Micah 6

CHAPTER 6THEME: Pleading present repentance because of past redemptionChapter 6 begins Micah’s third and final message to the nations of the world and to Israel in particular. Although chapters 6 and 7 are one message, I have taken the privilege of dividing these last two chapters and of making a major division out of each one of them.

Micah 6:1

PLEADING PRESENT REPENTANCE BECAUSE OF PAST REDEMPTIONThis section begins as the other major sections of this book have begun: “Hear ye now what the LORD saith.” This is a call not only to the northern kingdom, but again I take it that it is also a call to the entire world to “hear.” God will now register His complaint against Israel. God has a contention with His people Israel, and from it we can learn great lessons. “Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice.” This is an expression that we find several times in the writings of the prophets. This is actually a call to nature, a call, it says, to the mountains and to the hills. But I believe that there is also an application here that we see elsewhere in Scripture, too. A mountain represents a great kingdom, and a hill represents a lesser kingdom. I would say, therefore, that this is a call not only to nature but also to the nations of the world. In other words, here is a message which is applicable to all the nations of the world.

Micah 6:2

“Hear ye, O mountains, the LORD’s controversy"the nations of the world are to hear. “And ye strong foundations of the earth"that is, the great peoples and nations of the world which have been in existence for thousands of years and yet have been far from God. God now gives a message to them. “For the LORD hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel.” God has a controversy with His people, and He is actually calling them into court. Then God does a very startling and surprising thing. When He goes into court, instead of immediately lodging a charge against them, He says, “What am I guilty of?” Can you imagine this condescension of Almighty God to little man down here on this earth!

Micah 6:3

In other words, God is saying to them, “Why have you turned from Me? Why have you rejected Me? What have I done to you?” We find this question again in the prophecy of Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament. After their captivity, the people returned to the land and became very blase, very sophisticated. They forgot about the Babylonian captivity. The city of Jerusalem had been rebuilt, and they were enjoying prosperity again. When Malachi spoke to them, they said, “Well, to tell the truth, this going through the religious rituals is very boring indeed, and it’s wearisome.” I would more or less agree with them in that, but the problem was not with Godthe problem was with them. Micah is going to be very specific here as to the real problem. God had asked the people to testify against Him and to tell Him what He has done. Now He is going to tell them what He has done to them. What is it that God has done? Has He been ugly to them? Has He mistreated them? Did He take them down to the land of Egypt and leave them there and forget about them? He could have done that. He didn’t have to deliver them out of the land of Egypt, but He did deliver them. Listen to Him

Micah 6:4

“For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants.” They had been slaves, and God says, “I redeemed you. I didn’t do you wrong. I didn’t harm you, but I redeemed you. You were slaves, bending under the yoke of the taskmaster down in the land of Egypt, and there was no one to deliver you. You were not an attractive people; you were a slave people. You had dropped down to the lowest level of humanity, but I loved you and redeemed you out of the house of servants.” “And I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.” God says, “I gave you leadership to lead you out of the landMoses, Aaron, and Miriam.” It is interesting that Miriam is mentioned here. I would like to call to the attention of the women’s liberation movement the fact that God did not pass them by. Miriam was one of the leaders out of the land of Egypt. She was on a par with Aaron, but she was not on a par with Moses because Moses was the one that God had chosen. Actually, at one time, Miriam wanted to lead a rebellion against her own brother. When the people got out into the wilderness, Moses really took charge, for he was leading under God.

But Miriam said, “Who is he to tell me anything? I remember when he was a little, bitty fellow and Mother and I took him down to the river and put him in the bullrushes because he would have been put to death by Pharaoh. I stayed at a distance, and I watched over him. Who does he think he is to tell me what to do?” I guess Miriam was the first women’s liberationist that we ever had. But she was a leader, and she was chosen of God. I have a notion that she had a real ministry with the women of Israel.

