Minor Prophets 6: Micah
You Can Read and Understand...the Minor Prophets • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 15:51
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Which Is It, Micah? Is Yahweh Fighting Mad or Bringing Flowers?
I. Yahweh is going to judge his unfaithful girlfriend, Israel, Judah, by sending the Assyrians against them.
II. But as often happens in romantic songs after a couple breaks up, Yahweh and his people get back together.
III. So now the war is over between God and his people, and we have received all the blessings Jesus won for us.
Sermon
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,
and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)
If you’ve tried reading and understanding Micah and have gotten confused, I can understand. It’s hard to tell who’s doing the talking and which country is being considered. Sometimes Micah is speaking about himself; sometimes God is speaking; sometimes Israel or Judah or even the Assyrians are speaking, poetically, that is. If I were Micah’s Hebrew teacher, I think I’d probably mark up his paper here and there with red ink and little notes that say “Unclear” or “You need to support this.” But Micah is the inspired prophet, and I’m not.
The whole Book of Micah describes a tragic love affair between Yahweh and his people Israel. As I read Micah, I can’t help but think of an old Patsy Cline song from 1961, “I Fall to Pieces.” I know the song doesn’t exactly fit this situation, but the grief of unrequited love does. God grieves over his wayward people. They in turn will eventually regret their unfaithfulness.
In the song “I Fall to Pieces,” a guy has dumped his girlfriend. But she’s still in love with him, so every time he passes by, she falls to pieces. In Micah, it’s the other way around. The girlfriend, Israel and Judah, has dumped Yahweh, and he’s the one who’s grieved and angry. In one verse, he’s fighting mad; then in another verse, he’s bringing flowers. So,
Which Is It, Micah? Is Yahweh Fighting Mad or Bringing Flowers?
It’s complicated. But then, the tension between Law and Gospel, which is all through the Bible, is always complicated.
I.
Here’s the situation. Micah is a prophet from Moresheth-Gath in southern Judah. The Assyrian Empire is at its height. Both Israel and Judah have been unfaithful to their covenant with Yahweh; Israel more so, Judah maybe less. The Lord, Yahweh, is going to judge his people by sending the Assyrians against them.
What have they done that’s so bad they deserve to be overrun by this horrible, cruel enemy? If you scan Micah, you can pick out the sins of Israel and Judah that are so offensive to God that he can’t overlook them. Here they are:
Judah, God’s own people, have installed a pagan high place in the Jerusalem temple (1:5). That would be like our church putting a statue of Buddha on the altar or having people leave offerings for Krishna as they enter church.
Israel has a separate temple in Samaria and has even more idols in their country than Judah. To Micah, this is spiritual prostitution (1:7).
Powerful people covet the fields and houses of others and seize them. They defraud the grieving of their inheritance (2:2–3).
Thieves strip the robes off travelers passing through (2:8).
Mothers are deprived of their homes, and children of God’s blessing (2:9).
False prophets gladly lie and deceive for plenty of wine and beer (2:11).
Leaders strip the people of their skin, flesh, and bones and eat them (3:2–3). Maybe this is a reference to abusive taxes, or maybe they actually resort to cannibalism when their cities are under siege. It’s not clear. This is where I might use my red pen.
Judges decide in favor of those who pay them bribes (3:11).
God’s people are involved in witchcraft; they cast spells; they worship carved images, use sacred stones, and set up poles in honor of Asherah, the mother goddess (5:12–14).
In commerce, merchants use short weights and measures to cheat their customers (6:11).
Laws enacted by evil kings like Omri and Ahab are still in force (6:16).
So there you have it—all the wrongs God’s people commit that anger Micah and move Yahweh to act against them: idolatry, government corruption and theft, fraud, highway robbery, mistreatment of women and children, high taxes, false prophets, miscarriage of justice, witchcraft, and dishonest business practices.
What’s Yahweh going to do about it? He’s going to wipe the slate clean and start over. He’s going to make Israel and Samaria a pile of stones and rubble. He’s going to let their enemy strip them naked, shave their heads, and take them away. He’s going to separate children from their parents. He’s going to give their land to traitors (probably Israelites who support the Assyrians).
And that’s just what’s going to happen in the north. In the south, the Assyrians are going to devastate Judah, capture its major cities like Lachish, and lay siege to the very gates of Jerusalem. All of which they did. Every word of this came true, part of it in Micah’s lifetime.
II.
So if Assyria is the hand of God, and Israel and Judah have jilted him, then when he passes by they literally “fall to pieces” and never fully recover. But as often happens in romantic songs, after a couple breaks up and the sparks fly, they sometimes make up and get back together. Micah is full of breaking up and making up, all of which is initiated by Yahweh.
Important, though: when we read about Micah’s prophecies of restoration and blessing, our understanding is that they don’t refer to politics. They refer to a spiritual kingdom of God. In Micah’s vision of the future, the Lord’s temple is established again; his Law goes forth from Zion (another name for Jerusalem); he settles disputes between the peoples; the nations beat their swords into plowshares; no one makes war anymore; everyone gets to sit in peace under his own fig tree; and God’s people walk in his name forever (Micah 4:1–5).
All the people who have gone into exile return, even those in Babylon, which isn’t even an empire yet. The former dominions are restored. The kingship returns to Jerusalem. All the ill-gotten gains of the nations are devoted to Yahweh. Put another way, no one keeps plunder taken in war. It all belongs to God (Micah 4:6–13).
When does this vision of a glorious future begin? It begins when one of the most famous prophesies in the Old Testament is fulfilled:
But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel,
whose coming forth is from of old,
from ancient days.
Therefore he shall give them up until the time
when she who is in labor has given birth;
then the rest of his brothers shall return
to the people of Israel.
And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great
to the ends of the earth.
And he shall be their peace. (Micah 5:2–5)
III.
If this sounds familiar, it’s because Matthew quotes it in the Christmas story. The Wise Men come to Jerusalem seeking the newborn King. Herod asks his advisers where the King is to be born, and they recite this verse from Micah. According to Matthew, when Jesus was born, this prophecy was fulfilled. The promised King is here!
And there has never been a king like Jesus, one who has always existed with the Father but who was also born as a human baby in Bethlehem. The Virgin Mary gave him our flesh in her womb, and now that he is born, all his brothers and sisters are returning. That means the lost and exiled people of Israel of whom Micah speaks, as well as the lost and disaffected people among the Gentiles, you and I, are all coming home.
When we come to Jesus in faith, we find all our needs met because he does “stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord.” As citizens of his kingdom, the Holy Christian Church, we dwell securely and live in his peace. In Jesus, we get to sit, as it were, under our fig tree, and we never need to be afraid of anything ever again.
And that’s not all. The blessings continue. Now that our King has come and died in our place, now that he is risen and ascended to the Father, his wounds forever pleading on our behalf, God is no longer angry with us, his unfaithful girlfriend! All our iniquity is gone because King Jesus took all our guilt upon himself at the cross and the Father accepts his sacrifice on our behalf. Now, says Micah, “Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression?” (Micah 7:18).
So now that the war is over between God and his people, and we Gentiles have been added to his restored kingdom by faith, now that we’ve received all the blessings won for us by Jesus, what do we do? Micah even has an answer for that. Here’s what he says:
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,
and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)
We pray: Help us, Lord, to be the people King Jesus has saved us to be, people who do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God. In your name we pray. Amen.