Week 11 - Micah 6:9-16 - Differing Weights

Micah cries out in this passage against the detestable practice of differing weights.  

Micah 6:10-11
Can I forget any longer the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked,
    and the scant measure that is accursed?

Shall I acquit the man with wicked scales 

    and with a bag of deceitful weights?

A scale is used in commerce.  The product on one side and a weight on the other.  

If the proprietor has two bags of weights, one lighter than the other, he can reach for one when selling and one when purchasing.  This practice is forbidden by the Law.

Leviticus 19:36

You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

The proprietor can also use one for certain customers and one for others.  This is also forbidden.  The scales of justice should work the same for all.

Deuteronomy 25:13

You shall not be partial in judgment. You shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not be intimidated by anyone, for the judgment is God's. And the case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.’

How do we use differing weights?  Do we treat the powerful different from the weak?  The rich different from the poor?  The beautiful different from the ugly?  The theologically correct different from those with a different view?  The list goes on to include physical attributes of color and obesity, but also include voluntary activities of tattoos and sexual orientation.

Micah also reminds us of the rod of God.

Micah 6:9b 

Hear of the rod and of him who appointed it!

A rod hung on a hook in the kitchen pantry of my childhood home.  It was obviously old and has been my grandmothers.  It was to punish naughty child, or I was told.  To my knowledge it was never used, but it sure sent a message.

In this passage each injustice is met by God's consistent judgement.

Micah 6:13-15 

Therefore I strike you with a grievous blow, . . .

You shall eat, but not be satisfied, . . .

you shall put away, but not preserve, . . . 

You shall sow, but not reap;

    you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil;

    you shall tread grapes, but not drink wine

This is to our comfort.  As it says:

Psalm 23:4

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, 

    I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

    your rod and your staff,

    they comfort me.

In response to evil, we know the God will apply his punishment with absolute justice.  He does not show favoritism.  

In contrast, imagine a family, a team, a department, a company, or a country, where rules are applied differently.  There would indeed be no comfort.

So, in the age of critical race theory and the Woke culture, we must respond by treating people the same.  Showing love and ensuring justice for all. 

Week 10 - Micah 6:1-8 - God's Requirement

God brings an indictment against Israel with the questions:

 

“O my people, what have I done to you?

    How have I wearied you? Answer me!

Has the Lord asked too much of Judah?  

 

Following the Septuagint translation of “wearied” from Hebrew (lā'â) into the Greek (parenochleō), we see the example in Acts 15:19-21, where at the Jerusalem Counsel they decided that Gentile believers need not to follow Jewish law.  They were not to be “troubled” with that burden.

 

So, God’s indictment starts by questioning if the Covenant conditions had been too burdensome.  But then proceeds to recall some of what he has done to hold up His end of the bargain:

• Protection from famine and the escape from Egypt (1 Chronicles 6:2-4).
• Protection from Balak, when God used a donkey to command Balaam to bless them (Numbers 22-24) instead.
• Miracle at Shittim and Gilgal, when they crossed the Jordan River on dry ground during the harvest floods  (Joshua 3-4).

He then asks the questions that they should be asking themselves.  With what would God be pleased (rāṣâ)?

 

“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?

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?”

 

This word indicates the payment of a satisfactory transaction.  It pokes fun at the religion-for-hire that was being practiced and was being condemned by Micah (Micah 1:7).

 

The passage concludes with another convicting question:

 

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?

So, what payment is actually required of us? None.  What purification by us is actually required?  None.  What piety by us is actually required?  None.  

Instead, we are to:

• do (ʿāśâ) justice (mišpāṭ), 
• love ('ahăḇâ) mercy (ḥāsaḏ) and 
• walk (yālaḵ) humbly (ṣānaʿ).

Hebrew normally does not have the precision of Greek.  Here however, the words are very, very, specific.  Our personal acts should be just; our desire for ourselves and others should be for mercy (rather than judgement), and we should walk knowing we are indebted to God (with no ability to repay Him).

God does not desire any action on our part that would attempt to remove that need for humbleness, that would remove that need for mercy, or remove the need for the just punishment for our sin.  He has already paid the penalty for our sin, he has already been merciful to us, and we Ought to walk very humbly as a result.

 

Week 9 - In that Day - Micah 5:7-15

As a youth my hobby was old cars.  I was a member in good standing of the “High Hopes Historic Auto Club”.  Car meets.  Barn finds.  Petromobilia.  Junk yards.  Some very fond memories.

If I collect cars, and spend an inordinate amount of time waxing/repairing/going to car meets, has it become an idol?

One can argue that anything that competes with God is an idol.  If something else consumes what would be your tithe is that an idol?  Not managing your finances properly is a sin, but simply having too much debt to service does not make it an idol.

In this passage, we are told of several idols that would be removed from Israel.  The first to be removed was horses and chariots, which were the ancient world's ’64 Corvair Convertible, but I digress.

How can a horse/chariot be an idol?

Psalm 20:7

Some trust in chariots and some in horses,

    but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

It is not that you spend money and time on horses, it is that you put your trust in them.  Actually, the first word “trust” is not in the Hebrew, and the second is actually “remember” (zāḵar).  The Israelites did not need to trust in some future event, but simply remember all the past ones 

Trust-idols identify themselves.  Or better said they animate themselves into idols:

·       “My 401K will give us a comfortable retirement”

·       “My gun will protect us.”

·       “My exercise program will give me a long life.”

They become the subject (the actor), and not the object.  When these thoughts creep in, we are asked to “remember” that God is the source.  He is the dew and the rain, that no man can direct (Micah 5:7).  He alone is the source.

When does a tree become an idol?  Trees become Asherah, when the tree becomes a deity.  

Deity-idols are rarer today, but it only takes one.  And that one is usually us!  We reveal that with the tiny word “I”:

·       I built up a sizable 401K.  

·       I have made a great marriage.

·       I have made a great position for myself at work.

When we change the source from God to us, we have made ourselves a deity.  We are the idols.

The caution here is that God is jealous.  He will not stand by and allow idol worship.  Because in that day He will take away the chariot, as He did with my butter-yellow and black convertible.