Can you imagine the problems that would arise with the women and children on that wilderness march? There would be problems that Moses would not know too much about. So Miriam must have been a great help. The people of Israel in Micah’s day complained that they were weary, tired of worshiping God. They said, “After all, what has He done for us?” So God went back and recited their history. God is pleading from His heart with these people

Micah 6:5

What we have here is the reminder of a very wonderful incident that goes back to the time when the children of Israel were ready to pass into the Promised Land. They had had to go all the way around Edom because Edom would not let them through their land. God led them around Edom, and then they came to Moab. The king of Moab at that time was Balak. Balak wanted to curse the children of Israel, and he hired the prophet Balaam who was a lover of money. Balaam was a hired preacher; yet he was a prophet who seemed to have information from God. God certainly spoke through him, but God finally judged him. Balaam was called in by Balak to curse the children of Israel. “Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal.” Shittim was the last camping spot before they entered Moab after Balaam began his ministry against them. Gilgal was the first place they camped when they got into the Promised Land. I will not go back over each of the prophecies which Balaam gave but will only say that each time he could not curse IsraelGod would not let him curse Israel. Balak took Balaam up to a mountain, and as he looked down at the camp of Israel, Balaam said, “How shall I curse what God hath not cursed? …” (Num_23:8). God was not doing them evil; God was on their side. Now, if you had gone down into the camp, you would have found they were not perfectGod was dealing with them and with their sin down therebut no enemy on the outside was going to find fault with them. The children of Israel did not know that there was an enemy trying to curse them and that God was protecting and defending them. Even old Balaam had to say, “How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? I am not able to do it.” God did not permit them to be cursed (see Num. 22-24). The wonderful thing for the child of God today is that we are told that we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Righteous One (see 1Jn_2:1). God deals with His children personally. I know that He has dealt with me and has done so severely. I am confident that the cancer which I had was a judgment of God upon me. I accept it as that from Him, and I thank Him for hearing prayers for my healing. But I am also very thankful that I have an Advocate, Jesus Christ the Righteous, who defends me. He is on my side; He is my Advocate. He is the one who says that I am His child, that I am in the family of God. He is not going to let anyone on the outside curse me. May I say to you, this ought to answer the superstitious and wild views that are circulating today that God’s children can be demon-possessed. However, I do believe that the Devil can oppress the child of God and give him a whole lot of trouble. He can certainly deceive you and make life miserable for you, but no demon is going to possess you if you are truly God’s childbecause you have an Advocate. It does not matter who you are; if you are a child of God, He’s on your side, and He is defending you. When it seemed like the whole world had turned against him at one time, Martin Luther said, “One with God is a majority.” I am on the side of the majority. How about you? That is the important question. God is telling His people here, “I have defended you. I defended you even when Balaam attempted to curse you.” Balak got disgusted with Balaam as he took him to the top of four mountains one by one, and Balaam could not curse Israel. But he did give some awful advice to Balak. He said, “Since you can’t curse them, and you can’t fight them, join them.” It’s the same old story, “If you can’t fight ’em, join ’em.” Balaam told the king of Moab, “Go down and intermarry with them.” And that is exactly what happenedand that introduced the idolatry of Moab among the people of Israel. All of this happened because of the advice of a false prophet. I want to say something very carefully at this point. Today we are getting a whole lot of so-called marriage counseling from false “prophets.” I hear a great deal of it second-hand. My friend, much of it doesn’t happen to be scriptural. I know that it is based on pulling out a little verse here and a little verse there, and you can build quite a case that way. But may I say that the only thing which is going to make a marriage work is love. If you can look at her and say, “I love you,” and she can look back at you and say, “I love you,” then, my friend, the Word of God will give you all you need to solve your problems. God reminds Israel that He is a righteous God, but He was defending them. He was on their side. And it is wonderful to have God on our side today. In each chapter of this book we have found a wonderful, unusual passage, and we are coming now to another in verses Mic_6:6-8 of this chapter. The liberals delight especially in verse Mic_6:8, saying, “This is what pure religion is. This is the greatest statement in the Old Testament.” I rather agree with the liberals that it is a great statement, but I do not agree with them in the interpretation of it. God has pleaded with these people to come back to Him, to repent of their gross negligence and sins, and to turn to Him. He has cited His redemption of them in the past, how He redeemed them out of the land of Egypt and brought them through the wilderness. Now the people have four questions that they ask, and they are good questions. The answer to them is all-important. This is a very important passage of Scripture, because it has been used and abused by the liberals today probably more than any other passage. This is a wonderful section, but we need to be very careful to keep it in the context of what Micah is talking about here, especially as it relates to the Old Testament as a whole. I am confident that every person who believes in a god wants to ask the question, “How am I going to approach him?” Unless you are an atheist, that has to be a question which would cross your mind. The pagan nations of the past and the heathen of the present have asked that question, and they have answered it. The pagan viewpoint is first of all revealed in their idolsthey’re horrible-looking. Their viewpoint is also revealed in the fact that when trouble comes they think he’s angry, and they’ve got to do something to appease him. Today that is even the viewpoint of the pagan and heathen in my own sophisticated, civilized country. The children of Israel here ask a question, and it is a legitimate question, one that the average man would ask.

