Present Corruption Condemned

I. Woe to the powerful, 2:1-5.

A. The Powerful Indicted, 1-2.

The Prophet Micah proclaims “Woe,” which announces punishment coming because of guilt. Isaiah 3:9

Isaiah 3:9 NASB95

The expression of their faces bears witness against them, And they display their sin like Sodom; They do not even conceal it. Woe to them! For they have brought evil on themselves.

Isaiah 3:11 NASB95

Woe to the wicked! It will go badly with him, For what he deserves will be done to him.

The reason for Micah’s proclamation is that there are those in Judah who lie awake at night to plot evil, then put it into practice the next day against their fellow man. Who is in view here? It seems to be the rich, who would have the means to carry out their plans. Through history in the times of affluence and peace. the rich and the poor in society normally become richer and poorer, and it was no less true in the late 8th century B.C. in Israel and Judah.

Deception was the rule of the day as these wealthy robbed others of their fields, houses, and inheritance (which included the land). They did not consider that they were violating not only the tenth commandment — against coveting what belongs to a neighbor — but also the eight commandment — against stealing — and the second greatest commandment, which said that they should love their neighbor as themselves, Lev 19:18

Leviticus 19:18 NASB95

‘You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.

What they were doing was practicing the world’s version of the Golden Rule: “Whoever has the gold makes the rules.”

These were determined to seize that which was not their own.

B. The Powerful Punished, 3-5.

It was because of this that the LORD was plotting to bring a calamity upon the people of Judah from which they would not be able to escape. They would be locked into it just as a yoke holds the neck of an ox. It would be a hard time for them and it would humble them.

So when God’s judgment fell, other people would ridicule the Israelites. A taunt song would be sung to these greedy men, mocking them. The rich ones would wail, mourning their complete destruction, just as the victims of their crimes had mourned. God’s removal of His blessings, including their lands, from them were that much more painful because He gives them to others whom they considered apostate — the Assyrians.

In the days of Joshua, the tribal land boundaries were set by the casting lots, Josh. 14:1-5

Joshua 14:1–5 NASB95

Now these are the territories which the sons of Israel inherited in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the households of the tribes of the sons of Israel apportioned to them for an inheritance, by the lot of their inheritance, as the Lord commanded through Moses, for the nine tribes and the half-tribe. For Moses had given the inheritance of the two tribes and the half-tribe beyond the Jordan; but he did not give an inheritance to the Levites among them. For the sons of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim, and they did not give a portion to the Levites in the land, except cities to live in, with their pasture lands for their livestock and for their property. Thus the sons of Israel did just as the Lord had commanded Moses, and they divided the land.

No one would remain in the covenant nation who could set boundaries by casting lots. This is one of the many examples of God’s talionic justice, where the perpetrator reaps what he had sowed, Gal. 6:7

Galatians 6:7 NASB95

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.

The wealthy had taken land from their countrymen illegally and greedily, so God Himself would take their land from them and let others occupy it.

II. The Refutation of ‘Placebo’ Prophets, 2:6-7.

A. Their Message, 6.

The true prophet now turns to the false prophets who have aligned themselves with the rich and powerful, and whose mouths flowed with what their patrons wanted to hear rather than hear the word of the LORD.

In contrast, those who were true prophets of the LORD were put on the defensive and treated contemptuously by listeners that cared little for any word from God.

In verse 6, Micah’s listener’s jeered, saying, “Do not prattle;” we do not need any prophecies from the LORD around here. Using the plural form of the verb commanding the true prophets of God to stop, they place Micah in the same class as his colleagues Hosea, Amos and Isaiah.

The last part of verse 6 is probably rendered best by: “One should not preach of such things; disgrace will not overtake us” (NRSV). This is sounds so much like today. All too many prefer to hear what they wish to hear.

B. Their Acceptance, 7a.

False prophets soothed their patrons with false promises. Later, Jeremiah would say of his people:

Jeremiah 5:31 NASB95

The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule on their own authority; And My people love it so! But what will you do at the end of it?

Isaiah, Micah’s contemporary heard the same thing: Isaiah 30:10

Isaiah 30:10 NASB95

Who say to the seers, “You must not see visions”; And to the prophets, “You must not prophesy to us what is right, Speak to us pleasant words, Prophesy illusions.

Now these false prophets and their rich patrons felt that, in their view, God was forever and unconditionally on their side, so how could disaster overtake them? They reasoned: For God to curse Jacob, He would have to retract His covenantal promises so there was no need to worry.

