This is the only time in our three year cycle of lectionary readings that we read from the book of Micah. So it seems a good time to learn and reflect a bit on Micah. It’s one of the smaller books and you will find it placed near the end of the Old Testament. Micah is one of the earliest of the “minor prophets” and he prophesized within the same era as major prophet Isaiah. The difference between the major and minor prophets? The amount of recorded information we have from them. Isaiah is a huge book, 66 chapters long; Micah just 7 chapters long.
Micah lived in a small town southwest of Jerusalem, near the end of the 8th century before Christ’s birth. The city of Samaria, what we would now call the capital of the northern Kingdom of Israel, had fallen to the Assyrians, the superpower of the time. Many people from Israel were leaving to escape the oppression, and were moving to the southern kingdom of Judah, the Kingdom where Isaiah and Micah lived, many going to the larger city centers, especially Jerusalem. The kingdom of Judah was full of corruption, particularly in Jerusalem. The country was in flux, it was a time of urbanization, with emigrants moving in from Israel, and people moving from the countryside to the cities because rural areas were being taken over by the rich. People were being forcibly removed from ancestral lands by corrupt business deals, small farms made into large land-holdings, owned by a few rich people, and the crops grown were for export market, for the sole purpose of profit, not to feed the people of the country. The urban elite, the ruling powers were the source of most of the corruption, focused only on filling their own coffers, to the detriment of the peasant and working classes. Hmm, sound familiar doesn’t it? Micah wrote more than 2,500 years ago. And a phrase from my high school French came to me: ‘Plus ça change, plus c’est le meme chose.’ The more things change, the more they stay the same!
Micah warned the people, especially the corrupt rich, the elite, the powerful ones, they had forgotten the laws of Moses that the Lord had given them; they had forgotten how to really be and worship as God’s holy people. “Concerns for social justice and cultic practices are dominant throughout the book (of Micah) as a whole, and both themes were in line with other 8th century prophets.”[1] They disregarded the laws that directed them to care for the poor, the unfortunate, the widows and the aliens. The ways of the Lord were being ignored. In fact, Micah actually prophesized that their behaviours would cause the destruction of Jerusalem, and in 586 BCE (before the Christian Era) the Assyrians did just that.
The verses from Micah’s book we heard today, are like two different sides of an argument that are being presented, almost as though it’s a legal case that’s being presented to the heavenly court. The accused are those that hate the good and love evil and Micah goes into specific details later in chapter 6 -- dishonest and deceitful business dealings, abuse of wealth and violence towards the weak are some examples listed. The very essence of creation: the mountains, the hills, the very foundations of the earth will act as the jury.
This judicial sounding argument begins with “Hear what the Lord says”. “Hear”: translated from the Hebrew word shem‘a. It means more than just listen up, “it carries with an expectation that what is heard will be followed up with action. In other words, “heed” this message, says Micah.”[2] and respond accordingly. Where else do we get this shem’a message? Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength. This is the first and great commandment, the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.
After the Lord has pled the case, the Lord asks the people to rise and plead their case, because well, “We have a problem here people!” “3… what have I done to you? What have I done to make you tired of me? Answer me 4 For I brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from slavery. I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to help you. 5Don’t you remember, my people, how King Balak of Moab tried to have you cursed and how Balaam son of Beor blessed you instead? 6… I, the Lord, did everything I could to teach you about my faithfulness.” (Micah 6 3-6 NLT)
And the people respond: Ok Lord, what will it take to redeem ourselves? There is no counterargument, they don’t even try to defend themselves, it’s a tacit admission of guilt, just what needs to be done Lord, to make up for these wrongs?[3] What will it take to please you, Lord?
Now, in those days, according to the rites of the Law of Moses, atonement for guilt, for wrongdoing was achieved by presenting various gifts at the temple for offenses to God, or against others. Giving of one’s wealth--animals, olive oil, dedication of one’s firstborn to the priesthood, it was part of the religious ritual of asking for the Lord’s forgiveness. The scale of the offerings being suggested gives you an idea of the degree of the corruption in this society. How many rivers of oil are needed, how many thousands of animals would it take to alleviate this guilt, this “sin of the soul”, to atone for the hugeness of the sin about which Micah talks.
But the deeper question, the significant point Micah is posing, is the true value of those gifts. What is it really that the Lord really wants from God’s people? Can we actually buy our way out of our sins? Is that true atonement? No. It’s quite simple, Micah says, and we know it because God’s told us before what God wants from us. And it’s not animals, oil or even money. Coming before the Lord with ritual acts of confession and asking for forgiveness without really intending to change your behavior, without a true change of heart is really no more than an empty promise. So what does the Lord our God really require of us, what is good in the Lord’s eyes? Three things, and they are all actions, and boil down to our own behaviours:
· to do justice, and in biblical terms justice means social justice, equality among all people
· to love kindness. Loving kindness means more than just trying to be kind, to love kindness is to be intrinsically kind from within your soul, your inner being.
· and to walk humbly with our God. “The Hebrew word translate to “humbly,” signifies that “walking with” God includes a mindfulness of God’s attentions and works and of the affirmation that one bears responsibility for one’s actions in life.”[4]
In a nutshell, we’re called to walk the talk; all the time being mindful that we don’t walk it alone. God wants to walk the road with us, as we do God’s work in our little corner of God’s world.
[1] Megan Fullerton-Strollo in https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fourth-sunday-after-epiphany/commentary-on-micah-61-8-5 Accessed Jan 25.23
[2] ibid
[3] Amy Oden, https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fourth-sunday-after-epiphany/commentary-on-micah-61-8 Accessed Jan 25.23
[4] Fulleraton-Strollo