Micah 3:8 - Meaning and Application

Here the prophet says that God’s power was with him in his work. He makes a solemn claim about that, because it would justify him in speaking plainly to the rulers and princes. He would not dare to speak so boldly to the great men unless a prophetic impulse, that is, a strong moving from God, carried him along. It was not merely his own word, but God speaking through him, and he could not help saying what God put in his mouth.

This also stands against the false prophets. They were left ashamed when their lies were exposed, and they never had courage to deal honestly with the people. They flattered people in their sins. They were “sensual,” meaning governed by mere human appetite, and they did not have the Spirit. But Micah says, “I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord” (Micah 3:8). Since he knew his message was true, he spoke with confidence. Compare him with those false prophets, and there is no comparison at all. What is chaff compared with wheat (Jeremiah 23:28)? What is painted fire compared with real fire?

Notice, first, the gifts that marked this prophet. He was full of power, judgment, and might. He loved God and cared deeply for people’s souls. He was deeply concerned for God’s glory and for their salvation, and he burned with zeal against sin. He also had courage to rebuke sin and testify against it, without fear of powerful men or large crowds. Whatever hardship or discouragement came, it did not turn him back from his task, and none of these things moved him. Yet all of this was guided by judgment and good sense. He was wise as well as bold. In all his preaching there was light as well as fire, wisdom as well as zeal. So this man of God was fully equipped for every good word he had to speak and every good work he had to do.

Those who heard him could see that he was full of both power and judgment. His preaching opened their minds and stirred their hearts. With clear proof and strong force, the word came through him.

Second, where did these gifts come from? Not from himself, but from the Spirit of the Lord. He knew the Spirit of the Lord was in him and spoke through him, so he delivered a divine message boldly and with authority. He set his face like a flint, knowing he would be upheld in what he said (Isaiah 50:7, Isaiah 50:8). Those who act honestly may act boldly. Those who know God has sent them do not need to fear human opposition. He had not only the Spirit of prophecy, which grounded his boldness, but also the Spirit of sanctification, that is, the Spirit who makes people holy, giving him the courage and wisdom he needed. He was not strong in himself, for who is enough for these things? He was strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. All our strength comes from him.

If we are full of power for anything good, it is only by the Spirit of the Lord. By ourselves, we are weak as water. It is the God of Israel who gives strength and power to his people and to his ministers.

Third, how did he use these gifts? He declared Jacob’s wrongdoing and Israel’s sin. If transgression is found in Jacob and Israel, they must be told about it. That is the work of God’s prophets, to cry out and not hold back (Isaiah 58:1). Those who come to hear God’s word should be willing to be told their faults. They should not only allow their ministers to deal plainly with them, but should be grateful for it. Since so few people are humble enough to receive correction, those who must give correction need great boldness. They must also pray for both wisdom and courage.

Then the prophet uses this power in speaking against the leaders of the house of Jacob, both the princes and the prophets, whom he had already charged earlier in the chapter. He repeats the call for them to listen (Micah 3:9), the same call found in Micah 3:1. He addresses the princes of the house of Israel, though he means those of Judah. This was spoken in Hezekiah’s kingdom, as Jeremiah 26:18, Jeremiah 26:19 shows, where Micah 3:12 is quoted. The ten tribes had already gone into captivity, so Judah was all that remained of Jacob and Israel. He speaks to them respectfully, calling them “heads” and “princes.” Ministers must be faithful when they rebuke great men for sin, but they must not be rude or discourteous.

Now see the great wickedness of these heads of the house of Jacob, the princes, priests, and prophets. In short, they were greedy and used their offices to serve their love of money. The princes hated justice. They would not live by its rules in their own conduct, and they would not apply it fairly when appeals came before them. They twisted what was right and refused to be guided or corrected by justice whenever it stood against their profit. When they did the clearest wrong while pretending to do right, they perverted justice and made it serve a purpose opposite to the one for which government was established.

