Expository - Micah

Micah chapter 2.        Tuesday, 1 April 2008

The Power of Covetousness (vv. 1 and 2)

Following the revelation that the judgment of the Lord was coming soon, Micah begins to show how the influence of idolatry had corrupted people at their very heart, particularly those in authority. They covet fields and houses. That all important tenth commandment does indeed reveal human inability to keep the law. Paul, though he could claim that he was blameless before the law (Philippians 3 v 6), was condemned by the last commandment (Romans 7 vv 7 to 11).

And it is right here that we find the appeal of Baalism and the worship of other gods. It catered for human greed and self-promotion. No wonder Jesus warned, “Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things which he possesses.” (Luke 12 v 15) Yet, consumed by this covetous spirit, those with authority and power used violence and oppression to gain possession of property that was the inheritance of others. It was contrary to God’s law for a person’s inheritance to be sold permanently or for it to pass from tribe to tribe. If property were sold in time of financial difficulty, then it would return to the proper heir in the fiftieth year of Jubilee. (Numbers 36 v 9; Leviticus 25 vv 8 to 17)

This was the very spirit which had ruined Ahab through the advice of his evil wife Jezebel. He coveted Naboth’s vineyard, offered him money for it and then sulked when Naboth pointed out that it was contrary to God’s law. Jezebel mocked Ahab for not using his authority as king to get his own way. Through her counsel Naboth was falsely accused, executed and his property transferred to the king. It was the ruin of Ahab and the people of Israel. (I Kings 21) However, it also infected the kingdom of Judah in the south. Back in the royal line of the kings of Judah there had been intermarriage. King Jehoram had married Ahab’s daughter, Athaliah (I Kings 18 v 8), who became the mother of the next king, Ahaziah. When he was killed, Athaliah seized power and reigned for six years. Little wonder then, generations later, that king Ahaz, during whose reign Micah prophesied, “walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and made also molten images for Baalim.” (II Chronicles 28 v 2) Little wonder also that the corruption had spread throughout the nation’s leaders.

How sad it is today to see that same spirit of covetousness and self-promotion dominating the lives of people in our own society and to witness the unjust ways in which the rich increase in riches at the expense of the poor and needy. Such covetousness and greed controls their lives. When normal people enjoy restful sleep, they lie awake plotting their next move and cannot wait until morning business starts to put their plans into action. They are obsessed by it to the point where they are blind to moral considerations. They do it because they can (“it is in the power of their hand” v1). Are we surprised to find the same state of affairs today even in our own ‘civilised’ country – politicians and businessmen taking advantage of expense accounts, not declaring gifts, using their positions to get lucrative non-executive posts, highly paid speaking engagements and so on. The evil in it is this: at the bottom end of the scale is the oppression of so many needy people. It is a corruption that, in the end, can only bring ruination. They do it because they can. How sad when we witness that same spirit in those who bear the name of Christ!

The Lord is in Conrol (vv. 3 to 5)

The Lord has been aware of all this and warns that the evil that is coming, in the form of invading armies from Babylon, will, in fact, be His judgment upon them. Note that the Lord does not own them as His people but refers to them as “this family.” There would be no escape from the approaching captivity; the yoke would be on their necks. All pride would be gone.

Further, these warnings of certain judgment anticipate another judgment yet to come in the last days, when Jerusalem will be surrounded by armies and at the point of defeat.

When judgment comes the cry of lament will rise, “We be utterly spoiled” (v4). Those who had stolen from others, will themselves be robbed. Similarly at the end, when that great and worldly commercial system of Babylon collapses, the rich merchants and who had traded in so many things, including the souls of men, will weep and wail at their great loss. (Revelation 8 vv 7-10) Micah showed the great distress as people realise that God has changed the portion of His people, dividing their fields, gained by violence and oppression, to the enemy.

The worrying feature of the people’s response to the judgment is that they are concerned only for their great loss. There is no sign of grief for their sinful actions and certainly not a hint of repentance. Do we not live in similar times where people sadly seem no longer to be aware that sin is at the root of so many of the ills in our society?

Anger Against God’s Word (vv. 6 to 11)

In fact, the anger of this people is directed against all prophets and the Word of the Lord. If the Word of God is silenced, then there will be no shame and no repentance. We know the phenomenon only too well. When Christians declare the revealed will of God in so many different moral areas these days in terms of medical ethics, sexual morality and so on, so often they are branded as mindless fanatics and bigots. Yet all around us are the shocking consequences of the immorality. How many more problems do we have to reap, before we realise that sin brings ruination.
“Don’t prophesy!” they call. They are not interested in what God has to say, yet any that ignore God’s Word do so at their peril.

God’s reply shows that the people have become alienated from Him in their hearts. They bear the name of the house of Jacob, but they are far from Jacob’s God. Their religion is only nominal; there is no heart experience of the Lord. How many today are only nominal Christians? They bear the name, but have never repented and put their faith in the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; they have never been born again of God’s Spirit. They do not believe that with God all things are possible.

Yet God has been warning His people of impending judgment. Their reply is just like the words we hear today. God is love; God is forgiving. How could He possibly move in such a way? How can these works of judgment be His doings? Only to the upright are these words a comfort, the thought that the wicked will not always prosper.

And so the people who bear the name of Jacob continue to behave like the enemy, even now, even yesterday (of late). There is no compassion in their actions. Contrary to God’s law they rip the clothes from people’s backs, they drive the widows from their homes. In so doing they deprive the next generation of that godly way of life which manifested and revealed the grace and goodness of God – “from their children have you taken away my glory for ever.” (v.9) Oh what damage that spirit of covetousness can do: promoting self, ruining the lives of so many others, separating from God, bringing into opposition to God’s Word and spoiling the testimony of the goodness of God.

God Remembers Mercy (vv.12 and 13)

God exhorts His people to depart. The land is no longer fit to be their inheritance; it has been polluted and will be the ruination of any who stay. Judgment has to come to rid the land of the sin and corruption that it has descended to. The ear of the people is only inclined to hear what they, in their covetousness, want to hear. They want the prophet who will promise wine and strong drink; they want to promote self-indulgence. That would be a disaster and so judgment, in the form of the Babylonian armies, had to come.

It is a wonderful principle in the Scripture that God loses nothing. In judgment God always remembers mercy. Here, God makes a promise that He will gather together His people, “Jacob, all of you.” Although we can see a partial fulfilment of that from the time of Cyrus onwards when a return of the Jews to the land of Israel began, yet there has not yet been a complete fulfilment. There is yet coming a time when all Israel will be restored to the land, not just the Jews. Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones was a vision of the “whole house of Israel” being restored to the land and to spiritual life. (Ezekiel 37) The remnant that Micah foresees is not just a few whom God manages to salvage from this mess. No! “They shall make a great noise by reason of the multitude of men.” That latter day return and gathering together of Israel has already begun. In 1948, Israel again appeared as a sovereign state.

Zechariah (chapter 14) prophesied that, at the end Jerusalem would be surrounded by the nations, at the point of utter defeat. Then the Lord will come, their Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour, to deliver them and gather them to Himself. Who else could this be? “Their King shall pass before them and the Lord at the head of them.”

Despite the awful prospect of coming judgment, an idea which the worldly do not want to hear, yet it has to come. But out of it, in the end, God will have a people who are wholly His – ransomed, healed, restored and forgiven. Who like them His praise shall sing?