Micah 6
The LORD's Lawsuit Against Israel 1–5
What the Lord Requires 6–8
Judgment for Oppression 9–16
Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain
Study Notes for Micah 6
Verse 1
contend thou before the mountains — Riv is a case brought at law, and the mountains and hills are called to hear it, as Moses called ‘the heavens’ and ‘the earth’ (Deut 32:1). The call to ‘Hear’ returns from 1:2 (‘let the Lord GOD be witness against you’), 3:1 (‘Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob’) and 3:9.
Verse 2
the LORD’S controversy — The same word riv, now as the LORD’s own suit. Hosea opens the LORD’s charge with it, ‘the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land’ (Hos 4:1), and again at Hos 12:2. ‘Plead’ is yakach, the verb of ‘rebuke’ in 4:3. The ‘strong foundations’ (eitan, enduring) are the earth’s lasting witnesses.
Verse 3
wherein have I wearied thee? — La’ah, to tire. In Isa 43:22 the charge runs the other way, ‘thou hast been weary of me, O Israel’; here the LORD asks what he has done to deserve it, and ‘testify’ (anah, to answer) is the verb of Balaam’s ‘answered’ in v.5. Jeremiah asks the same, ‘What iniquity have your fathers found in me?’ (Jer 2:5).
Verse 4
redeemed thee out of the house of servants — Padah, to ransom, the verb of Deut 7:8, where the LORD ‘redeemed you out of the house of bondmen’. The leaders sent are three: Moses, Aaron, and ‘Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron’ (Ex 15:20), who led the women in the song at the sea.
Verse 5
Balak king of Moab consulted — Balak sent for Balaam ‘curse me this people’ (Num 22:6), and Balaam’s answers turned the curse into blessing. ‘Consulted’ is ya’ats, the verb of ‘counsellor’ in 4:9. ‘From Shittim unto Gilgal’ is the march from the plains of Moab (Josh 3:1) to the first camp in Canaan (Josh 4:19).
Verse 6
burnt offerings, with calves of a year old — Olah is the burnt offering wholly given to God, and ‘a calf… of the first year’ is a prescribed victim (Lev 9:3). The worshipper asks what to bring, and the offerings first named are ones the law prescribes. Psalm 51 states what is missing: ‘thou delightest not in burnt offering’ without ‘a broken and a contrite heart’ (Ps 51:16–17).
Verse 7
thousands of rams — The questions rise from rams to ‘rivers of oil’ to a man’s own child. The firstborn was the LORD’s by right and was to be redeemed (Ex 13:2, 13). Ahaz, king in Micah’s days (Mic 1:1), ‘made his son to pass through the fire’ (2 Kgs 16:3). ‘Transgression’ is pesha, rebellion.
Verse 8
to do justly, and to love mercy — ‘Justly’ is mishpat, justice, and ‘mercy’ is chesed, covenant love. ‘Walk humbly’ is tsana’, found elsewhere only in Prov 11:2, ‘with the lowly is wisdom’. Christ names ‘judgment, mercy, and faith’ as ‘the weightier matters of the law’ (Matt 23:23) and twice quotes Hos 6:6, ‘I desired mercy, and not sacrifice’.
Verse 9
hear ye the rod — Matteh, a rod or staff, the instrument of correction; Isaiah calls Assyria ‘the rod of mine anger’ (Isa 10:5). ‘The man of wisdom’ is the one who has tushiyyah, ‘sound wisdom’ (Prov 2:7), and he ‘shall see thy name’, the LORD’s name proved by his work. The rod comes with an appointment: ‘who hath appointed it’.
Verse 10
the scant measure that is abominable — Literally the lean ephah, the dry measure of Lev 19:36, ‘a just ephah’. The treasures are those stored up by wrong. Amos names the trade in the same terms: ‘making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit’ (Amos 8:5).
Verse 11
the bag of deceitful weights — The law forbade it: ‘Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small’ (Deut 25:13). ‘Count… pure’ is zakah, to hold clean. Solomon’s book gives the principle, ‘A just weight and balance are the LORD’S: all the weights of the bag are his work’ (Prov 16:11).
Verse 12
full of violence — ‘Violence’ is chamas, wrong done to another by force. The rich are ‘full’ of it while the people speak sheqer, lies, and their tongue is remiyyah, deceit, the word of the psalmist’s prayer ‘Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue’ (Ps 120:2).
Verse 13
make thee sick in smiting thee — Chalah, to make ill, is the word of Deut 29:22, ‘the sicknesses which the LORD hath laid upon it’; Lev 26:16 lists the same kind of curse, ‘terror, consumption, and the burning ague’. ‘Desolate’ is shamem, to be stunned or laid waste, from which comes the ‘desolation’ (shammah) of v.16.
Verse 14
eat, but not be satisfied — The words of Lev 26:26: ‘ye shall eat, and not be satisfied’. ‘Casting down’ is yeshach, a word found only here. The verb ‘deliver’ (palat, to carry to safety) is used twice: what is rescued is itself given ‘up to the sword’.
Verse 15
sow, but … not reap — The labour of the year is done and the harvest not enjoyed, as in Deut 28:39–40: ‘thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine’ and ‘thou shalt have olive trees… but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil’. Micah lists the same losses, with sown grain added (Deut 28:38): grain, olives and ‘sweet wine’ (tirosh).
Verse 16
the statutes of Omri — Omri ‘did worse than all that were before him’ (1 Kgs 16:25), and his son Ahab ‘did evil in the sight of the LORD above all that were before him’, taking Jezebel and serving Baal (1 Kgs 16:30–31). Outside Kings and Chronicles his name is found only here. ‘Hissing’ (sheriqah) is derision, the whistling of those who pass a ruin.