Man's Justice and God's Justice

We have some help to determine the time that Micah may have spoken and then written the words we find today in Micah 3. It is a time early in the reign of King Hezekiah, before Hezekiah decided to follow God completely. Micah speaks to the leadership of Judah, which is following the same path as the leadership of the northern kingdom.

Micah’s rhetorical purpose is “to persuade his audience that disaster will be the outcome of their actions … shattering the false security of his audience” (Shaw,Speeches of Micah, 121-122).

There is no direct call for repentance, yet Hezekiah’s response of fearing God and seeking His favor (Jer. 26:18-19) demonstrates the convincing power of Micah’s message and the working of God’s Spirit in the king’s heart.

Jeremiah 26:18–19 NASB95

“Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, ‘Thus the Lord of hosts has said, “Zion will be plowed as a field, And Jerusalem will become ruins, And the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.” ’ “Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Did he not fear the Lord and entreat the favor of the Lord, and the Lord changed His mind about the misfortune which He had pronounced against them? But we are committing a great evil against ourselves.”

I. Failure of the Rulers, 3:1-4.

A. Micah’s indictment of the rulers, 3:1-3.

In chapter 2, Micah is making it clear that the government itself is the object of His denunciation, as it fails in its role as the guardian of justice. Those who administer the affairs of state are failing in their duties. So Micah calls upon them to hear his prophetic word.

“The heads of Jacob” and “rulers of the house of Israel” are usually applied to the northern kingdom, but the context suggests that Micah refers to Judah in general and Jerusalem in particular, since it is probable that the northern kingdom may have already fallen, cf. Micah 1:13

Micah 1:13 NASB95

Harness the chariot to the team of horses, O inhabitant of Lachish— She was the beginning of sin To the daughter of Zion— Because in you were found The rebellious acts of Israel.

and Micah 2:12

Micah 2:12 NASB95

“I will surely assemble all of you, Jacob, I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together like sheep in the fold; Like a flock in the midst of its pasture They will be noisy with men.

Using “Jacob” and “Israel” is a reminder to those hearing Micah of their roots as the people of God who are in a covenant relationship with Him that has obligations of obedience to the LORD.

1. The rulers sin against representing justice, 3:1b.

The first question Micah asks requires a “yes” as an answer. The LORD is the ultimate lawgiver, and these rulers were to be upholders of the law and justice, but everywhere Micah turns, he sees evidence that they have rejected the knowledge of justice.

“know” — to know factually the legal traditions and to be skilled in applying those legal principles in society.

“justice” — (context) the even-handed and faithful implementation of the principles set forth in the law of Moses.

These have chosen not represent true justice, and by so doing, sin against society.

2. The rulers sin against society, 3:2.

These leaders did not know justice because they were “haters of good and lovers of evil.”

Micah introduces a lengthy metaphor of savagery that illustrates the terrible perversions of divine justice.

The general public is pictured as a flock entirely at the mercy of wild beasts. the verb “tear off” is a part of the OT vocabulary of oppression. The common man were being skinned of money and property by those who should have been protecting them. The courts were not places where justice lived, but a band of butchers who manipulated the legal processes for their own gain. They had no compassion for their own people.

3. The rulers sin against compassion, 3:3.

Notice now that the depiction Micah gives of what these rulers are doing; he likens their acts to cannibalism. Eating people or their flesh is a common figure for oppression.

The hostility of the rulers was particularly toward “my people,” God’s people (whom Micah identifies with) who were trying to live upright lives. Micah’s scathing rhetoric is the one weapon he has to use in the defense of these suffering citizens. The LORD will hear their cries...

B. Micah announces God’s judgment, 3:4.

But the LORD will not hear their cries and will hide His face from these rulers, just as they did to the cries for justice from the widows and orphans. “Cry out” is the technical term for appeal to a judge for help against oppression.

Instead the LORD will forget about, ignore, consciously cast off the cries of the rulers. This is a fitting retribution by the LORD for the wickedness of these rulers, evidenced by their evil deeds.

Micah turns once again to address those who supported the ruthless schemes of the rulers.

II. Failure of the Prophets, 3:5-8.

This is the word Micah had for the false prophets.

Prophets were men called by God to communicate the divine will for his people in specific situations. However, within every generation men arose who claimed this calling, but their message encouraged evil and contradicted the ancient Scriptures.

What were they doing?

A. Micah’s Indictment of the prophets, 3:5.

They “led my people astray.” The compassion of Micah is seen for those who misguided “my people,” i.e. God’s people!

They “bite with their teeth.” A picture of selfish expediency, where their god was their belly. What went into their mouths determined what came out of their mouth.

Their message was always “peace.” The word means total well-being. They were proclaiming that everything will be alright! Optimistic to their very core, they pronounced no condemnation nor calls for repentance. They were much like their later counterparts in the time of Jeremiah, Jeremiah 6:14

Jeremiah 6:14 NASB95

“They have healed the brokenness of My people superficially, Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ But there is no peace.

They would “declare holy war,” a powerful figure for persecution, against one who refused to offer them a bribe. God’s wrath would be declared upon the one who did not cooperate, and stir up hatred against those who disagreed with their message.