Micah 6:6

The people’s first question is: “Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God?” In other words, “What is wrong with God? Why is He displeased with us? We’re going through the rituals and the liturgy and the rites of religion. We are going through an outward form, and it is the form which He gave us to go through.” But God had also given them a relationship with Himself which they had lost. Again, the question is: “Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? What can I bring to God? What can I give Him? He’s way up yonderI’m way down here. How am I going to reach Him? How am I going to communicate with Him? How am I going to make contact with Him? How will I please Him? Andhow will I be saved?” The Philippian jailer, who was as pagan as they come, asked, “What must I do to be saved? How can I be right with God?” This is a good question. There is nothing wrong with the question. The people’s second question is: “Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old?” God had required sacrifices of them. God had given them, in the first part of the Book of Leviticus, five offerings which they were to make, which were to be their approach to Him. So they asked the question, “Will it be adequate simply to go through the form of religion?” Man’s reasoning always degenerates down to one thing: “I have to do something for God. He wants me to do something.” May I say, this probably reveals the proud heart of man more than anything else. We want to do something for God. We feel very warm on the inside when we are generous and make a gift.

The unsaved man says, “I go to church; in fact, I’m a church member. I give generously to the church. When they ask me to do something, I do it. I’m a civilized man; I don’t go around hitting people on the head. I’m considered a pretty good Joe. I’m a fellow that everybody likes.

Now what in the world does God want of me? Shall I do something else? I feel like I should do something.” You see, we have the whole thing backwards. We ask, “What must I do to be saved?” The people came to the Lord Jesus and asked, “…What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?” And the Lord Jesus said, “…This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent” (Joh_6:28-29). He is saying, “…Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved …” (Act_16:31). That is the only work that God is asking you to dobelieve. Faith is just about the opposite of works. Saving faith produces works, but it certainly does not originate salvation. Your works have nothing to do with your salvation. This is the second question of the children of Israel, and it is the normal question of man. The people now ask a third question

Micah 6:7

“Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil?” Now that is really being generous! In other words, they ask, “Is it because we haven’t done enough for God? Should we do more for God to try to please Him?” We hear the same question asked today. Years ago I used to play volleyball with a wealthy man who was a member of the YMCA with me in Nashville, Tennessee. It was near Christmastime, and he told me, “I want you to know what my religion is. I believe in being generous.

Every Christmas I give my employees a bonus, and I give to this cause and that cause and the other cause. I give to my church, too. Now what else could God ask of me?” In other words, “I go the second mile. I’m a big spender as far as the Lord is concerned. I’m doing all thiswhat else could He ask me to do?” This is the question: Is it that we need to be very generous in what we do? Is that our problem?

