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<h2><a onclick="return mV('Mic',6,'all');">Mic 6</a> - In the Court of the Lord</h2>
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<p>A. The <span class="c6">Lord</span>’s complaint against His people.</p>
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<p class="c1">1. (<a onclick="return mV('Mic',6,'1-2');">1-2</a>) In court with the <span class="c6">Lord</span>.</p>
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<p class="c2">Hear now what the <span class="c6">Lord</span> says: “Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. Hear, O you mountains, the Lord’s complaint, and you strong foundations of the earth; for the <span class="c6">Lord</span> has a complaint against His people, and He will contend with Israel.</p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">Arise, plead your case</span></b>: Micah pictures a court of law, with Israel “on trial” before the Lord. In the presence of unshakable witnesses (<b><span class="c3">the mountains</span></b> and <b><span class="c3">the hills</span></b> and the <b><span class="c3">strong foundations of the earth</span></b>), the court comes to order.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">The <span class="c6">Lord</span> has a complaint against His people, and He will contend with Israel</span></b>: In His court, God will bring His case - His <b><span class="c3">complaint</span></b> against Israel.</p>
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<p class="c1">2. (<a onclick="return mV('Mic',6,'3-5');">3-5</a>) The <span class="c6">Lord</span>’s complaint against His people.</p>
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<p class="c2">“O My people, what have I done to you? And how have I wearied you? Testify against Me. For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, I redeemed you from the house of bondage; and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. O My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab counseled, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, from Acacia Grove to Gilgal, that you may know the righteousness of the <span class="c6">Lord</span>.”</p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">Testify against Me</span></b>: As Israel steps up to the witness stand, God asks them, “<b><span class="c3">What have I done to you?</span></b>” He has done nothing but good to Israel, and has been repaid with rejection and rebellion.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">I redeemed you from the house of bondage</span></b>: Not only did God <i>not</i> do evil to Israel, He also did them an enormous amount of <i>good</i>. He <b><span class="c3">redeemed</span></b> them and gave them godly leaders. God’s case against Israel looks pretty good.</p>
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<p class="c4">c. <b><span class="c3">Remember now what Balak king of Moab counseled</span></b>: After meeting with King Balak of Moab, Balaam prophesied over Israel four times. As he spoke forth God’s word, he did not curse Israel - but he blessed them each time. When he was unsuccessful in cursing Israel, Balaam <b><span class="c3">answered</span></b> Balak on how to bring Israel under a curse. Instead of trying to have a prophet curse them, the Moabites lead them into fornication and idolatry, and God will curse them. Balak did just that, sending his young women into the camp of Israel to lead Israel into sexual immorality and idolatry. Because of their sin, God did curse Israel - He brought a plague of judgment upon Israel that killed 24,000.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. In light of this, Israel must <b><span class="c3">remember</span></b> that God could never be persuaded to curse Israel, except if they brought curses on themselves through their own disobedience and rebellion. Like a great lawyer in court, God shows Israel that if they feel cursed in any way, it is entirely their responsibility.</p>
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<p class="c1">3. (<a onclick="return mV('Mic',6,'6-7');">6-7</a>) The answer of His people: “What can I do?”</p>
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<p class="c2">With what shall I come before the <span class="c6">Lord</span>, <i>and</i> bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the <span class="c6">Lord</span> be pleased with thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn <i>for</i> my transgression, the fruit of my body <i>for</i> the sin of my soul?</p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">With what shall I come before the <span class="c6">Lord</span></span></b>: This is a question asked out of bitterness and resentment. Israel calls out to God from the witness stand, and says: “Just what do You want from me?”</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">Will the <span class="c6">Lord</span> be pleased with thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil?</span></b> We can almost hear Israel shouting at God from the witness stand. “You ask too much, God. Nothing will satisfy You. If we brought <b><span class="c3">thousands of rams</span></b> or <b><span class="c3">rivers of oil</span></b> or even my own <b><span class="c3">firstborn</span></b> it would not be enough. You are unreasonable.”</p>
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<p class="c5">i. “Blinded to God’s goodness and character, he reasons within his own depraved frame of reference. He need not change; God must change . . . His willingness to raise the price does not reflect his generosity but veils a complaint that God demands too much.” (Waltke)</p>
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<p class="c1">4. (<a onclick="return mV('Mic',6,8);">8</a>) The reply of the <span class="c6">Lord</span>: “He has shown you.”</p>
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<p class="c2">He has shown you, O man, what <i>is</i> good; and what does the <span class="c6">Lord</span> require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?</p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">He has shown you</span></b>: God stops the shouting of the angry defendant from the witness box. “You act as if it is some mystery what I require of you. In point of fact it is no mystery at all. I have <b><span class="c3">shown you</span></b> clearly <b><span class="c3">what is good</span></b> and what I <b><span class="c3">require of you</span></b>.”</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">To do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God</span></b>: The <span class="c6">Lord</span> answers the contentious witness in open court. “What I require of you isn’t complicated. Simply do three things.”</p>
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<p class="c4">c. <b><span class="c3">Do justly</span></b>: “Act in a just, fair way towards others. Treat them they way you want to be treated.”</p>
