What does God require of us?
Todays Passage
1 Now listen to what the Lord is saying: Rise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. 2 Listen to the Lord’s lawsuit, you mountains and enduring foundations of the earth, because the Lord has a case against His people, and He will argue it against Israel. 3 My people, what have I done to you, or how have I wearied you? Testify against Me! 4 Indeed, I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from that place of slavery. I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam ahead of you. 5 My people, remember what Balak king of Moab proposed, what Balaam son of Beor answered him, and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal so that you may acknowledge the Lord’s righteous acts.
6What should I bring before the Lord when I come to bow before God on high?
Should I come before Him with burnt offerings, with year-old calves?
7 Would the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or with ten thousand streams of oil?
Should I give my firstborn for my transgression, the child of my body for my own sin?8 Mankind, He has told you what is good and what it is the Lord requires of you:
to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God.Micah 6 :1-8
The Historical Context
The Book of Micah describes widespread religiosity where people, especially religious leaders, were making a public show of how religious they were with loud lip-service to God (see Micah 3). It appears that business-as-usual religion had kept religious leaders self-satisfied and the powerful in power. For a messenger of God to enter this scene and proclaim judgment against the faithful would have come as a great shock.
God’s Opening Arguments
In the first five verses of our passage, God lodges a legal case against Israel, calling upon all of creation to act as the jury. The mountains and foundations of the earth will hear God's charges and Israel's pleas. This is no petty disagreement but is set within a cosmic framework.
We are told that "the Lord has a controversy with his people." We do not get a list of transgressions in these verses, but previously in the third chapter Micah lays out a host of sins, and later verses in chapter 6 supply specifics: "the wealthy of the city are full of violence, and its residents speak lies" (verse 12).
We hear God's plaintive repetition, "My people…..” at the start of verse 3 and verse 5, as God tries to understand what has gone wrong. As God reviews the divine-human relationship so far, there is implied judgment of the people, in direct contrast to God's faithfulness.
We then get a brief salvation history, where God lists "the saving acts of the Lord" in verses 4 and 5:
God delivered His people from slavery in Egypt
God gave them leaders, i.e. Moses, Aaron and Miriam
God blessed them through the foreign priest Balaam, even against his own king's wishes, and
God brought them into the Promised Land - from Shittim (the last stop of the Israelites desert wanderings) to Gilgal (their first stop in the Promised Land).
Each one of these acts is a full story in its own right, and each story reveals the chronic unfaithfulness of the Israelites. These brief two verses serve to remind the people who this God is. This is the God who hears the cries of the people and brings them out of slavery. This is the God who will use even the outsider to bring blessings. This is the God who shows compassion and mercy when His people fall. Even the Israelites’ idolatry and injustice cannot prevent this God from acting. This is the God who is faithful no matter what. The entire creation stands witness to this God, made manifest in these acts.
The People Reply
Now the people reply in verses 6 and 7. The question “what should I bring before the Lord?" is tantamount to an admission of guilt. There is no attempt to counter God's claims, and no evidence is brought forward to defend themselves from God's accusations. The people quickly revert to the familiar formula - sacrificial offerings to make up for their transgressions. This response only reinforces the pattern of showy religiosity that Micah has already condemned, especially from leaders who look to their own interests (see Micah 3:11). Micah would expect such false leaders to turn first to conspicuous acts of sacrifice, as though the problem is appeasing God rather than changing their own behaviour. Micah makes it clear that there will be no more business-as-usual in the religion department, without a change of heart and life.
The go-to response here is to appease God through a form of score-keeping that tries to put a price tag on God's mercy. What payment will it take to get God off our backs? Burnt offerings? Thousands of rams? My firstborn? How can we even-up the scoreboard? But Micah is not buying it. We cannot just make a mobile-money transfer and all the problems are solved!
No More Business-as-Usual
Coming to verse 8, Micah contrasts this score-keeping approach of the Israelites to the path God has already clearly given, one that is rooted in the Law of Moses, "Mankind, He has told you what is good….” In other words, Israel should already have known the answer to their questions. God then says that He did not need or desire their religious rites or sacrifices. Instead, the Lord sought Israel’s justice, mercy, and humility. Moreover, Micah stands in a line of prophets who have repeatedly reminded the people of this path. Micah offers a summation of what God requires, one that is simpler but at the same time more difficult than keeping ritual practices: "to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God."
The answer to Israel’s sin problem was not more numerous or more painful sacrifices. The answer was something much deeper than any religious observance: they needed a change of heart. Without the heart, Israel’s conformity to the Law was nothing more than hypocrisy. Other prophets tried to communicate a similar message (see Isaiah 1:14, Hosea 6:6 and Amos 5:21). Unfortunately, God’s people were slow to heed the message (see Matthew 12:7).
“Act justly” would have been understood by Micah’s audience as living with a sense of right and wrong. In particular, the judicial courts had a responsibility to provide equity and protect the innocent. Injustice was a problem in Israel at that time – see these other passages from Micah: 2:1-2, 3:1-3 and 6:11.
“Love mercy” contains the Hebrew word ‘hesed’, which means “loyal love” or “loving-kindness.” Along with justice, Israel was to provide mercy. Both justice and mercy are foundational to God’s character (see Psalm 89:14). God expected His people to show love to their fellow man and to be loyal in their love towards Him, just as He had been loyal to them (see Micah 2:8-9; 3:10-11 and 6:12).
“Walk humbly” is a description of the heart’s attitude towards God. God’s people depend on Him rather than their own abilities (see Micah 2:3). Instead of taking pride in what we bring to God, we humbly recognise that no amount of personal sacrifice can replace a heart committed to justice and love.
Israel’s rhetorical questions had a three-part progression, and verse 8 contains a similar progression. The response of a Godly heart is outward (to do justice), inward (to love mercy), and upward (to walk humbly).
The message of Micah is entirely relevant today. Religious rites, no matter how extravagant, can never compensate for a lack of love (see 1 Corinthians 13:3). External compliance to rules is not as valuable in God’s eyes as a humble heart that simply does what is right.
To enact justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with God, are not single acts that can be ticked-off the list and left behind. On an individual and social scale, in ways large and small, this is a way of life. Periodic nods to equity do not constitute a faithful life, Micah tells us. We cannot confess with our lips on Sunday morning and hold grudges at work on Monday.
Rather than offer God thousands of rams, Micah calls us to offer a thousand daily acts of love for each other and the world He loves. "Walking humbly with God" means knowing our bent to self-righteousness. We cannot "play church" or frame our religious life as a game where we keep God in-check by performing prescribed duties. The life of faith is indeed a walk that reorients heart and life.
Reflective Questions:
1. Pause for a moment to consider “what does the Lord require of you?”
2. Are there situations where you default to ritual practice to excuse yourself from the divine demands of justice and mercy?
Searching on-line for this passage of the Bible translated into song, this particular blue-grass rendition was my personal favourite – certainly not a musical style you will see in Uganda!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fHmVJ4wygk
And stepping back to last week’s message from Monica, you can catch the same band on the following link putting to song the story of Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5-phRe505g
Have blessed week ahead!