Many folk express it this way: “Well, maybe I’m not doing enough. I just don’t feel like I’m right with God. I don’t seem to be doing enough.” These are sincere people; but because they are not saved, although they are church members, they feel that they need to do a little bit more than they are doing. This line of thinking is something that the liberal preacher can work on; he can use a psychological approach. He can say, “Now look here, you folk are not doing enough.” And so the fellow digs down a little deeper in his pocket, especially if he is a man of means, and says, “I’ll give a little bit more. God will be tickled to death with that. My, He is sure going to be pleased with me.” Just like Little Jack Horner, man becomes pleased with himself and with what he does Little Jack Horner Sat in the corner, Eating of Christmas pie: He put in his thumb, And pulled out a plum, And said, “What a good boy am I!” There are a lot of church members who are pulling out a plum and saying, “God surely must want to pat me on the head for what I am doing!” The fourth question the people of Israel ask is going the limit: “Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” This was very meaningful to these people because they were surrounded by pagan peoples who in their worship of Molech and Baal offered human sacrifices. There were instances when even Israel turned in this direction. Two of the most godless kings of the southern kingdom indulged in human sacrificesold Ahaz and old Manasseh. These two godless men offered their own children as burnt offerings, but is that what God would ask? I want to make it very clear that God never asked these people to offer a child as a human sacrifice. God did require that they give to Him the firstborn male of everything that was born to them, whether it be a cow, a sheep, an ox, or their son. But God made it very clear to them that He did not require human sacrifice. There are many passages of Scripture on this, but I will have to confine myself to just a few which I feel are ample to illustrate my point. In the eighteenth chapter of Numbers, God gave to the people certain regulations and told them what He required of them. We read there, “Every thing that openeth the matrix in all flesh, which they bring unto the LORD, whether it be of men or beasts, shall be thine: nevertheless the firstborn of man shalt thou surely redeem, and the firstling of unclean beasts shalt thou redeem” (Num_18:15). God claimed the firstborn, you see. God required that the firstborn male child belonged to Him, but redemption money, silver, was to be taken and paid for that firstborn. In other words, God would not accept a human sacrifice, and He also would not accept the sacrifice of an unclean animal. I think that is interestingman is unclean. We have the practice today of dedicating our children to the Lord, and I think that that is a very fine thing to do. It has been my privilege to dedicate several thousand children in my days as a pastor. Some of them have turned out wonderfully well. One mother brought her son to me at a seminary where I was speaking, and she said, “Dr. McGee, you dedicated him when he was an infant.” I thank the Lord that he has turned out well, but I have also dedicated some who have wound up in some of our best jails. It is nice to dedicate your child to the Lord, but that does not guarantee that he will turn out well.

Micah 6:8

In the Old Testament, God said, “You’re to redeem the child, put up redemption money for him. I will not take him now.” Why? He is like that unclean animal; he’s unclean. That is the reason that a woman who had brought a child into the world was uncleanshe had brought an unclean thing into the world. David said, “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psa_51:5). God doesn’t want a child until he is redeemed. We are going to have to wait until our child has received Jesus Christ as his Savior; when he does that, God can take that child and use him. God will not take him and use him until then. In Exodus we read, “Sanctify unto me all the firstborn, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is mine” (Exo_13:2). But then in Leviticus we find: “And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD” (Lev_18:21). In other words, God said, “Do not offer a human sacrifice. Do not take your child and offer him as a human sacrifice. You would profane Me if you did that.” People say to me, “I surely hope that your little grandson is going to follow in your footsteps and become a preacher. I am praying that he will do that.” I do not mean to be coldhearted, but I do not pray that way about my grandsons. In the best way that I can as a grandfather, I lift them to the Lord, and I have told the Lord that first of all I want them to be saved. Then I pray that the Lord will use them in whatever way He wills. If it is His will for one of them to be a pharmacist and roll pills, that would tickle me to death. If it is the Lord’s will for one to dig ditches, I’m going to be for that. You and I cannot take a little child who has our fallen nature and force him into Christian service. It simply won’t work; that’s not the way it is done, if you please. Verse Mic_6:8 is the joy and delight of liberals because they think that it presents a works religion, that it teaches that man can be saved by his works. What Micah is doing here is answering the questions of many sincere people in the northern kingdom of Israel who were in darkness, who had not been taught the Word of God. They wanted to know how to come before God. They wanted to know whether they should bring burnt offerings, whether they should bring many offerings, and whether they should offer even their own children as human sacrifices. Micah answers all of these questions: None of these things does God require. External religion without an internal experience, without reality on the inside, is absolutely valueless.

