Micah 6:1-16

Hear ye now what the Lord saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice. ² Hear ye, O mountains, the Lord’s controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the Lord hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel. ³ O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me. ⁴ For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. ⁵ O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may know the righteousness of the Lord. ⁶ Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? ⁷ Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or 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 hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? ⁹ The Lord’s voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it. ¹⁰ Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable? ¹¹ Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights? ¹² For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. ¹³ Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee, in making thee desolate because of thy sins. ¹⁴ Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee; and thou shalt take hold, but shalt not deliver; and that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword. ¹⁵ Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil; and sweet wine, but shalt not drink wine. ¹⁶ For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people.

God as Father is one of the great truths of Scripture. In one sense, God is the Father of all because He created everything that is. In another sense, God is a Father in relationship to those who are in covenant relationship to Him. For believers in the New Testament, we have been adopted into His family (Romans 8:14-17; 1 John 3:1-2) through faith in Christ. Since God is the perfect loving Father, His actions toward His people are always good and right and they are for the ultimate good of His people. Micah 6-7 come as the culmination of His prophecies of judgment and hope for Israel and Judah. They are a call to response and reminders of the character of God in how He deals with His people. Micah 6 focuses upon God’s judgments on Israel and Judah as being His loving discipline upon His people for their ultimate good that they might learn to trust in Him completely and walk with Him faithfully. In this passage, there are three things we can draw out and learn about what God does as the Father of His people.

The first thing that Micah 6 teaches us about what God does as Father is that He saves His children. Verses 1-5 serve as a reminder to Israel of God’s salvation and redemption of them from Egypt and His gracious dealings with them as they traveled through the wilderness afterward. In the first three verses, God calls creation to witness as He pleads His case with Israel. In verse 3, He asks what He has done to Israel to deserve their rebellion and disobedience. Has He been unjust to them? Has He burdened them in anyway? No. Instead, God has been immeasurably gracious to them. Verse 4 reminds us of His saving work in bringing Israel out of Egyptian bondage. The people had cried to Him about their hard labor in Egypt and He sent Moses to lead them out with an amazing demonstration of His power. Further, after Israel had received the law and traveled through the wilderness, Balak, king of Moab, hired Balaam, a prophet, to curse Israel. God would not allow Balaam to curse Israel, so the Moabites led Israel into sin against God. Despite all of this and Israel’s sin against God, God brought them from Shittim (the first place they came to after meeting Balaam) to Gilgal (the first place they came to after entering the Promised Land). These two cities serve as a reminder that despite all of their sin, God still faithfully brought them to the Promised Land. God demonstrated His grace toward His people and His amazing power to save and preserve His people. He was faithful to do all He promised despite their disobedience. God’s call for Israel to “remember” is an important call for us to heed today. It is very easy to be blinded by our sin or present circumstances and to forget God’s goodness to us as our loving Father. We can begin to be entitled or embittered because things don’t go our way or because we reap the consequence of a sinful action, but God is always good. The great promise of salvation and security in Christ is found in His words in John 6:37-40 where Jesus promises not only to save all who come to Him in faith, but to preserve them and bring them through to “raise them up at the last day.” God graciously sent His Son to bear the wrath for our sin on the cross. He drew us to Himself and reconciled us, forgiving us for all of our sin and He is able to “save” His children “to the uttermost” (Hebrews 7:25).

Secondly, Micah 6:6-8 teaches us that God teaches His children. As any good Father does, God is faithful to instruct and lead His children. In verses 6-7, the questions are asked in regards to what God requires from His people. These are very important questions. What makes someone right with God? How does one truly worship God? The questions are regarding whether or not God is pleased with “burnt offerings,” young “calves,” “thousands of rams,” “ten thousands of rivers of oil,” or one’s “firstborn.” The burnt offerings and calves were part of the sacrificial system and were offered regularly. The large sums of rams and oil are probably referring to the incredible number of sacrifices offered up by Solomon at the dedication of the temple (1 Kings 8:63). The “firstborn” could be a reference to the requirements of the pagan gods that Israel had erected high places to that required the sacrifice of children (2 Kings 16:3), or it could be referring to the general principle of the “firstborn” belonging to God in Scripture (Exodus 13:2, 12). Either way, the point is that any of these sacrifices are not what God truly desired from His people. Instead, all of the sacrifices, commands, etc., that He gave to His people were intended to teach His people what sin was, show them their sin, and lead them to walk humbly in obedience to Him. Verse 8 is perhaps the most quoted verse from Micah and it gives us three things that summarize what it is to truly walk with God in a pleasing way. They were to “Do justly,” meaning practice justice and righteousness. They were to “love mercy,” meaning they were to emulate the same compassionate, faithful love and grace that God had shown them. Lastly, they were to “walk humbly with” their “God.” They were to simply be humbly submitted to God and His will rather than live in arrogant rebellion to Him. James Boice asked a very appropriate question, “How can we who are sinners be anything but humble?” Micah 6:8 may seem overly simple, but do we truly do this? There is more in Micah 6:8 than you and I can master in this life. God teaches His children what it is to faithfully walk before Him. In His love, He has given us His Word that gives us “all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3) and equips us “for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Let us be teachable children.

Lastly, Micah 6:9-16 teaches us that God disciplines His children. Verse 9 mentions a “rod” of discipline that is wielded by God. Verses 10-12 serve as the indictment of the wickedness of the people and verses 13-15 tell us about God’s loving correction for their sin. While this is an oracle of judgment, it is important to remember that God’s judgment of Israel was actually His hand of discipline to teach and correct them so that they would not persist in their sin. God promises to remove all of their satisfaction for their sin. They will eat and not be satisfied. They will sow and not reap all so that they might know that their satisfaction and joy is to be found in God. Israel had come to trust in all of these things that they thought would satisfy and it led them into covetousness, greed, and idolatry. Because He loved them, God would discipline them to teach and show them that these things were never meant to satisfy them, only He could. God’s discipline in the lives of His people is one of the greatest demonstrations of His love for us. He loves us too much to leave us to ourselves. David wrote in Psalm 119:67, “Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.” The writer of Hebrews reminds us, “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?” (Hebrews 12:6-7). God faithfully disciplines us and corrects us so that “we might be partakers of His holiness” and our lives might “yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness” (Hebrews 12:11). Any loving parent corrects and disciplines their child. God is the perfect Father who faithfully disciplines His children for their ultimate good.

Do you know God as Father? Have you been saved by His grace and set free from the bondage of sin through faith in His Son? Are you learning and growing from His Word and in His grace? Are you submitting to His loving discipline as He seeks to remove the things from your life that don’t belong so that you might be what He desires you to be as His child? God is the perfect Father. He can be absolutely trusted. Let us “walk humbly” with Him this new year.