Therefore ...

B. Micah announces God’s judgment, 3:6-7.

All who had abused their prophetic gift would be deprived of them. The darkness indicates intellectual confusion, and when the sun sets on the nation of Judah they will no longer claim to see visions of peace.

Even divination would yield no result. That term includes magic, soothsaying, and necromancy, but is never used of genuine prophetic activity.

Four times Micah stresses to a group of these prophets the darkness of the coming day. Their future was not “peace;” Disaster loomed on the horizon and they would not escape from God’s judgment.

These seers (ancient title for a prophet) would end in shame, for they had prophesied peace but would be totally discredited by the coming events. They would end up “embarrassed.” God had hid His face from them; now they will “cover their mouths.” They would have nothing to say because “there is no answer from God” to their prayers for help.

These are in contrast to Micah as he presents his credentials as God’s prophet...

C. Micah presents his credentials, 3:8.

There is a forcible contrast in the Hebrew between Micah and the false prophets. He has been filled...

“with power.” The source of this power is God and is the inner strength of conviction to persevere in the face of opposition. The divine compulsion by which Micah carried out his responsibilities was a compulsion which no amount of opposition could stand against.

“with the Spirit of the LORD.” The Holy Spirit both enlightened the mind of the prophets and empowered them to communicate inerrantly God’s divine message.

“with justice.” Micah had a moral conscience and recognized what was right and wrong. He saw clearly the issues between God and His people, which compelled him to expose injustice and announce God’s just retribution for the flagrant sinners of Judah.

“[with] courage.” This term is used of the courage which equips warriors in dangerous battle. Micah could not be intimidated by threats, nor cold his message be bought with money. He boldly proclaimed what He knew to be true.

Micah was thus well equipped to denounce their conduct and announce God’s judgment upon it. As he faithful preached, Micah himself courted danger and death from these false prophets and the rulers they served.

III. Challenge and Condemnation of the Powerful, 3:9-12.

Once again Micah challenged these powerful rulers, priests, and prophets and condemned their conduct, demonstrating the courage he had just professed.

A. Indictment of the powerful, 3:9b-10.

In their attitudes and actions the rulers of Judah displayed their disdain for their role of guardians of justice.

1. Disposition of the powerful, 3:9b.

The powerful regarded justice as abominable, despising and rejecting it. The LORD had established norms for protecting the rights of the weak and powerless in disputes over life and property, but these leaders rejected those norms.

Even worse, “they twist everything that is straight;” willfully departing from a course of action marked out by the law as good and right. They therefore tolerated and practiced crookedness rather than righteousness.

2. Deeds of the powerful, 3:10.

Micah points out that Zion was built up by the powers that be “with blood.” Physically, its splendor rested upon the foundation of the sweat, toil, and blood of the lower class. Micah may also be saying that the reputation of Jerusalem had been built up by ungodly means. The residential areas were also built up with “iniquity”. The rich got richer by their unscrupulous and inhuman oppression of the poor and weak.

Rulers, priests, and prophets dominated the powerful.

B. The specific indictments against the powerful, 3:11.

Each group was controlled by greed. Note the following:

“Her leaders pronounce judgment for a bribe.” For the right price, legal edicts were granted favor.

“Her priests instruct for a price.” This being the only mention of priests in Micah, and it is not a positive one. “Instruct” probably is the rendering of legal decisions. But no doubt there was a laxity in enforcing God’s standards as conditions of admission to temple rituals.

“Her prophets divine for money.” Using methods borrowed from pagan neighbors, they relied on the use of external objects in the attempt to predict the future, though the law strongly condemned such in Deut. 18:9-13. Their motives were no different than rulers or priests, whose god was their pocketbook.

Yet they were looking to the LORD to undergird their corrupt system. The word “lean” is used, as an example, for depending on divine help in a military situation. For this group, religion wasn’t a relationship with the LORD; religion was a security blanket.

With the temple on a prominent hill within the city, where the ark of the covenant was in the holy of holies of that temple, they were assured that God was in their midst. Israel was His people. As their God, He had obligations to defend and protect them. They then would proclaim that “Calamity will not come upon us.”

The fallacy of their argument is that when people abandon God, He is no longer in their midst.

C. Micah’s announcement of God’s judgment, 3:12.

Micah pronounces judgment that will come on account of these rulers. The plowing of Zion, the most sacred section of Jerusalem, would be by engines of war. Those who would plow Zion would be functioning as God’s demolition crew.

Jerusalem would be left in total ruins, nothing but a pile of rubble, overgrown with thorns and brambles. This took courage to proclaim as a direct rebuke to the popular theology of the day.

About a hundred years later, the prophet Jeremiah was on trial for his life because he dared to preach publicly that God was about to destroy Jerusalem. It was the elders who cited verbatim this prophecy from Micah, noting that King Hezekiah did not execute Micah for preaching the same message as Jeremiah.

Just as God held the leaders of Judah accountable for their actions, He will do the same today. God demands leaders with spiritual and moral character, who understand the times we live in and try to move others to a more realistic view of reality.