There must be a rebirth, a new nature given to the individual. Externalities are not importantGod never begins there. If you want to know what God takes delight in, what He requires of man, this verse will tell you. I want us to consider this verse carefully and in detail. Mr. Liberal, I insist that you interpret this accurately, and when you do, you will find that you are not saved by your good works because you do not have any good works. “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good.” We notice first of all that this is addressed to man. This means not only the man in Israel but also the man in the United States, not only the person of the seventh century B.C. but also the person of the twentieth century A.D. This is for mankind. These are the three things that God requires: (1) You are “to do justly"that is, you must have a righteousness to present to God, you must be a righteous person. You are to be just in your dealings with your fellow man; you are to be honest and true. (2) You are “to love mercy.” You are not only to love the mercy of God but also to be merciful in your own dealings with others. And (3) you are “to walk humbly with thy God.” How are you going to do these things, brother? Can you do them in your own strength? Do you think that you can do them without God’s help? Do you think that you can do them without God’s salvation? If you do, (I’m going to say something very strong, but I’m far enough away from you that you cannot hit me), you are a hypocrite! Don’t tell me that you live by this moral code without the power of God.

You cannot, for the very simple reason that all of these are the fruit of the Holy Spirit. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law” (Gal_5:22-23). All three of these things which Micah lists are the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. None of us has any one of these things in his life today. Let’s turn to the New Testament and see what is said there concerning this. Listen to a man who lived under the Law. In the fifteenth chapter of Acts, when the apostles were deciding whether the Gentiles would have to keep the Law in order to be saved, Simon Peter stood up and said, “But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they” (Act_15:11). Why did he say that? Because he had just said in Act_15:10, “Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?” Simon Peter said, “I lived under the law” (and I don’t think he ever got very far away from it even after he was saved), “yet I did not measure up to it.” God has made this very clear through the words of the apostle Paul also: “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you …” (Rom_8:5-9, italics mine). My friend, how does the Spirit of God dwell in you? The Lord Jesus said, “…Ye must be born again” (Joh_3:7). You must be born again by receiving Christ. “But as many as received him, to them gave he power [the right, the authority, the exousian power] to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (Joh_1:12). In Rom_3:9-18 the apostle Paul sets before us the condition of man. He brings man before the judgment bar of God and shows that he is guilty. Then Paul takes man into the clinic of God and shows that he is sick, sick nigh unto deathin fact, he is “…dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph_2:1, italics mine). No man, therefore, whoever he is, can present these things to God. God requires righteousness, but we cannot meet that standard. Paul says, “…There is none righteous, no, not one” (Rom_3:10).

Someone says, “Well, that is in the New Testament.” My friend, all that Paul is doing in this section of Romans is quoting the Old Testament. In Psa_14:1 we find, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.” This is what God says about you. But God also says that He requires righteousness. How are you going to be able to present it to Him, my friend? Paul goes on to say in Rom_3:11: “There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.” In other words, there is none that acts even on the knowledge that he has. Do you, if you are not a Christian, really live up to your ideals? Have you attained the goal that you have set? Have you come to the plateau in life where you are satisfied with your living? May I say to you, none of us even act on the knowledge which we have"there is none that seeketh after God.” Again, this idea is found in the Old Testament in Psa_14:2-3: “The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” I could multiply from the Old Testament such statements again and again. Righteousness is what God requires, but the Old Testament makes it very obvious that we cannot present our righteousness to Godbecause we don’t have any. Since God requires righteousness, there must be a change in the life because there is none righteous. We are told that Jesus was “…delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification” (Rom_4:25, italics mine). The Lord Jesus was raised for our righteousness, that we might have righteousness, that by the Spirit of God we might produce righteousness in our lives. The “love of mercy"we do not have that in our human hearts. We are dead in trespasses and sins. Paul says, “They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Rom_3:12). This is the picture of man; this is the way that man is today. The same point is presented to us by Isaiah: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isa_53:6). Evidently, “us all” have iniquity, or Isaiah would not have made a statement like that. Therefore, let’s not be hypocritical when we come to this verse in Micah that tells us that we are to walk humbly with our God. None seeketh after God; instead, we want to come to Him our way. I want to say this in all kindness, but I trust that it might startle some and awaken them out of their condition today. If you believe that your church membership or your character or your good works are going to get you to God, then may I say that you are bypassing God’s way. The Lord Jesus said, “…I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (Joh_14:6). If you can get to God by this route presented hereby doing justly, by loving mercy, and by walking humbly with Godand you can do that on your own, when you get to heaven, you can tell God to move over. You can tell Him that you want to share His throne with Him, that you got there by yourself, that you didn’t need Him since you are your own god. But, my friend, God says that He does not share His glory with another, and I do not think He will share His throne with you. So why don’t you come God’s way and not man’s way? Doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God are things which God requires. Who are you kidding when you claim that you do these things in your natural state? My, how verses like this, when held up to the human family, show us what we really are like! Some commend themselves for being polite and nice folk, especially on Sundays when they seem so genteel and lovingand yet they have never come to God His way. How can you continue on and on in a hypocrisy like that? Why not be honest with God?