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<p class="c4">d. <b><span class="c3">Love mercy</span></b>: “Don’t just show mercy, but <i>love</i> to show it. Give others the same measure of mercy you want to receive from the Me.”</p>
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<p class="c4">e. <b><span class="c3">Walk humbly with your God</span></b>: “Remember who I am - <i>your God</i>. If you keep that in mind, you will <i>walk humbly</i> before Me.”</p>
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<p class="c5">i. “<span>I would not advise any of you to try to be humble, but to be humble. As to acting humbly, when a man forces himself to it, that is poor stuff. When a man talks a great deal about his humility, when he is very humble to everybody, he is generally a canting hypocrite. Humility must be in the heart, and then it will come out spontaneously as the outflow of life in every act that a man performs.” (Spurgeon)</span></p>
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<p class="c5">ii. Spurgeon’s sermon <i>Mic’s Message for Today</i> applied the idea of how to <b><span class="c3">walk humbly with your God</span></b>:</p><ul class="c6"><li>Walk humbly when you are spiritually strong</li><li>Walk humbly when you have much work to do</li><li>Walk humbly in all your motives</li><li>Walk humbly studying God’s word</li><li>Walk humbly when under trials</li><li>Walk humbly in your devotions</li><li>Walk humbly between you and your brothers in Christ</li><li>Walk humbly when dealing with sinners</li></ul>
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<p class="c5">iii. “<span>True humility is thinking rightly of thyself, not meanly. When you have found out what you really are, you will be humble, for you are nothing to boast of. To be humble will make you safe. To be humble will make you happy. To be humble will make music in your heart when you go to bed. To be humble here will make you wake up in the likeness of your Master by-and-by.” (Spurgeon)</span></p>
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<p class="c4">f. God has proven His case before the court. Israel is afflicted, but it is not because of the neglect or disregard of God. Their own sin brought their affliction upon them. In addition, what God required of them was not mysterious or too difficult - they simply did not do it.</p>
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<p>B. The voice of the <span class="c6">Lord</span> cries out in the city.</p>
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<p class="c1">1. (<a onclick="return mV('Mic',6,'9-12');">9-12</a>) God sees the injustice and deceit of Israel.</p>
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<p class="c2">The Lord’s voice cries to the city; wisdom shall see Your name: “Hear the Rod! Who has appointed it? Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the short measure <i>that is</i> an abomination? Shall I count pure <i>those</i> with the wicked scales, and with the bag of deceitful weights? For her rich men are full of violence, her inhabitants have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.”</p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">Hear the Rod! Who has appointed it?</span></b> Israel <i>felt</i> the rod of God, but did not <b><span class="c3">hear</span></b> it. God tells them to <b><span class="c3">Hear the Rod</span></b>, both in the sense of the <i>rod</i> as a picture of the corrective discipline of God, and in the sense that <b><span class="c3">the Rod</span></b> can be personified as the voice of God Himself.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. “We can rest contentedly in our sins and in our stupidities; and anyone who has watched gluttons shoveling down the most exquisite foods as if they did not know what they were eating, will admit that we can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists on being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” (C.S. Lewis, <i>The Problem of Pain</i>)</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">The short measure that is an abomination . . . wicked scales . . . deceitful weights</span></b>: God was angry with Israel for plain old cheating in money matters. They lied and stole and cheated one another, all for the sake of making some money off each other.</p>
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<p class="c4">c. <b><span class="c3">Her rich men are full of violence</span></b>: The sin of Israel went further than just cheating others in business and commerce; they also made themselves rich through plain <b><span class="c3">violence</span></b>. They could expect the judgment of God for such sin.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. “No society is ever entirely upright or godly; there are always evil people in it. But in a well-functioning society the evil are suppressed and those of good character are prominent and rule the land. In times of moral breakdown this is inverted.” (Boice)</p>
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<p class="c1">2. (<a onclick="return mV('Mic',6,'13-16');">13-16</a>) God’s judgment on greedy and wicked Israel.</p>
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<p class="c2">“Therefore I will also make <i>you</i> sick by striking you, by making <i>you</i> desolate because of your sins. You shall eat, but not be satisfied; hunger <i>shall be</i> in your midst. You may carry <i>some</i> away, but shall not save <i>them;</i> and what you do rescue I will give over to the sword. You shall sow, but not reap; you shall tread the olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil; and <i>make</i> sweet wine, but not drink wine. For the statutes of Omri are kept; all the works of Ahab’s house <i>are done;</i> and you walk in their counsels, that I may make you a desolation, and your inhabitants a hissing. Therefore you shall bear the reproach of My people.”</p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">You shall eat, but not be satisfied . . . what you do rescue I will give over to the sword</span></b>: God promises a tragic end for their ill-gotten gains. He will allow them no satisfaction or blessing in what they possess.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">All the works of Ahab’s house are done; and you walk in their counsels</span></b>: Instead of walking in the ways of the <span class="c6">Lord</span>, they walked in the sinful example of wicked kings before them, and in the <b><span class="c3">counsels</span></b> of the ungodly.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. “<i>Omri</i>, king of Israel, the father of Ahab, was one of the worst kings the Israelites ever had; and <i>Ahab</i> followed in his wicked father’s steps. The <i>statutes</i> of those kings were the very grossest <i>idolatry</i>.” (Clarke)</p>
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