Micah 2:1 - Meaning and Application

Here we see, first, the injustice of people planning and carrying out the evil of sin, especially oppression, in Micah 2:1-2. God was coming out against this people to destroy them, and he shows the reason for his case against them. One sin often brings ruin on nations and families as surely as any other, and that sin is oppression. Let us look at how it works.

They first crave what is not theirs. That is the root of bitterness and the root of every evil, as Micah 2:2 says. They covet fields and houses, like Ahab coveting Naboth’s vineyard. They say in effect, “If that field and house were mine, they would suit me better, and I would manage them better.”

Then they use their minds to invent ways to get what they want, as Micah 2:4 says. They devise wrongdoing with skill and policy, planning how to do it effectively while avoiding danger and shame. This is called “working evil.” They turn it over in their heads and in their homes, with as much focus and pleasure as if they were already doing it. They also act as if success is certain because they believe their plan is so well made.

It is bad to do harm in a sudden impulse, but it is far worse to plan it carefully. When the craft and subtlety of the old serpent, Satan, appears with his poison and venom, that is wickedness at its worst. They devised it on their beds, when they should have been asleep. Instead of resting, they stayed awake to plan evil. Their beds should have been the place where they remembered God, examined their hearts, and thought honestly about themselves. It matters greatly how we use our quiet hours and time alone.

Then they use their power to carry out what they have planned. They practice the wrongdoing they have devised because it is in their power to do it. Their wealth, authority, and influence help them succeed, and no one dares stop them or call them to account. They think that because they can do it, they have the right to do it. But power is never given for destruction, only for building others up.

They are also quick and hardworking in carrying out their evil plans. Once they have settled the matter in their minds and on their beds, they waste no time. As soon as morning comes, they do it. They rush to complete what they can do, and this puts our own slowness to shame when it comes to doing good. In God’s service and in serving our generation, let it never be said that we left for tomorrow what we could do today.

They also stop at nothing to reach their goals. What they covet, they take if they can. They do not care how open or shameful the wrong is. They seize men’s fields by violence, not just by fraud, secret schemes, or a false use of the law, but by force and openly. They also do not care whom they hurt or how far the harm reaches. They oppress a man and his house, ruining families with wives and children who are left to beg. They oppress a man and his inheritance, taking away what should have been passed down through the family line. Greed removes compassion from the heart, and if a person loves this world, he does not truly love his neighbor.

Second, we see the justice of God planning punishment for this sin, in Micah 2:3. “Therefore,” says the Lord, the righteous Judge who settles disputes between people and avenges wrongdoing, “I am planning disaster against this family.” He means the whole kingdom of Israel, especially the families that were cruel and oppressive. They devise evil against their brothers, and God will justly devise evil against them. His wisdom will shape the punishment so that it is certain, severe, clear, and fitting for the sin. The more wicked skill there is in the sin, the more holy wisdom and fitting justice will appear in the punishment. Through these judgments, the Lord will make himself known.

God finds them secure, thinking they will somehow escape judgment, or escape from it quickly if it comes. So he tells them that this is a yoke from which they will not free their necks. They were like stubborn people, unwilling to bear the gentle yoke of God’s righteous commands, and breaking his bonds away from them. So God will put on them the heavy yoke of his righteous judgments, and they will not be able to shake it off. Those who refuse to be ruled will be brought down.

He also finds them proud and self-important, so he tells them they will no longer walk proudly with stretched necks and careless eyes, strutting along in self-indulgence (Isaiah 3:16). The time of judgment is evil, and what happens then will humble even the strongest spirit.

He finds them cheerful and carefree, so he warns them that their song will change. Their laughter will turn to mourning, and their joy to sorrow (Micah 2:4). In that day, when God punishes them for their oppression, people will take up a saying against them and mourn with a very bitter lament. Their enemies will mock them, and their friends will grieve over them. The cry will go up, “We are utterly ruined. We are all undone.” Those who were most proud and secure in their good times are often the most crushed and hopeless in hard times.

He also finds them rich in houses and lands gained by oppression, and so he tells them they will be stripped of everything.

In their despair, they will give up the land entirely. They will say, “We are ruined. He has taken away the share of my people, and it is no longer theirs, but belongs to their enemies. How has he taken it from me! How suddenly, how powerfully!” What people gain unfairly will not stay with them for long. The righteous God will take it away.

When God turns away in anger and divides our fields to others, it is a dreadful judgment. The margin says it this way: instead of restoring them, he has divided our fields; instead of giving us back our property, he has confirmed it in the hands of those who took it from us. It is just for God to let those who have used fraud and violence against others suffer the same thing themselves.

God will also confirm what they say in their despair (Micah 2:5). So it will be: they will have no one to measure out land by lot in the Lord’s assembly, and no one to divide inheritances, because there will be no inheritances left to divide. There will be no courts to settle land claims or to cast lots over property, as in Joshua’s day, because everything will be in the enemies’ hands.

This land was not only rightfully theirs, but it was also a place they enjoyed deeply, for it was in the congregation of the Lord, or rather, the congregation of the Lord was in it. It was God’s land, a holy land, and that made being driven out of it even worse. The deepest troubles are those that cut us off from the congregation of the Lord, or greatly reduce our share in its blessings.