Now hear this, heads of the house of Jacob
And rulers of the house of Israel,
Who abhor justice
And twist everything that is straight, (3:9).
Micah was God’s prophet sent to a people bent on twisting His Justice. Many were doing a lot of prophesying, but it was certainly not from God. And not only were they offering lies to the people, but they were totally deluding themselves, believing they could twist His Word and Ways to their own advantage.
And tragically, those who were called to lead God’s people were living in total contradiction to His Truth. Rather than being transformed by the Truth, the so-called rulers had been molded by their greed into man-eating mongers, peddling God’s word for profit, hating good and loving evil, and devouring God’s people with their lies.
“Hear now, heads of Jacob
And rulers of the house of Israel.
Is it not for you to know justice?
2 “You who hate good and love evil,
Who tear off their skin from them
And their flesh from their bones,
3 Who eat the flesh of my people,
Strip off their skin from them,
Break their bones
And chop them up as for the pot
And as meat in a kettle.” (3:1-3).
And because the rulers were leading the people astray, the time would come when they had strayed so far that there would be none to deliver from His Justice, for all the lying and buying will never corrupt His Incorruptible Justice.
Consider His Incorruptible Justice
The so-called prophets were actually profiteers, who claimed to see the light. But the light they claimed to see would be proven darkness by His Incorruptible Justice, bringing the shame and humiliation their crooked predictions had earned back on their own heads.
Then they will cry out to the Lord,
But He will not answer them.
Instead, He will hide His face from them at that time
Because they have practiced evil deeds.
5 Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who lead my people astray;
When they have something to bite with their teeth,
They cry, “Peace,”
But against him who puts nothing in their mouths
They declare holy war.
6 Therefore it will be night for you—without vision,
And darkness for you—without divination.
The sun will go down on the prophets,
And the day will become dark over them.
7 The seers will be ashamed
And the diviners will be embarrassed.
Indeed, they will all cover their mouths
Because there is no answer from God, (3:4-7).
And though these religious leaders would persist in twisting the truth, in taking bribes, and in prophesying messages to tickle the ears of their listeners with promises that God was surely on their side, they would soon learn that He would uproot everything that had been built apart from His Incorruptible Justice.
Now hear this, heads of the house of Jacob
And rulers of the house of Israel,
Who abhor justice
And twist everything that is straight,
10 Who build Zion with bloodshed
And Jerusalem with violent injustice.
11 Her leaders pronounce judgment for a bribe,
Her priests instruct for a price
And her prophets divine for money.
Yet they lean on the Lord saying,
“Is not the Lord in our midst?
Calamity will not come upon us.”
12 Therefore, on account of you
Zion will be plowed as a field,
Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins,
And the mountain of the temple will become high places of a forest, (3:9-12).
How do we respond to His Incorruptible Justice?
The picture is bleak, and the very sad reality is that our world is not much different than in the days of Micah. There are profiteers aplenty looking to fleece the flock and perhaps grease their palms in the process. But God is Holy and Righteous and He will judge sin by His perfect, Incorruptible Justice.
“The Rock! His work is perfect,
For all His ways are just;
A God of faithfulness and without injustice,
Righteous and upright is He,” (Deuteronomy 32:4).
Others are intent on twisting the truth to find a way to make the message more appealing, insisting that if we just do the “right” thing, then God is on our side. And sadly, it is often the so-called prophet who determines what the “right” thing is.
But the Lord does not accept us because we do “right” things, as if we even could. And our culture misidentifies “doing right” with “being right,” maintaining that truth is relative and we are the ones qualified to judge our “right” things as acceptable to God.
Every man’s way is right in his own eyes,
But the Lord weighs the hearts, (Proverbs 21:2).
But the Lord’s Justice is Incorruptible, and as He weighs the heart, we learn that we are not at all capable of being “right,” especially in His eyes.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Romans 3:23).
And because His Justice is Incorruptible, if we rely on our own “right” things, we are doomed. It is only through faith in Christ Who paid the debt of our sin that we could never pay, that we will be declared righteous and granted eternal life.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord, (Romans 6:23).
But as we know, this is not a message our culture finds palatable. And even in “Christian” circles today, many claim that because God’s love is so great, He would never bring judgment against sin. This is absolutely contrary to the Scriptures and is a lie from the pit of hell that dishonors and corrupts His Incorruptible Justice. Make no mistake, His Justice will be met. And we have the choice. Face Him in our own “right” standing or in His Righteousness.
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him, (2 Corinthians 5:20).
And while many today find the idea of only One Way far too-restricting, and even distasteful, when we are saved through faith and become the righteousness of God in Him, we have been called to be His witnesses to a world that is caught in doing the “right” thing in their own eyes, but headed for hell.
So while the world may not want to hear, they need to. And while we may not want to share, we need to; it is a matter of eternal life and death.
And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.12 He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life, (1 John 5:12).
Oh, that we would be determined like Micah to boldly testify to those who are facing death apart from Jesus. Let us remember, Micah did not speak in his own strength but in dependence upon the Spirit of the Lord Who filled him with His Power, Justice and Courage.
On the other hand I am filled with power—
With the Spirit of the Lord—
And with justice and courage
To make known to Jacob his rebellious act,
Even to Israel his sin, (2:8).
And as He did with Micah, He has done for us. Oh, that we would grow to fully depend on His Holy Spirit’s Power, Justice and Courage, that wherever He sends us, even if we must face persecution, jeers, and conflict, we would be His witnesses to boldly testify to His unchanging truth and His Incorruptible Justice.
“but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth,” (Acts 1:8).