Micah 3:5-12 Commentary

After spending a sustained amount of time in the books of Genesis and Exodus over the summer and early Fall, in the month-long lead up to Advent, the Lectionary plops us down into 4 different prophetic books.  So part of the commentary each week will be to orient us to the argument of the book as a whole before focusing on the specifics of the few verses reflected in the Lectionary reading.

Micah

The socio-political background of the prophet Micah’s ministry is significant.  At this time (roughly 8th century BC), the fierce foreign power of Assyria is rising to power.  They have wiped out Samaria, the capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and carried many people into exile. Micah lived in and spoke to the people of Judah in the Southern Kingdom. Over the life of his ministry—spanning the reigns of Ahaz and Hezekiah–the people of Judah have experienced incursions and pushed out invading armies. In terms of foreign policy, the possibility of their destruction is top of mind at all times.

But internally, the people of Judah are creating their own problems. The wealthy and powerful are preying on the weak and the vulnerable. Ordinary citizens couldn’t sustain their livelihoods against the encroaching greed of those with economic and political power.  The problem of them destroying each other, according to Micah, is an even greater threat than what might happen to them from the outside. 

The book of Micah contains two strong forces in conversation with one another: justice and hope.  In the first case, since justice is not being done, God’s people are under threat of punishment, a wake-up call.  Injustice will incur the punishment of God.  On the other hand, the people still have the opportunity to change their mind, to repent and turn things around. The nation must reflect God’s values in the way they order their lives together—economically and politically.  At the same time, the hope on offer in the book of Micah isn’t fundamentally rooted in expectation that God’s people will make right all that they’ve gotten wrong.  Instead, Micah’s prophecy points us to a promised ruler from Bethlehem. The early verses of Micah 5 are often part of the Advent Lectionary readings or used in Lessons & Carols services and rightly so!  Only a Messiah will save these people from themselves! Later verses in chapter 7 seem to point us toward an eschatological longing: the hope for Christ to come one day and set all things right.

A Just Society

After the promise of a Messiah in the early verses of chapter 5, Micah goes on with poetic imagery to develop a vision for what a just society would do and be.  Verse 5’s mention of shepherds and princes reminds us that even a just ruler needs just generals and governors and local officials to ensure that justice infiltrates every sphere and level of society. Those entrusted with the sword will protect against outside armies intent on occupation and injustice. At the same time, the people of Judah will be a blessing to other people and lands, like dew in a sun-scorched land.  They will also be powerful and capable of fending off destruction and those who might attack them.  

Robert Alter observes a strange contradiction in these two images.  “First the people of Israel is figured as a gentle blessing—dew and rain—for all the nations. Now it is detected as a furious force destroying nations.” Because prophets often speak in poetry, we would do well to let the tension co-exist, to wonder about its resonance and implications for us today rather than to resolve it chronologically or historically.  A just society will be mighty, fierce and it will be generous and gentle.  Don’t make it make sense. Rather, consider all of the ways it serves to show us how our own countries all fall short.

The last two verses of this pericope, until verse 15 in the passage, serve as a warning against those who would oppose Judah, the just society. Interestingly, in a text largely interested in social injustice, the imagery here is of pagan and idolatrous worship.  Although this is not a central theme in Micah, it is obvious in other prophetic writings that pure worship and social injustice cannot co-exist.  Similarly, if anyone–God’s people or their enemies—rule with oppressive power and mete out economic policies intended for the rich to get richer on the backs of the poor—it is only a matter of time before their worship is infected and made idolatrous. Here, God through Micah, is not just warning those outside but incentivizing those inside to align their theological and social values. Of course, in a way, this is just speculative since, after all, the Kingdom of Judah is not—as yet—a just society.  It is also incentive for those inclined to patrol the borders in search of dangers *out there* to turn and consider the dangers *in here.*

 Illustration

The Call is Coming from Inside the House

A familiar trope in horror movies is this famous line that originates from the 1970s moving “When a Stranger Calls” in which a babysitter receives increasingly urgent, threatening and downright terrifying phone calls asking whether she has “checked on the children,” intimating harm to come to them. Finally, the police trace the call and let her know “the call is coming from inside the house.” 

This is certainly true of Micah’s prophecy for the people of Judah.  They have reason to be concerned about all that’s happening around them and even, at times, threatening their national sovereignty.  But their downfall isn’t coming from outside. It is coming from the way they treat one another, most especially the oppressed and vulnerable, inside their own house.