C. The LORD’s Response, 7b.

Their theology was only a half truth. God will keep His covenantal promises to Israel but may nevertheless withhold benefits from a disobedient generation. That disobedient generation would transmit the promise to the next generation, even if they do not participate in it. An example would be the members of David’s royal family who did not personally believe transmitted the promise but failed to benefit from it.

The LORD could be counted on to “do good to the one walking uprightly.” Who is the upright one? He is the one who believes God’s word and responded to what He said, not the one who demands silence from the true prophets of God or the one rejecting those whose message from the LORD challenged him and his lifestyle!

III. The Acts of the LORD’s Enemies, 2:8-9.

God has seen how these patrons of falsehood have disregarded His word. Our Lord has seen the enemy, and it is most of us (v. 8a)! Political leaders in the land, supported by renegade false prophets, have become merciless creditors, who would encourage hoodlums to rob debtors of their cloaks. Or was this the work of debt collectors, sent to collect unpaid debts with no regard for the teaching of the Law in Exodus 22:26-27?

Exodus 22:26–27 NASB95

“If you ever take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, you are to return it to him before the sun sets, for that is his only covering; it is his cloak for his body. What else shall he sleep in? And it shall come about that when he cries out to Me, I will hear him, for I am gracious.

Women (presumably widows) were ejected from their homes, their children being sold as slaves, all of this in order to finance the lifestyles of the rich and powerful.

IV. The LORD’s Pronouncement, 2:10-11.

The LORD’s Stern Message, 10.

God’s judgment is that as they have evicted others, God would return the favor, evicting them from the land. It will not be a place of rest for them, because of their moral and ethical failure before the LORD. They needed pure and undefiled religion — a religion described by James in James 1 27

James 1:27 NASB95

Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

There is only one standard of morality in the divine ordering of things for mankind.

B. An Unpopular Message, 11.

In verse 11, Micah describes their favorite prophets as those who promise health, wealth, and happiness but they are full of hot air and are liars for hire. These ones exalt the benefits of God’s promises, but do not tell God’s people all that they needed to hear; namely, that there are conditions to receiving those benefits or challenging them to walk faithfully with their LORD. This message was tolerated and encouraged by the rich and powerful, who rejected anything that would challenge their lifestyle.

V. A Future Hope of Restoration, 2:12-13.

The LORD promises that He Himself would assemble the scattered remnant of the Israelites (“Jacob” and “Israel” following His dispersion of them in exile. After many future dispersions, the return of many modern Jews to the State of Israel does not fulfill this prophecy. It is yet future, it is the remnant which refers to that part of the people that would remain following the dispersion of the majority.

Micah sees the LORD assembling His people like a shepherd gathers sheep in a sheepfold; a picture of the regathering of the Israelites in the Promised Land, an “island” as it were, in the world. But it is a gathering in which those gathered will be noisy, the gathering crowded with people, because it will be a time and place of great rejoicing as the long awaited time of blessing will come about after years of the LORD’s chastening.

It is the Lord who, as the Good Shepherd, will clear the way and lead His “sheep” to return to the land. Psalm 78:52-53

Psalm 78:52–53 NASB95

But He led forth His own people like sheep And guided them in the wilderness like a flock; He led them safely, so that they did not fear; But the sea engulfed their enemies.

They will break out from the areas they have dwelt, pass through the “gate” He opens for them, and return from every corner of the world to return to the Promised Land.

The LORD is their Breaker, their Shepherd, and also their (Davidic) King, Isa 6:5

Isaiah 6:5 NASB95

Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”

It is He who will lead them as a mighty conqueror and ruler,

Isaiah 33:22 NASB95

For the Lord is our judge, The Lord is our lawgiver, The Lord is our king; He will save us—

Zephaniah 3:15 NASB95

The Lord has taken away His judgments against you, He has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; You will fear disaster no more.

Zechariah 14:9 NASB95

And the Lord will be king over all the earth; in that day the Lord will be the only one, and His name the only one.

During these days of grace, God is still calling that remnant of Israel, Romans 11:5

Romans 11:5 NASB95

In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice.

God is not finished with Israel. He has broken out His people frequently in the past and He will do so again in Messiah’s Second Coming. This is in stark contrast to the deeds of the rich and powerful and the placebo preaching of the false prophets who presumed upon the unconditional nature of God’s promises.