Micah 6:9 - Meaning and Application

God had already shown them how necessary it was to do what is right. Now he shows them how clearly they had done wrong. Since they would not settle the case in the right way, he continues his charge against them.

Notice first how the case is brought against them in Micah 6:9. God speaks to the city, to Jerusalem and Samaria, through his servants the prophets, who were to cry out without holding back. The voice of the prophets is really the Lord’s voice, crying to the city and to the countryside. Wisdom also cries out (Proverbs 8:1). When a city’s sin cries up to God, his voice cries against that city. And when God’s judgments are near, his voice first warns the city. He warns before he strikes, because he does not want anyone to perish.

Some people can tell that this is God speaking. “The man of wisdom will see your name.” When God’s voice comes to us, we can see his name in it, that is, we can recognize who he is from what he says. Many do not see it because they do not pay attention. God speaks once, yes, twice, and they do not notice (Job 33:14). But wise people do notice. They understand it and use it well. It is true wisdom to see God’s name in God’s voice, and to learn what he is from what he says. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” and the knowledge of the Holy One gives understanding.

God’s voice also says something to everyone: “Hear the rod, and who has appointed it.” Hear the rod before it comes, while it is still at a distance, before you see it and feel it. Be stirred up to meet the Lord in the way of his judgments. Hear the rod when it has already come and you feel its pain. Listen to what it says to you, what warnings, corrections, and calls to repentance it brings. Every rod has a voice, and we should hear God’s voice in God’s discipline. That only happens when we look to the One who sent it. Every rod is appointed, its kind, where it will fall, and how long it will remain. In every trouble God does what has been appointed for us (Job 23:14), and we must listen to him in it. “Hear it, and know it for your good” (Job 5:27). Ministers are meant to explain God’s providence and help people learn the lessons it teaches.

Now notice the grounds of the charge, and what they are accused of. First, they are charged with injustice, a sin against the second part of God’s law, the part that deals with how we treat other people. Are there still signs and tools of cheating among them? After all the ways God had tried to teach them to do right, will they still deal wrongly? It seems they will (Micah 6:10). And shall God count them clean? No. This is a sin that does not fit with any claim to purity. People who are dishonest in their dealings do not bear the marks of God’s children, and they will never be counted pure, no matter how religious they look. Do not be fooled, God cannot be mocked.

When a person is suspected of theft or fraud, a justice may send someone to search the house. Here God, as it were, searches the houses of these citizens. There he finds treasures of wickedness, much wealth, but wealth gained in a bad way, and so unlikely to prosper. Treasures won by evil do not help. He finds a small measure, by which they sold to the poor and cheated them. He finds wicked balances and a bag of false weights, so that while they claimed to weigh honestly and give the buyer what was fair, they did great harm (Micah 6:11). Those with wealth and power used them to crush others and extort from them. The rich among them were full of violence, meaning both that their houses were full of things gained by violence and that their hearts were set on more violence. Even those without great wealth still found ways to cheat the people they dealt with. They spoke lies; if they could not use force, they used deceit. They did not hesitate to tell deliberate lies to make a better bargain. Some take this also to mean that they spoke falsely about God, saying, “The Lord does not see, and he has forsaken the earth” (Ezekiel 8:12).

Second, they are charged with idolatry. “The statutes of Omri are kept, and all the work of the house of Ahab.” Omri and Ahab, kings of Israel, were both wicked. The special wickedness they set up by law was idolatry, the worship of false gods. Omri walked in Jeroboam’s way and in his sin of provoking God with idols (1 Kings 16:26, 1 Kings 16:31). Ahab introduced the worship of Baal. These reigns were many years before Micah’s time, but the evil they established was still going on. Their statutes were still obeyed, and their work was still done. The princes and the people still followed their plans, used the same methods, and governed themselves by the same policies.

This shows how sin keeps going from one generation to the next. Sin is like a bitter root, planted quickly and not easily pulled up. The sins of earlier ages are often handed down and left to later ones. Those who make corrupt laws and bring in corrupt customs may be setting up trouble for children yet unborn. And this evil is no less sinful, no less offensive to God, and no less dangerous to sinners, because it was backed by royal laws, great examples, and long use. Even if idolatry is ordered by the statutes of Omri, praised by the house of Ahab, and defended as ancient custom, it still displeases God and destroys Israel. No law and no custom can stand against God’s command.

Third, here is the judgment pronounced on them. Since they are guilty of these sins, the sentence is that the very trouble God warned them about will come on them. “Therefore also will I make you sick, in striking you.” As they struck the poor with the rod of oppression, so God would strike them in the same way, until they were made sick with the gains they had wrongly collected. They had swallowed down riches, but they would be forced to vomit them up again (Job 20:15). Their punishment is this: what they have will give them no comfort. It will do them no good.

They had grabbed more than enough, but when they had it, it would still not satisfy them. Wealth gained by fraud and oppression cannot be kept or enjoyed with any real peace. Their food would not nourish them. They would eat, but never feel full, either because the food would not digest without God’s blessing, or because disease would make their appetite never stop demanding more.

People may have plenty of this world’s good things and still not be satisfied (Ecclesiastes 5:10; Isaiah 55:2). Their land would also fail to protect them. “Your trouble will be in the middle of you” means they would be ruined by troubles at home, with enough inner disorder to bring them down, even if no foreign army attacked them. God can bring a nation down through the evil already within it, as if fire burned in its own heart.

They would also fail to keep what they had from enemies, and they would not recover what they lost. They might clutch at what was about to be taken away, but they would not hold it fast. They would try to save their wives and children, who were dear to them, but they would still have to go into exile. What we hold closest is often what we lose first, and what we love most is often the least secure.

What they escaped from one enemy would be handed over to another. God has many arrows in his quiver, and if one does not reach the sinner, the next will. What they worked for would also slip away from them. They would sow seed but not reap it, because it would be ruined, taken by enemies, or left behind when they were carried off into captivity.

They would tread the olives but not use the oil, and they would press the grapes but not drink the wine. Many things can happen between the cup and the lips. It is deeply painful to be disappointed after hard work and not enjoy what we have labored for. That is the right punishment for those who frustrate God’s purpose for them and do not answer the cost he has spent on them. The law warned of this already (Leviticus 26:16; Deuteronomy 28:30, 38), and so did Isaiah (Isaiah 62:8, 9).

In the end, everything they had would be taken from them. They would be made desolate because of their sins, and they would become a place of ruin and mockery (Micah 6:13, 16). Sin makes a nation desolate. When a once-famous and flourishing people are laid waste, some are shocked and grieved, while others laugh at their downfall. Then they bear the shame of having been called God’s people.

To be the people of God in name and outward profession was once an honor to them, as long as they kept close to their duty and lived in his love. Their neighbors saw that as a great privilege. But now they have ruined themselves by sin, and God’s judgments have left their land desolate. That same title now only adds to their shame. Their enemies will say, “These are the people of the Lord” (Ezekiel 36:20). If people who profess religion ruin themselves, their ruin will be the most shameful of all. At the last day, they will rise to everlasting shame and contempt.