Micah chapter 3 begins with Micah rebuking two groups of people who contributed to the wickedness and disobedience of Israel that was resulting in God bringing devastating judgment on Israel. And these two groups were: The civic leaders and the religious leaders. Those who were responsible for overseeing the government of Israel and those responsible for the spiritual direction of Israel.
One of the themes that we learn from Micah is that God believes leadership is important at both the civic level and the religious level. And when a leader becomes corrupt, it is not just a personal failure but it impacts those they are leading. And the book of Micah tells us that because leaders impact people and their actions can change the hearts and lives of people, that when leaders bring harm to those they are leading, God will bring discipline.
When Israel had turned their hearts away from God, God addressed the leaders. In chapter 3 we are going to see Micah’s rebuke to these leaders.
Verses 1-2a
Micah begins by talking to leaders, rulers, those in authority within all of Israel. Here he is not necessarily referencing the northern kingdom or southern kingdom but all of the 12 tribes of Israel.
And he says to these leaders: Should you not know justice? Is that not in your job description as a leader. Should you not know what is right and what is wrong? Is that not a foundational responsibility for those who govern or lead others?
And yet Micah says you hate good and love evil.
Every parent has had those moments in which they had tried to help their kids know what is right and what is wrong. Every parent has had that conversation that went something like this, “do you think it was good to hit your brother?” No. “Do you think it was good to steal from your brother?” No. What do you think a good thing would have been. To not hit my brother. And to not steal his toy.
One of the roles of parents is to remind their children what is good and to remind them, “this is how siblings treat each other. This is how a young man acts, this is how young woman acts. This is what it means to do what is right.” Sometimes when can get confused and hate good and love evil.
Micah is saying, “you are not acting like a leader should act.” You are doing the very opposite of what you should be doing. Do you think what you are doing is good? Do you think what you are doing is right? And Micah goes on to describe their acts of evil.
Verses 2b-4
Now these leaders weren’t actually cannibals. This is a metaphor to describe their injustice and oppression toward those they were leading. They were ignoring and abandoning the cries of widows and orphans. They were crushing those who needed help. Where they should have been the judges and rulers providing justice, they were allowing wickedness to reign. They were allowing people to be mistreated and abused. In fact, they were the ones mistreating and abusing.
If we read those words about tearing off the flesh and breaking of their bones and it makes us incredibly uncomfortable and uneasy. It should! It should cause the God-given justice in us to rise up and say, “this isn’t right. This is wicked. This is evil.”
Micah is saying to these leaders, “shouldn’t a leader seek justice for its people?’ And by asking that rhetorical question he is making the more direct statement, “a leader should seek justice for its people and your not doing it” You call yourself a leader but you are not doing what leaders do.
And so Micah says to these oppressive leaders and rulers, when your enemy comes and attacks you (the judgments Micah announced in chapters 1 and 2) you are going to cry out to the Lord for help. That same cry of help you have been hearing from the people who have been crying out to you for help. And the same silence you gave to those people the Lord will give to you.
Verse 4
They will experience silence from the Lord the same way they gave silence to the widows and orphans and oppressed. The difference is when they turned their face away from those suffering, it was injustice because it was done out of selfishness and wickedness. But when God turns his face, it is justice because they are reaping what they had sowed. They are experiencing the consequences of their wickedness.
Now it is not as if God had abandoned them but God was choosing not to rescue them. He was choosing to allow them to experience the judgment as discipline for their disobedience.
The sins of injustice on government leaders became the judgment upon a nation. There is a connection between how one leads and the blessing or judgment that comes upon those they are leading. Micah now turns in verse 5 to the religious leaders of Israel and more specifically the prophets who were given the task of speaking the very words of the Lord.
Verse 5
These false prophets proclaimed the word of the Lord based on personal gain rather than obedience to God and it created a skewed understanding of God. If someone had money to pay the prophet, the prophet would give that person words of peace and prosperity. But if someone did not have money, they received judgment.
