"The best of them is like a briar, the most upright like a thorn hedge.  The day when you post your watchmen, your punishment will come.  then their confusion will occur.  Do not trust in a neighbor; do not have confidence in a friend.  From her who lies in your bosom guard your lips.  For son treats father contemptuously, daughter rises up against her mother, daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man's enemies are the men of his own household."

Remember Micah has just told us that enemies have arisen in the land of Israel - and that those enemies have replaced the leaders in the land.  Now we get a look at the practical side of that statement.

Look who betrays each other.  Mother verses daughter.  Son verses father.  Micah said that the best of people are like briars, or thorns.  He even tells the husband that he cannot trust the wife.

Micah's bottom line:  When leadership declines in the land, the enemy resides in the home.

Have you ever felt that way?  As if evil is prevailing in your household?

He who is like Jehovah guards his family.

        

"Woe is me!  For I am like the fruit pickers, like the grape gatherers.  There is not a cluster of grapes to eat, or a first-ripe fig which I crave.  The Godly person has perished from the land, and there is no upright person among men.  All of them lie in wait for bloodshed; each of them hunts the other with a net.  Concerning evil, both hands do it well.  The prince asks, also the judge, for a bribe, and a great man speaks the desire of his soul; so they weave it together."

Micah begins this chapter by once again relating to the people of Israel.  They are not in this pain alone, Micah also feels woe.  He is also effected by the sin of a nation.  In these words, we see a great picture of the Living Christ.  He also took on our sins and was left in pain because of them.

Micah begins to talk about this sin.  It is such that even the judges ask for a bribe...  And then, the end of verse 3 says that they weave it together.  This is Micah's way of telling his audience that evil gives birth to evil.  One commits evil, then another, soon, that evil is not simply a thread of evil, but a quilt.

Micah is hurting, while the leaders of the nation are warming themselves with iniquity.  How will God bring them back?

He who is like Jehovah is burdened by sin.

        

"The statutes of Omri and all the works of the house of Ahab are observed; and in their devices you walk.  Therefore I will give you up for destruction and your inhabitants for derision, and you will bear the reproach of my people."

The king, Omri, brought peace to Israel.  He was king for about 8 years.  The peace that he established came with a big price tag.  Omri invited the Phoenician gods into the Hebrew camp.  This led to a time of relaxed tension between the armies of God and the armies of the surrounding areas.  That relaxed tension led to the dissipation of the people of Israel.

We often think tension is bad, but at the same time, God calls us strangers and Aliens.

The people in Micah's time are accused of following Omri's ways.  Giving up "standing out" for "blending in."

Jesus says this another way:  If the salt losses its flavor, what good is it?

He who is like Jehovah will not compromise the effect God has.

        

"So also I will make you sick, striking you down, desolating you because of your sins.  You will eat, but you will not be satisfied, and your vileness will be in your midst.  You will try to remove for safekeeping, but you will not preserve anything, and what you do preserve I will give to the sword.  You will sow but you will not reap.  You will tread the olive but you will not anoint yourself with oil; and the grapes, but you will not drink wine."

This sounds like horrible news:  God is speaking to a people that will no longer have relief.  They will sow, for nothing.  They will grow olives, but no oil for anointing.  They will have vineyards, but no wine.  There will be no rest for the weary.

Bad news - and if you are reading this out of context from the rest of Micah, you might think of God as a horrible mean dictator-like being.

But if you read these verses in context, you realize to whom God is speaking.  He is threatening those who have abused their power.  Hebrew, Assyrian, anyone.  God will give no rest to those who conquer the widows and orphans.

If God hates those who hate, then who does God love?

He who is like Jehovah uses power to build, instead of break.

        

"The voice of the Lord will call to the city - and it is sound wisdom to fear Your name:  'Hear, O tribe.  Who has appointed its time?  Is there yet a man in the wicked house, along with treasures of wickedness and a short measure that is cursed?  Can I justify wicked scales and a bag of deceptive weights?  For the rich men of the city are full of violence, her residents speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth."

God turns His attention on the scales of the city.  He looks at the marketplace and points out the fact that many merchants are lying with their scales.  In other words, instead of using a weight that will give an honest measure, they use weights that are slightly off, therefore hurting the purchaser.  This is basic oppression, and God is not pleased.  (He never is, when someone is being oppressed.)

Micah tells His readers that God will not justify wicked scales - that means that God is going to have to take drastic measures to ensure rescue for the hurting.

BUT - before that happens, God gives an option.  Look at verse 10.

