Micah 3 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Micah 3

Rulers and Prophets Denounced

3:1   And I said:
  Hear, you heads of Jacob
    and rulers of the house of Israel!
  Is it not for you to know justice?—
2     you who hate the good and love the evil,
  who tear the skin from off my people¹
    and their flesh from off their bones,
3   who eat the flesh of my people,
    and flay their skin from off them,
  and break their bones in pieces
    and chop them up like meat in a pot,
    like flesh in a cauldron.
4   Then they will cry to the LORD,
    but he will not answer them;
  he will hide his face from them at that time,
    because they have made their deeds evil.
5   Thus says the LORD concerning the prophets
    who lead my people astray,
  who cry “Peace”
    when they have something to eat,
  but declare war against him
    who puts nothing into their mouths.
6   Therefore it shall be night to you, without vision,
    and darkness to you, without divination.
  The sun shall go down on the prophets,
    and the day shall be black over them;
7   the seers shall be disgraced,
    and the diviners put to shame;
  they shall all cover their lips,
    for there is no answer from God.
8   But as for me, I am filled with power,
    with the Spirit of the LORD,
    and with justice and might,
  to declare to Jacob his transgression
    and to Israel his sin.
9   Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob
    and rulers of the house of Israel,
  who detest justice
    and make crooked all that is straight,
10   who build Zion with blood
    and Jerusalem with iniquity.
11   Its heads give judgment for a bribe;
    its priests teach for a price;
    its prophets practice divination for money;
  yet they lean on the LORD and say,
    “Is not the LORD in the midst of us?
    No disaster shall come upon us.”
12   Therefore because of you
    Zion shall be plowed as a field;
  Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins,
    and the mountain of the house a wooded height.

Footnotes

[1] 3:2 Hebrew from off them

Commentary

v1-7: Micah targets the rulers and prophets, the leaders and influential people in the nation, picking them out for condemnation, as in 2.1-2,11.

v1: See 2 Sam 23.3; he who rules over men must be just. This principle is vital in all circumstances; in a nation, in the church, in a family, in business; "Should you not know justice?" declares the Lord.

v2-3: The rulers are not concerned for the people, treating others as expendable, consuming them like meat, putting them down for their own gain. How different from the Lord! In Christ we give people dignity.

v4: The consequence; the Lord will not hear them, He will hide His face from them.

v5: The false prophets; make "my people" go astray, preach a false "peace," Jer 8.11; 23.17. They fear the people, who oppose any who challenge their behaviour and attitudes.

v6-7: The consequence; spiritual silence, Amos 8.11-12; no vision or divination, no message from God. Worse than a message of condemnation is no message at all.

v8: The true prophet; truth and power in his message, empowered and anointed by the Spirit of the Lord; only by Him can the message be appropriate and effective.

Justice and might; the same message in our lives, in how we live and how we treat others.

Here, sins must be declared; and the Spirit gives us power to expose sins. The message gas to be proclaimed, because God has commanded, and because the people remained stubborn. The message of truth is the only way to bring the people to repentance.

v9-11: Again, the leaders and rulers are specifically mentioned. They prefer bloodshed and iniquity before justice and equity. They judge for a bride, and teach for pay; they divine for money; even as Balak encouraged Balaam to do.

When the message of God is proclaimed for personal gain, whether it be for money, pride, fame or reputation, then something is seriously wrong.

Their presumption, that the Lord is with them, because they are His chosen people, and therefore that no harm can come to them. This is different from Jonah's attitude, that no good could come to those who are not God's people.

v12: The consequences; Jerusalem will be destroyed, unless the people repent, see Jer 26.18-19.