Micah Grieves Over a Corrupt Society
Study note
Micah looks around and finds no honest people left. He compares himself to someone searching for fruit after the harvest is over. There is nothing left to find. Everyone plots evil. The rulers demand bribes, the judges accept payments, and the powerful twist justice. Even the best of them is as harmful as a thorn bush.
1 I am miserable! I feel like someone searching for fruit after the harvest is over. There are no grapes left to eat and no early figs — the kind I crave. Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grapegleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the firstripe fruit.
2 The faithful people have vanished from the land. There is not a single honest person left. Everyone lies in wait to ambush someone else. They set traps for each other like hunters after prey. The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.
3 Their hands are experts at doing evil. Officials demand payoffs. Judges accept bribes. The powerful simply announce what they want, and everyone scrambles to make it happen. Together they weave their crooked schemes. That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up.
4 The best person among them is as harmful as a thorn bush. The most upright is worse than a tangled hedge of briars. The day the prophets warned about is here. The day of reckoning has arrived. Chaos will overtake them now. The best of them is as a brier: the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity.
Trust No One but the LORD
Study note
The breakdown of society has reached into families themselves. Friends betray friends. Children turn against parents. A person's own family members become enemies. Jesus later quoted verse 6 in Matthew 10:35-36 when warning his disciples about the cost of following him. In the middle of this chaos, Micah makes a powerful statement of faith: he will watch and wait for the LORD.
5 Do not trust your neighbor. Do not rely on a friend. Watch what you say, even around the person who sleeps beside you. Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom.
6 Sons treat their fathers with contempt. Daughters rebel against their mothers. Daughters-in-law turn on their mothers-in-law. Your worst enemies are the people living under your own roof. For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house.
7 But I will keep my eyes on the LORD. I will wait patiently for the God who saves me. My God will hear my prayer. Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.
Hope in the Midst of Darkness
Study note
Speaking for the people of God, Micah admits their sin but trusts in God's justice. Even though they sit in darkness, the LORD will be their light. The enemy should not gloat, because God's people will rise again. One day the walls will be rebuilt, and people will come from Assyria, Egypt, and every distant land to join God's people.
8 Do not celebrate over my downfall, my enemy! Even though I have fallen, I will get back up. Even though I sit in darkness right now, the LORD will be my light. Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.
9 I will endure the LORD's anger, because I know I sinned against him. But he will take up my cause and fight for justice on my behalf. He will bring me into the light, and I will see his righteousness with my own eyes. I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness.
10 Then my enemy will see it and be covered in shame — the same enemy who taunted me, saying, "Where is the LORD your God now?" I will watch her fall. She will be trampled into the mud like dirt in the street. Then she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where is the LORD thy God? mine eyes shall behold her: now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets.
11 A day is coming when your walls will be rebuilt. On that day, your borders will stretch far and wide. In the day that thy walls are to be built, in that day shall the decree be far removed.
12 People will come to you from everywhere. They will come from Assyria and Egypt's cities. They will come from Egypt to the Euphrates. They will come from sea to sea and hill to hill. In that day also he shall come even to thee from Assyria, and from the fortified cities, and from the fortress even to the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain.
13 But the rest of the earth will become a barren wasteland because of the choices its people made. Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings.
God's Mercy and Faithfulness
Study note
The book ends with a prayer and a hymn of praise. Micah asks God to shepherd his people as he did in the days of old. God promises to show them wonders like those of the exodus from Egypt. The nations will tremble in fear. Then Micah asks the ultimate question: 'Who is a God like you?' The name 'Micah' itself means 'Who is like the LORD?' God pardons sin, has compassion, and throws all sins into the depths of the sea. He will be faithful to the promises he made to Abraham and Jacob long ago.
14 Shepherd your people with your staff, LORD — the flock that belongs to you. They are living alone in a thicket, surrounded by rich pastureland. Let them graze in Bashan and Gilead like they did in the old days. Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.
15 "Just as I did when you came out of Egypt, I will show them jaw-dropping miracles." According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I shew unto him marvellous things.
16 The nations will watch and be ashamed of their own power. They will slap their hands over their mouths in shock. Their ears will go deaf with disbelief. The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf.
17 They will lick the dust like snakes. Like creatures that crawl on their bellies, they will come trembling out of their hiding places. They will turn in fear toward the LORD our God, terrified of him. They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the LORD our God, and shall fear because of thee.
18 Is there any god like you? You lift away guilt and forgive the rebellion of the people who survive. You do not stay angry forever, because showing compassion is what delights you most. Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.
19 You will show us your tender compassion again. You will stomp our sins beneath your feet and hurl all our guilt into the deepest part of the ocean. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
20 You will keep your promises to Jacob. You will show faithful love to Abraham. This is exactly what you swore to our ancestors so long ago. Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.