Just come right out with it, go to Him, and tell Him that you are a sinner. He already knows it, but it would be nice if you told Him. Instead of climbing onto a psychiatrist’s couch and talking to him, talk to God. Tell Him the thing that is wrong with you. Tell Him about your hangups. Tell Him about the sin in your life.

God wants to save you, my friend. God wants to forgive your sins and give you the righteousness of Christ. Having presented to these people what God requires, Micah is now going to show them how far they have fallen short of it. The reason that God will judge them is because of their willful and continual sinning.

Micah 6:9

“The LORD’s voice crieth unto the city.” We have seen that Micah has been directing his prophecies largely to the urban areas, to the cities. His writing reveals that he is a very sophisticated writer. He was in the know; he belonged to the upper echelon. He is in contrast to Amos who said, “I’m no prophet. I’m just a gatherer of sycamore fruit. I’m a farmhand, just a country boy who has come to town.” But Amos happened to be God’s man. Micah is God’s man too, but a different type of man from Amoshe is crying to the city. “And the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.” The rod is for judgment. We read in the second psalm, “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel” (Psa_2:9). The rod represents the judgment of God. Judgment is coming upon this nation. The man of wisdomthat is, the man in that day who believed God and who would listenwould recognize that judgment was coming upon the nation and would act accordingly. The voice of God is lifted, and He speaks forth in judgment.

The man is a wise man who sees the dealings of God which reveal His righteous character as well as the fact that he is longsuffering, patient, and will pardon iniquity. But God also punishes, and the rod is the badge of His authority as the judge who will judge. There was still sin in the nation, and Micah is now going to reveal these sins specifically; he is going to spell them out.

Micah 6:10

“Treasures of wickedness” refers to the wealth they had accumulated in their unjust dealings.

Micah 6:11

Many of these people were coming into the temple, bringing a sacrifice, going through the outward ceremony, and saying that they were doing justly and loving mercy. But what were they doing during the week? God says, “Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances?” I tell you, the butchers in that day were weighing their thumbsand some butchers had thumbs worth several drachmas! Businessmen were dishonest in their business dealings. He says, “And with the bag of deceitful weights?” They were absolutely crooked. They were avaricious, they were covetous, and they were greedy; yet they tried to pass themselves off as religious folk.

Micah 6:12

The rich were guilty of violence; they were liars. They were deceitfulyou could not believe them. Is this not a picture today of my own nation? Is this not a picture of this wonderful land in which you and I live? We cannot believe the news media today. We cannot believe the politicians, no matter what their party affiliation. It’s a day when it is difficult to believe businessmen. It is difficult to believe those in the military leadership. We are living in a nation today where most of us little folk are confusedwe don’t know whom to believe. This was the situation in Israel in Micah’s day, and God did not approve of it. In fact, this is one of the things that brought the nation down and brought the judgment of God upon them. I want to say this very carefully but clearly because I love my country and I hate to see what is happening to it today. I have taught for years that the United States would have to go down at the end of this age for the very simple reason that we are not mentioned in Bible prophecy. We are a world power today, but will we be tomorrow? It seems that we are going down very fast. At the time that I am writing this, things look very dark in this land. An energy crisis has come upon us.

It didn’t come suddenly; it has been coming for many years. A few of us have been crying out that America is going to be judged. We are apparently moving into that orbit today. Many warned years ago after World War II that oil should have been brought out of the Middle East at that time and that we should never have used our own reserves. But because of greed (it was called “good business” because it was making money), we went into an age of affluence and plenty, and we really left God out. And He is pretty much left out of our national affairs today.

There has been no mention, at the time that I am writing this, that we need to turn to God in this emergency in which we find ourselves. The northern kingdom of Israel in Micah’s day was in the same condition in which we are today, and God brought judgment upon them. Although they were His chosen people as a nation, He brought judgment upon them.

