Micah 6 · The Lantern

Hear ye now what the LORD saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice.

Hear ye, O mountains, the LORD'S controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the LORD hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel.

O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify

Would you like me to utter to you the words of God to Israel, stiff-necked and hardened? "O my people, what have I done to you, or in what way have I injured you, or wherein have I wearied you?" This language indeed is more fit from me to you who insult me.

(Verse 3 onwards) O my people, what have I done to you, and how have I wearied you? Answer me! For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and redeemed you from the house of slavery; and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

"For the Lord will judge his people, and he will [give] comfort among his servants." The reason for the previous praise is stated: "For the Lord will judge his people," that is, the Jewish people, to whom he revealed great miracles and assigned his prophets so that the people would not sin.

For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may know the righteousness of the LORD.

Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old?

Is everyone who is turning from sin to faith, turning from sinful practices (as if they were his mother) to life? I shall call in evidence one of the twelve prophets, who says, "Am I to make an offering of my firstborn son for my impiety? Should I offer the fruit of my womb for the sin of my soul?" Can the mother buy her way to God by giving up her firstborn?

For what is asked of you, O man? Only that you fear God: seek for him, walk after him, follow in his ways. "With what shall I win over the Lord?

(Vers. 6, 7.) What shall I offer to the Lord? Shall I bow down before the Most High God? Shall I offer burnt offerings to Him, and yearling calves? Can the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with many thousands of fattened goats? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? LXX: Where shall I find the Lord?

Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

"But God,"[adulterers and fornicators say,] "is good and most kind." He is "merciful, compassionate and rich in mercy," which "he prefers to every sacrifice." "He desires not so much the death as the repentance of the sinner." He is "the Savior of all people, and especially of the faithful." Therefore the children of God must also be "merciful" and "peacemakers," "forgiving eac…

Forget about burnt offerings, countless sacrifices and oblations of firstborn, he is saying. If you are concerned to appease the divinity, practice what God ordered you in the beginning through Moses. What in fact is that?

Here is a priest who serves at every hour with great fear while walking humbly with the Lord his God in accordance with the word of the prophet. Meanwhile another priest is hardly capable of having that much fear even when he is about to die and enter into the last judgment before his Lord.

The LORD'S voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed

Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable?

Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights?

For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee, in making thee desolate because of thy sins.

Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee; and thou shalt take hold, but shalt not deliver; and that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword.

Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil; and sweet wine, but shalt not drink wine.

For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people.

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