahab and his wife Jezebel. After all, Ahab and Jezebel’s daughter and grandchildren thereafter became Jerusalem’s queen, and later, their kings. And if it’s good enough for grandma, it’s good enough for us. Until Hezekiah repents and turns the whole ship around.

The punishments Micah predicts are only those Moses promised. You can read them in Deuteronomy Chapter 28 from verse 15. If Israel broke the covenant, they would be cursed. And the curses go for 2 solid pages of our red bibles. You can pick it up half way down page 211, to half way down the last column of page 213. (Deuteronomy 28:15-68) Deuteronomy chapter 28, let’s pick it up from verse 30:

³⁰ You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit. Verse 39: ³⁹ You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them. Verse 40: ⁴⁰ You will have olive trees throughout your country but you will not use the oil, because the olives will drop off. These judgments are specific indicators that Israel has broken the covenant. That’s why Micah quotes them. And the judgment will only lead to one thing.

Deuteronomy chapter 28 verses 47 to 51:

⁴⁷ Because you did not serve the LORD your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity, ⁴⁸ therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the LORD sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you. ⁴⁹ The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand, ⁵⁰ a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old or pity for the young. ⁵¹ They will devour the young of your livestock and the crops of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine or oil, nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are ruined.

Micah is saying to Jerusalem: ‘Your worst nightmare has come true. Yahweh is about to destroy the nation. There will be an invasion, slaughter! And whoever survives will be exiled.’

God’s call to change continues (verses 8-9)

We know that God’s judgment is coming. It will meet us individually when we die. It will meet our world when the Lord Jesus returns. And so now is the time for us to heed Micah’s warning. What does God require of us. In light of the sacrifice of his own son, to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God. And to fear his name, Father, Son and Spirit, for that is wisdom.

Let’s pray.

[1] 6:1Listen, now, to what Yahweh [is] speaking. Get up (ms). Contend (ms) [before] the mountains and the hills will hear your (ms) voice. 2Listen, O mountains, and the perennial foundations of the earth, to the contention of YHWH. For YHWH has a contention with his people and with Israel he will argue.

[2] Some take the masculine singular ‘you’ as a reference to Micah to speak on behalf of YHWH (eg Waltke, TOTC, 193), but I think it better that that it be seen as a reference to ‘my people’ (compare masculine singles in vv3-5).

[3] 3My people, what have I done to you (ms)? [In] what [way] have I wearied you (ms)? Answer me! 4For I caused you to go up from the land of Egypt and from the house of slaves. I ransomed you and I sent before your face Moses and Aharon and Myriyam. 5My people, remember, now, what Balaam son of Beor advised Balak King of Moab and what he answered him, from Shittim until Gilgal, in order to know the righteousnesses of YHWH.

[4]Psalm 50:8-16: ‘eg If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it. ¹³ Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?’

[5]See also Psalm 40:6-8 and cf Hebrews 10:5-10

[6] 8He has told you, (ms), O man, what [is] good. And what is YHWH seeking from you (ms)? Except to do justice, and to love kindness and to [be] humble so as to walk with your (ms) God.

[7]Or 9The voice (ms) of YHWH will call to the city (fs), and sound wisdom (fs) will fear your name (ms). Hear, O tribe[7], even [he] who appointed her (fs). LXX takes antecedent as ‘city’: a;koue fulh, kai. ti,j kosmh,sei po,lin … ‘Hear, O tribe, and who will adorn [the] city’. But antecedent could also be ‘sound wisdom’ hY"ßviWtw>, which also is fs.

[8] 12Of which her [ie the city Jerusalem] rich are full of violence

[9] 13And I even caused sickness to strike you down (ms), to ravage against all your sins (ms). 14You (ms) will eat and you (ms) will not be satisfied and your (ms) emptiness in your inward parts (ms) [ie you will be hungry]. And you (ms) will remove and you (ms) will not escape, and whoever of you (ms) will escape, I will give to the sword. 15You (ms) will sow and you (ms) will not harvest. You (ms) will tread olives and you (ms) will not anoint yourself with oil. And new wine, and you (ms) will not drink wine. 16He has observed the statutes of Omri and all the doings of the house of Ahab, and you (mp) walk in their plans in order for me to give you (ms) to destruction and those dwelling in her for an object of derisive hissing and you (mp) will bear the reproach of my people.

[10] Omri died 874 BC. Ahab died 853BC. Micah writes between 750 and 686BC.