Micah 6:13

In effect, God says, “First of all, I am going to start taking the oil away from you, but I’m not going to stop there. You’re going to find that you will run short on many things before I am through judging you.”

Micah 6:14

God says in effect, “You will no longer be able to enjoy all of these things that you have enjoyed, all these little goodies that you have had. Shortages and eventual famine will come. Attempts to remove your wealth to a safe place will be fruitlessthe enemy will get it.”

Micah 6:15

The enemy would take them from their landtake them to Assyria as captives. God intended to cut them down but to cut them down gradually. That, of course, would give them an opportunity to turn to Him. The next chapter will make it clear that God would have pardoned them anytime that they would have turned to Him. But, my friend, you must turn to Him, for God will judge sin. The people of Israel were going through the externalities of religion, but internally they were far from God. There was dishonesty in their business dealings. There was impurity in their lives. There was violence. There was lying and deceit. Every kind of flagrant sin was committed. And God cannot bless a people or a nation that engages in these things.

Micah 6:16

A question would naturally be asked by a new reader of this: “Who in the world is Omri, and who in the world is Ahab? I have never heard of them before. Why is God saying what He is saying about them?” Such a question demonstrates the need for a different approach to the study of the Old Testament which I have for many years thought would be most helpful. I would suggest that when you study the historical books of the Old Testament, also consider the prophetic book or books that correspond to the same time period as the historical book. For example, that would mean that Micah should be studied along with the historical account of the reigns of Hezekiah in the southern kingdom and of Ahab and Jezebel in the northern kingdom. If the historical books were considered along with the prophetic books, they would give you a complete picture. I had hoped to introduce this approach when I was head of the English Bible department at the Bible Institute of Los Angeles years ago, but I never got around to it. However, if we will now turn to the historical book of 1 Kings, it will shed some light on this verse here in Micah. Omri was one of the kings in the northern kingdom; in fact, he was one of the meanest. Omri and Zimri, then Tibni, reigned as rival kings until both died, and Omri prevailed to rule over the entire northern kingdom. In 1Ki_16:24 we read: “And he bought the hill Samaria of Shemer for two talents of silver, and built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, after the name of Shemer, owner of the hill, Samaria.” That city is called Samaria to this day, and the ruins of the city which Omri built are still there. But Omri is not really the one who developed the city. After the death of Omri, Ahab came to the throne.

We read further: “So Omri slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria: and Ahab his son reigned in his stead…. And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD above all that were before him” (1Ki_16:28, 1Ki_16:30). Now that was something, let me tell you, but one of the reasons he was able to do that was because he had a great little helper in his wife, Jezebel. “And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him” (1Ki_16:31). Ahab and Jezebel made the worship of Baal the religion of Israel! “The statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab.” Instead of following the statutes of the Lord, they followed the statutes of Omri and Ahab. They rejected the Word of the Lord and walked in their counsels instead. Now in Micah’s day, almost two hundred years later, the effect and influence of their evil reigns are apparent. We see the same effect evident in our own day. The leadership of any nation, if that nation is to prosper under God, must be godly. People like to criticize Queen Victoria and the Victorian Era in Englandeven the English ridicule it. However, I think it should be said that that happens to have been the greatest period in their historythat is when they had an empire. Victoria was Empress of India; she ruled an empire. Today Great Britain has really been cut down to size, for their leadership since then has not been what it should have been. When Princess Anne was married, I rejoiced in watching the ceremony. Tears came into our eyes as my wife and I watched it on television, for in the ceremony there was a restoration of the sacredness of marriage. Since that example came from the leadership, I am sure that it had an influence. My own country has not had a very good example set by either the White House or the Congress in a long, long time. My lifetime pretty much spans this century, and may I say, the example emanating from Washington has not been good. As a result, gross immorality has spread throughout this nation. I do believe, because of this verse here, that God would say that He holds the leaders of our nation during this century responsible for plunging the country into gross immorality through the example which they have set. Micah presents God’s philosophy of government. This is not being taught in any of our universitiesthat is part of our problem also. As a result, we’re not really getting the facts, and our nation continues to decay and deteriorate. We will continue to do so unless a great revival should come to our land, but there is certainly no evidence at the present time that it will come.