Is there yet a man???  God is looking for a man that will stand up in honesty and break the cycle of sin.  Just as He looked for Abraham.  Just as He looked for David.

Just as God is looking now.

He who is like Jehovah will stand for God when nobody else does.

        

"With what shall I come to the Lord and bow myself before the King on high?  Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, with yearling calves?  Does the Lord take delight in thousands of rams, in ten thousand rivers of oil?  Shall I present my firstborn for all of my rebellious acts, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?  He has told you, oh man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"

These verses are packed full of prophecy about the manner and means of Christ.  Sacrifice or obedience.  Offerings unto God.  The firstborn of the flesh and the fruit of the spirit...

Micah has a message that, again, is hard for the Hebrews to hear:  God has already communicated His will for your life to you.

He has told you...

It's true.  God has communicated this same message to His people before.  To Saul and Samuel with king Agog.  In the ten commandments. 

In fact, when God says in the gospels, "Love the Lord your God... and love your neighbor..." He is recommunicating the same theory. 

God wants us to love; to be fans of justice, mercy, kindness, humility.

He who is like Jehovah loves.

        

"My people, what have I done to you, and how have I wearied you?  Answer Me.  Indeed I brought you up from the land of Egypt and ransomed you from the house of slavery, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron and Miriam.  My people, remember now what Balak, king of Moab, counseled, and what Balaam son of Boer answered him, and from Shittim to Gilgal, so that you might know the righteous acts of the Lord."

God, the Lord who rescued His people from the Pharaoh, and claimed for His people the promised land, and saved them from the desert, and led them from the danger of sin, now has to remind them where He has been all along.

The people of Israel are still complaining about not having a ruler - a leader.  And finally God asks them, "Did I wrong you in some way?...  Answer Me..."  Then God asks the people if they remember Balak, the king.  Balak hated the people of Israel and sent a false prophet, Balaam, to go and claim a victory over them.  God didn't allow this to happen, through quite remarkable circumstances (Numbers 22).

We often forget about God's work in our lives as well.  We say, "I wonder if God can help me through ______," without thinking, "God has always helped me through _____."

He who is like Jehovah remembers God's pattern.

        

"Hear now what the Lord is saying, 'Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice.  Listen, you mountains, to the indictment of the Lord, and you enduring foundations of the earth, because the Lord has a case against His people; even with Israel He will dispute."

Micah begins to speak in law-language again.  Once again, he takes on the role of lawyer for the Prosecution with a complaint about the way Israel is living.

Here we see that all of creation testifies to the sin of the people.  I wonder what creation would say about the way that we live today.  In Israel, the mountains and hills are like the jury.  they hear the complaint that God brings against Israel.  Israel is told to plead their case to the mountains as well.

The good news:  Israel is still called God's people.  They are people that need God and God comes to them.  Just as God comes to us today.  Just as we need God today.

Micah is saying that a court appearance must be made, but the results of the indictment will not be separation - but change.

He who is like Jehovah will remove sin - and live!

        

"I will root out your Asherim from among you and destroy your cities.  And I will execute vengeance in anger and wrath on the nations which have not obeyed."

This is the part of rescue that often keeps us from rescue.  It is painful to leave our comfort zones, even when our comfort zones are far from where God wants us. 

Here, Micah tells his listeners that God will come and root out that which causes sin from among them.  God will destroy those who revel in disobedience.  God will remove that which destroys.  The problem with the people of Micah is the same problem we have.  They have let that which destroys become familiar, even comfortable.  They will go on to resist the loss of what destroys them.

It is as if they are clinging to what hurts them most instead of clinging to God.  They are fooled.

God will not be fooled - He still promises to remove the harmful.

He who is like Jehovah will be an advocate for life.

        

"'And it will be in that day,' declares the Lord, 'that I will cut off your horses from among you and destroy your chariots.  I will also cut off the cities of your land and tear down all your fortifications.  I will cut off sorceries from your hand, and you will have fortunetellers no more.  I will cut off your carved images and your sacred pillars from among you, so that you will no longer bow down to the work of your hands.'"

There is a reoccuring theme in the Bible when it speaks of "good" kings.  Israel has had many kings, some good, some disobedient.  The difference between the two is found in these verse in Micah.

A good king always tears down the altars to foreign gods - false gods.

There is only one God.

When Micah describes the coming of Jesus Christ as King, he says that Jesus (God) will begin to tear some things down.  He will cut off horses and chariots, sorceries, fortunetellers, and carved images.  So the people will no longer bow down to the works of their own hands.  Jesus is the ultimate "good" King.

He who is like Jehovah tears down the altars.