They were charged with building up Zion with blood (Micah 3:10). They claimed that their extortion and oppression were helping to build Jerusalem and the holy city. They may have said they were adding streets and squares, improving the city, and supporting the public good in both church and state. They may even have thought they were serving God and Israel. But they did it through blood and injustice, so it could not stand. Their wish to help the city of God could not make their disobedience to the law of God acceptable.

Some people make the same mistake, thinking that zeal for the church or for spreading the faith can make robbery, murder, massacre, or plunder acceptable. It cannot. Zion’s walls owe nothing to those who build them with blood and injustice. Human sin does not produce God’s righteousness.

The rulers’ duty was to judge appeals brought to them, but they judged for a reward (Micah 3:11). They decided in favor of the one who paid the bribe, so the best case could not win without a fee, and the worst case could win with one. Miserable is the people’s condition when a judge asks not, “What is right here?” but, “What can I get from this?”

The priests’ work was to teach the people, and the law had already given them a good and honorable support for that. Yet even that was not enough for them. They taught for pay on top of their regular support, and they were willing to teach anything as God’s message if it would please people and help their own interests.

The prophets also seem to have received gifts as voluntary offerings (1 Samuel 9:7, 1 Samuel 9:8), but they made money the main goal in their prophecies. They prophesied for money. Their words could be bought, and they would speak or stay silent depending on what brought them the most gain. A person could get whatever message he wanted from them, if he only paid. In this way, they followed Balaam, who loved the wages of wrongdoing.

We should note this: what is sinful can never be made holy by zeal for the church, but what is holy is often spoiled by love of the world. When people do something that is good in itself, but do it for selfish gain, it loses its worth and becomes hateful to both God and people.

Even with all this, they kept up a foolish confidence. They leaned on the Lord, and because they were outwardly his people, they thought there was no harm and no danger in their wicked ways. Faith truly rests on the Lord and depends on him as the soul’s foundation. Presumption only leans on the Lord as a support for a selfish purpose, while the world remains the real foundation.

They spoke with great confidence about their honor: “Is not the Lord among us? Do we not have the signs of his presence, his temple, his ark, and his living words?” They were proud because of the holy mountain and its honors (Zephaniah 3:11), as if church privileges could excuse the worst sins, or as if God’s presence were meant to make priests and people rich by selling their services. It was true that the Lord was among them through his ordinances, and that only fed their pride. But if they thought he was among them in favor and love, they were mistaken. People often fool themselves this way, thinking they have God with them when their sin has driven him away.

They were also confident about their own safety: “No disaster can come upon us.” Many people are put into a deadly sleep by church privileges, as if those things would protect them while they sin and shield them from punishment. In truth, those privileges will only make their sin and punishment greater. If having the Lord among them will not keep people from doing evil, it cannot keep them from suffering evil because of it. It is foolish for sinners to think that boldness will keep them from judgment.

Therefore, their real wickedness, despite their false sense of protection, would bring judgment on them. “Zion will be plowed like a field because of you” (Micah 3:12). This is the bold warning Micah spoke, which was later quoted in Jeremiah’s day (Jeremiah 26:18). Hezekiah and his princes accepted it well, though under another ruler it might have cost Micah his life. In fact, they repented and reformed, and so this judgment was delayed and did not fall in their day.

This foretells the ruin of holy places, places that had been honored by God’s presence and worship. Zion itself would be plowed like a field, with the buildings burned and leveled to the ground. Some say this was literally fulfilled when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem, and the ground was later plowed up as a sign of its complete ruin. Even Jerusalem, the holy city, would become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the house, where the temple stood, would grow over with briars and thorns like a forest height. If sacred places are polluted by sin, they should expect God’s judgments to waste and ruin them.

The guilt of the leaders who served there would bring the ruin. “It is because of you that Zion will be plowed like a field.” They claimed to build up Zion, but by blood and injustice they were really tearing it down. The sin of priests and rulers often brings destruction on nations and churches. The rulers act foolishly, and the people suffer for it.