Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Reflections on Micah 6

 Micah 06  (Contemporary English Version)
  1. The LORD said to his people: Come and present your case to the hills and mountains.
  2. Israel, I am bringing charges against you-- I call upon the mountains and the earth's firm foundation to be my witnesses.
  3. My people, have I wronged you in any way at all? Please tell me.
  4. I rescued you from Egypt, where you were slaves. I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to be your leaders.
  5. Don't forget the evil plans of King Balak of Moab or what Balaam son of Beor said to him. Remember how I, the LORD, saved you many times on your way from Acacia to Gilgal.
  6. What offering should I bring when I bow down to worship the LORD God Most High? Should I try to please him by sacrificing calves a year old?
  7. Will thousands of sheep or rivers of olive oil make God satisfied with me? Should I sacrifice to the LORD my first-born child as payment for my terrible sins?
  8. The LORD God has told us what is right and what he demands: "See that justice is done, let mercy be your first concern, and humbly obey your God."
  9. I am the LORD, and it makes sense to respect my power to punish. So listen to my message for the city of Jerusalem:
  10. You store up stolen treasures and use dishonest scales.
  11. But I, the LORD, will punish you for cheating with weights and with measures.
  12. You rich people are violent, and everyone tells lies.
  13. Because of your sins, I will wound you and leave you ruined and defenseless.
  14. You will eat, but still be hungry; you will store up goods, but lose everything-- I, the LORD, will let it all be captured in war.
  15. You won't harvest what you plant or use the oil from your olive trees or drink the wine from grapes you grow.
  16. Jerusalem, this will happen because you followed the sinful example of kings Omri and Ahab. Now I will destroy you and your property. Then the people of every nation will make fun and insult you.

Was the Lord being unjust in His charges against Judah and pronouncement of coming destruction? Was it God, maybe, who was at fault, driving Judah to rebel against Him? God, through Micah, was giving Judah the opportunity to make a case against Him. "Plead your case," He said, "and let the hills hear your voice." In other words, make your case before the whole world. "What have I done to you," He asks. "How have I wearied you?"

Having challenged Judah to make her case against Him, God began to point out times in the past when He had helped them and not hurt them. In doing so He pointed to some highlights in Israel's history, ones that were repeatedly referred to when being reminded of how God had brought Israel out of slavery to where she was at the present. I do a similar thing from time to time, recalling those events in my life when God blessed me or redirected my life in significant ways. When I do this it is always the same occasions for they are the markers in my life reminding me of what God has done for me.

The interesting thing is that there are times in my life that were not so good and I could recall these times also and possibly turn them into grievances against God as if He caused those hurtful events. But the reason those rather negative events don't come to mind is that they were, in most instances, the events that God turned into the blessings and life changing occasions for good in my life. In other words, those times of blessing and change for good were usually brought about by the negative events which God turned into blessing. So the negative is overridden by the positive and is forgotten in my memory unless I work to dredge them out.

So it was in Israel's history. All of the blessings pointed out in these verses, and similar verses throughout the Old Testament, were prompted by a negative experience which God turned into a blessing. It was the blessing, then, that was remembered rather than the negative experience. So what charge was Judah going to bring against God when He had turned their negative experiences into blessings?

In verses 6-8 Micah came to the heart of worship for those who worship the God of Israel which includes those who are followers of Jesus. It is a defining difference between worship of God and the worship of other religions. Other religions define ritualistic practices aimed at appeasing the god they worship and bringing the favor and blessing of that god on the lives of the worshipers. However, the lifestyle and behavior of the worshiper is not addressed. The worshiper can, for the most part, live as they wish.

Judaism also had it rituals and sacrifices, though they were aimed not so much at the appeasement of God but rather at atonement for the sins of the people. But their behavior and lifestyle was at the heart of their relationship with their God, for the laws He had given them are all about love for God and love for one's neighbor. If one is concerned for these two loves, their lifestyle is of great concern, for everything we do has an impact on our relationship with God and with other people.

This comes to the point of Micah's message in verses 7-8. "Would the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousand streams of oil," he asked in verse 7? And then he answered the question in verse 8, "He has told you men what is good and what it is the LORD requires of you: Only to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God." All the sacrifices they could possibly offer to God were of no significance if they didn't live justly and walk humbly with God. Yes, ritual offerings and sacrifices were a part of their worship, but they meant nothing if the people didn't live lives of justice and faithfulness to the teachings of God.

God's message through Micah comes in verse 9 to the outcome of the lifestyle Judah had chosen to live. She had turned from God to find her "blessings" from other sources. These sources were primarily through their own ability to devise wicked schemes to cheat people for their own profit. The outcome Judah could now expect, and which was already beginning to take place, was a lack of return on all her efforts. Whatever they did would turn to nothing, be it food crops, olives for oil, grapes for wine, etc.

They would go hungry and would fail to reap the benefit of their efforts in other ways. What the people were able to reap and store would be taken at the point of a sword. Judah would become "a desolate place," and the people would bear the Lord's scorn.

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