Micah 6: Hear, You Mountains, the Indictment of the Lord

Good morning! Or whatever time of day it is for you, as you read this.

Micah 6 begins with a strain of desperation in the prophet's voice.

Hear what the Lord says:
Arise, plead your case before the mountains,
    and let the hills hear your voice.
2 Hear, you mountains, the indictment of the Lord,
    and you enduring foundations of the earth,
for the Lord has an indictment (controversy) against his people,
    and he will contend (plead) with Israel. (Micah 6:1-2)

Until now, God has been telling them that sin has brought coming judgment on them, and their response has been to blatantly say that Micah's word is false. They've been coming up with their own prophecies about blessing, and assuring themselves that nothing will go wrong.

The beginning of this chapter reminded me of a time recently when I was visiting my sister and her four little kids.

Her two oldest are 4 year old (now 5, but 4 when this story took place) twin girls, the third is a 3 year old girl, and the youngest a baby. One of their aunts sent them a ton of princess dresses, and two pairs of play-high-heels. You can imagine how it was with three little girls and only two pairs of beautiful shoes, so their mother put the shoes away with the promise that they'd make an appearance again when they learned to share with each other.

When my sister and I arrived, they did get the shoes out! But not without a warning, the shoes would only stay out as long as they could play nicely. Well, they couldn't, so in the box they went again. One of the twins felt so wronged. She just could not understand why the shoes had to be put away.

Their mother knew that they didn't have the maturity yet to understand the answer, so she told her not to argue about it, she had made up her mind. My little niece couldn't see that my sister really wanted them to have the shoes, and that she would love to give them back. She couldn't understand how she could both want them to have them, and take them away. So she continued to argue.

My sister, knowing she was perceived as unfeeling, eventually tried to reason with my niece. "The reason I took them away was because you can't share them! I want to get them out for you, but I just can't right now."

"But we CAN share!" Was the response. The same response they gave earlier, that had resulted in more fighting between sisters.

Parents have to make decisions that are good for their children, even if those decisions make them seem unfeeling or mean. Most often, because their parents know that small children don't have the maturity to grasp reason, a debate is not a part of the equation. Sometimes, if a parent is accused of being wrong, and pushed to their limit, that parent might in desperation, TRY to plead their case. Usually, like with my sister and her daughter, the case is made to a jury who is highly biased.

In Micah 6, God reminds me of a desperate parent. Having all good intentions, every decision made in the best interest of His "children," He is still argued with. Finally, He decides to try "pleading" with Israel.

This is His case:

“O my people, what have I done to you?
    How have I wearied you? Answer me!
4 For I brought you up from the land of Egypt
    and redeemed you from the house of slavery,
and I sent before you Moses,
    Aaron, and Miriam.
5 O my people, remember what Balak king of Moab devised,
    and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,
and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal,
    that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord.” (Micah 6:3-5)

(Before I get into this, I recommend reading Numbers 22-24 for proper context. For sake of space, I won't go through the whole thing, but the entire context of the story is very helpful to understand.)

God starts by showing them that His intentions toward them have always been good. He brought them out of bondage, He gave them great leaders, He conquered their enemies, He blessed them by people who set out to curse them. Why would they turn away from Him now, supposing that His intentions have changed?

As I was thinking about the people He gave them for leaders, I was reminded of Exodus 32, when the people of Israel, RIGHT after coming out of Egypt, have already built idols to worship. God's response is rage, He tells Moses that He will destroy them, and start over with his family. He would be keeping His covenant to Abraham, because Moses was a descendant of His.

But Moses' response is this:

Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’” And the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people. (Exodus 32:12-14)

I just thought, Wow. What better case could God make before this "jury?"

Not only did God save the people, bless the people, fight for the people, but He gave them a leader who loved the people enough to argue with God for their protection. To guard against a moment when God Himself had had enough, He put in place a man who would plead for them.

On top of this, He mentions another story, where a man was commissioned to curse them. God has power to break every curse, to protect from evil, but He didn't just do that. He wasn't content just to shield them from evil, He wanted to replace that evil with good. Instead of cursing, He caused their would-have-been enemy to bless them.

And then we get one of the most profound thoughts in the whole bible.

“With what shall I come before the Lord,
    and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?
7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
    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 has told you, O man, what is good;
    and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
    and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:6-8)

His case is made. His intentions have always been good, He has always done rightly, He has even done more for them than they ever deserved. His conclusion is not that He wants them to repay Him for His goodness by servitude, His conclusion is that He wants them to come back to Him.

His desire is to walk with them, His longing to teach them, His ambition to make them like He is.

I mentioned in a previous post that I love to try to see how the heart of God stays consistent in the Old and New Testaments, I feel like this verse needs very little inspection to make that clear.

Imagine verses 7-8 put this way:

I was not pleased with thousands of rams,
    with ten thousands of rivers of oil.
So I gave My firstborn for your transgression,
    the fruit of My body for the sin of your soul.”
8 I have told you, O man, what is good;
    and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
    and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:6-8)

The rest of the chapter, (I hope you read) goes right back to the judgment that God is bringing, and why He is bringing it.

One thing that I found interesting about this whole book, is that it was more than a warning to the people from Micah. First, it was a warning to the people while they were in rebellion, but second, it was a book. It was written to last, to be a reminder for the people when they were captives, looking back with regret that they hadn't listened. I imagine, for every hopeless captive who read it, that all of the time God spent showing them how He cared for them and still had goodness in store for them, it brought hope.

But clearly that's not all it was for, because it STILL lasts. God isn't done with this message for Israel, and now that He gave His firstborn for our transgression, inviting everyone to be a part of Israel, this book is for all of us.

Everything God judged Israel for still grieves Him, and He will judge. Everything Israel did that hurt God still hurts Him, everything He wanted for Israel He wants for us. 

His heart, shown so intensely in an intense time in history, is the same.