Yahweh brings His indictment of the people. Or, we might say, He has “a bone to pick” with them. It’s as if He asks, “What did I ever do to deserve your disloyalty? Was it when I rescued you from slavery in Egypt? Or maybe when I drove out nations stronger than you and gave you a land of your own? Maybe it was giving you the Law? Tell me, what have the gods of the other nations that you love to worship- what have they done for you?”

And He makes it very clear that He is far more interested in the heart than the wallet.

“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?” 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?”
‭‭Micah‬ ‭6‬:‭7‬-‭8‬ ‭ESV‬‬

That bit in the middle about giving my firstborn for my sin… I know it’s hyperbole and also a nod to the human sacrifice of surrounding nations, but it also feels like a veiled hint about Jesus; “the firstborn of all creation” (Col. 1:15), being given for the transgressions of humanity.

You can give a lot of things to the LORD without ever submitting your will; without ever actually obeying. What God really wants is humility and kindness and justice. He wants us trust Him and be loyal to His ways. It’s quite simple, actually. But humans like to complicate matters.

We can give hours of our time and lots of money to the Lord and the Church and still not deal with pride and stubbornness in our hearts.

That’s what Israel and Judah have done. In Jerusalem they’re doing all the Temple “stuff” without loving Yahweh from their hearts and desiring to live according to His Word.

And His Word has specific things to say about how His people are to treat each other. And, oddly enough, one of God’s major issues with Judah is how they are treating each other in the marketplace.

“What shall I say about the homes of the wicked filled with treasures gained by cheating? What about the disgusting practice of measuring out grain with dishonest measures? How can I tolerate your merchants who use dishonest scales and weights?”
‭‭Micah‬ ‭6‬:‭10‬-‭11‬ ‭NLT‬‬

We can tend to compartmentalize spiritual things as if they have nothing to do with business. God has no such compartments. When He gave His nation the laws to live by He set up what we would call a “Department of Commerce.”

In the United States, the Department of Commerce oversees the National Institutes of Standards and Technology or NIST. Within NIST is the Office of Weights and Measures (OWM). OWM is actually older than the entire Department of Commerce because it was established in 1836 directly by the US Constitution, Article 1, Section 8, Clause 5. It is their job to ensure that everyone is using standard units of measure. You can’t have a farmer cheating people by selling “bushels” of grain that are less than the standard of 2150.42 cubic inches in volume.

Part of God’s Covenant Law with His people was their standards of weights and measures.

“Do not use dishonest standards when measuring length, weight, or volume. Your scales and weights must be accurate. Your containers for measuring dry materials or liquids must be accurate. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt.”
‭‭Leviticus‬ ‭19‬:‭35‬-‭36‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“(An omer is the tenth part of an ephah.)”
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭16‬:‭36‬ ‭ESV‬‬

But what the merchants in Judah and Jerusalem were doing was… cheating. By making slightly smaller measuring vessels, and weights or scales that tipped in their favor, they could collect more money for less product. And if anyone started asking questions or getting nosy, they could send some “muscle” to hush them up. They were like Jerusalem’s version of the mob.

“The rich among you have become wealthy through extortion and violence. Your citizens are so used to lying that their tongues can no longer tell the truth.”
‭‭Micah‬ ‭6‬:‭12‬ ‭NLT‬‬

And so God is gonna hit them where it will hurt the most – in the wallet (v13-15).

In the final chapter (7), Micah begins with a very bleak picture. He describes a government and society so deeply corrupt that it seems to be impossible to “drain the swamp.” It’s so bad that you can’t even trust your own family members.

But Micah pivots his musings. He does an “as-for-me-and-my-house” moment.

“As for me, I look to the Lord for help. I wait confidently for God to save me, and my God will certainly hear me. Do not gloat over me, my enemies! For though I fall, I will rise again. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light. I will be patient as the Lord punishes me, for I have sinned against him. But after that, he will take up my case and give me justice for all I have suffered from my enemies. The Lord will bring me into the light, and I will see his righteousness.”
‭‭Micah‬ ‭7‬:‭7‬-‭9‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Micah gives us a good example to follow in times of national judgment and perhaps even personal correction. He fully acknowledges God’s rightness in punishing sinful behavior. He also “takes it like a man.” No whining. No excuses. He owns it and trusts Yahweh’s perfect character of goodness and grace. So he knows restoration will follow and he prays for it.

The LORD responds to his prayer with:

“Yes,” says the Lord, “I will do mighty miracles for you, like those I did when I rescued you from slavery in Egypt.”
‭‭Micah‬ ‭7‬:‭15‬ ‭NLT‬‬

In case you hadn’t noticed, the miracles around the Exodus were kind of the high water mark for Israel. God says He has more where that came from. He is never limited.

The final verses in Micah feel like they are speaking to 2 groups simultaneously. Micah is, of course, speaking to the people on Judah and Jerusalem and even Israel in that time. They will be severely punished but then they will be miraculously restored as a nation.

But I can read verses 16-20 and it feels very fitting for the saints of God today. Many believers live in a state of persecution and hardship. That is the norm for the end times. The major difference between the Church today and Judah is that Judah and Israel faced the anger of God. The Church is not under His anger (even though He will judge and purge it of the charlatans and “false profits” and phony believers.)

The Church faces, not the wrath of God but the wrath of Satan. Christians are THE most persecuted group in the world today. There isn’t any other ethnic or religious group that even comes close. And as we “endure to the end” and wait for the appearing of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the promise shared by Micah is encouraging for us too:

“All the nations of the world will stand amazed at what the Lord will do for you. They will be embarrassed at their feeble power. They will cover their mouths in silent awe, deaf to everything around them. Like snakes crawling from their holes, they will come out to meet the Lord our God. They will fear him greatly, trembling in terror at his presence.

Where is another God like you, who pardons the guilt of the remnant, overlooking the sins of his special people? You will not stay angry with your people forever, because you delight in showing unfailing love. Once again you will have compassion on us. You will trample our sins under your feet and throw them into the depths of the ocean! You will show us your faithfulness and unfailing love as you promised to our ancestors Abraham and Jacob long ago.”
‭‭Micah‬ ‭7‬:‭16‬-‭20‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Amen. Let it be so.