During these times, the people did not have access to the written of God. People would go to prophets to inquire of God. It was a legitimate God-given role and gifting within the nation of Israel. And so Micah was speaking against prophets who were not living out their role in obedience to God but simply as a way to financially benefit themselves. And for the right price, a prophet would give you the assurance that not only will trouble not overcome you but that you are at peace with God. Even if that person is actually in a place of disobedience before God. And not only would the prophet be speaking where God has not spoken but the prophet had now created a wrong understanding of God. And the consequences for the prophets was similar as the civic rulers. God said he will turn his face from civic leaders and for the prophets they would no longer be able to hear and speak the words of the Lord.
Verses 6-7
The prophets received words and visions from the Lord for the benefit of the people not the benefit of the prophet. But because they chose to serve themselves instead of God’s people, their judgment would be they would no longer receive any words from God. And the the prophets would no longer be people viewed as hearing from God. They would become disgraced. It will be made known that God no longer speaks through them. God had removed his voice from them.
What is interesting about this rebuke from Micah is that Micah was also a prophet. Micah was making a statement about people who held his same role. His listeners could have been saying, “what does this say about you, Micah?”
Which is why I believe Micah felt the need to personally respond. In verse 6, Micah interjects some personal comments about his own role as a prophet.
Verse 8
Micah is making a contrast between himself and the false prophets. While they are filled with greed, he is filled with something very different. He is filled with power that comes from the Spirit of the Lord. While the civic and spiritual leaders were trying to strengthen themselves through selfish and wicked means, Micah says his strength and power comes through the Spirit of God.
I think part of Micah’s motivation is he has just rebuked the leadership of Israel and he knows that his audience might be asking, “aren’t you also a prophet? Aren’t you also a leader? Why should we trust you?
And Micah is saying here is the difference. My strength, my identity, my hope, my life is not rooted in my position, my title, my authority or in anything that I can gain for myself. My strength is rooted in the very power of God who leads me and fills me and guides me by His Spirit. Micah say “because I am filled by the Spirit of God I am also filled with two other things: justice and might.”
When we walk according to the Spirit our heart becomes concerned about what concerns God. When we look at our thoughts and our desires and we honestly examine what fills our hearts and our thoughts are they the things that reflect the heart of God and or are they simply the things that reflect our own desires?
In Galatians, Paul writes, “walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” First that statement says that you and I have a sin nature that naturally desires the things of this world. We naturally desire our own desires. But when we live according to the Spirit of God, we desire the things of God.
And a great examination for us is: what is it at the heart level that I truly desire because that reveals whether I am walking according to the Spirit of God or according to the flesh.
For Micah, he recognized that by living according to the Spirit of God it was creating in him two things: a desire for justice and then the might or the courage to proclaim that justice. He didn’t just have a heart that reflected the things of God but a heart that was propelled into action for the sake of God.
And so he says, “I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the LORD, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.”
His audience might be thinking, “why are you saying these hard things to us. Why are you pronouncing judgment on us. Why are you rebuking us and our leaders” And Micah is saying because I care about the holiness of God and I care about you His people reflecting His holiness.
Because I care about God’s justice in your life, I will have the courage to say these things to you. Some Christians simply care about pointing out sin, some simply like pointing the finger. Micah’s heart was not in the rebuke but in what the rebuke could lead to–walking once again according to the Spirit of God so God’s people would reflect the heart of God.
Micah gives us the right picture of leadership. A true leader 1) knows their strength comes from the LORD and nothing else and 2) will seek justice for those they are leading and 3) will have the courage to call out sin when justice is being distorted.
Because true justice can only come when we recognize sin and turn from that sin. True justice comes when the holiness of God becomes greater than the pleasures of this world. Too often we allow injustice simply because we are focused on our own selfish gain.
Justice comes when we say, “God, I want what you want.
Micah’s life was transformed when he yielded to the power of the Spirit of God who produced in Him the desires of the heart of God and that desire propelled him into action.
Do we see that same action in our live? When we look at our lives are we able to say, “but as for me, because I am filled with the Spirit of God, I am concerned about the things of God?”
The Spirit of God not only draws us to the heart of God but calls us into action. The Spirit of God propels us to enter into other people’s lives for the sake of the holiness of God. We can’t say we walk according to the Spirit of God and have our lives not reflect the heart of God and not be actively spurring others on to also know the heart of God.