Micah 6 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Micah 6

The Indictment of the Lord

6:1   Hear what the LORD says:
  Arise, plead your case before the mountains,
    and let the hills hear your voice.
2   Hear, you mountains, the indictment of the LORD,
    and you enduring foundations of the earth,
  for the LORD has an indictment against his people,
    and he will contend with Israel.
3   “O my people, what have I done to you?
    How have I wearied you? Answer me!
4   For I brought you up from the land of Egypt
    and redeemed you from the house of slavery,
  and I sent before you Moses,
    Aaron, and Miriam.
5   O my people, remember what Balak king of Moab devised,
    and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,
  and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal,
    that you may know the righteous acts of the LORD.”

What Does the Lord Require?

6   “With what shall I come before the LORD,
    and bow myself before God on high?
  Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?
7   Will the LORD be pleased with¹ thousands of rams,
    with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
  Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
8   He has told you, O man, what is good;
    and what does the LORD require of you
  but to do justice, and to love kindness,²
    and to walk humbly with your God?

Destruction of the Wicked

9   The voice of the LORD cries to the city—
    and it is sound wisdom to fear your name:
  “Hear of the rod and of him who appointed it!³
10     Can I forget any longer the treasures⁴ of wickedness in the house of the wicked,
    and the scant measure that is accursed?
11   Shall I acquit the man with wicked scales
    and with a bag of deceitful weights?
12   Your⁵ rich men are full of violence;
    your inhabitants speak lies,
    and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
13   Therefore I strike you with a grievous blow,
    making you desolate because of your sins.
14   You shall eat, but not be satisfied,
    and there shall be hunger within you;
  you shall put away, but not preserve,
    and what you preserve I will give to the sword.
15   You shall sow, but not reap;
    you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil;
    you shall tread grapes, but not drink wine.
16   For you have kept the statutes of Omri,⁶
    and all the works of the house of Ahab;
    and you have walked in their counsels,
  that I may make you a desolation, and your⁷ inhabitants a hissing;
    so you shall bear the scorn of my people.”

Footnotes

[1] 6:7 Or Will the Lord accept
[2] 6:8 Or steadfast love
[3] 6:9 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
[4] 6:10 Or Are there still treasures
[5] 6:12 Hebrew whose
[6] 6:16 Hebrew For the statutes of Omri are kept
[7] 6:16 Hebrew its

Commentary

v1-3: The Lord's challenge to Israel. He is grieved at the attitude of His people; hence the call to the mountains and hills to witness His challenge - this is important!

"What have I done to you?" He asks; what has God done to cause Israel to reject Him? Has He been unfaithful or unreliable or unloving? What accusation can they bring? As in Job 38-41, such questions reveal the very character of God; as in Malachi, the questions also expose Israel's rebellion.

v4-5: Past blessings remembered; look at what the Lord has done for His people. In Num 22.11, the Lord turned Balak's scheme into blessing for Israel; such is His righteousness.

v6-7: Israel has fallen into ritualism, a theme in Micah's contemporary Isaiah also; there is also the matter of complacency (3.11). They neglect the weightier matters of the law.

The rhetorical question about bringing a burnt offering, or thousands of them, or oil in abundance, of even ones own son; multiplied rituals are of no value.

The poetry of v6-8 is echoed by the apostle Paul in 1 Cor 13, '... but have not love, ... but have not love, ... but have not love, I gain nothing' (1 Cor 13.1-3).

v8: Justice and mercy and humility, as in Matt 23.23; this is the Lord expects of His people. Micah's clear implication is that the people neglected these things; Zech 7.8-10; 8.16-17.

v9-12: The Lord calls out; He has appointed His rod of judgment, and with good reason. The people retained their "ill-gotten treasures," wealth gained by deceit; repentance means restoration. The rich gain through their sins; many attain their position by sinful methods, and retain their position in the same way. Christians compare badly even with the more honest business people, Luke 16.8; Amos 8.4-6.

v13-16: Judgment inevitable; note "will" and "shall" used throughout these verses. "Because of your sins;" God is not unjust, He will never reward the righteous with the judgment of the wicked. Their desire for the material will become futile; they will not be satisfied with gold and silver that they have desired. They will even become dissatisfied with food, Eccl 5.10.

The references to the statutes of Omri and the practices of Ahab relate to the worst of Israel's kings to that time.